THE WONDERFUL TEAKETTLE: QUIZ ANSWERS

Here are the answers to the quiz on the Japanese story, The Wonderful Teakettle:

Answers:

1. Why was the old priest so happy? Because he had found a new treasure - his "new" teakettle.
2. What was his new teakettle made of? Brass
3. What did the third boy see whenhe peeped through the screen? He was just in time to see the new teakettle give a spring into the air, turn a somersault, and come down in the form of a furry, little badger.
4. What did all the boys see when they looked through the screen together? Only a teakettle.
5. What did the teakettle do when the old priest put it on the fire to heat? The kettle gave a leap up into the air, spilling the hot water all over the floor! “Hot, hot! I’m burning!” it cried. And, like a flash, it was no longer a kettle but a little furry badger.
6. Who did the old priest sell the teakettle to? The tinker.
7. Where did he take the teakettle to after he bought it? He took it home with him, where he bent it back into shape and mended it.
8. What did the badger say he liked to eat now and then? The badger said, "Oh! I like a little sugar now and then.”
9. What did the people who saw the dancing badger on the tightroop do after they saw it? Those who had seen it once came to see it again.
10. Where did the owner of the teakettle put the teakettle after he bacame rich? He put his beloved teakettle in a little temple on top of a hill.

11. Bonus question: Using the story, describe what a badger looks like. It was furry, had four feet, and a bushy tail.

How did you do?

THE WONDERFUL TEAKETTLE: QUIZ

Hi! It’s me again, Professor Panda! Sorry I am so late, but sometimes things just get too busy around here! Today here is the short quiz I promised on the story about the teakettle. There are ten questions and one bonus question. Each one is worth 10 points. This is a “fill-in” quiz, so you get to write your answers in English to each question. At the end of the week, Friday (Japan time) I will give you the answers. You can also send me your answers (in English) by email to Panda_English@yahoo.com and I will grade them for you. 100 points is an A, 80 points is a B, and 70 points is a C. If you get the bonus question correct, you get another 10 points. Read the story again and then take the quiz. Good Luck!

Professor Pannibal P. Panda, PhD.

1. Why was the old priest so happy?
2. What was his new teakettle made of?
3. What did the third boy see when he peeped through the screen?
4. What did all the boys see when they looked through the screen together?
5. What did the teakettle do when the old priest put it on the fire to heat?
6. Who did the old priest sell the teakettle to?
7. Where did he take the teakettle to after he bought it?
8. What did the badger say he liked to eat now and then?
9. What did the people who saw the dancing badger on the tightrope do after they saw it?
10. Where did the owner of the teakettle put the teakettle after he became rich?
11. Bonus: Using the story, describe what a badger looks like.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Hi! It's me, Professor Panda! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas season and I wish each and every one of you a very happy 2010!

I want to start out the new year with a really simple reading comprehension exercise. It is a cute little folktale from Japan called The Wonderful Teakettle. It is from a book, published in 1904 by Teresa Peirce Williston, titled Japanese Fairytales and will soon be republished by Shisei-Do Publications with the original illustrations by Ogawa Sanshi.

Please read the this simple story. You can read it several times if you want and in 5 days, I will publish a short quiz to see if you understood everything you read. Please enjoy our story.


THE WONDERFUL TEAKETTLE


The old priest was happy because he had found a new treasure. As he climbed the hill to the temple where he lived, he often stopped to pat his beautiful brass teakettle. When he reached the temple, he called the three boys who were his pupils.

“Look here!” he cried to them. “Just see the beautiful kettle I found in a little shop I passed. I got it very cheap, too!”

The boys admired it, but smiled a little to themselves, because they could not see what he wanted with an old brass kettle.

“Now go on with your studies, “ said the priest. “ I will hear you recite after a while.” So the boys went into the next room, and the old priest sat down to admire his prize. He sat and looked at it so long that he grew sleepy; and nod - bob went his head until in a moment, he was fast asleep.
The boys in the next room studied very hard for a few minutes, but they were boys and no one was there to watch over them; so, you can imagine what they were doing by the time the priest was fast asleep. Suddenly, they heard a noise in the next room.

