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Idiom of the Week: Train of Thought
"I had almost solved the problem when the doorbell rang and I lost my train of thought." When thinking, one thought leads to another. The thoughts are connected like cars on a train. Saying you lost your train of thought is perfectly normal. If you say your train of...
Word of the Week: Eerie
"If you want to keep that weird statue, you have to put it in your room. It's eerie and I don't like having it in the living room." "As they approached the abandoned house, the wind whistled eerily through the trees." Something that is eerie is a little bit scary. It...
Picture of the Week: Ski Lift
The ski lift carries people up the mountain so that they can ski back down. Some say it's difficult to get off the ski lift at the top! Have you ever gone skiing? How did you find it?...
Phrase of the Week: Find Out
"Did you find out if you passed the exam yet?" To find out something is to learn or come to know it. We often use "find out" when we actively seek out information: "Go and find out if the mail has come." But it can also be more passive: "I just found out that there's...
TOEIC Practice Question of the Week
"Who is on charge of reserving the hotel for the conference?" Find the mistake: A. Who is B. on charge C. of reserving D. for the conference 「協議会のホテルの予約担当は誰だ？」 ホテルで集まるほど大規模なミーティングです。誰も部屋の予約を間違えないように全部まとめてしたほうがいいかもしれません。これを任された人は「in charge of reservations」と言えます。「In...
It’s a bee! Let’s learn some animal words! ミツバチだ！動物の単語を覚えましょう！
This week's video teaches words for some animals that your child might see in their daily life! 今週の動画では日常生活で見かけるかもしれない動物の名前を教えます！ Classroom Tip This song goes with Happy Valley 1 Unit 8 vocabulary. Do the It’s a Chant and use this in place of the CD and FC. After...
Trivia of the Week: The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
Are you an INFJ? An ESTP? These letters are personality types. You can take a test to find out your own type. The first letter is I for "introvert" or E for "extrovert". The F and T stand for "feeling" and "thinking"—a T places more emphasis on logic and an F on...
Idiom of the Week: The Big Picture
"You have to look at the big picture and not get bogged down with the details." If you step back and look at something as a whole you can understand it better. You can see how the different parts work together. If you focus on the details of one part, you might not...
Word of the Week: Sweet
"I like candy and other sweet foods." "What a sweet child." "Check out my sweet new bike!" The basic meaning of sweet is a taste that most people enjoy, like sugar. When used to describe a person, it doesn't mean "naïve" but rather "kind" and "charming". We can also...
Picture of the Week: Coffee Art
Recently people have been making very complicated pictures using coffee and milk. This heart design is relatively simple. Have you drunk anything like this?...
Phrase of the Week: It’s the Thought that Counts
"I actually already have this book, but oh well—it's the thought that counts." Sometimes we receive a gift that we didn't really want, but we appreciate it anyway. In these cases we say, "It's the thought that counts." We might be happy that the gift shows the giver...
TOEIC Practice Question of the Week
"If you don't have buttermilk, you can ______ regular milk with some lemon juice." Fill in the blank. A. change B. exchange C. substitute D. substantial 「バターミルクがない場合は普通の牛乳と少しのレモンジュースで代替ができます。」...
Trivia of the Week: Extroverts and Introverts
It's hard to quantify a person's personality scientifically, but one factor that is relatively easy to measure is introversion vs extroversion. We think of an extrovert as someone who enjoys being with other people and an introvert as someone who is shy and likes to...
Idiom of the Week: Tailor-Made
"This movie is a fantasy about an elementary school teacher and a talking mongoose. It's like it was tailor-made for me!" "This car isn't tough, but it's tailor-made for speed." When clothing is tailor-made for someone, the tailor sews it to fit their body exactly. We...
Word of the Week: Spoiled
"He's really spoiled. His parents give him whatever he wants." "Her parents really spoiled her, and then when she went to college she was upset that the teachers actually made her work." You spoil someone, usually a child or a pet, when you give them everything they...
Picture of the Week: Chihuahua
The Chihuahua is the smallest dog breed. Next to this man's watch, it looks very small! Chihuahuas come in many colors and can have short or long fur. Have you seen any in your neighborhood?...
Phrase of the Week: I hate to tell you
"I hate to tell you this, but we're out of gas." "I hate to tell you" is a phrase we can use to prepare someone for bad news. It's not pleasant to give someone bad news, so this set phrase assumes the speaker doesn't enjoy doing it. 「大変申し上げにくいのですが、ガソリンが切れたみたいです。」 「I...
TOEIC Practice Question of the Week
"There is always some risky of losing your money when you invest." Find the mistake. A. There is B. always some C. risky of D. losing your money 「投資するときは必ずお金を失う危険はあります。」...
Yes! No! Practice these basic answers with Happy Valley’s Kinka and Pinka! イエス！ノー！ハッピーバレーのキンカとピンカと一緒に基本の返事を練習しましょう！
In this week's video we use a song to practice the most basic words for answering questions, yes and no. 今週の動画では歌を使って一番簡単な返事の言葉、イエスとノーの練習をします。 Classroom Tip The Yes, No Song is great for working on answering Yes/No Questions. Use it with Unit 8 of Happy Valley 1....
Trivia of the Week: Biology, Astrology, Geology
We often name types of science using the suffix "logy". "Bio" means "life", so biology is the study of life. "Geo" means "earth", so geology is the study of rocks and earth. "Astro" means star, but astrology is the art of fortune-telling using the stars. Scientific...
