Hello everybody! Everybody at BRIDGE would like to wish you a very Happy New Year! Let's continue studying and growing in 2025.
Let's also continue praying for all wars to end as quickly as possible this year. In addition, we've already seen some terrible tragedies in 2025 like the wildfires in Los Angeles. Therefore, please keep everybody affected by these disasters in your thoughts and prayers.
However, I have a feeling many good things will come about in 2025. Keep thinking positively and working towards a more tolerant, peaceful, and loving society. Take care and bless you all!
Hello everybody! We hope you enjoyed Halloween and that you are getting ready for the winter holidays. It is already November, so Christmas and New Year's holiday will be here very soon.
In November, I like to start reviewing the year to find the greatest, the worst, and the strangest moments of 2024. One great achiement for Japan was that this year's Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Nihon Hidankyo. Nihon Hidankyo is a grassroots group established in 1956 by survivors of the atomic bombings of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The group has spent decades asking governments worldwide to abolish nuclear weapons. Hiroshima and Nagasaki are the only places on Earth where atomic bombs have been used on civilian populations, and as seen by the efforts of Nihon Hidankyo, the people of these cities want to make sure these tragedies never happen again.
The news agency Reuters praised the legacy of Nihon Hidankyo. It wrote, "For decades - thanks in large part to the work of Nihon Hidankyo – the destruction unleashed on the two Japanese cities was widely seen as a lesson from history that using nuclear weapons again was too appalling to contemplate." However, tensions in the world today mean we are closer to the brink of nuclear war than ever before. Russia has warned that the USA's support of Ukraine increases the risks of nuclear conflict. There are fears that Iran is developing nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, North Korea has declared it is accelerating efforts to become a military superpower and a nuclear power. It is important for us all to remember in these stressful times that peace is the goal, and thanks to groups like Nihon Hidankyo, there is hope for an Earth with no atomic bombs.
Please share your thoughts on this issue when you come to BRIDGE again. Take care and happy studying!
Hello again students of English! Halloween is this coming Thursday, so please celebrate the holiday with this fun game called Scattergories.
Scattergories is a common party game in the United States where people have to write down as many words as possible that match each catergory in a limited amount of time.
For example, please use this Halloween categories below to get started.
Something Orange:
Types of Candy, Snacks, or Sweets:
Scary Animals :
Horror Movie Names:
Common Fears:
The next step is to choose a random letter, and for today, we will choose the letter B. Therefore, you and / or your team has to write down an example of each category that starts with the letter B. Please check out this example below.
Something Orange: basketball
Types of Candy, Snacks, or Sweets: bubblegum
Scary Animals : bear
Horror Movie Names: the Birds (Alfred Hitchcock)
Common Fears: blood
Again, there should be a time limit, so we recommend about 3 minutes if this is your first time. However, you can decide whatever time is good for your group. For every correct word written down, each team gets 1 point. You can continue playing by choosing different letters, and I recommend doing 13 rounds for Halloween (Friday the 13th!!!). After you finish the 13th round, count each team's points and see who the winner is!
Try this game to have fun and study English this Halloween.