“There, the priest is awake,” whispered one.

“Oh, dear! Now we will have to behave,” said the second.

The third one was more daring. He crept up and peeped through the screen to see if it really was the priest. He was just in time to see the new teakettle give a spring into the air, turn a somersault, and come down in the form of a furry, little badger, with a sharp nose, bushy tail, and four little feet.

How that badger did scamper and dance! It danced on the floor! It danced on the table! It danced up the side of a shōji screen!

“Oh, my! Oh, my!” cried the boy, tumbling backward. “It will dance on me next! Oh my!”

“What are you talking about?” said the other two. “What will dance on you?”

“That goblin will dance on me! I know it will! It danced on the floor and it danced on the table, and it danced on the screen, and now I know it is coming to dance on me!” said the boy.

“What do you mean?” said the others. “There is no goblin here.” Then they all looked through the screen and there sat the kettle, just as it had been before.



“You little silly!” cried one of the other boys. “Do you call that a goblin? That looks very much like a teakettle to my eyes.”

“Hush!” said the third boy. “The priest is waking up. We had better get to work again.”

The priest woke up and heard the busy lips of his pupils. “What good boys I have!” he thought. “Now, while they are studying, I will just brew myself a cup of tea.”

He lit his little charcoal fire, filled his kettle with fresh water, and put it over the fire to heat.
Suddenly, the kettle gave a leap up into the air, spilling the hot water all over the floor! “Hot, hot! I’m burning!” it cried. And, like a flash, it was no longer a kettle but a little furry badger, with a sharp nose, bushi tail, and four little feet.

“Oh, help! Help! There is a goblin!” shrieked the priest. In rushed the three boys to see what was the matter. They saw no kettle at all, but in its place, was a very angry badger prancing and sputtering around the room.

They all took sticks and began to beat the badger, but suddenly, it was only a brass kettle again that answered, “Clang, Clang!” with every blow.

When the priest saw that he could gain nothing by beating the kettle, he began to plan how he might get rid of it. Just then, the tinker came by.

“This is my chance,” thought the priest. And so he called, “Tinker, Tinker, come and see what I have for you. Here is an old kettle I found. It is no use to me, but you could mend it up and sell it.”

The tinker saw that it was a good kettle, so he bought it and took it home. He pressed it carefully into shape again and mended all the broken places and once more, it was a fine looking kettle.
That night, the tinker awoke and found a badger looking at him with his small, bright eyes.
“Now see here, Mr. Tinker,” said the badger. “I think that you are a kind man, so I have something to tell you. I am really a wonderful teakettle, and I can turn into a badger whenever I wish, as you can see. I can do other things too, more wonderful than that!”

The kindhearted tinker said, “Well, if you are a badger, you must want something to eat. What can I get for you?”

“Oh! I like a little sugar now and then,” replied the badger, “and I don’t like to be set on fire or beaten with sticks. However, I am sure that you will never treat me that way. If you wish to take me around to different villages, I can sing and dance on the tightrope for you.”

The tinker did exactly that; and crowds came to see the wonderful kettle. Those who had seen it once came to see it again; and those who had not seen it, came to see why the people liked it so well.

At last, the tinker became rich. Then he put his beloved teakettle in a little temple on top of a hill, where it might always rest and have all the sweets it wanted.

PROFESSOR PANDA'S QUESTION CORNER

Hi! It's me again, Professor Panda, PhD. Today we have a question from one of our students so let's get right to it!

Recently I tried to buy at online shop of USA but there were many difficult English for me in the web page. Please look at the following English:”Express airmail delivery to most major European destinations within 1-2 working days and Worldwide within 2-3 working days.”I used dictionary and I tried to understand the meaning but I can't understand 100% because, I don't know where subject and verb are in this sentence.
Please tell me.
When I translate such sentence, is there good way?

