Archives For educational

The Big Read - 2009

Nelson Mandela, Queen Rania, Paulo Coelho, Luis Jaime Cisneros V. have come together with others around the world like Natalie Portman, and Dakota Blue Richards (The Golden Compass) on this global project for education.

You can head over here to read some of the stories (in English, Francais, y Español~~ some even in Arabic… but why not in Chinese, Japanese and Korean? I could do some Japanese easy to read stuff~~), and add your name to the list~

TotalFilm.com has ranked Natalie as one of their best Sesame Street appearances xD Yes, the one with the elephant… cute as a button. I always thought Sesame Street (aka. Plaza Sesamo) was a pretty good kid’s show… and I always thought Elmo was cute, plus! he doesn’t speak like a stupid Teletubbie. “nuff said.

[iframe width=”480″ height=”390″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/4y-b9cjaxVs?rel=0″]

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In October last year, I posted an extra from the Hana & Alice DVD, in which the cast did a rhyme or a “rakugo” – which by the way wasn’t on Wikipedia back then – and I took a while to get what they were saying, but now there’s information!

The rhyme is called Jugemu, and it’s one of the most popular rakugo for its featuring on NHK’s Nihongo de Asobo segment… which was the program I quoted last February, when I posted a comment with the romaji for it. Jugemu tells the story of a man picking a name for his newborn baby. When the priest gives him a list of auspicious names, the man decides to use all of them to give his child a lot of luck in life, resulting in a super long name.

The Japan Forum

The Tikki Tikki Tembo story is also kind of funny~~

Woah… my Japanese reading is most improved hahaha. I still suck at it, but not as badly. At least I sort of ‘get it’. Still can’t get the times though… is it 24hr time instead of PM, AM?

Yu Aoi will be in the show/segment… whatever it is talking about her favorite book. 10min!! 8am – 13hr = 6pm?

BS2 2月23日(月)8:00~8:10
BSハイビジョン 2月23日 8:45~8:55/2月28日(土)7:45~8:35

?

So, to catch those 10min you will have to tune in NHK on Sunday at 6pm GMT-5 – Then what’s BS HighVision? Another channel? Confused. haha.

My Favorite Book, Japan’s 100 Favorite Books is listing a 100 people (including Yu’s)’s favorite books. Yu’s choice of book is Michio Hoshino’s essay 旅をする木 – if you can write Japanese (dunno if non-Japanese entries will be accepted), you can send them your favorite book!

I dunno if I will be able to catch this… conflicts with my Oscar watch!

This is an un-official “Why the 90’s Ruled or Not”.

Remember those days when Discovery Kids (Latin America) was actually for kids – you know, 10-13 year old kids – and not babies~~ I mean, COME ON! Teletubbies??? Shoot me in the face already!!

Back in the day, when I was a 10 year old kid… my family first got cable. If I recall correctly, Discovery Kids Latin America used to be in channel 65 or 85 or something, and it had awesome programming for intellectual kids like me~~ Truth be told, most my younger cousins didn’t watch Discovery Kids ever, but I did… and I’m an avid TV watcher since I was a kid. That’s my market~

What did I used to watch on Discovery Kids? Well, I had my first introduction to the Internet thanks to them! Cyberkids was one of the programs I used to watch, and probably shaped me in the way that I am today… you know? Blogger, Web Designer, Web Surfer~~~

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Time to blog the secret pinyin tool!

About two months ago, I found the nifties Japanese tool… an add-on called Rikaichan. Well, last night, when I was trying to look for the lyrics for the Olympic Song and ended up finding nothing~~ I searched for a tool that works just like Rikaichan, but for Chinese.

It’s called Perapera-kun by Justin Kovalchuk, and works just exactly like Rikaichan~~~ And it’s so easy to get! You only head over to the Firefox site (just click on the link over there), and add it. Of course, hoping that you are using Firefox~~~ And if you’re not, what the heck are you waiting for??? You don’t even need to add any dictionaries, but it works fine… I haven’t tried it with names or hard articles, but it’s still a helpful tool… I wonder how good it is with names~~~

I just found the most awesome tool for all Jap noobs (and lazy peeps) out there like me.

Rikaichan by polarcloud is a Firefox Add-on that lets you check out the meaning of a word in Japanese by just hovering over it. [9Mb Video Sample] – it’s just so easy to install… and that’s why Firefox uber kicks IE’s blue butt. Just install the first main extension, install ONE of the dictionaries, and if you wish to install the name dictionaries. The dictionary install were the heavy stuff, the NameDic being 11Mb, but it’s okay…

Hope you enjoy this useful tool!.

I just got an email from performer Alyssa Collins with a link to a song you all can purchase on iTunes. It’s called the Hiragana Song, and includes all lyrics in romaji and English explaining to little kids the sound of the A – I- U – E – O (which is not normal if you speak English).

You can preview the song here… though it’s quite a long preview, haha. It also has the lyrics!

Eigo de Asobo (in its original 1990 title display 英語であそぼ, or in hiragana えいごであそぼ), meaning… I think, Play in English or Let’s Play in English. Well, I actually didn’t know what the heck ASOBO meant, lol… but I looked it up. (answer here, if you’re interested in use and phrases), is another NHK show I remember catching a glimpse of. I actually went through my video archive on VCR tapes, and I had recorded some of the show during its 1998-2001 period.

According to Japanese Wikipedia, the show began in 1990 and went through several changes (as apparently many Japanese kids shows do), Continue Reading…

When my family first got cable, I remember watching NHK. Now, as a person who doesn’t speak Japanese at all, and being a Japanese wannabe… the only programs I could actually follow sans subtitles were kid shows. One of them is the long-lasting Okaasan to Issho, which apparently began showing on October 5h, 1959. I think the first time I saw the show was in 1999… or I could be wrong and be 1998. Anyway, if you don’t know about it… it’s like hmm, Menudo meets Sesame Street, but for really really small kids. I’m guessing 2-3 years old. The show has been inventing and re-inventing itself throughout the years. Changing life-size-puppets, and hosts in their many years. Continue Reading…