School

I get up at 6:50 and get dressed for school. My school has a uniform-navy skirts
and a white blouse. Very simple and bad sense.

Ayane

A typical school day

I get up at 6.20 and get dressed for school.
I leave my home at 6.05 and I school at 6.20.
our classes is begin at 8.15.
We have a usually 6classes of 1day, and we have 10minutes break after classes.
After No.2 classes we have a big break it has 15minutes.
We have lunch at school. We eat usually rice and soup and some salad and milk.
Our classes finished at 4.15. sometimes at 3.15.
I go to chorus club 4 a week. some times we go on Wednesday.

Reina

早期教育と言語習得セミナー

日時： 8月29日　13：00～16：00

場所： ルナインターナショナル 〒390-0803 長野県松本市元町1-9-16MKビル2階

講師： エミリー・パーシヴァル （ザ・ブリティッシュ・スクール・イン・東京）

参加費： 無料

ETJ 長野・信州JALT　共催
ルナ・インターナショナル　後援

エミリー・パーシバル先生は、「早期教育と言語習得」の分野において、幅広い知識と経験をお持ちです。8月29日（日曜日）の午後は長野県松本市におでかけください。幼児を指導されている先生・育児中の保護者の皆さん、貴重な情報を得られるこの機会をお見逃しなく！
本ワークショップでは、幼児教育に携わっている先生方が、教室ですぐに使える実用的なアイディアを紹介します。また、教育者を対象として、すでに幼児教育 分野での実績が報告されている専門的なアドバイスも紹介します。 プレゼンテーションでは、外国語としての英語能力についてのみならず、イギリスのカリキュラムと学習者の総合的な言語学習の発達過程についても触れます。

エミリー・パーシバル先生について
イギリスと日本両国において広範囲の教務経験があります。日本の著名インターナショナルスクールでは、入学審査・初等教育なども担当しています。

参加費は無料ですが、会場の座席数に限りがあります。予約なしでもご参加いただけますが、参加ご希望の方はなるべく下記までメールまたはお電話にて予めご連絡願います。
メールアドレス： クリス・クランシー (Chris Clancy) oudo2no@yahoo.com またはジム・ジョージ (Jim George) oyajim@gmail.com　ルナ・インターナショナルTEL： 0263-34-4481

エミリー先生のプレゼンテーション　早期教育と言語習得 見に来てね！

Event coming to Luna

Sorry about the low resolution of the image. If you want a copy of the original please email me.
Jim

Time to say "Goodbye"

Last night was Haruka's last class at Luna. Very sad for us, because she was with us from the very beginning of the school and we have been privileged to see her grow up from cheeky toddler to beautiful young woman. Of course we wish her all the very best of luck for her future studies, especially right now as she is concentrating on those horrid entrance exams...

So now all three of the darlings have flown the coop - Yumeka, Sayaka and Haruka. Feel like their dad in many ways, with lots of fab memories of the fun we have had and the smiles they gave us. Looking forward to seeing them come back all grown up (as Sayaka has done this week from her Canadian homestay) etc.

Exit stage left. Tears, hankies, applause.

Princess Diana

Q28: Should people always marry for "Love"?

I think this might be one of Life’s difficult issues.

When I was reading "Princess Diana", I unexpectedly watched the
film "The Other Boleyn Girl". This film is about The British Royal
marriage of convenience. Diana's story is not the same as
Boleyn's , but I could not avoid imagining some similarities between
them.Diana's family is more prosperous than Marry Boleyn’s family. Diana, her sister Sarah, and Marry Boleyn,
Anne Boleyn, and also Camilla, the mother of Camilla's grandmother -
they all, it seems, were repeating their families' stories.

By the way, what is "Love"?

Diana married for love and Prince Charles tried to do his
best. In marriage life "Love" might be going to change to Trust,
Effort, Tolerance, Patience, or something else.
Of course people should marry for "Love". I can only say people should
live their lives with strong will, but people sometimes ought to
stop and be more considerate of others too.

Yoko Niwamoto

Cinderella Man

I was really interested in this story, so I watched the movie, too. I recommed you this book if you haven't read it.

Writing 43. Imagine that you are Mae many years after the big fight. Tell Jim’s story to one of your grandchildren in a letter.

