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3rd Semester Weekly Blogs - [PLEASE READ]

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3rd Semester Weekly Blogs - [PLEASE READ]

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Blog Info/Rules
Label/number your posts!

You will post an article once a week. Your articles should be about:

Your experiences and thoughts.

Examples: About a movie, TV program, YouTube, a book, hobby, what you did yesterday, what you’re going to do, music, foods, clothes, games, your dream/goal(s), school life, etc. ANYTHING.

Useful English words, idioms, expressions, or phrases you already know or learned.

Each blog post is expected to include 15-20 sentences.

You also need to leave at least one comment on someone else’s article each week.

The deadline for your posts is every Sunday, at 6 p.m.

Do NOT write anything that could hurt someone’s feelings.

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Due every Sunday around 6PM

Padlet #1 - January 23rd
Padlet #2 - January 30th
Padlet #3 - February 6th
Padlet #4 - February 13th
Padlet #5 - February 20th
Padlet #6 - February 27th
Padlet #7 - March 6th
Padlet #8 - March 13th
Extra Credit Blog #9 - March 20th

Lastly, one more blog due at the end of your Spring holiday describing your Spring Break in detail - (submit before the start of the new term in April HERE ➜ https://padlet.com/MsElaine/EXCEL ).

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Today, I'd like to write about some goals related to studying English. There are basically two objectives that I want to keep in mind.
First, I will study English vocabulary every day by the list of vocab. It is very helpful because the list has many synonyms. Also, I will read at least one article on the Internet which is written in English. This will help me maintain and brush up my English.
Second, I will enjoy studying English. If you study English only with the vocab list and textbooks, it can be boring and painstaking. Therefore, I will watch some TV shows, animations and movies to have fun with studying English from time to time! Another thing I can do is listening to music. I like Hip-Hop music, only the ones which are motivational though, so I will try how many parts I can understand without looking at lyrics!

As for the useful English expressions, do you know what "something is around the corner." means? It means that something is coming closer and closer. You can use this in a sentence like, "The final examination is around the corner."
We've got to study for the exam, however, don't forget to study English on a daily basis!
- Mr.Aoki

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My brother, my sister-in-law and my nephew came to my house on January 3rd. We enjoyed osechi together, however, I'm not a big fan of osechi. Every time I eat osechi, i'm like "umm, Ok.", instead of saying "This is soooo good!" I love karaage, tempura, pizza and so on that make me gain weight so fast and easily.
We really had a lot of fun though! What's important, I believe,  is not the food you eat but the people you eat something with.
My nephew loves watching YouTube using a smartphone. I don't know if he really understands how to use the phone, but he flicks it and picks out a video. He laughs a lot when watching videos on YouTube, which always makes me smile.
Recently, he sounds like he is about to utter a word. I'm looking forward to hearing the very first word he says. What was the first word you said? In my case, I think my parents told me that it was "mamma", which means "food or meal" in baby language.

Regarding English words, I want to talk about suffix today. When you grasp the images of prefixes and suffixes, it will be way easier for you to understand English. For instance, when a word ends with "-ize", it becomes a verb. (realize, criticize, hospitalize, etc.)
If you want to build up voocabulary and brush up your English, I highly reccomend that you grasp the images of words.

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Sakura Ochiai Blog 1  My Favorite Teacher From America

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Sakura Ochiai Blog 1  My Favorite Teacher From America

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My favorite teacher was a 5th grade teacher and her name is Beth Wichmann. Mrs. Wichmann is my favorite teacher because she is very kind, nice, and is really good at teaching.
She has a class pet cockatiel and his name is Mr. Beakman. I was in a class with 2 japanese friends. Their name is Sakurako(she has a similar name with me and was in the same class with my sister in 3rd grade), Minori(she was in the same class with Sakurako in 4th grade). We played with Mr. Beakman until Mrs. Wichmann told us to go home. I really liked Mr. Beakman because he was very fluffy, and cute. This was the reason why my 2 friends and I became close with Mrs. Wichmann. She sometimes makes Biscotti for us and it was very delicious that I got a recipe from her. I made it about 3 times with my friends. We sometimes did a party with just my 2 friends and me and my teacher. One day, Mrs. Wichmann let me bring Mr. Beakman to my house. I invited Minori and Sakurako to my house and played with Mr. Beakman. I enjoyed playing with my friends too.
I sometimes mail my teacher and my friends and I want to meet them after the covid ends. I want to tell everyone about Japan and what I was doing.

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Last week, we had a Vocabulary test. I hadn't studied well and sure enough, I didn't pass it.Few days later Mr.Kamiya who is my club activity advisor knew that I didn't pass it. He said "You should write all words for ten times each and bring it  on Thursday. " I thought it was impossible for me to finish writing 4000 words in 2 days. I have only written 2000 at this moment,but I will do my best to finish 2000more for tomorrow.                  Us I finished the above , one of my friend texted me to tell that we don't need to write 4000words. What the hell !! 🤯🤯

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Should people use supplements as a meal? Blog1

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Should people use supplements as a meal? Blog1

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I am against the use of supplements to finish a meal. The first reason is that supplements alone do not provide enough nutrients. The first reason is that supplements alone do not provide enough nutrients. For example, vegetables are not the same as taking supplements such as vitamins!
Secondly, there is the danger of overdose. I have heard that if you take more than you need, you are more likely to get sick.
For these reasons, I am opposed to supplementing one's diet with supplements.

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In these days, I am reading a book about psychology and I found some interesting study.
"By judge's psychological state, judgement can be different." Do you think that judges makes a fair judgement ? If you think yes, that is not true. From the research from Shai Danziger, he found out that judges makes a judgement by their psychological state. To prove this idea, He searched for 1112 past judgements. He found out that
60 % of the judgements which is being done after breakfast was advantageous to an accused, but when it comes around noon, because judges will be hungry, they sentence a severe judgement to an accused and there weren't any judgement which was advantageous to an accused. But then, many judgement which is being done after lunch was advantageous to an accused. After a while, because judges are tired, the judgements was severe for an accused. From these facts, Danziger thinks that people are kind to other person after they relaxed. So, if you forgot something, it might be better to say it to the teacher after they had their breakfast or lunch.

