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Todd: OK, Nanju, I'm going to ask you about your favorites. What is your favorite color?

Nanju: My favorite color, black.

Todd: Black! Really, OK, and what is your favorite fruit?

Nanju: Fruit? OK, it's mango.

Todd: Oh, mango.

Nanju: Yeah.

Todd: OK. Can you get mangoes in Japan?

Nanju: No, I haven't seen a proper mango here, because everything's very small, that is not a very good mango, I know because in India I will get a lot of mangoes, very good taste, and variety of mangoes, I haven't tried, I haven't found anywhere in Japan.

Todd: Really.

Nanju: Yeah, sure.

Todd: Oh, wow. So how do you eat mango, just do you eat it raw, or do you?

Nanju: Yeah, I'll eat it raw. The raw mango is very good.

Todd: Oh, cool. Nice. So do you have like mango juice? Is that popular?

Nanju: Yeah. But mango juice, it's not that much good. I eat only raw mango. It will be very good, very good, very good.

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Ron: Hi, I'm Ron from Hawaii. I'm here with Mari from Japan. Today we will be talking about abilities. So, Mari, are you a good cook?

Mari: I like to cook, more specifically, I like to cook for people. I like to have people over and eat with people. I don't really like to eat alone, so I don't like to cook for myself. I like to cook for other people, but more than cooking I like to bake.

Ron: Baking. What do you like to bake?

Mari: Cookies and brownies and cake.

Ron: That sounds very good. I would like to eat one of your brownies. OK, next, are you a good singer?

Mari: I am terrible at singing. I don't like going to karaoke and I don't like to sing. I like music, but I can't sing for my life. I, yesterday, or I guess in class it was a students birthday and I made my students sing Happy Birthday but they wouldn't start so I had to start them off singing and my voice was so bad, they started laughing at me, so I'm just a terrible singer.

Ron: That's funny. OK, next. Are you a good dancer?

Mari: No, I'm not a good dancer. I can't dance at all. I used to when I was younger, my parents would enroll me in ballet classes, so I did ballet for six years but I am not very good at dancing.

Ron: So, you're a teacher now right? So, were you a good student when you were a student?

Mari: I was a good student because I'm a dork. No, yeah, I think I was a good student. I tried hard in all of my classes. I always did my homework. I was always focused and took notes during class. If I didn't understand something, I would either ask questions in class or speak to the teacher or professor after class. I always really liked learning and so I think that's why I was a really good student.

Ron: And athletics? Were you a good athlete, and are you a good athlete now?

Mari: That's a tricky question. I like sports, and I like playing sports. I don't think I'm a very good athlete, probably compared to you, I'm probably not, but I really enjoy playing sports. In high school, I played soccer. I ran cross-country. I played ice-hockey and a little bit of lacrosse.

Ron: And which one was your favorite sport?

Mari: My favorite sport was ice-hockey.

Ron: Interesting.

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Todd: Hey, Jeff this is a very nice apartment.

Jeff: Hmm. It's comfortable. It's cozy. Japanese style.

Todd: I like it. It's got the tatami mat, small kitchen. Do you live alone?

Jeff: I live alone but right now I have a friend of mine staying with me.

Todd: Oh, really, a roommate.

Jeff: Sort of like a roommate, yes. A short term, he's staying with me short-term, so yes a roommate.

Todd: OK, how's that going?

Jeff: Ah, I don't like it.

Todd: Why?

Jeff:He's lazy. He's messy. He drinks too much. He doesn't exercise and he doesn't contribute any money to the rent.

Todd: Ooh, so he lives here and he doesn't give you any money?

Jeff: Well, yeah, he doesn't give me any money. The money's not so bad, though, it's just that he's lazy and he doesn't do much all day.

Todd: That's got to be pretty annoying.

Jeff: He's a great fellow. He's a good friend of mine, but, yeah, he's, I try to motivate him to do a few things but he's a tough one.

Todd: Are you going to tell him he has to move out?

Jeff: Ah, no, he's a smart man. He knows. He knows. He knows the deal. He knows what's going on and I think he's, yeah, I would never ask him to move out because I don't mind having him here but I'm just going to try to whip him into shape.

Todd: Oh, so you're just going to try to change him so he becomes a better roommate?

Jeff: I'm going to be like a woman and try to, yeah, try to get him a better schedule, a better schedule (yeah) like exercise and eating right and less smoking and less drinking.

Todd: Well, what is his schedule?

Jeff:Ah, his schedule is, he's like a night owl, he stays up most of the night drinking, and then he sleeps most of the day recovering, and then when he gets up he has a hangover. He's a bit sluggish and slow, so it's not a healthy lifestyle.

Todd: Yeah, it doesn't sound like it. Good luck.

Jeff: No problem.

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Dai: So, Naomi, so you're from Wales and you're eleven. So what does an eleven-year-old girl do for fun in Wales? Naomi: I do music. I play the piano and and the violin.

Dai: How long have you played the piano for?

Naomi: Since I was about eight.

Dai: Eight. And what about the violin?

