short stories shared for discussion with your friends and family

Story time with Debbie

Here you will listen to clothes vocabulary.

ROMANIAN

Îmbrăcămintea mea

Traditional cuisine with a detailed description of 3 dishes)

ARMENIAthroughMyEyes

Armenian Food

There's an old English saying that goes: "Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise."

But according to a recent study, "late to bed and late to rise" may actually be better for your brain — though researchers didn't check if it does anything for your health or your wallet.

A study published in BMJ Public Health looked at data from nearly 27,000 people who reported how long they slept, and whether they were a "morning lark" — someone who wakes up early — or a "night owl," who sleeps late.

The participants, aged between 53 and 86, also did cognitive tests that checked their reasoning, memory, and how quickly they could process information.

It was found that night owls performed best on the cognitive tests — ahead of those who described themselves as neither morning people nor night people. And morning larks had the lowest cognitive scores of all.

People's bodies have times when they naturally prefer to sleep. And Raha West of Imperial College London, the study's lead author, said that while it's possible to gradually shift your sleeping times, it's very difficult to completely change from a morning person to a night person.

However, she also said the results just show the trend, and not the truth for every individual.

The authors also noted that their results, which focused on older adults, contrasted with past research on adolescents, which found that young morning larks actually had better health and better mental well-being.

Speaking to The Guardian, Jacqui-Ann Hanley of Alzheimer’s Research UK, who wasn't involved with the study, also said it isn't clear if being a morning person leads to poorer cognitive results in older adults, or if the weaker cognitive abilities that come with aging just make people get up earlier.

The study also found that people generally got better cognitive scores if they reported sleeping between seven and nine hours each night.

Practice Listening, Reading & Comprehension

'Night Owls' May Have Better Brains

Confusing words
My students often have problems with these words. Let me help!
Load this PDF to read the text.

PDF:   https://drive.google.com/open?id=1fAbDx9wI-hk3jp9InjPN0-AB-OsMnmJK&usp=drive_fs


Confusing words - intermediate 

Confusing words - pass something on, pass something around

こんにちは、あかりです。今日(きょう)のトピックは「働(はたら)き方(かた)の違(ちが)い」です。

Usage of Slow Japanese:
STEP 1. Listen to the episode without seeing the scripts.
STEP 2. Go to mochifika.com/podcast/ and check "Key vocabularies of this episode", and listen again to the episode while seeing the list.
STEP 3. Check the whole script, it'll fill the gap in your understanding.

👉Support the Mochifika project, and see full scripts + access to the additional materials!
https://www.patreon.com/mochifika

Buy me a coffee:
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mochifika

Slow Japanese

Episode #48 - Difference in working style

【北海道Hokkaido生活】
〈#126〉10月21日金曜日　天気/くもり　気温/13℃ 

池田町/いけだちょう
・カナダのイアン・マッケイ駐日大使が来た
・高校生の時にホームステイをしていた
・その時に通った高校に行って、今の高校生と交流をした

［単語］
駐日/ちゅうにち...日本にいる
大使/たいし...自分の国のため、他の国にいる人。
ホームステイ/ほーむすてい…外国人留学生が、国の家族と一緒に生活すること。
交流/こうりゅう…違う考えの人や文化の人がいっしょに話しをすること

レッスン待ってます♪


北海道Hokkaido生活 for Japanese learners

〈#126〉10月21日金曜日　カナダの大使が高校で交流

In this podcast you will know about some things you should not do in Colombia


Decirle no a un trago de aguardiente

No te preocupes por el tiempo

Solicitar un café con leche

Hacer chistes de Pablo Escobar o La Guerrilla

Rechazar una invitación a bailar


Remember that I also teach Spanish on italki, in case you want to book a class with me :)

Colombia

Cosas que no puedes hacer en Colombia

Standing at the Window with transcript for study.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/18j5escEQnhewWEojafIxJJMgiqAcgot2/view?usp=drivesdk