31.10.2025

Hello everyone!

We hope you’ve had a good start to the new semester. To properly kick off the English Lounge this term, we’d like to invite you to two events on October 31.

First, our traditional Halloween Party will begin at 12:00. Learn about American culture, watch spooky videos, and practise your English through fun games!

Afterwards, Jonathan Krautter from Hitotsubashi University will give a presentation about his research and his experience conducting studies in two different countries at the same time.

We hope to see many of you in the Lounge!

Opening and Advising Week, October 2025

We will have orientation and advising week every day from Monday, October 1, to Friday, October 10. Please stop by anytime!

We especially recommend participating in the TOEFL/TOEIC Practice Test on October 1 and the Opening Seminar on October 10.

See you soon in the Lounge!

English Lounge Forum 5

English with Games Fr 06/13

The next event will be Friday 06/13 12.00-14.00 in the Lounge.
Please join us!

English with Games Fr 05/30

The next event will be Friday 05/30 14.20-16.00 in the Lounge.
Please join us!

Opening Week, April 2025

We will have orientation sessions every day from Monday April 14 to Friday April 18. Please stop by to learn about the English Lounge!

Welcome to the English Lounge!

この投稿を日本語でも読めます。

Dear new first-year students and returning students,

Welcome to the Hirosaki University English Lounge homepage. Please feel free to explore the website, read the blog, and learn about what we have to offer.

The English Lounge is a “self-access learning center” (SALC), where students can come to study English, take free classes, meet international students, or just hang out. Becoming an “autonomous learner” (自律的学習者) is very important for college students, and we are here to help. Stop by any time during our opening hours, 10:30 – 17:00 every weekday, to meet a teacher, ask questions, or just to find out what the English Lounge is all about. We have a variety of books to borrow (check out our book introductions), movies to watch, small-scale seminars to join, and more.

The keyword of the English Lounge is “freedom.” No homework, no registration, no grades: you are free to come and learn freely here!

 

 

EL本棚紹介(98) My Big Fat Zombie Goldfish, by Mo O’Hara

[Welcome to the EL Book Introductions series. These posts are all short (<180 words) introductions/reviews of books in the EL library. They focus on telling you what we think will be interesting for you, a college student and English learner, so use them to help you find the right book for you. You can also use the tags to find books about topics you might be interested in.]

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You can guess from the title of My Big Fat Zombie Goldfish that this is not a very serious book. It is a very silly book meant for elementary school-aged children to read—especially children who have older brothers or sisters. It is about a boy and his older brother, who is an evil scientist. The brother is a bully, and does a science experiment on a goldfish. When the boy tries to bring it back to life, it becomes a zombie that can hypnotize humans. It is a silly, silly book.

Because this is a book meant for children, the author repeats a lot of words and phrases. This is a good way to learn a language. Also, many of the pictures in the book are visual puns (おやじギャグ), so even just looking at them can be English practice. Finally, there are some puzzles and an interview with the author at the end of the book. These can all be interesting even without reading the whole story.

My two cents: This book was first published in 2013, and I find it interesting to compare with Aliens Ate my Homework, which was written 20 years earlier. While the target readers and general themes are the same, the type of writing, humor, and general feeling of the books are quite different.

EL本棚紹介(97) The Truth Pixie and The Truth Pixie Goes to School, by Matt Haig and Chris Mould

[Welcome to the EL Book Introductions series. These posts are all short (<180 words) introductions/reviews of books in the EL library. They focus on telling you what we think will be interesting for you, a college student and English learner, so use them to help you find the right book for you. You can also use the tags to find books about topics you might be interested in.]

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The Truth Pixie is a “wacky” character. She is a weird fairy, her hair sticks up in the air, and she can only say the truth. These books contain a lot of funny and strange-looking illustrations that match the weird, funny story. Most importantly, these books are written as long poems (詩). The poems use very easy language, so it is not difficult to understand at all. However, it can be good practice for learning about rhyme (韻) and rhythm in English. Furthermore, if you read aloud, these poems can help you practice speaking with good stress and rhythm (called “prosody”).

To be honest, the content of the stories is nothing very special. These are books written for children, and the lesson is basically “be yourself.” That said, they are fast and easy to read. Furthermore, they use British English, so you can learn a little world English if you have only studied American English before.

My two cents: Although these are children’s books, they are mostly well-written, and remind me of reading Dr. Seuss’s books. Dr. Seuss is very famous for writing crazy books with interesting language, and they are just as fun for adults as children.

EL Competition 2025 – Encouragement-prize: English is a game, by Harada Hidenori

Haratan is a notebook that summarizes mistakes, named in imitation of a reference book called “Yumetan”. For example, I wrote down words or sentences that I got wrong in mock exams or regular tests, or words that appeared for the first time in textbooks. For me, Haratan is like a strategy book for the game of English, and I enjoyed playing the game when I was writing Haratan.

Haratan was helpful in various tests. In fact, the content written on Haratan was also used in the University Entrance common Test and the secondary examination of the Hirosaki University . It is no exaggeration to say that I was able to enter Hirosaki University thanks to Haratan.

After entering the university, I found it difficult to speak English after conversing with international students in the English Lounge.

English is still difficult.

From now on, I want to learn English that I can actually use rather than English for entrance exams.