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Idiom of the Week: Run a Tight Ship
"I don't know why Mr. Smith was so mad. It was just a little mistake." "Well, he runs a tight ship. He wants everything to be perfect for the customers." A business or home is not a ship, but we can use ships as a metaphor for anything. When things are run tightly, it...
Word of the Week: Spine
Your spine is your backbone. It's made of vertebrae. Animals that have backbones are called vertebrates. Animals without them are invertebrates. Metaphorically, having a spine allows you to stand up for yourself. "Don't be spineless. Show those bullies that you have a...
Phrase of the Week: Get Off Scot-Free
"Nobody saw him do it, so he got off scot-free." If you do something wrong but receive no punishment or consequences, we say you got off scot-free. The word "Scot" nowadays means a person from Scotland, but in this phrase it comes from an old word meaning...
TOEIC Practice Question of the Week
"Although implementing a solution will delay the project, we cannot ______ this problem." Fill in the blank. A. ignore B. notice C. verify D. fix 「解決法を用いるのに時間がかかって遅れがでますが、この問題を＿＿＿できません。」...
Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes! Let’s practice counting! あたま、かた、ひざ、あしのゆび！数える練習をしましょう！
Enjoy this twist on "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes", adding in numbers. 数字を使って別バージョンの「Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes」も楽しみましょう。 Classroom Tip Dance and sing with Pinka. Students can use their fingers and toes to count 1 to 10. This is a great introduction to next...
Trivia of the Week: Hopscotch
To play hopscotch, you need some rectangles drawn on the ground, usually with chalk. Toss a stone onto the ground. Now, jump along the squares using either one foot (where there is only one square) or two feet (where two squares are next to each other). However, you...
Idiom of the Week: Safe as Houses
"Are you sure this thing is safe?" "Safe as houses!" We usually feel safe in our own house. That may not be the real origin of this idiom, however. Some say it came from investing in houses, which were a safe investment compared to railways. It may also have to do...
Word of the Week: Knot
A knot is what we create when we tie two strings together. Knots are so important that there are names for many different kinds of knots, and they often appear in metaphors. A problem that's difficult to solve is "knotty". When two people get married they "tie the...
Picture of the Week: Turkey
November is a bad month for turkeys in the U.S. Have you ever seen a turkey in person? This one has impressive feathers and a featherless but colorful head....
Phrase of the Week: I Couldn’t Care Less
"I couldn't care less what you do. Just leave me out of it." "I couldn't care less" is an emphatic way to say "I don't care." You can care a lot or a little, but if you "couldn't care less", then the amount you care is the absolute minimum possible, i.e. zero. ...