Dear my grandchildren,

The other day, when I cleaned up my room, by chance I found a picture that my dear Jim, your grandfather had became a heavy weight champion of the world. The picture remained me of his big fight to be a heavyweight champion. To tell you the truth, at first I didn’t like to support him at the fight, but I went to the family church to pray to God, I found crowd who all prayed that Jim win. Then I realized that Jim was fighting for not only our family but also people who wanted to win their hard life. Then I went to Jim and I said to him that I would support him anytime. First I couldn’t hear the fight on the radio because I was really afraid that Jim might got injured or if the worst thing happened, he might be killed, because the opponent Max Baer was so strong that he had killed two boxers, but after round twelfth, I started listening with our children, your parents. But Jim was stronger than Max Baer. He was really strong. Even if he got big punch from the opponent, he never fell down and he gave his punch to the opponent. The result was, as you know, he won. All of the judges agreed Jim won. I was crying with happy and he was safe after the dangerous fight. Our sons and daughter, uncle Jay and Howard and Rosy celebrated and looked very proudly. Of course, you can be proud of yourself, because your blood is included in your grandfather Jim who were a heavyweight champion of the world.
Finally, I want to tell you the important thing. Jim was really strong, but he was not only strong. He was very gentle for our family , for all of people. When we were so poor that we didn’t get enough food, if Rosy wanted to eat something, Jim was happy to give his food to Rosy. I really proud more that Jim is so gentle than he is so strong. Please remember Jim’s way of life, be strong be gentle.

Anyway, this letter became longer than usual, because I wrote about Jim’s story. If you want to hear about the detail story, I’ll introduce best person for you, Jim’s manager Joe. After all , take care and beat the rainy season, bye-bye.
Best Regards,
Mae Braddock.

Masao Kuroda

Watch London live

There's something odd happening in London at the moment - until mid-October actually - where people are taking it in turns to 'perform' atop the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square.

Is it art? Is it exhibitionism? Is it typical British eccentricity (especially in the rain?)

Have a look - and come back to check it out regularly - on the live webcam. Each person is allowed one hour to say or do whatever they like! There is an archive on the One & Other site of videos too.

Barking mad? Bonkers? Barmy? British!

Ireland

I know Irish musicians U2,Enya,Sinead O'Connor but I don't know Ireland history. I learned 'Bloody Sunday" by U2 song.I like Beer.I want to go to Ireland and to drink the beer.

Naoya

Hotel Casanova

I have red this book. Following is my impression to Dino's mother's saying;

1) You must know what you want.

2) Sometimes you must take what life you give.

I sometimes hear the above advice from my environment, TV or business magazine, and I think that this is good advice. If I work toward my objective in the far future, I believe that I can lead a meaningful life more.

I actually don't have and think the detailed objective that "I want to be doing (I want to do) in the far future", about my business or my life because it's very very difficult and it's not in my nature to practice this advice.

However, I recently try to practice this advice to check if I can get effect by this because I'm taking on more responsibility in my department. Meanwhile, I want to continue to do this as possible.....

The Man from Nowhere

I finished reading this book while getting excited. The hero aviated with the family,But they were in the accident on the way.He kept walking for days to help the family while the family left in the crash site. He walked off one's feet and the memory was lost. Fortunately, he is discovered, and carried to the hospital. Then, he recalls all of the accident and goes to help the family with the doctor.

I learnt strength of father who tried to help for the family. If you finish reading this book, it is impressed.

Kanako

Next Door to Love

I have read this book, and this book is easy for me to read. Following is my impression of this book.

I think that this is heartwarming story as we say. Stella lost the lover, and Tony also lost the wife (Kathy) and cannot meet his daughter (Daisy) freely because Daisy lives with Kathy. Therefore, Stella and Tony are afraid to meet someone new.

Tony moved to new apartment and met Stella. Stella is intresting in Tony's sad facial expression and she communicated to him. Then, they encountered and broke down the troubles. Due to this, they get more deeply involved and can have happy ending.

From this book, I feel that it's important to trust the lover or partner and take the communication.

A nightmare journeys

A nightmare journey I remember happened last summer when I was going to the technical seminar convened at Tokyo. I looked forward to that seminar because I was very interested in the theme of seminar.