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Japan scoring against Colombia in the group stage 

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I am pretty sure every one is familiar with the FIFA World Cup which is a soccer event that happens once in four years. Last time it was held in 2018 at Russia and the next World Cup is scheduled to be happening this year at Qatar which is a small country. Japan is in a tough position in the Asian qualifiers so why don’t we all support them as there is a possibility that they will not qualify for the 2022 World Cup. Last time Japan did an outstanding job being second in the group stage and qualifying for the round of 16, but unfortunately they lost 3-2 against Belgium in the last minute which devastated the whole of Japan. I was shocked as well, but I believe that Japan set an record for the whole of Asia. In order to revenge their last World Cup and not get eliminated they will have to try very hard. Soccer is a sport which involves teamwork, passion and much more so why don’t we watch a both from the Asian Qualifiers and the World Cup?

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Do you guys know about the champions league? It is a soccer event that occurs every year where the top 4 teams from each  top league from every country in Europe compete. My favorite team known as Manchester City qualified for the champions league and they eventually made it to the finals but sadly lost.
In the champions league you battle the same team twice and the team with more goals from the 2 games win (goals on aggregate). We can also see Japanese player participating and
I think that it is cool how they could get on one of the biggest stages. I think that it is a great tournament so let’s watch one of the biggest teams in Europe battle.

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Do you know Australian open tennis championship ? It is being held now. Mr. Aoki probably knows it. Australian open is one of the major four tournaments. For singles, the winner can get 2.875 million and the players are competing against each other and trying to reach the top. The reason why I like to watch AO is that many famous players around the world gather into one place and they unfold a heated game. You may think that it is same as other four major tournaments, but I like AO the most because it is held in Australia and I long to go to Australia. Today, many players are unfolding a thrilling game. How about watching AO ?

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Hi. What did you do for your winter vacation?
I went to Tokyo dorm city with a friend and twin sister.
I went there for the first time. We rode the pirates first. I was first time after a long absence, and it was out of the world! After that, We enjoyed riding on the rollercoaster　but my sister, she didn't like it.
I was expecting rollercoasters to be scary, but infact it was more fun than chilling.
We ate crapes for lunch. I chose banana chocolate crape. It tasted soooo nice !
After lunch, we got on another kind of rollercoasters called "Wonder drop".
As you could guess by its name, we were turned into wet mice after that.
What interested my sister was the haunted house, so I  went there with her, though my friend stopped us over many times......I regretted ignoring her advice. It was very very scary that I couldn't take sound sleep that day.

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Yesterday, I started reading a book called
"Raionnooyatu".
The book is about a women who have cancer. I start reading the book because my friends read the book and they said it was interesting. I am not finished reading it, but I like the atmosphere of it.

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After reading so many New Year's resolutions from everyone, I decided to think about my New Year's resolutions more deeply to share with you too! My three main objectives are the following:
- Study Japanese.
- Improve my music reading skills.
- Get serious about my health.

To start with, I've been in Japan for almost three years now; so I'd like to improve my Japanese language skills to further enjoy this country on a daily basis. Luckily, being surrounded by Japanese these past few years, I was able to learn hiragana and katakana without having to sit down and study each character. Although I am happy to be able to read those two alphabets, I think I could've known more Japanese by now if I had dedicated time to study instead of being casual about it. In order to gain this skill, I decided to formally study about 30 minutes everyday and prepare myself using JLPT textbooks so I can eventually take a Japanese language proficiency test. What I am currently doing now to reach this goal is studying a few kanji everyday during my commute. My goal is to memorize 50 kanji a month!

My additional goal is to brush up on my music reading ability for treble clef. Eventually, I'd like to learn how to play the piano, but first I need to enhance my music reading fluency so I can later focus 100% on the piano functionality. Fortunately, I used to play the violin when I was younger, so can read music but I think I should start small and then next year make learning the piano a 2023 resolution.

Lastly, I'd like to become a healthier person so I can live a healthy long life. As humans get older, metabolisms tend to slow down. So since I'm turning 27 years old, I'd like to start eating better and becoming more fit. To help achieve my goal I joined a gym near my home so I can motivate myself to go frequently.

As you can see, I look forward to 2022! There are many things I want to try but I believe focusing on three solid goals will help me accomplish them little-by-little.

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Do you know how to make a chalk?
On last Sunday, I learned how to make a chalk. Until then, I didn't know how to make a chalk.  So I thought it was easy to make. But it was very difficult than I thought. I made 2 types of chalk. First is a plaster chalk. And the second one, I made it with a egg shell.
The plaster chalk was easy to make than the egg shall chalk. But the source of the chalk hardened so fast. So I had to make the chalk's shape real quick. But it hardened faster than I make the shape. So it became a strange shape at the end.
The egg shell chalk was much more difficult than the plaster chalk. Egg shell chalk hardened even faster than the plaster chalk. So I was only able to make one chalk.
Making chalk was way difficult than I thought, but it was very fun.

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On the 25th of January, there was a big event for excel students. There was an exam in Hakuo! I can't believe that it was a year ago.
On the exam day, I was on the train with m mother nervous about the exam. Suddenly, my mother gave me a little present for me. Since I loved an artist, but I couldn't buy the merchandise of it, my mother presented it to me. I was very happy when I got it.
When I arrived at the Hakuo High School, I was very surprised about the oldness of this school. Since, before taking Hakuo, I took an exam in a private school, I was shocked for it. The television was old and the table and floor were old too.
When we started the test, the topic was the experience that you want to do in Hakuo including the 2 people's comments. I was confident that I wrote it on time and had time to review it.
On the date of the announcement of acceptance, I was at school waiting for my mother to pick me up. But, my mother didn't come to class after 9:30 am I was scared that I failed but, after the class, my teacher told me that my mother came to school, and I was very happy.
Even though I wasn't happy to come here at first, I am very grateful that I entered this school! I want to make great memories in this school!

