All the trouble started with “a” and “the”

Everyone seems to have trouble with “a / the”. I know it’s difficult, so I think in order to teach it I will just tell you a story and see if you can put “a” and “the” in the right place.

I’m married, and my wife is ____ nice Japanese girl, so sometimes there is _____ little confusion when we speak to each other.  ____ confusion usually isn’t a major issue, but ____ topic quickly turns back to one glaring fact, and ____ fact is I need to study Japanese. There is of course ____ lot of difficulty when I have to try to speak with her parents also, and they always tell my wife that ____ biggest problem is that they want to be able to discuss important matters with me, and that I need ____ good Japanese teacher, but ____ teacher that I had got ____ new job and had to stop teaching me. I wasn’t upset at my Japanese teacher though, because ____ job that she was offered was ____ great opportunity for her that she just couldn’t pass up. Now ____ biggest problem is my father-in-law has basically given me a deadline. He has said that I need to find ____ Japanese teacher and start studying quickly, because he wants me to take him to America, as he has never been before. He wants me to be his translator, so that I can explain all ____ important national landmarks that we go to.  He told me that _____ vacation would consist of many destinations, such as ____ sightseeing trip to Los Angeles. While in Los Angeles he wants to see ____ Hollywood Hills, _____ Hollywood sign, and also ____ little known spot called ____ Hollywood Reservoir. Plus he would like to spend _____ day walking around _____beach areas of Venice and Santa Monica. He then wants to go to Las Vegas, which is ____ place I used to go to on ____ lark when I was bored in my 20’s. After that he wants to pop on over to Arizona, and go see another famous “landmark” called _____ Grand Canyon. I wonder though if he will like being out in ____ desert? Hum, I’m not so sure about that, but maybe he will find it ____ fun experience. It’s really sounds like _____ great trip, and I hope that we’ll be able to do it soon.

Jerry