I got on a limited express,'Azusa', bound for Shinjuku. It arrived at Kofu station on time, but it didn't leave that station any more! Station staff said, 'This train won't leave for long time because the electrical control unit is a fire, so you have to get off this train and go by highway bus.' Most passengers wanted a highway bus ticket, but there weren't enough seats.

I had to wait another hour at bus station and there was a traffic jam, in the result I was late for the seminar... :(

The Space Invader

I was looking forward to reading this book, because　I was really into a video game, Space invaders, when I was in high school. I played this game more than three hours par day and every day. Have you also played the space invaders?



This book has glossary in the back of the book, and it was helpful for me to understanding the story. As a result, I have easily finished reading this book.

After reading, I found that the title of this book, The Space Invaders, is not suitable to this book. I have thought what the author wants to say to readers through this book, that is to say, it’s only human to kill each other for their greed. For these reasons, if I give a title, Foolish and Greedy Creature.

I remember watching a film like this story a long time ago, but another situation, maybe in Western or gangster films. Please let me know if you had known the title.

Why don’t you blog your comments?

Koa

The Day of the Jackal

I’ve seen two versions of the film. I remember Richard Gear is casted the Jackal in the remaking one. This is a much exciting story which let me see the film again.

Q: Imagine a meeting between Marc Rodin, Rene Montclair and Andre Casson after they have learned that the Jackal has failed to kill the president. Write the conversation between the three of them.

Marc Rodin: This time we could most cross to the President Charles de Gaulle.
Rene Montclair: But we couldn’t get it. The Jackal was completely fault the assassin.
Maer Rodin: I can’t be along with you. Thought he was almost in danger in his early stage of the plan, but he did continue the plan with his confidence. We should praise his work.
Andre Casson: And you Rene has double mistakes, I think.

Rene Montclair: What mistake shall I have?
Andre Casson: So, he was not the Jackal, and we never know his real name.

Marc Rodin: Yes. He was a professional killer, and he was still mysterious in our mind.

(These three members are including OAS who want to kill the President of France, Charles de Gaulle)

The Curse of the Mummy

I have read The Curse of the Mummy.

Tariq is a member of the excavation team. He excavates in the Valley of the Kings, under Howard Carter.
One day, they find a tomb. A few days later, Tariq's friend, who is a member of that team, died.
Someone said 'This is the curse of the Mummy. We have to stop excavating!'
But, Carter kept excavating to find treasure and they found beautiful things.

I recommend this this book because you can enjoy and know Egyptian mystery.

Misaki

The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency

Why does Mma Ramotswe change her mind about Mr JLB
Matekoni?
Is this a good ending for the book, do you think?

Yes, it is a good ending because, I think a book should
have some romance.
It makes the reader's heart warm.
Mma Ramotswe had had a bad experience with her previous marriage, so
she didn't want to marry again. Her husband was violent and sometime beat her. He thought she belonged to him. He treated
her like she was a slave. So she could not have any hope
about marriage. She was satisfied with her job and life.
But when she went to South Africa alone for business and her
car broke down , she realized she needed somebody's help.
Mr.JTB Matekoni is a good man and she can trust him. Even although
she rejected him once, he still loves her. He always thinks
about her and he is honest.
So she becomes to love him. I think she can be happy with
him.

This is a story about the firefighter (me)

I was feeling a blast blowing from the window. The fire broke out at a rental flat on the top floor of a five storied building. Standing on a ladder, furious orange flames and clouds of black smoke were rising from the window just in front of me.

I could hear a kid crying in the room and also his upset mother screaming below. Looking through the window, I had flashbacks to the past and those scenes inspired me slight fear but didn't make me hesitate, rather moved me to action.

There was no time to flinch. I took a short deep breath and told myself " Go !"

Kyoko (^^)

My Favourite Photo

◆What’s your favorite photo?
⇒One of my favorite photos is a wedding photo.

◆What was happening when you took the photo?
⇒We were in Matsumoto that "vira de marriage" as Wedding Hall.
We were having our wedding reception.

◆Who took it? When? Where?
⇒My colleague took the photo in spring of 2009 when I was in Matsumoto.

◆Tell me more about who or what is in the photo?
⇒ Many colleagues are in one photograph is unusual !!

◆Where do you keep it? Why do you like it?
⇒I keep this photo on the screen on my PC.
I see while working, and it makes me feel good.

