Hello, it's Charlie! Hailing from Japan, I've been a resident of Canada for two years now. The challenge? I'm still on the lookout for Canadian friends! Nevertheless, I keep dreaming about the day I can confidently and fluently chat with Canadian friends in English. That's where this podcast comes in – my mission is to gather a treasure trove of tidbits, from personal experiences to opinions, and everything in between, so I can get myself well-prepared for those future conversations! If you're an English learner, join me on this journey! Let's chat and practice English together!

My apologies for letting you be surprised if you are the one who enjoys News Canada Through Japanese Eyes. As the New Year begins, I decided to transform this podcast again. Let me tell you the reason behind this. Recently, I started trying to make Canadian friends, and after several opportunities to meet someone, I found it difficult to keep a conversation going or even find some topics and talk about them! I am, like as many intermediate-level English learners, struggling to lead conversation due to limited vocabulary and speed of coming up with ideas to talk about. As a result, we are prone to listen to others’ stories most of the time. All I can do is show my understanding or feeling by saying “Sounds nice”, “Cool”, or “I am sorry to hear that” with a facial expression. This is sad! Miserable!     

The idea is to make this podcast more practical. The new series would be used as the tidbit note! A "tidbit" refers to a small and interesting piece of information or a brief and delightful detail about something. It means gathering a variety of small, engaging, and personal stories, experiences, opinions, or anecdotes to share with you guys to get myself ready to talk with my future Canadian Friends! Sad? Not really! Rather brilliant, thoughtful and creative!

Of course, not only does this podcast work for my English-speaking practice, but it also gives you some useful topics that you can think of and practice by yourself, and introduces some vocabulary which is nice to have whenever! Hope you enjoy this new season of this podcast and practice English with me!

Today, start with self-introduction. Do you know the typical question in the job interview“Tell me a little bit about yourself.”? The interview tends to start with this question, which is usually deemed to answer the summary of job experience and educational background that should meet the current position's needs and requirements. Recently I found out the question seems to be used in casual situations such as a first date or first hanging out with someone. That means most likely, we can be asked “Tell me about yourself” when hanging out with friends! How do you answer this question in English, not for the interview, but for the potential friend in a social gathering?

I will be answering like this:

I'm Japanese and grew up there, but now I've been in Canada for 2 years. Spent the last year pushing papers as an administrative assistant for a marine industrial company. I'm also hustling at a restaurant on weekends. Oh, and lately, I'm trying to become a Japanese teacher on the side. When I'm not doing all that, I'm brewery hopping and sipping on some good whiskey. 

I think this will be enough information for the introduction. Then there can be additional questions like “How do you like Canada?” or something related to a brewery! That would be the best scenario for me because in most cases, people who ask questions regarding breweries, tend to be enthusiastic about beer!! Right after I am asked these questions, most likely be easy to invite them to go drinking! That would be perfect. 

That’s the end of this episode. See you next week! Have a good one!