Emma

There are so many characters in the book, Emma. I recommend making the characters list during your reading. The relationship with Emma and their full name are very important to understand the story and to answer the activities.

Tips: You can find the information, Click here.

Writing:
Question 40:
Choose one of the couples in the story and write about their lives over the next ten years after the story ends.

Answer 40:
Ten years later, from Emma and Knightley’s wedding, they are living at Hartfield with their daughter and son. Their daughter is eight and son is six. They are commuting an elementary school at Hartfield. Three years ago, Emma’s father, Mr Woodhouse died by natural life when he was eighty-five.
Knightley is busy for his new job. He spends most of the time in London. But he always back to Hartfield to spend with his family on weekend. He is really good farther and husband.
Emma? She is still interesting to the match-making for her kids not for her friends. She is teaching her kids about social class, although her husband, Knightley doesn’t like it.
They are planning a ball at the Crown Inn after an interval of ten years not for match-making but for dance party. Their old friends will come to the ball, Mrs and Miss Bates, John and Isabella, Elton and Augasta, Harriet and Robert, Frank and Jane,
Emma is always happy at Hartfield surrounded people who loved her.

Koa

Time for a holiday

It's about time everybody had a holiday, don't you think?
Staff behaving strangely...
Stress showing itself in unusual behaviour...?

I hope everyone has a great Golden Week holiday!

(Who are the loonies? Tana and Yuki thrashing around to some classic AC/DC)

Impressions of Australia

Recently, one of our students was able to take some time off to visit Australia for a week. This is what he had to say about it.

○ The People
　Everybody who I met in Australia was very kind to me.
Especially the bus driver who I met in Maroochydore who showed me where I should get off the bus. Thanks to him I managed to get to YHA.
However, the trouble was that everybody spoke too fast for me. If I spoke with broken English to a local person, they respond so fast!


○ The Places
I went to “The Australian Zoo” which was run by Steve Irwin, the most famous Australian, who died in 2006. The biggest event of the zoo is the crocodile show. It is held in the central part of the zoo. It presented various animals, elephants, snakes, thousands of birds, before the croc appeared. It looked like paradise. When a crocodile appeared, the show was at its climax. The croc swallowed a big piece of meat with his massive mouth!
Before I left the zoo, I found a booth. The display said “Take a photo with animals!” So I asked a member of staff to take a photo of me with the Koalas. But he said “The Koala’s time is finished. You can take a photo with the snake.”
I took a photo with a big snake. It was very heavy（蛇）.


○ The Food
I could eat beef everywhere. It was delicious and hearty, but at last I got fed up with it. Then I decided to go to a Chinese restaurant. The next day, I went to a Korean restaurant. I found I am Asian.
I also found a Sushi restaurant in Brisbane. However, I found Avocado in the Sushi!

○　Other Things
I found that there were lots of Japanese cars, for example Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Subaru, etc. And I also found many Japanese companies in Brisbane, for example Canon, NEC, SONY, YAMAHA. I wonder if that’s why Australian people are so kind to Japanese people.



◆　I was impressed
It was very hot in March. Since I went from winter Matsumoto, I really noticed the change in the climate. And I also saw a beautiful sunset while I was in The Sunshine Coast. I have never seen that beautiful one.

Yuuki

The Woman Who Disappeared

5) Write about yourself. Introduce yourself and describe a room where you live or work.

My house is in the Yamagata Village of Nagano prefecture.
My house has 4 room (1room: ground floor, 3room: second floor).
But I usually live a room ground floor, because the room has enough space to live only 3 people (I, my wife, my son).
In our room, we have a desk, a table, a television, and a kitchen.
And we can see some flowers in my garden.
We satisfied with our room.
But only one bad thing is that I have much mortgage.

Yoichi

Free museums - May Day

May 1st is "Free Museum day in Matsumoto" because of the 102 Anniversary of Matsumoto City Government". You can enter any public museum in Matsumoto free of charge (see a list in
http://youkoso.city.matsumoto.nagano.jp/news+article.storyid+96.htm.
The Ukiyoe museum is private one so it is not free.)