Good Morning Lee-san!

This was a case when a dictionary could not be a complete help to anyone. “Express airmail delivery to most major European destinations within 1-2 working days and Worldwide within 2-3 working days”.

This is an incomplete sentence or sometimes called a “sentence fragment”. It does not have a verb! It is common in advertising, which some people think is a good excuse to use bad English! I have seen terrible English on signs and buildings here in Gifu Prefecture and it makes me a bit nuts!!!!! Also it makes me laugh. They should ask me for proper English for their signs – I won’t charge them much! (hee hee)

Ok, as to the meaning of the “sentence fragment” or incomplete sentence.

It means that they can provide airmail delivery of items purchased from them to most places in Europe within 1 or 2 working days. A working day in the West typically means, Monday through Friday, when businesses are generally open. They, except for many stores, tend to be closed on Saturday and Sunday.

It goes on to say that they can provide “Worldwide”, meaning that they can provide worldwide delivery, to places other than most places in Europe, within 2-3 working days.

So, if you were in Europe, and it was Monday, you might get your package Tuesday or Wednesday. If it was Friday when you made your order, then you might get your package on Monday or Tuesday, because Saturday and Sunday do not count.

By the way, my experience is that you need to add an extra day!

Anou…there is no rule or good guidelines for finding the meaning of incomplete sentences or “sentence fragments”. To get the meaning one needs to understand basic English grammar, have a good vocabulary, and some experience in using English. The key is, practice, practice, practice. Read everything you can get your hands on, from USA magazines to The Japan Times!

Ok, watch out for the flu.

-P. Panda

THE PARTS OF SPEECH

Hi everybody! I thought it would be fun to begin to study the basic "parts of speech": all the words we use to speak and write English well. They are like our basic tools and we can't do a good job on something unless we know our tools well. So let's get started!

THE PARTS OF SPEECH

Words in English or divided into eight parts of speech, each one different, according to their “job” in a sentence. Oh yes indeed, there are different kinds of words and each kind of word has a specific function in a sentence. They are:

Adjectives
Adverbs
Conjunctions
Interjections
Nouns
Pronouns (No, these are not nouns that have given up amateur status to become professionals!)
Prepositions
Verbs

These are some of the “nuts and bolts” (the basic parts) that make up English, and to speak and write English well, we must have a good understanding of them and their jobs. I say “some”, because there are other parts of speech, but I do not want you to go running away into the night, screaming in terror, so I will keep them to myself for a while until you are comfortable with the parts I have mentioned above.

So, let’s get started!

NOUNS

A noun is simply a word that names a person, place, or thing. A good way to remember nouns is this:

NOUN = NAMAE

A noun is a name and they come in different varieties; and just like names, there are some what we like, some that maybe we don’t like so much, and some that we are stuck with no matter what. The varieties of nouns are:

Common nouns
Proper nouns
Compound nouns
Collective nouns.

Don’t panic! It’s not as complicated as in sounds, as you will soon see. For today’s lesson, we will explore two types of nouns: common nouns and proper nouns.

Common nouns – nouns that name any one of a group, or class, or type of person, place or thing.

girl
city
food

Easy right?

Proper nouns – nouns that name a specific or certain person, place, or thing.

· Mitusko
· Osaka
· California Roll

Until next time, look through your favorite magazines or books, and see if you can pick out common nouns and proper nouns. I am sure you will find lots of them and suddenly you will discover that you have a new way of thinking about the words you see.

Ok, now let's relax and have some tea!

ENGLISH SOUNDS: PART I

ENGLISH SOUINDS: PART I

Hi! This is Professor Panda again! How are you? I hope everyone is well.

