Recipe for success: The growth of team-building cookery classes
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Monthly Archive: March 2017
Recipe for success: The growth of team-building cookery classes
Company away days are usually spent through team building, seminars or charity which are said to be stodgy and humiliating. Nowadays, cookery classes for companies are offered in some parts of Europe. Food@Work handled cooking classes of SIG, a hardware company based in London. SIG employees say that working in the kitchen loosened taut officers. Belguim-based Waffle Workshop originally targeted tourists but focused on companies instead because of perils that happened last year. Making waffles while knowing their colleagues more made attendees euphoric. France-based L’Atelier des Sens holds at least 150 team building cookery classes with 50 instructing chefs per month. L’Atelier des Sens observed that the organizational chart…
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Recipe for success: The growth of team-building cookery classes
Pre-reading questions: What kind of activities do you enjoy doing with your friends? What comes to your mind when you hear “team building”? Team building activities such as grinding in a seminar about effectivity at work or spending time doing potentially embarrassing activities are the usual ways to run through company away days. However, a new type of team building activity emerged in Europe. London-based Food@Work and Brussels-based Waffle Workshop offer team building cooking classes. SIG, a hardware company, was a client of Food@Work. SIG staff say that the cooking class was fun because of the different atmosphere from work. Meanwhile, attendees at Waffle Workshop say that they…
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Traditional approach of Tokyo hotels
Pre-reading questions: What is your favorite sport? What kind of Olympic sports do you like to watch? As a preparation for 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, hotels have started to offer ryokan or Japanese-style accommodation. Foreign guests can now experience ryokan without even leaving the city. Newly renovated hotels use tatami, paper screens, shiraki (plain wood furniture) and lantern-like lighting for their rooms. Underneath the traditional look, the rooms are equipped with modern amenities. Hotel managers are hoping that the Japanese-style rooms would attract foreign and local travelers. Vocabulary: accommodation – [noun] a group of rooms in which someone may live or stay renovated – [verb] restored to a good condition…
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Recipe for success: The growth of team-building cookery classes
Pre-reading questions: Do you like cooking? Please explain your answer. What kind of activities do you enjoy doing with your friends? Company away days are activities spent with co-workers outside the office. Examples of the activities are team building, seminars, and charity. However, there is a new company away day activity in Europe. Office workers can try cooking classes to know their peers better. Cooking classes can help workers bond with each other. Vocabulary: activity [noun]- something done for pleasure or entertainment seminar [noun]- meeting charity [noun]- an activity to help the poor peer [noun]- a member of a group with the same rank bond [noun]- bring together True or…
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Abe ‘builds trust’ with Trump
Pre-reading questions: Do you think America and Japan have a good relationship? Do you think President Donald Trump is a good leader? Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited US President Donald Trump. The meeting happened a few days after Donald Trump’s win in the 2016 elections. The Prime Minister is the first state leader to visit Trump after the elections. According to the US Department of State, the relationship between Japan and the United States is important to Asia’s economy. The prime minister is planning another visit later this year. Vocabulary: visit [verb] – to go to a place in order to look at it, or to a person in order…
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Japanese government to give scholarships in 2018
Approximately 20,000 students will be granted state-sponsored scholarsips in Japan in 2018. A monthly allowance of ¥20,000 will be provided to students at public universities who live with their parents; ¥30,000 will be given monthly to students of such schools living away from their parents and students attending private universities who live with their parents; and, students at private universities who live away from their parents will receive ¥40,000. As a precursory action, in 2017, Japan Student Services Organization (JASSO) will give financial support to 2,650 students. The academic grants, which will be introduced to students from low-income households, are a far-reaching step in aiding citizens to achieve higher education…
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Japanese government to give scholarships in 2018
Pre-reading questions: What is your understanding of a scholarship? What kind of students do you think should be given scholarships? How do scholarship programs benefit the society? About 20,000 students will be given state-sponsored scholarships in Japan in 2018. Students at public universities who live with their parents will receive a monthly allowance of ¥20,000; students of such schools living away from their parents and students attending private universities who live with their parents will get ¥30,000 monthly; and, students at private universities who live away from their parents will receive ¥40,000. As a first step, Japan Student Services Organization (JASSO) will give financial support to 2,650 students in 2017….
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