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Ito Junya after scoring a screamer in the second half against Saudi Arabia 

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Recently, Japan played in two Qatar World Cup qualifying games. First was against China. In the first half Japan was awarded a penalty kick after the Chinese player did a handball in the penalty area and Osako scored a stunner in the penalty. After, half time there was a significant cross into the penalty area and Ito scored a fabulous header making Japan win 2 to nothing which was a big 3 points to lead from Australia. On February second was a huge match against Saudi Arabia in the Saitama stadium. Saudi Arabia were first in the World Cup qualifying group stage B and if Saudi Arabia won, they would get to go to the World Cup. With a yellow card given out to both teams in the first half, Ito passed the ball into the middle with Minamino who is a premier league Liverpool player and also a number 10 for Japan scored a goal. Saudi Arabia kept on pressuring, but they could hardly get a chance to shoot. In the second half, Ito scored a goal that devastated Saudi Arabia, it was a screamer as it got into the top corner. Which Japan winning 2 to nothing Saudi Arabia as well, I believe that the will have a good chance for qualifying. But let’s not get excited yet as Japan is versing Australia and if Japan lose they will not get the chance to go to Qatar. So let’s believe in the Japanese team!

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So recently due to the national quasi-state of emergency in Japan (and the terribly cold weather), I haven't been able to go outside much which has given me the excuse to binge watch Netflix series and films.

I have always been a huge fan of analyzing historical events and fangirling over strategies and tactics performed by militaries during that time. My favorite timelines to research about is between 1939 (around World War II) to 1991 (the end of the Soviet Union and when the Cold War finally ends).

I mention this because I fell into a rabbit hole of movies, documentaries, and series on Netflix that take place during those times. Although I enjoy learning about this timeline, it is very sad and will sometimes make me emotional to watch or read about. Films such as The Boy in the Striped Pajamas or The Pianist will make me cry, so when I see actual footage or true documentation about this, it makes me feel really bad about what the world has gone through in less than 85 years ago.

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Recently, I am watching an anime called "Haikyu" In Japanese, Haikyu means volleyball, so obviously it is about volleyball. The story is about the boy called Hinata who watched a volleyball match on TV and impressed it. He started playing volleyball and he played match when he was third grade at junior high school. There weren't enough people in his team so it was a first time to play a match, but their opponent was powerhouse. Hinata lost the match and he wondered to beat a player called Kageyama who was in the opponent team.
He entered to a school called Karasuno where Hinata saw on TV. He was wondering to be strong at Karasuno and beat Kageyama, but he saw Kageyama at his school...
This anime is really good that I don't know how to describe it. Please watch this anime, I think you will not be able to stop watching it !!

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Recently I am in to watching Harry Potter movies. I started watching Harry Potter last year and I saw the Fantastic Beast on Friday's show and it was scary but it was very fun and interesting to watch. After that, I got to know Dumbledor. Dumbledor is a proffesor from Hogwarts (school). And the next movie that I watched was The Goblet Of Fire. I wasn't able to watch the first movie because I saw The Goblet Of Fire on the TV. I think it was on the TV because it past 20 years from the first movie. And I was curious about what will happen in the movie so, I watched it with my sister. After that, I wanted to see more Harry Potter movie so, I went to my dad and my dad let me buy the first movie. I really liked Harry Potter and I watched Harry Potter on Youtube. Then, I found out a really good website to watch English movies on. To go on to the website you first type "afdah" and search the website. Then, if you push the first website that pops up, you can watch free movies online. I watched all Harry Potter movies on afdah and the movie and the website was both good. So, if you are interested in Harry Potter or watching movies on afdah, you should try using the website!

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Have you ever heard of Molkky? It is a game that originated in Finland. It's a game that requires luck and skill to beat using wooden pins. I first learned about this game when my brother got that forChristmas present from my parents. It is very interesting and similar to bowling, so please try it if you have a chance.

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Have you ever tried local food in foreign country ? If you were living in abroad, I think you have tried it at least once. I also tried Singaporean food but I didn't like it. Firstly, I don't like the smell of it. The smell is really strong so that I couldn't even think to try it... Also, some of them are really spicy, but there are lot of people who are fan of Singaporean food and these are the things that you should try in Singapore (I don't really like it though...) If you come to Singapore, you should try Chicken rice. Many people say that the chicken on the top and rice is delicious. Also, you should try Yong tau foo. You could pick a ingredients to eat with noodle. I don't really like local food in Singapore, but it might be just because I haven't tried it. If I have a chance to go to singapore, I would like to try many local food.

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It's February now which means St. Valentine's Day is just around the corner! However, I was told that girls in Japan won't get chocolates or sweets and only the guys do. Therefore, I am very sad about that because I would like to receive some sweets too instead of having to wait another month for March to come around. ☹️

To be honest, I'm not quite 100% sure how Valentine's Day works in Japan, but I know that in the USA and Mexico, the holiday is only celebrated in February and everyone (friends, family, couples) receives chocolates and gifts regardless of gender or relationship status. The holiday is even called "Love and Friendship Day" in Spanish. It's totally normal to ask your mom or sister to be your Valentine. So with that being said, do you have a Valentine in mind this year? :) ❤️

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Currently, the Winter Beijing 2022 Olympic is being held and a event that shocked me the most was the ski jump event. In the ski jump event Japan got disqualified for not having the right sized suit on which made the possibility of Japan getting a medal decrease. Although getting the disqualification for the first round, Japan showed some fabulous jumps and ended up being fourth with one jump record not being included. What struck my heart the most was when the German jumper comforted the player the got disqualified, and felt that sportsmanship is a really important thing. So I want to be able to play sports fairly and I believe that the world would be a better place if everyone had a good sportsmanship.