Today I want to cover just a few extremely basic points that might be of help to you in understanding both how to speak and how to write in English. I must apologize for the fact that some of what I will talk about is a bit “slanted” toward those who speak Japanese (Nihongo), but along with English, they are the languages I know best. I used to know some Vietnamese but over many years and lack of practice, I have forgotten 99% of what I learned. I hope sometime in the next couple of years, to return to Viet Nam and then I can get a bit of much needed practice!

Anyway, let’s get started and remember to have a good dictionary with you for this lesson.

Before I do however, I want to mention something that will be very helpful to you. When you are studying all the words and phrases and sentences in these lessons, make sure that you articulate (speak) aloud. In fact, it is really helpful if you read the entire lesson aloud. Try never to read these lessons silently. Perception of a sound is not the same as the production of a sound – thinking the sound is not the same as speaking the sound. Clear speaking (articulation) is the best way to make your brain recognize sounds as English sounds. Silent reading does not activate your brain, speaking aloud does. I assure you that you will make much faster progress this way.

Consonants

Ok, the first things I want to talk about are consonants, which are simply speech sounds that are characterized by constriction or obstruction of the airflow at various points in the mouth or throat when talking. For example: “t” is a consonant because in order to pronounce it, you use the tongue to block airflow at the edge of the mouth between the upper teeth and the gum.

What letters in English are consonants? As you will see in a minute, anything that is not a vowel (I know, I know, I’m a big help!)

Vowels

Vowels are speech sounds that are produced without any obstruction of airflow in the mouth. For example: “i” is a vowel because to pronounce it, you push air forward and out smoothly, without using your tongue.

Syllables

A syllable is a unit or part of spoken language that consists of:

• A vowel or vowel-like consant alone, or,



• A vowel or vowel-like consonant pronounced with one or more consonant sounds before or after
  

It is how words are divided when speaking. For example: the word consonant is divided into three syllables – con-so-nant. By looking up a word in your dictionary, you see that the word is broken down for you into syllables. Practice the word by slowly pronouncing each syllable slowly, and then you can increase speed until you are comfortable with how you are saying the word.


Sounds

Japanese is quite simple in comparison to English when it comes to sounds. Japanese has only 14 consonants and 5 vowels. English however has 24 consonants (which include the “semi-vowels “Y” and “w”) and even though English has only 5 vowels as well, it has at least 12 vowel sounds! It is much easier for and English speaker to speak Japanese sounds because they already exist in English; however, it is often a real struggle for Japanese speakers to master English pronunciation because they have to deal with many sounds that do not exist in Japanese!

Also, in Japanese, each syllable ends with a vowel and each syllable is considered to have the same “weight” or emphasis – Japanese syllables sound as though they have the same length. This is not quite the same in English, for example:

Karaoke – in Japanese the word has four syllables: Ka-ra-o-ke. In English the same word also has four syllables: car-rie-oh-key. You can already start to see a difference in pronunciation!

In Japanese, each syllable sounds as though it has exactly the same length as all the others. Each syllable is short and open. In English, syllables are not characterized by the same length – car-rie-oh-key. Pronounce both the Japanese word and the English word. With care, you can begin to hear the slight difference in length between “oh” and “key”. The same thing applies in other words like Eng-lish or Jap-a-nese. Can you hear the long “nese”?

Well, that’s enough for today! Next time we will discuss specific vowel sounds to help you along the way to pronouncing Western English. I’m a bit hungry now and need a snack! I think I’ll have a bit of panda soup! Would you like some?

Bye bye until next time!

Lesson 2. What Is Grammar?

WHAT IS GRAMMAR?

 

            “Grammar,” Henry Fowler wrote in his soon-to-be famous, 1926, Dictionary of Modern English Usage, is “a poor despised branch of learning.”  Well maybe he was a bit grumpy that day.

 

            To the rest of us, grammar is a branch of linguistics (the study of language) that deals with the form and the structure of words.  It is an attempt to make clear  what the skilled writer and speaker of English does by instinct.  When people are said to have “good” or “bad” grammar, the understanding is that they choose to obey or ignore the rules of accepted usage associated with their language whether it is English or Japanese.