Kohei

Friends come to Pre-School

Today in Pre-School we had a lot of fun as usual - we did all our regular things and more. Our little friends Meu-chan and Yu-chan came to see all the fun we were having!

Hina and Eleanor showed their new playmates all the plants we have growing on the balcony, and how we have to water them. The tomatoes are growing really quickly, but there's only one sunflower left - Eleanor decapitated all the others : (

Yu was a little worried without her mummy, but when she stayed we taught her some of our songs - we really like "Walking walking" and the "I see something blue" - we chase around the big room looking for the colours to show Jim and Naomi. Today we also danced to the shipwreck song - a very busy song which made us tired!

Last week Hina slipped when she was brushing her teeth, so today we tried hard to all sit down when we were doing that. It kind of worked, but all our girls are at the "I can do it myself" age! Eleanor was a gannet as ever for lunch, taking bites out of every one's food and not touching her own - she stands next to Naomi with her mouth open. Our two visitors were very well behaved and didn't make a mess.

And in a flash mummies came back to pick them up; clean nappies on and all worn out, ready for an afternoon snooze I think!

We had a few teething problems with technology though - we wanted to webcast the class for mums to watch in another room (not 'get in the way')...it kind of worked. We look forward to having more friends come and join us and make even more noise ;)

Nightmare journey

A nightmare journey I remember was nine months ago when I was returning to Japan from a business trip to the USA with my colleagues. We had arrived at Chicago airport from Florida at eight in the morning, and were waiting for connection flight scheduled at noon.

A first, everything looked fine, but the airplane didn't start. Several minutes later, the captain announced that the airplane had a trouble with one of its engines. Engineers seemed to be making their best effort to fix it, but they gave it up, and we were told to move to another plane. The new departure time was four o'clock.

We boarded to new plane. However, that plane didn't depart either. Finally, our flight got canceled. We had to stay one more night at Chicago.

It was late evening when we arrived at our hotel. I was really exhausted. I could do nothing but sleep soon.

Customer Relations

I have been teaching one of my classes from a new textbook lately (hey, Macmillan, name check: The Business) about customer care - dealing with complaints on the phone and by email. I have tried to insist that they do not accept personal responsibility or comment; listen and empathise with the issues; react sympathetically without risking getting the sack (ie giving the customer too much); letting the customer gain satisfaction & have the last word...generally being professional and courteous, not panicking.

My friend Dan Lonigro works in crisis prevention, and his blog features here in the margin (right). I saw this story about a musician whose guitar got smashed by an airline...after a year trying to get some compensation and the airline being 'deaf'... funny cheap video but a very expensive one for UA!



Excellent.

Huckleberry Finn

I enjoyed this book very much.
This story was short and it made easy reading for me. I haven't read the Mark Twain's book and I didn't know Huckleberry and Tom Sawyer. Now I know there are many books about Huckleberry Finn and they are series books.
I want read other book about Huckleberry soon.

After reading No.5.
1.Jim didn’t tell Huck that who was the dead man.
2. Huck told the woman in the little house that he was Sarah Williams.
3. The Duke told Huck and Jim that he was really duck.
4. The King told Huck and Jim that he was really the first son of the King of France.
5. Huck didn’t tell Jim that they fought about some money.
6. Huck told the Duck and the King that Jim belonged to his uncle.
7. Huck told the people in the big old house that he was Rom Sawyer.
8. Huck didn’t tell Mrs. Phelps that he wasn’t Tom Sawyer.
9. Tom didn’t tell Huck that he was a lie.

I recommend you this book.

Jungfraujoch - postcard from Miyako

Hello! All!

Now I stay in Grindelwald. This village is situated at the foot of Mt. Eiger (3,470m). Today, we went to Jungfraujoch. It was so fantastic view!!! We could see Mt. Jungfrau, Mt.Monch, Mt. Eiger, glacier and the Alps mountains. And we went hiking (about 2 hours). I got a little bit tired, but it was really fun :)

See you - Miyako

The Mark of Zorro

I read "The Mark of Zorro".

I haven't seen the film of "The Mark of Zorro" ever. I knew the story of "The Mask of Zorro".

After I read this book, I have a question for Zoro. Zoro is Don Diego Vega.
Don Diego want to marry Lolita but he didn't know how to say sweet things to a woman. He can't to hold woman's hand, and play a guitar under her window.