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Do you watch demon slayer? I often watch it on Sunday night on TV. I've read a manga of it about a years ago, and the story was very touching.
Now on TV, the demon slayer "yuukakuhen" is broadcasting. I really love it because the image of it is beautiful. I especially like the image of it when one of the character uses a skill. For example, when uzuitengen used a skill, the image was like a firework and it was much more fantastic then in manga.
I also like the story of "yuukakuhen". Because in yuukakuhen, the main characters will fight against a very strong demon. There are two demons, and the demon slayer's  have to kill them both at the same time.
I dont want to spoil, so please watch the anime if you haven't watched it yet!!

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Sceggs Redlands which just finished a 46 million dollar renovation.

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In my life time, I’ve been to three elementary schools. First, i started going to a school in Singapore known as Dover Court which I’m pretty sure Ota knows. In this school I was in a class for people who can’t speak English fluently and this was where i started to know the basics and was able to pronounce words well. One thing that i remember the most was when i was in the soccer team and got a medal for finishing in a good placement. Second is my school in Australia. I started going to an Australian private school called S.C.E.G.G.S (Sydney Church of England Girls Grammar School) Redlands Cremorne which was established in 1884 and was a school with a lot of history, and you may wonder why the school name has the word “girl” in, but this was just because Redlands started as a girls school in I was able to improve my English skills further on as almost everyone could speak English fluently and also because there would be only one other Japanese student, and what i remember the most going to Redlands was that i won two most improved trophies from the school for being a good goalkeeper in soccer. Redlands also finished its 46million dollar renovation.Lastly when i moved to Japan, I went to a school called Meguro Kuritsu Higashiyama elementary school, and i would say that this was one of the newest and cleanest school I’ve been to out of the 3 as it was built 4 years before i came. I was able to improve my Japanese skills and this is why i am able to catch up to Japanese lessons in Hakuo.  I liked every single one of these schools I’ve been to and i also like Hakuo and i want to increase more skills in this school.

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This blog is about desserts! Does anyone know how to bake sweets?

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During a class session, I found out that miss Yukiko knows how to make apple pie which I thought was really cool! I've never made an apple pie before but I'd like to try to do it one day since I LOVE desserts. Previously, Ms. Tanaka's daughters baked me some delicious chocolate chip cookies and I enjoyed them very much. I haven't had anyone else bake me something before so I thought that was a very lovely gesture.

Funny thing is that I didn't realize how much I actually really like sweets/desserts until I came to Japan almost three years ago. Lately I have been visiting (too) many bakeries and dessert spots around Tokyo. So far my favorite go-to-dessert has been the fluffy pancakes. Actually, the first time I tried this type of dessert was in Ehime, Japan two years back. Their soft, spongey texture is such a delight to bite! I'm currently on (an unhealthy) mission to try all fluffy pancake shops I come across! 😋

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Japan becoming the champions for the 2011 AFC Asian Cup (Captain Hasebe is lifting the trophy)

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Have you ever heard about the tournament known as the AFC Asian cup in soccer? It’s where Asian teams battle it out and a team becomes the champions. It occurs every year and it is a huge tournament for Asian teams. Japan has actually been the champion a several times and the one that struck my heart was when Japan battled Australia in the 2011 AFC Asian cup Final. It was 0-0 until the second half of extended time and it was until Lee struck a terrific shot which stunned Australians into silence. Japan didn’t concede a goal after the goal and ended up being the champions. I want Japan to be the champions again so let’s support the Japanese team, but first we will have to support japan in the AFC road to Qatar because if Japan wins the next group stage match against Australia they will get to go to the World Cup 2022 which is going to be held in Qatar.

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It's been about two weeks before the test.
I think most of you are studying for the test. Now, I am going to talk about the interesting research which will be useful for studying. From the research, the morning is called golden time. It is the time when you can concentrate so much. So, it might be good to study math or science. In the afternoon, since we ate lunch, you will be sleepy so you should study subject that you can easily do. For me, I will do English. In the night you should do memorization subject like social studies. Researcher says that it would be nice if you do same thing that you did in the night in the early morning. Even though this is proved by the research, this routine does not suit for everyone. By planning what to do, you don't have to spend a time to choose. So, it might be good for some people to make a daily routine.

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Have you ever heard of HEAD ? HEAD is the company which is making the tennis racket. I also use HEAD's racket and it is one of my favourite tennis racket. In 2022, HEAD informed us that the new racket HEAD "BOOM" will be coming soon. As you can see from the picture, the colour is
mint blue × black and this racket has many futuristic features. This racket is currently used by Lorenzo Muzzeti, the pro tennis player from Italy. I would like to try this racket, but since it just released, it cost a lot. So, if I have a chance to use this racket, I want to play a match with it.

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So I started to read this book called Wonder written by R.J. Palacio, because after hearing many students at Hakuo read it, I became really curious about it. For one of the Show & Tells, there were a couple of students who said this was their favorite book so I became further intrigued by it and ultimately made the decision to read it this week.

Personally, I don't usually read fiction books in English because it makes me feel really stressed. The reason for that is because I feel a better use of my time reading academic articles or nonfiction textbooks in English so I can learn new specific vocabularies while learning new knowledge. For example, if I want to get better at medical terms then I would read an academic research paper about medicine.

However, I love to read fiction books in other languages such as Spanish, French or Japanese since I don't come across it as often as I do with English. It's a good opportunity for me to practice sentence structure and to strengthen my basic vocabulary in that language.

Anyway, I hope I can finish Wonder in a day or two so I can share my thoughts about it too! 😊

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These are the homemade choco muffins Tsitsi made!

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I'm not sure if the students at Hakuo Junior High School know about the other JET English teacher, Tsitsi, who teaches at the West building but she and I get along very well. She is from South Africa and came to Japan one month after I did, so I've known her for almost three years now!