 

            Grammar is one of the oldest fields of study, as well as one of the most durable.  Even Plato can be labeled as an early grammarian (a person who studies grammar), because he was responsible for dividing the sentence into subject and verb, a division still exists today!

 

WHAT IS USAGE?

 

            Usage is the normal way we use language in speaking and writing.  Because we use language for different purposes, there are various levels of usage.  The following table lists the “big three”.

 

LEVEL OF USAGE	EXAMPLES
1.  Standard English:  formal usage	They have done nothing.
2.  Standard English:  informal (conversational) usage	They’ve done nothing.
3.  Nonstandard (“Friendly-speak”) usage	Dey ain’t done nothin’.

 

 

LEVEL OF USAGE

 

1. Standard English (formal usage) – “They have done nothing.”
2. Standard English (informal (conversational) usage) – “They’ve done nothing.”
3. Non-Standard (“Friendly-speak”) usage – “Dey ain’t done notin’.”

 

The main difference between Standard English and non-Standard English (“Friendly-speak”) appears in the use of pronouns and certain verb forms.  For example, where a speaker in Standard English would use brought, a speaker of nonstandard English would use brung.  There are also several words and expressions that are considered nonstandard, such as slang words.

LEVEL OF USAGE

 

1. Standard English (formal usage) – “They have done nothing.”
2. Standard English (informal (conversational) usage) – “They’ve done nothing.”
3. Non-Standard (“Friendly-speak”) usage – “Dey ain’t done notin’.”

 

The main difference between Standard English and non-Standard English (“Friendly-speak”) appears in the use of pronouns and certain verb forms.  For example, where a speaker in Standard English would use "brought", a speaker of nonstandard English would use "brung".  There are also several words and expressions that are considered nonstandard, such as slang words.

 

DECIDING WHICH GRAMMAR TO LEARN

 

            Which grammar?  Does that mean that there is more than one?  Yes, indeed there are several different types of grammar, including historical (how language has changed through the centuries) and comparative (comparing languages).  But don’t worry too much.  Here we I will only be interested in two types of grammar:  the two you have to know in order to improve your speech and writing.

            Descriptive English grammar gives names to things:  the parts of speech and the parts of a sentence.  When you learn descriptive grammar, you understand what every word is (its part of speech) and what every word does (its function in the sentence).  If a person is not careful, however, descriptive grammar can go overboard fast and you can end up saying things like “balloon is the object of the gerund, in a gerund phrase that is acting as the predicate nominative of the linking verb ‘appear’.”  Don’t worry because we will not go into that level of terminology; besides, I’m not quite sure what that all means anyway.  There is, however, one important reason to learn some English grammar terms and that is to understand why a particular word or phrase is correct or incorrect. 

            Functional grammar makes up most of what we will learn.  Functional English grammar tells you how words behave when they are doing their jobs properly.  Functional grammar guides you to the right expression; that is, the one that fits what you are trying to say, by insuring that the sentence is put together correctly.  When you are agonizing over whether to say I or me, you are actually solving a problem of functional grammar.  So in order to be successful in our study of English grammar, we will use this formula:  a little descriptive grammar + a lot of functional grammar = better grammar overall.

 

LET'S STUDY ENGLISH!

Hi! I'm Professor Panda!

For the last couple of years I have been providing informal lessons and discussions about English Grammar, usage, spelling, and composition for our friends in Japan! We decided to expand things just a bit, and provide a place where all our "pupils" can find the lessons we have published in Japan, in case they missed or lost one, as well as a place to discuss "Western English" as is spoken in the US and Canada, rather than the UK. Here we can discuss problems, find solutions, and practice, practice, practice. So please join us - young and old - boys and girls - and we will have lots of fun along the way!

Oh! And coming in 2009, we hope to be providing actual "up close and personal" English lessons and practice for all of our friends in Gifu Prefecture! Stay tuned for more information!

Now - let's study English!