Although Zorro knew how to say sweet things to a woman so Lolita falled in love with Zorro.

I wonder if Don Diego know how to say sweet things to a woman in fact, or not. Maybe Don Diego change his character when he tie mask.

If Don Diego know how to say sweet things to a woman, he should have say Lolita sweet things. If he did this, Lolita would love Don Dieg from begining.

Unquiet Graves

This story is horror and mystery.

Four friends - Frankie, Regan, Jack, Tom - are members of their school's archeology club. They helped a 'dig' in an archeological site on their holiday. Frankie became strange since she slided down into a big black hole and got half broken coin. Afterwards, they heard this village sad story from archeologist Leo. To solve the mystery of this village, they moved into action.

The dead people aren't necessarily always restfully asleep. Sometimes, the dead people spirits might haunt this world when commit an offense during the lifetime and can't seek a place where they can live in peace.

The Phantom airman

Last time I read "Unquiet Gloves" written by Allan Frewin.

This is a series of story that four children who are belonging to archeology club. It was a boring story for me and I couldn't understand well it at first.

However, after reading the story I tried 'Points for understanding' and repeated to read it roughly, I understand it at last. I found that this is a difficult story, because suddenly the four children is taken away to the about sixty yeas ago many times by a ghost, the key character in this story.

Seven Stories of Mystery and Horror

Their stories were fear and like a actual story. Horror stories were especially frightening.
I think they are the stories that are read midnight in summer.
But their stories are very short.
If they are so long story, they would frighten us very much.
I don't understand fully because there are lots of word that don't know.

After Reading 5: Which was your favourite story? Why did you like it the best?Write four reasons why you liked the story.

My favourite story is The Masque of the Red Death. It's horror. It a short story but I was frightened.And simply and illogical.
I like this story that has surprising at end of story and I like it incomprehensibly ended.

Apollo's Gold

2. Choose five of the pictures and write a sentence about each one.

Page 7. Stavros was looking at an old Greek pot through a magnifying glass in his unity office at the university.

Page 13. One of the three men called Liz from a very big motor yacht .

Page 16. In the cafe in Poulati, old men sit every day and watch the sea.

Page 21. Yiannis's boat was on fire near the beach.

Page 28. Liz stepped onto the yacht, the three men was there.

hajime

Beer in the garden

Wow, that was fun!!!!!! Let's do it again soon!!

A big thank you to Naomi for making it all happen, and a high five to all who attended and made it such an enjoyable evening.

And who are all those pretty girls wearing yukatas??

Tana

Blood Diamonds

Front Page

By H. Kirkpatrick and A. Shepherd

Recently smugglers were arrested in Devon.
They were going to trade guns with blood diamonds.
We could prevent to pass buns to Africa.
But this smuggling case is just the tip of the iceberg.
Why African people want to get guns?
Some African countries are in the civil war, or even countries that the war was finished, their government is still unstable.
People want to get guns under such a circumstance.
Why they are in the civil war? Why their government is so unstable?

We colonized African countries in the old days and used their natural resources.
We scramble for the resources. That’s caused dispute in African countries.
Yes, we are partly to blame for the civil war and unstable government.
We have to hate dispute and continue to keep watch African circumstance with interest.

Koichi Okuhara

The Big Story

Mai has just finished reading The Big Story. This is her book review:

The Big Story is set in Venice. There are no roads in Venice, but there are many gondolas. It is a very beautiful city.

The story is kind of action. It is about business deals and love. The main character of this story is Rosie. She is a journalist.

The story is exciting because characters fought on the gondolas. It makes me feel uneasy just to see it.

I recommend this book because it's moving and exciting!

How to make a delicious cake!

First, cut the sponge in half.
Then cut a hole in the middle of the top piece.
Spread the cream with a spatula on the bottom sponge.
Put peach slices on the cream.
Next put the top sponge on the bottom sponge.
Cut the middle piece in half and cover the bottom sponge.
Fill the hole with cream and strawberries. In the middle you put the biggest strawberry.
Spread the cream with the spatula again on the side and on the top.
Then comes the secret part.
Cut the slice peach in quarter and put around the edge on the top.
Then cover the peach with the cream :)
Put strawberries around the hole.