This week she eagerly invited me to her home so we could bake some chocolate muffins together in her new oven. We were excited because when we first arrived to Japan we were very surprised to realize that almost all Japanese apartments do not come furnished with appliances such as ovens, refrigerators, microwaves or even laundry machines like apartments abroad do. All of those appliances is up to the tenant to get, which was shocking to us!

So when Tsitsi told me she got an oven we were both very excited to use it since we always talked about how much we miss having an oven. Anyway, the muffins turned out pretty bad. They had too much baking powder so it tasted bitter. Nonetheless, after that we popped some microwaveable popcorn (the red packet in the pic) and watched many films on Disney+ such as Soul and the live action Mulan.

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4 days before was Valentine's Day! It wasn't the first time in Japan. When I was in Elementary school in Japan, my classmates brought candies to school. I brought candies to the girls in class because I didn't want to give chocolate to the boys. In America, everyone brought their own candies to give to the classmates. But in Japan, everyone gave them to their friends, or someone who like. It was suprising but it was easier in America because in Japan, people wrap their candies and give them. It takes a long time to do it. In Hakuo, everyone wasn't able to bring chocolates so, I brought chocolate by myself. I bought Meji Chocolate, Dars Chocolate premium version and marble chocolate(I ate all in about 4 days). After I got home, my sister was already home and I saw so many chocolates on her table. (My sister goes to different schools and she goes to private school). So, I pleaded her if I can have some of her chocolate and she said yes so, I got more chocolate! I was very happy. I had time so I made banana brownies. But, I will talk about it in the next blog.

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Today, I took the Suken  at school; there was a first test and a second test, and it was strange to have two tests in the same day, unlike the Eiken.
Both tests lasted about an hour, but I was done in about 20 minutes, so I was able to check thoroughly.
I'm confident because the questions were only about simple calculations and things we learned in class.

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On Saturday, I went to the horse back riding club. So, I woke up at about 7, and rode on the train at 8:15 to go to Higashihunabashi. That day, I rode on Bambi, and Karipuso. Recently I am able to do cantering (riding at a gait between a trot and a gallop)! After the class, I noticed that Karipuso was injured. There is a belt to attach to the horse's belly to the saddle and when I was ridding on her, the belt was scratching his armpit and she was bleeding. So, I put a ointment on the spot gently. After I got home, my grandmother and my cousin was there at my house. We talked for a while and played card game together. I enjoyed talking with my cousin about school. Then, at about 6, I went to a restaurant with my family. I ordered a beef stew. The beef stew was delicious and the beef was really easy to bite and it was really soft. I had a great time with my grandma and my cousin. I also, served them strawberry daihuku that I made before and they liked it! I was affraid that the mochi was hard but they said it was good! I want to make other things for my family someday and I hope Karipuso's wound get better soon.

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On my last blog I posted that I like watching Harry Potter movies. I watched all of the movies and I started watching Fantastic Beast. Today I want to talk about what I watch on youtube recently and why I like watching them.
I watch animals on youtube. I watch horse riding videos and cockatiel videos on youtube. I watch youtubers called Harlow and popcorn the pony. In the video, a girl called Harlow rides on popcorn and you can watch what they do in routines and blogs. I really like watching riding dares on her channel. You can learn more about horses, riding horses, and other kinds of things in the video. I also watch horse jumping fails and the horse's cute moments. I watch birds on youtube too. I watch them because I like cockatiel and they are adorable. If you have read my first blog, I think you know but, my teacher from elementry school had a pet cockatiel in her class. I watch tricks that a cockatiel can do. I think it is very cool because they can do many things like singing, and making rhythms.
I also watch ucchi- channel's videos. The channel is made by the employee from Aomori horse riding club. In the video, they show us a many horses. One of the horse is called Jinako. Jinako is born from a mother called Jina. She passed away recently. Jinako is very cute. I like her fur color and her adorable face. You can see her trotting and cantering in the field. Also, you can see her eating apples and sleeping in her stable. I really liked Jinako so, I bought a Jinako calender that was selled in Aomori horse riding club. It arrived 2 days ago and there are many pictures of Jinako and her mother Jina. I have it on my desk and I really love it.
If you are interested in horses or cockatiels, I recommend you to watch my favorite youtuber's videos.

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Do you know Jyagariko ? It is a national snack in Japan and it is one of my favourite snack. There are lot of flavours like Salad, Cheese, Kyushu Shoyu, Salt & Sesame Oil and lot more. Jyagariko's feature is that it is really crunchy. I especially like Kyushu Shoyu. It's bit sweet and it is really delicious. It's been about 27 years from being sale and it is eaten by many people from all over the world. I even saw Jyagariko in Singapore. If you haven't eaten it, please try it ! It is so delicious and if you start eating it, you can't stop your hand to eat.

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The test is finally over! How did everyone do on the test? I don't think I did well. But I think I did well on the some of the subject. In this blog, I will be writing about my favorite and dislike subject.
My favorite subject is English. It's because I lived in singapore for 5 years. So I can speak English. But I actually don't like the lesson. Because in the excel class we sometimes have vocabulary test which is very hard for me, and also we recently have debate, so I don't really like taking the excel lesson. But I can only get a good score on the English test so it's my favourite.
Next, I will be writing about the subject that I dislike. My dislike subject is Japanese. I don't know why but I always get a really bad score on the Japanese test. For example, on the hakuo's Japanese test I never got higher then the average score. So I really want to get more then the average score one time. That's why one of my goals for this year is to get a good score on the test.
These are my favorite and dislike subject. The test hasn't returned yet, but I hope I got a good score.