Naomi: About the same?

Dai: OK, and what kind of level are you at now, then, at the piano?

Naomi: I just passed my grade three.

Dai: Oh, congratulations. So that's grade three of ... what is that?

Naomi: Of ... you have different levels.

Dai: OK. And it starts at grade ...?

Naomi: One. And it gets harder.

Dai: Up till ... what's the highest grade you can get?

Naomi: Eight.

Dai: Oh, grade eight. So, you're a grade three now. So I guess the next one you're gonna do is grade four?

Naomi: Yeah.

Dai: OK, and so what do you have to do? What kind of test is it?

Naomi: You learn three pieces.

Dai: Three pieces of music.

Naomi: Yeah. And you have to play them and you have do some singing.

Dai: Oh, really?

Naomi: Yeah. And some ...

Dai: Is that like sight reading? You look at the script and you have to sing the notes or ... ?

Naomi: No, somebody plays a tune for you and you have to sing it, exactly the same tune that they played, and there's sight reading where you have to look at the page and then play it on the piano.

Dai: Oh, wow. Is that hard?

Naomi: Yeah.

Dai: Yeah. I can imagine. So often ... how much to you practice the piano then?

Naomi: It probably should be once a day, but I normally do it three times a week - about that.

Dai: OK. And you enjoy it then?

Naomi: Yeah.

Dai: OK. Great. And, you play the violin too?

Naomi: Yeah.

Dai: Yeah, is that fun?

Naomi: Sort of. It's not as fun as the piano.

Dai: OK. And do you do any other things in your spare time?

Naomi: I do Guides and swimming.

Dai: Guides?

Naomi: Yeah.

Dai: What's Guides?

Naomi: It's like a group of girls and they do activities and everything and they meet each week to do activities.

Dai: Like what kind of activities do you do?

Naomi: Well, you can go camping sometimes, and you just do activities like sometimes you do sports and outside activities and lots of things.

Dai: Oh, is it like, kind of like the Cub Scouts for the boys?

Naomi: Yes.

Dai: OK, so you have to wear a uniform?

Naomi: Yes.

Dai: OK, can you explain the uniform for me?

Naomi: It's sort of this dark blue and you can either wear jeans or joggers or these trousers.

Dai: Joggers? What are joggers?

Naomi: Trousers that you wear for sports.

Dai: Oh, for like jogging. Oh, OK. well, sounds like you have ... you do a lot of fun things in your spare time.

Naomi: Yeah.

Dai: OK, well, it was very nice to talk to you and good luck with your piano and your violin.

Naomi: Thank you.

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Todd: So Shuan, you mentioned your family, do you have a big family?

Shuan: No, I have a fairly small family, actually, I've only got, including me there's only four people in my family.

Todd: So it's your mother, your father, you...

Shuan: And my sister.

Interactive Audio Quiz (Flash Required) Todd: Oh, and your sister. OK, is your sister younger or older than you?

Shuan: She's younger. She just started university actually.

Todd: Ah, so you're the big brother.

Shuan: I am, yeah.

Todd: OK, that's nice. So where does your family live right now?

Shuan: Ah, my mother and my father live in Victoria in Canada and my sister is on the other side of Canada in Montreal in Quebec.

Todd: Well, tell me about your father. What's your father like?

Shuan: My father is pretty much the most interesting person I think I know. He all different kinds of stories about his childhood, and his growing up.

Todd: Did you grow up in Canada?

Shuan: No, he grew up in Liverpool, in England.

Todd: OK, nice, and what does your father do?

Shuan: Ah, he was a pilot until five years ago, five years ago, it was kind of tragic, but he had a heart attack and he wasn't allowed to fly anymore.

Todd: Oh, I'm sorry.

Shuan: It's fine. He makes, he's pretty much happier now I guess.

Todd: OK, so he was OK after the heart attack.

Shuan: He's fine, yeah.

Todd: OK, what about your mother? Does she work?

Shuan: My mother, no, she doesn't. She used to work. In fact my mother and my father met at work. They both worked for Cathay Pacific, which is an airline based in Hong Kong. My mother was a stewardess and my father was a pilot, so they met that way in Osaka actually.

Todd: Oh, what a story. OK and what about your sister? You said that she's a student.

Shuan: She's a student. She's actually in her first year in McGill. she's actually in her first year in McGill unversity which is in Quebec. I haven't spoken to her lately so I don't know how she's doing.

Todd: OK, do you know what she studies?

Shuan: I believe it's arts and humanities.

Todd: So you and your sister, are you similar or quite different?

Shuan: Oh, we are definely quite different.

Todd: How so?

Shuan: I was the rebelious type. I pretty much laid the foundation for my sister to get all the freedoms that she has, and she doesn't appreciate any of the things I've done so,.. another way that we're different is that she's really into arts and drawing and painting and making music where as I'm more into the technical side of things, like I'm into computer making, fixing cars.

Todd: So it sounds like your quite different. Well, maybe she'll listen to this and she'll appreciate you more. Shuan: I hope so.