Yuya

Bon Bon starting place

Yes folks, there is still time to join the funtabulous Luna Bon Bon 2009 all-singing, all-dancing and all-drinking Team!
Contact Yuki to get your t-shirt ordered NOW

Dirty Money

Great people of the government and great people in the company make a secret agreement.They made a secret agreement to abandon the nuclear material dump in the mountain. As a result, they gained a lot of money. This money is 'dirty money' in this story.

Lucky or unlucky things in Japan

Free entrance to Matsumoto Castle Gardens, and ice-cold beer!!!

What a great combination!

For those of you who don't already know, the Matsumoto council has announced that entrance to to Matsumotojo gardens will be free for all those wearing a Yukata.

This is great news for anyone who will be joining us for an ice-cold beer on Saturday(18 July) as we will already be in the correct attire!

Why not make the most of this opportunity by coming a little earlier and taking a stroll around the gardens with us.

I'll be in the garden from about 15:30, and then will move onto the beer garden at 17:00.

The name of the beer garden is YAMAGA IKUZO, and we've booked a table so there will be plenty of space for everyone. Please follow the link to the map below if you are not sure where it is.

http://walk.eznavi.jp/map/?datum=0&unit=0&lat=%2B36.14.12.70&lon=%2B137.58.10.90&fm=0&spt=01125.n831900&cp=mapmail_MapView_nw

I am looking forward to seeing you there!

Tana

The Woman Who Disappeared
Philip Prowse

This story is about a private detective "Lenny Samuel". He is a wise and clever guy but little bit silly.
One day, a beautiful lady came to his office and asked him to search her sister. She said she and her sister are twins. Lenny asked her that she asked the police or not, but she said that she didn't want to let the police know about this.
She is doubtful...she has a secret???

****************************************************
Comprehension
1, What was Benny Greep's job at Las Cabanas?
He was a drummer of the band.
2, How did he know Elaine Gerfield?
Because Elaine and her friend went to Las Cabanas for dancing a lot.
3, What did Susie Graham think of Benny Greep?
She thought about Benny Greep wasn't good at all.
4, How was Benny Greep killed?
He had been shot in the chest and pushed into the bath.
5, How did Lenny know that the dead man in the bath was Benny Greep?
He found the dead man's driving licence from the dead man's coat.
6, Who did Lenny phone after he found Benny Greep's body?
He called for the police.
7, Where did the policeman take Lenny?
Policeman took Lenny to police station.
8, Who followed Lenny when he drove back to his office?
The yellow small car.
9, What was waiting for Lenny in his office?
A letter from Helen Garfiled.
10, Who did Lenny want to see before he went to Los Cabanas?
Helen Garfield.

****************************************************
I think this story is interesting, but I don't like this hero "Lenny", 'cos he is silly guy, but funny guy, I think.

A nightmare journey

A nightmare journey I remember was four years ago. It was April, and I had a meeting on the Ueda office. I drove the Ueda office in the morning. I finished work at 10 pm, then I started driving home to Shimosuwa-town.

When I was near Wada-tunnel, it was snowing. I thought something might happen. The road to Wada-tunnel was a long and steep upward slope. Some lorries couldn't climb the hill because for snow. There was a traffic jam, none of the traffic could move.

The road maintenance removed the snow. It took a long time. In the end cars moved gradually. When I arrived at my home, it was 4 am . I was exhausted.



大きな地図で見る

Tuna Sandwich

Tuna Sandwich
You need:
some white bread a can of tuna
some mayonnaise an onion
some black pepper
some salt
some butter

1. First , slice the onion as thinly as possible.
2. Then rinse the slices of onion .
3. Mix the tuna,the mayonnaise , the slices of onion ,the salt and the black pepper.
4. Cut two thin pieces of white bread , and butter them.
5. Put 3 on one of the pieces.
6. Now put the other piece of bread on top.
7. Finally - eat the sandwich! It's delisious.
   

Tuna sandwich

Some bread

A tuna can

An onion

Some mayonnaise

Some butter

Some black pepper

First cut two thin pieces of bread.

Then put some butter on them.

Mix some mayonnaise into tuna and the chopped onion.

Put the tuna mix on the buttered bread.

Put some black pepper on the tuna.

Now put the other piece of bread on top.

Finally - eat the tuna sandwich!