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There were many interesting, sad, happy moments last year. I have things that I worked on really hard and things that I didn't do well. So, I want to talk about it and also, I want to make goals to accomplish this year.
Things that I did well on is preparing for the debate and presentations. In the last debate(should valentine's day be abolished?), I prepared it for about 3 or 4 days before the debate. I searched it up on many websites and I got many examples and reasons. So, I think I did well on the debate. One more thing that I worked on really hard is preparing for the presentation. I wrote drafts to write my scripts and tried to make them better if I have more time.
Things that I didn't do well is that I didn't prepare much on vocabulary tests. I studied on the vocabulary test before the day of the test. So, I want to get good scores on the test. To get good scores, I want to study vocabulary atleast 3 days before the test day. Also, I want to study about 30 minutes a day before I sleep.
This year, my goal is to study more on English because I wasn't able to study before exams and vocabulary tests. I want to do 5 stage and look through the english textbooks. Also, my goal is to speak up when I do presentations. When I get nervous, I speak in a very quiet voice. I don't know if it is because of the mask but, there are times when I thought that I was speaking loudly but everyone didn't hear what I was talking about. So, I want to practice talking loudly.
These are my goals that I want to accomplish before the end of 2023.

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On last weekend, me and my family went to Asakusa and enjoyed eating sweets. So I will be writing about the sweets that we ate at Asakusa.
Firstly, we ate "ichigoame". This sweet, candy is coated on the strawberry. So you can enjoy the sweet taste of it. I ate this sweet, before in the ameyoko. But the candy got stuck in my throat, so I thought that I was almost going to die. But the ichigoame in the shop looked really nice so I had to eat it.
Secondly, I ate dango On the dango, there were bean paste and some strawberry. I love strawberry, so I also liked this one. This sweet's taste was amazing. The strawberry on dango was little bit sour, so it was bringing out the flavor.
I ate many sweets other then these, but this 2 are my favorite sweets in Asakusa. So if you go to Asakusa you better try one!

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I have three goals for this year 2022.
Firstly, I want to be able to run faster. When I was in primary school, I always played tag and some other games that contained running. But now I don't play outside anymore, and my running speed became slower. So when I measured the time of the 50 meter run in hakuo, most of my friends runned faster then me. From this, I decided to train everyday and become fast at running.
Secondly, I want to be able to get a higher score on the test. In my 3rd blog, I wrote that the subject I don't like is Japanese, but I also don't like geography. So I want to study more about a world and try to get a high score.
These are my goals that I want to achieve this year. I will try my best to achieve my goals!

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Do you know a game called FIFA Mobile? It is a soccer game that you can play launched by EA games. I enjoy this game as it is very realistic and you can play some matches with your friends. It is also skill based matchmaking so you wouldn’t have to battle a person stronger that you which i think is fair. My logo is a picture of Manchester City which is a team located is Manchester (England) and it is my favorite team. You can also trade players and build the team of your dream which i think is very lit. So i highly recommend this game so why not download it and have some fun?

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Have you ever played a game called Clash Royale? I often play this game and i think that it is one of the games that i like the most. You can battle strangers and your friends and i think that you can grow you friendship with your friends. You can get all sorts of cards and the objective of this game is to destroy your opponents castle. You will use your brain and randomly taking out a card isn’t that useful so I think that it is good for you brain and you can think of some strategies. I play this with a few friends in my class and i highly enjoy it. So why don’t you have a try?

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Ovation of the Seas entering Sydney harbor 

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Have you ever been on a cruise ship? I’ve been on about 11 and one of my favorite cruise ship is called Ovation of the seas (Royal Caribbean). It set sail from Sydney, Australia and I couldn’t believe all the features in them so i am going to explain them in this pallet. First there is a huge room known as the Sea Plex where you can do number cars, roller skate and circuit which i tried both and it was really fun, and there is also a free hot dog station and it was scrumptious. Right outside of the Sea Plex is the rock climbing wall and there are 3 courses which i completed them and it is a thrilling experience looking at the view from the top of the wall. After you walk a bit is the Flowrider which is where you can surf, unfortunately it was very difficult to balance on it so I didn’t really succeed but it was a very cool view as it was at the back of the ship. Right near the Flowrider is where you can do some skydiving. I’ve never been skydiving but the experience doing it was magnificent. There is also a ball that goes really high and you can go on it and the view is just significant. There are many more cool things such as the night shows so why don’t you watch some YouTube videos on it and think about going on it after the coronavirus pandemic calms down?

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Do you play games on nintendo switch? If you do, what game do you play?
My favorite game is 123 switch. In this game, there are lots of mini games you can enjoy with 2 players. For example table tennis, base ball, dance, boxing and more. My favorite one is called breaking the safe. This game is about breaking the safe in time, and also you need to break it before your opponent. It's very interesting so you should really play it.
Next, I also like a game called mario party. In this game, there are also lots of minigames, and you can also play sugoroku. If you have a controller you can play with up to 4 players. So you can enjoy with your friends.
If you have nintendo switch, you should try playing these games.

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Do you know the game called Brawl Stars ? This is 3 vs 3 game where you fight each other. This game is launched by Supercell and the game called Clash Royale (The game which is introduced by Shota in blog
# 8) is also from Supercell. I usually play this game with my classmate. The interesting part of this game is that, you obviously need strong character, but you need strategy to win the game. Although you need a skill to win the game, but even though you are beginner, I believe that you could have fun. If you don't have tried it, please try it !

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I was a bit lazy this weekend. I was very fatigued and tired. All I did was stay at home on my couch my entire Sunday and watched Netflix with all the lights turned off. I think it might've been because I got my coronavirus booster shot, or maybe it's my excuse.

I got vaccinated Saturday night around 8PM so I had a very easy Saturday morning preparing myself to get my shot. I went to the gym, then grocery shopping to buy food and movie snacks for the next day.

On Sunday I got up around 7AM because my arm felt painful so I just watched Netflix until about 1PM. I made lunch, then went for a walk to get some fresh air and stretch a little. However,... during my walk I was reflecting on the Netflix show I was watching and it inspired me to buy a goldfish. So I took a detour into the pet shop. Bought a fish, went back home and watched more Netflix... with my goldfish.

