Bread and butter pudding is a kind of sweet gratin. It is a really simple dessert to make, and you can be creative with what you put in it. It's also a good way to use some slightly old bread you might have. It only takes ten or twenty minutes to prepare and another twenty-five minutes in the oven.

Here are 12 simple lessons to help you enjoy life and make the most of your time:

1. Know yourself: If you know yourself, you will behave better. We often lie to ourselves about who we really are. It protects us from pain and uncertainty. Think carefully about yourself. You will be able to work on your weaknesses, and you will be free from bad habits.
2. Notice good things: We focus too much on the negative. We think about what we do not have or what we can not do. Take time to think about the good things in life and you will feel lucky every day.

複数形、過去形、比較級にする時に、「y」で終わっている単語は「i」にしましょうって中学で習いましたよね。

でもこれにもルールがあるって覚えてましたか？

子音字＋ｙ　で終わる単語は　「y」を「i」に変えるが、母音字＋「y」の場合は変える必要がありません。

John Carter, Disney's latest sci-fi movie, opened at number one in the box office in the United States and worldwide. So far it has made more than a quarter of a billion dollars in ticket sales.

In Japanese, you can use the word 「部屋」 to talk about the place where you live. If you look up 「部屋」 in the dictionary, you will see the translation "room" in English. So lots of Japanese people think that every time you say 「部屋」 in Japanese, you can say "room" in English.

A recent survey by the Bank of Japan shows that manufacturers are still feeling pessimistic about the economy, despite a weakening yen. There has been no change in feelings about the economy for two quarters. This is likely to pressure the BOJ to boost stimulus measures.

New Zealand sportsman Chris Cairns has won the world's first Twitter libel case. Cairns was the captain of the New Zealand cricket team. In January 2010, an Indian businessman accused Cairns of match-fixing. Cairns sued the man.

「ゴージャス」 is an English word used in Japanese, and usually it means something like 「素晴らしい」. In Japanese, 「ゴージャス」 has a much wider meaning than it does in English. That means that sometimes Japanese people use "gorgeous" in strange ways in English.

The prime minister of Australia has made a joke with Barack Obama. Julia Gillard said that although they both face prejudice, she has a harder life as a leader than him. Gillard is Australia's first woman prime minister. She has faced criticism because she has no children and has never married. She has also said publicly that she is an atheist.

This is a story about a 23-year-old Japanese girl named Moe, who is living and studying in Canada. It's a chance to feel what it's like living in a foreign country, where English is your only choice. There are two versions of each episode: a real life version (this one) and a textbook version.

♦

Moe wakes up at her friend Keiko’s house. She is on the floor. Beside her is Julie. Keiko is asleep on the bed.

Be sure to read the real-life version before reading this one.

This is the "textbook" version. Like many English textbooks, it shows a student who has perfect English, instead of a real student, like you, who is still learning.

♦

Moe wakes up at her friend Keiko’s house. She is on the floor. Beside her is Julie. Keiko is asleep on the bed.

A tourist died this week paragliding in Rio. This was a big story in Brazil, because the young woman who was killed was the sister of a famous actor.

Here's the link:

Tourist dies in paragliding accident

Poligo is on Twitter. I thought I would explain how we are using Twitter to help you with your English.

Find new content

First of all, when there is new content on Poligo, I post a notice with a link on Twitter and on Facebook page.

内緒ですが、今担当している英会話学校とは別の、某有名英語教育会社の英語講師の採用試験を受けてきました。名前は言えませんが、英語を本気で勉強している人なら知っている会社です。

What is humour? Why do we laugh? What makes something funny?

There are many theories of humor. These theories try to explain what humor is. They also consider the social function of humour, and what is humorous.

Sunday was the day we remembered the tragedy of last year. On Sunday, I taught six English lessons on Skype with six different Japanese people. I had the same conversation six times. It went something like this each time:

Me: What did you today?
Student: As you know, today was the memorial day of the Tohoku earthquake.
Me: Yes, it must have been a sad day. In English, we say "anniversary". We would not say "memorial day". A good sentence would be this: "Today was the anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake".
Student: I think "anniversary" is strange. In Japan, "anniversary" is a word only used for happy things.

Would you have the same reaction as my students? Do you think that "anniversary" is used for only happy events?

Do you know how to shake hands well? Get a few things right, and you can make a wonderful first impression. JFK knew this. He once commissioned a study on the perfect handshake, because as president he had to shake some powerful hands. He wanted to know how to do it right. Learn to shake hands well, and make the perfect first impression.

Japan famously has a "vertical society" (縦社会). One result of this is 先輩 and 後輩 relationships in all areas of life. On the other hand, in the West, people like to think that society is horizontal (a kind of 横社会). An important cultural idea in Western countries is that everybody is equal.

My sister sent me a link to this news story this week:

• Record bra chain nears completion

みなさんPoligoを活用してますか？英文添削サービスだけじゃないんです。例えば英検を目指している方は、こんな活用法もあります。英検は与えらえたテーマ、キーワードを使ってエッセイを書かなければなりませんが、なかなか良い練習方法がありません。でもPoligoを活用すればエッセイの技術を磨くことができます。

Google Flu Trends: The heavy blue line is 2011-2012I was having a conversation on Twitter last week with a gentleman in Kochi. We were talking about the flu, and about using the word "epidemic". It is impossible to explain on Twitter, since the character limit is so short, and I wanted to explain it better.

Paulo Coelho (a Brazilian writer) published a very short story on his website. It is called "the boy and the devil". Read the story and try the homework.

Homework:

1. What does the story mean? What is the message?
2. Can you write your own very short story? Try!

Send your homework to Poligo and we will check it for you.

An Italian guy writing in the Japan Times thinks that Japanese houses are very poor. I can see his point. Many houses in Japan (especially old ones) are badly insulated, and efficient heaters are hard to find. His article is foreigner's view of how people live in Japan. Many of the things you discover when you live in another country can be mysterious. Sometimes, it is a surprise to learn what foreign people find mysterious about your country. There might be some surprises in this article for you!

When I was teaching in Japan, many of my students would say something like this:

"This is our first time to meet, so let me introduce myself."

It sounds OK, and I knew what my student meant, but it's a mistake. A native speaker would never* say this.

When I was a kid, I remember reading a story we had at my school. It was about a Scottish king named "Robert the Bruce". When he was hiding from the English, he watched a spider. It taught him to never give up:

If at first you don't succeed, try, try and try again.