Hotel Casanova

The story is most terrible story I have ever read. This is the terror caused by human psyche. Weakness, envy and viciousness in the feeling are expressed in this story. But Carla is actually terrible woman, Dino is also not to be praised so much because he changed his plan so easily and in very short time and he loves another woman immediately and easily. I can’t understand what his plan for him is actually for him. Anyway, I think he can never succeed and be happy as long as he doesn’t reflect on what he did.

Touching the Void

After I'd finished the book, it's hard to believe the book is fact-inspired, and I felt like what was really exciting about this story was not its attractiveness, but the fact that it's a true story. All of comment and thinking carrys a lot of weight.Story in the climbing generally tends to place more emphasis on excitement and less on psychological-descriptions. The book I've read has a lot of psychological-descriptions and these word are impressive even though it's abridged edition book.

The story was move into the movie which called "Unmei wo waketa zairu". I knew the title and it previously didn't attract me, however now I want to see the movie.

Touching the Void

I had read this book with anxious and happy.
8. When Simon is sorting out Joe’s possessions, he says “I found his diary too. He had written something almost every day, even on the plane from London.”
Imagine you are Joe and write a paragraph for your diary, either from
the plane journey from London
the camp at the bottom of Siula Grande, before the climb
your hospital bed when recovering from the accident

"the plane journey from London"
Simon and I were in the plane from London to Lima. I was planning to climb Siula Grande. Joe was excited to see it on the plane. We wanted to find a mountain that was more challenging than the Alps. That was Siula Grande. I was excited, too.

"the camp at the bottom of Siula Grande, before the climb"
Simon and I had met Richard in a bar in a hotel in Lima. Richard was interested in seeing the Andes. He promised to look after our tent and equipment while we were climbing. We thanked Richard.

"your hospital bed when recovering from the accident"
I was in my bed. It was terrible climbing and long trips from base camp. I was happy to return here with Simon. I thought he was dead at the accident. But he thought I was dead because he cut the rope which tied my body. He regretted that he decided to cut the rope. I thought it was a right decision. I would do same thing if I was in his situation.

Annie Oakley

Annie Oakley was born in 1860 and died in 1926. She lived in the Wild West.
When she was 15 she started shooting in competitions. She married Frank Butler in 1876.
She shot a gun very well. They joined Buffalo Bill's show for 17 years! In the show she shot Frank's cigarette from his mouth. She never shot a bad shot.
She taught Sitting Bull to write. The show went to Europe in 1887.
They left the USA but they came back again.
In 1901 she had a train accident. After some months she worked again. She had a car accident in 1921. They moved to Ohio after this.

Hwi Sun

CALL - some interactive stuff

One of my lads has been struggling to keep up with his mates, and I was getting worried he was starting to feel the heat - they've started taking the Mickey...so I wanted to change tack a bit but still concentrate on our target vocab - colours.

In doing so, I didn't want to be 'just colouring', which this can often descend into. Instead, used a good resource (Scholastic's vocab series is excellent) which had a dozen or so line drawings of national flags (European). First task was to colour by numbers (ie read the names of the colours) and to predict which belonged to the list of countries in a list below.

To check, we went to a database of flags and then searched by choosing colours, patterns & designs, and selecting the number of stripes etc. Lots of good speculation and genuine 'need to know'. Some of them they knew, some were 'new', and some we right but wrong - Japanese names for some countries are from that country's language (eg 'Deutz') rather than our English word (Germany). On top of that, some are hard to read - Germany again, or Portugal.

As you can see, we had a good time, and learnt something a bit different into the bargain. And, my struggler was in his element :)

Human trafficking: Ping Lau's story

Robert Booth hears how Ping Lau was trafficked to Britain to work as a prostitute | World news | guardian.co.uk

Please click on the link to hear this Chinese girl's account of her experiences. It is not pleasant.

Pre-school offer - once in a lifetime

Teacher Man

The story is deeply thinking about the job of teacher. I think it is one of the difficult job and worth job in the world. I thought the job in the teacher's side (not student's side) by the story. And I remembered some teachers who was my favorite. I like almost of all my teachers.

Q39. Imagine that you are Frank McCourt. White about your saddest and your happiest memories of teaching. Say why you have chosen them.