Fast forwarding to today, I think that was very impulsive of me and I shouldn't have made such a quick decision. Now I have a goldfish at home I need to take care of. Nonetheless, I ended up naming him Ryu because I used to play Street Fighter a lot and also because I loved the dragon from Dragon Ball Z. I ended up choosing this kanji " 龍 " for Ryu since I thought it looked the coolest out of all of them.

Anyway, after I got injected, my arm was immediately sore. It's actually still sore today. It has been a bit difficult to carry things with my left arm. Hopefully tomorrow I'll feel better and at least be able to sleep on my left side or use my left arm without feeling discomfort.

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I think I told you that I like to play tennis. If you see the picture above I think you could see the thing which is put on the racket. This is called vibration dampener. I also use it, but at first, I didn't know whether it is effective. However, when I start using it, feeling of hitting was definitely different. I use vibration dampener from Kimony which is also used by Kei Nishikori. I think the vibration dampener from kimony is the best one that I ever used. So I highly recommend for Mr. Aoki to try this.

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How would you feel if your loved one's memory was erased?

I recently watched a movie called "Kiokuya". Kiokuya is an urban legendary figure who claims to be able to erase people's memories.

The story is about Ryoichi, a college student, who proposes to his girlfriend, An, who is one year older than him, but a few days later she don’t has any memory about Ryoichi. He cannot believe that Ryoichi's very existence is forgotten, and he works with a senior college lawyer to find out why.

It was honestly difficult to understand the true pain and suffering of having one's memory erased by a loved one, but the characters and background drew me into the work. Please take a look.

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Have you ever played a game called Shironeko Tennis? This game is about a tennis, and you have to play many times and get a storong character to win. I don't play this game now, but I started playing this game when I was in 4th grade, and I learned how to play tennis from this game. For example, how we count the scores and the service order. Also in this game, you can play  with a people all around the world, and also with your friends. My favorite part of the game is that it usually is collaborating with a famous animes, so you can use a character from the anime. Like "attack on titan", "gotoobunnohanayome" and "zerokarahazimeruimekaiseikatu".
The original character of this game is also very cute, so if you feel intrested in the game, please try!!!!!!!

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As the school year comes to an end, I came to the realization that my time at Hakuo will also end forever very soon. This made me feel very sad to no longer be near all my excel students or coworkers. Reflecting back, I really regret not getting enough time to spend with students and teachers because of COVID-19. If the pandemic never occurred, I'm sure there would've been more opportunities to spend time with everyone.

When I first started working at Hakuo in 2019, I looked forward to participating and being a part of all the activities such as the school festivals, choir contests or even sports day. Unfortunately, that never really happened but I am thankful to have at least spent some time together when there weren't online classes.

Anyway, as my chapter comes to an end in July, I'd like to continue being there for everyone at Hakuo if possible. I thoroughly enjoyed my time here so if anyone wishes to keep in touch, feel free to reach out to me for anything. Especially if you need help with academic essays, any English questions, applying to programs / universities in the U.S. or even just as a penpal to practice conversational English! Email me anytime at elainemm813@gmail.com or follow me on my Instagram to see ordinary life outside of Japan.

Point is: you can always count on me to help with any English inquires!

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The Tokyo metropolitan government on Monday (March 7th) reported 5,374 new covid-19 cases, down 4,258 from last Monday. It was the lowest number since Jan 18. Apparently, the cases of covid 19 had decreased drastically. I reckon most of us hope that covid-19 will end soon. However, We don't know if the Covid-19 cases will continuously lessen. Moreover, there are still concerns about the new varient virus infection. If there aren't any people who can't comply whith a simple precuation such as wearing a mask, I bet Covid-19 won't be that deadly.

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It’s already March, but let me tell you about my resolution for this year to make it meaningful and fruitful.

One resolution for this year is to connect with my pet cat, named Chou. In 2020, the year I got him, I (believe I) was preoccupied with studying that I didn’t have the chance to connect with him. Since I didn’t play with him with him, Chou practically lost his love for me which was very upsetting. To bring his love back, I would have to start connecting with him; therefore, chose it as a resolution.

My second resolution is to ascend my quality of homework. In the prior year, my qualities of homework were awful. For example, when there was a show and tell speech, I prepared it in that day which only lasted a minute when it was supposed to be 2 minutes. There were many such situations last year. Therefore, to recover my credit, in this year I would want to start preparing for homework at least 1 week before the due date.

My last resolution is to wake up early by myself. Every day my mother wakes up me at 6am. My mum must light up the room, and call me, rather yell at me several times, since I can’t wake up with only a call. To lighten her workload, I decided to wake up by myself. Specifically, I will use an alarm clock which is installed in iPhone. If I sleep too late, I wouldn’t be able to get up. From my experience, if I sleep at later than 11:20 it will be troublesome to wake up with only alarm clock. As my mother works hard for me, I should diminish her load even it is a small amount that is hard to recognize.

In conclusion, these are the three resolutions to make this year meaningful and fruitful.

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The results of the end-of-year examinations have been returned. I was quite confident since most of the enhancements were above average. In the badminton club I belong to, the ranking of each test is announced.
This time, I was very happy to see that I was about 15 places higher than last time. I would like to study harder so that I can get a better grade next time. In order to do so, I want to do the work over and over again, and on the day of the test, I want to check it carefully so that I don't make any mistakes.

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My best memory in Vietnam was competing in F1 in schools. I got selected being the representative of my school. In F1 in schools, we made a model of the car and raced it. We competed in a team of 6 people. My team’s car was fast, tough and we were able to get a good time. I was able to learn how preparing was important.

I was in year 6 when I competed in F1 in Schools. The car runs by a CO2 Canister. The track is 10 meters long and competes with the car’s time. Also, the design of the car was the point so we had to think deeply not only thinking about the speed of the car. In a team, There was a designer, a carmaker, and a car fixer. And I was the fixer and the maker. Even we were second with our teamwork, we were able to move up to the finals.

