Hi everyone! Thank you for tuning in to Time for English.

It’s April. A new business year and school term start this month. For those who were determined to improve their English on the first day of January and somewhat failing to keep it, here’s a second chance to start it anew.

Watching movies and interview clips certainly help, but remember, reading books can also help. For example, books written by Haruki Murakami provide a wealth of casual conversation examples. Here’s one. In Hear The Wind Sing, a girl goes to the kitchen to fix something to eat. She opens the fridge and finds some bread, lettuce and cold cuts. She makes some quick sandwiches and brings them to her boyfriend and says, “No mustard, sorry”. The boyfriend’s answer: It’s tops as is. He means it’s just fine the way they are.

So, start small. Choose something short. Some of my early readings includes The Pearl by John Steinbeck, The Old Man and The Sea by Hemingway, The Fall of The House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe. Just a few pages, or even a few paragraphs a day is fine, but every day. Good luck!

Now. Would you like to practice the sentence together? Please repeat after me:

It’s tops as is.