The saddest memory was a student Hector in Fashion High school. I hit him across the face with a magazine. In the morning of the day, I fight with my wife and I was not good temper for teaching. I must apologize him as soon as possible but I didn't. I left the school soon at the vacation.

The happiest memory was a student Serena in Seward Park High School. I took my twenty-nine girls to a movie and a play. It was an excited memory of my teacher's life. Serena was a girl who ignored me at first time but after the trips to the movie and play, she changed her mind. She moved her house and wrote a letter to her friend that she was going to finish the high school and go to college to teach a little kids. The letter made me very happy.

Takaaki

Tanjobi Tomoko

So everyone was really busy yesterday and kind of forgot it was Tomoko-chan's birthday. Oooops! What a horrible lot we are!?

Fortunately we were able to put things right this afternoon, buying Tomoko a delicious chocolate cake and then helping her eat it very quickly (well, Jim did anyway...the girls were much more delicate). Apparently Tomoko is only 22, which means she lied when she applied for the job...

Happy birthday Tomoko, and thanks for your ever-cheery enthusiasm xxx

Jim, Tana, Naomi, Yuki

Osaka Extensive Reading SIG

Over the last few weeks I have been visiting a number of teaching events and conferences up and down the country, meeting a lot of enthusiastic and knowledgeable people in the English language industry.

As I mentioned before here, I presented at the Hokkaido JALT conference in May. Last month I made it to three events. First, I attended a mini-conference in Niigata, where I was able to put on a display of materials for the examinations we promote and organise up & down the country. The disappointment of the day was listening to a famous professor announcing that his university was designing a new entrance test...not because I want people like that to see the value of Cambridge ESOL examinations, but because of the utter meaninglessness of moving the goalposts again. Schools and jukus etc will only teach to the test, not English to a better standard for the benefit of language learning and acquisition. Groan from me.

Shinshu JALT's meeting in Matsumoto I have previously posted on.

This weekend I was in Osaka holding down a table again, displaying Cambridge ESOL material as well as some support publications from Cambridge University Press - thank you John Letcher for your help. There I met a fellow Centre owner Malcolm and spent the day talking with teachers from the Kinki region, catching up with publisher reps, and seeing a very good presentation from the guru of extensive reading Rob Waring. The man talks an awful lot of sense and is inspirationally keen on extensive/graded reading.

I did not enjoy trying to negotiate the public transport system in Osaka; Umeda station was built by rabbits from Watership Down, it's a warren down there! A very good day out, if a little far. Highlight of the trip = seeing the British Lions win on Saturday night (even if there was a noisy cover band playing non-stop!). Low point? Kicking over my celebratory can of beer on the Shinkansen :(

Putting things together

I have had this jigsaw puzzley kind of game lying around in our games cupboard since I visited the UK last year - never opened it until today. I wanted to let my lovely Friday afternoon group explore it together, before we split up into two groups from next week.

With a lrage-ish group (six children) this kind of thing can get very grabby quickly, which I don't like... we try to encourage good behaviour in the school and a healthy respect for each other, so please and thank you go a long way. To do this we worked in two groups, looking for the letters to build words - most of which we know. This presented the problem of d/b/p/q all looking alike; the tabs on the pieces were the clue they needed to work out.

To prevent hoarding I asked them to work together on one picture at a time, and to help each other. This is something I always like to see in my class, as the children can teach each other so much more quickly and effectively than I can (if they listen!) - gossiping in this kind of activity is all task focused and therefore a good thing, with gentle direction.

Tidy up or warm up?!

We've got a lot of lovely new resources for the pre-school children to play and learn with, but it seems not entirely unuseful for our bigger children too!

An earlier group of visitors had left the place a mess, so Tana's very helpful group got organised and put our ABC tiles back together again. Not as easy as it looks because there are two or three sets, and everybody had a couple of pieces in their hands/were working upside-down etc.

All very jolly fun as usual with this group, who are growing up very quickly and maturely - one of our nicest groups I think, and I should say thank you for helping us make our school look nice and tidy again before your class started properly :)

Circle Games

8.Do you prefer reading several short stories or one longer one? Why/why not

I prefer to read one longer story because I cannot remember so many characters. On several stories there are so many characters and they are named in English. It is very difficult for me to remember all characters. After reading it is not very good to do a worksheet. I have to do a worksheet! I like a story wanted to read next line earlier as a sort of mystery story.

Hajime