The designer Bella made our team mascot a Saula. Saula is an animal that is threatened to extinction living in Vietnam. The car’s design was imaged Saula running inside the fire. I made my car a good shape to fit the car design. The car was made out of hard paper. And the tire was a good rubber which gripped the floor very well. To resist drag,  I pointed out the edge of the car.

When we did the real match, my team’s car was really strong. We made my car tough so it was able to race many times, running straight. After the race, I carefully fixed the car. We didn’t use our substitute car. We heard we should use the best car from our teacher. The other older team teased and scorned our car but when we did the race we won them. I think that was because we carefully made the car.

We were able to get second in this competition. We didn’t use the substitute car so our display looked very well. My team was happy when we displayed or non-damaged car. My team prepared very well and I think that was the reason why it was my best memory in Vietnam.

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There should be many arguments about E-sports relating to the Olympic games. Some people say E-sports is not a real sport. However, personally, I think E-sports should be included in the Olympics. And I am going to explain the reasons below.

Firstly, in my opinion, I think E-sports is just like other sports in that you need skills, techniques, and strategy. For example, in a game called Fortnite gamers have to practice for a long time to get a good place in a competition. In my experience playing Fortnite, I had to make an effort to get better which is the same as other sports. I wish there is a big competition that I can watch to learn how professional gamers play.

Secondly, having E-sports in the Olympics can activate the economy. This is because there will be many people coming to pay for watching professional gamers competing against each other. The more audiences watch, the more luxurious the winning prize gets. Moreover, if the economy gets activated, the country’s GDP will get bigger which that country can develop. Can you imagine it? Only having eSports in the Olympics can make a lot of changes. Also, I heard

This means gamers should have a chance of joining the biggest event which only opens once in four years. Nowadays, parents do not let their children play video games for hours because children get too addicted. I understand why they refuse to let the children play, however, if we think carefully, as I stated, E-sports is a great competition.

In conclusion, although there are many arguments about children playing games, as I said there are still many benefits. This is why I think including E-sports in the Olympic games is good. E-sports are like other sports and they can activate the economy.

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Do you know a youtuber called "wannkosoba"?  I recently started watching her video, and I love her contents.
She is a youtuber who makes ASMR videos. For example she makes ASMR from slimes and foods. Also, she introduces some interesting miniatures, like washing machine and fidget toy.
My favorite video of her is cray cracking. Cray cracking is that you crack a cray from it's name, and make ASMR. I feel really comfortable when I hear the sound of it.
It is hard to explain the charm of her videos, so if you haven't watched her videos yet, please watch it!!! ( ੭•͈ω•͈)੭

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Today I am going to talk about a new plastic model I bought last weekend. This is plastic model of bomber to attack the warship. I went to plastic model shop to buy a gift to me. Because I think I did my best in the last test of this year. The reason I bought this one is that it is very very cool! And this airplane is so fast. The picture on the box is so cool. When I took it from the shell, I thought I can love this plastic model. T was cheap so there is no reason to not buy this plastic model.

Now I am going to tell you about this beautiful airplane. This was started making in 1942 and finally flew in 1944. This is Japanese attack bomber named “RYUSEI KAI（GRACE）流星改”it is very cool name! this carry 250kg bombs. Two people goes on. It is 14m wade and 11m long, 4m tall. It is 543km/h fast. The weapons are tew 20mm guns 7.7mmgun and two 250kg bombs to attack. I am still making this plastic model. But when I finish it, it will be my favorite.

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My favorite game.

Today I am going to write about my favorite game, my favorite game is cold “FORTNITE”. I think most of the people who is leading this know about this game. Fortnite is the game we can play online. I can play with my friends even they are in the different place. I play it by nintendow Switch but you can play it by PC or tablet or Play Station. The role is very easy. You shoot the other player by guns and the last player wins the game. When you win the game you can be very fun. There are many tips of weapons in that world. And many tips of game. For example solo, duo, squad, box fight, creative. I like to play squad. You make a group of four people online and you try win. It is very fun to take communication in the group. I started this game 3 month ago so I am not good yet but I want to be stronger! So this is my favorite game. If you also like this game lets play together!

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Yesterday I went to anime’s goods shop Animate. In Animate you can buy many goods for example notebooks, stationary and key chains. All of them are rerated to Japanese anime. The animate is in Ikebukuro. It took 45minute to go there. I went to Animate whit my friends. We all like anime. I will tell you my favorite animate. My favorite anime is “Attack On Titan” and “One Peace”. But today I didn’t buy anything. Well, I bought something but that was not for me. I bought a character figure for my birthday friend. It cast for 2000 Yen but it was very cheap for me because he is my best friend. We play a lot so I gave him a gift. He seems very happy. After we went there we ate lunch at the Sunshine building. We ate udon. It was very delicious. After that I went the top of that building and did VR. In that place you can try VR. You put on the goggle and sit on the swing. Then you can fry the town of Ikebukuro. I enjoyed very much. That was very fun. It was very fun so I want to go there again.

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Do you know what club am I in. Yes! I am in the Japanese drams club. In this club we can play the Japanese dram like the one in the picture. I am very proud to do this club activity. In this club there are about 35 students. We all like the dram. My senior is very cool. I want to by like that 2 years later. Now we have practice of the new song “一心” . this song is very cool. I want to show dis to my senior and my teacher and my parents. Japanese dram do it by many people so I want to keep cooperating with my members. Last year them boys member was very small. There were only 4 boy from new member. So I want many boy to come to my club this year.

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On last Sunday, I went to Tokyo Dome City with my friends.

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There was no school on March 21st. So, I went to my cousin's house with my mom, sister, and my brother. My dad wasn't able to go because he went to golf with some of the people who worked at the same company as him. We woke up at about 8 and my mom made me a sandwich. The sandwich had tomato, lettuce, cheeze, beef, and avocado in it. After I ate the sandwich, I watched a movie called