The Stranger

This story is strange. The end was frightening.

I don't understand that why was Anna dead. I realized after reading that Dave of the stranger was devil.

Some customer visits to the corner shop that was opened by stranger Dave in village. They desired their success instead of somebody's unfortunate accident, so they requested Dave to make a accident.

The story have not described detail so I am imaging the following. Customers gave him reward such as diamond ring or lot of money, Dave used some stuff such as doll or toy and held a ceremony.It is that he curse at stuff instead of people.

But I have a doubt about customers that why knows Dave.

The Mark of Zorro

Simply say, this is a classical hero and love story. He punishes the enemies - usually they are unfair powerful governor or sergeant - of poor and weak people.

He is sure to fight man to man but never kill the enemy. Instead of kill, Zorro finally marks the enemy with a shape like the letter "Z" as a warning.

By the way, here is a noble and rich man, Don Diego. He is very different from the most of the other young men. He hates fighting and isn't interested in winning the love of women. Such a weak man hopes to marry with Senorita Lorita, of old noble but now ruined Pulido family. As expected, he is refused from her. However, finally he wins her love. Why did he win her love?

Whenever Zorro appears in the front of such enemies, Don Diego has disappeared from the scene. Whenever Zorro escapes after the fight, Don Diego come back here again and always say "What's this noise ?". It is very laughing scene. Who is Zorro??

I remember to have seen the film "The Mask of Zorro" in 1998. I read wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zorro and http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/怪傑ゾロ, then remember the story. At the same time, I have known really many works of books, films, cartoons about Zorro were released in the past.

Junji

THE CANTERVILLE GHOST

The Otis family all write letters to people who live in America. They each write about the Canterville Ghost. Write a letter. For example, write a letter from Mrs Otis to her sister.

Hi my sister.

I'm Otis. Long time no see.

I want to inform you the ghost of my house. A ghost lives in my house. He had murdered his wife three hundred years ago.

He tried to frighten my family, but we weren't afraid of him. He is not terrible for us. We are interested in him. He was angry for us because we laughed him. We enjoy living with him.

Have you ever seen a ghost? If you didn't have seen a ghost, let's come my home and I introduce him to you.

The Phantom Airman

This story was mysterious and interesting for me.Jack and Regan and Tom and Frankie were studying in same school.And they were all members of their school's archeology club.When the Second World War investigated, they meet the ghost of fighter Pilot.The ghost name is Glen Loosthawk. He was a person who had existed in past.The ghost gave them some key words. In the present. They met old people. and they get some information.In the past. They sometimes met Glen. and they get important information.They solves what happened in the airfield in the past.

I don't believe the ghost. Because I have not seen the ghost.If I'll see the ghost. Perhaps I go away first there.I think the four boys and girls are very brave. After reading this book, I thought that courage was necessary for knowing the truth. But I hate the ghost.

I had a lot of words that weren't able to be understanding in this book. I think that I should study hard.

Eiji

Ohanami BBQ at Joyama Park

A great big THANK YOU!!! to everybody who joined us on that windy hill on Sunday. Although the weather wasn't all that good, we still managed to have a decent barbecue, have a few beers, play a little football and meet fellow students and friends. We discovered that Matsumoto really is a small place indeed, ALT's and English language teachers were reunited after 15 years, and discoveries through email addresses exchanged that two parties actually worked at the same company, but had just never met there before!

Eventually the rain got the better of us and we had to move up the hill to the little shelter at the top where we huddle d together, enjoyed a little guitar, and ran outside again when the sun came out. All arrived and departed safely despite the slippery path, some in high heeled shoes, and some carrying the massive cooler box and smoldering barbecue.

And then as the temperature began to drop, Shizue kindly came to the rescue by inviting those who still hadn't had enough to make use of her garden at her house nearby. And so, a handful of die-hards lit the second barbecue of the day and Shizwe brought us all hot coffee to warm our cold hands. We ended the evening with a song in our hearts and bellies full, having made some new friends and having reunited with old ones.

We hope to see you all there again next year! And hope we have better luck with the weather next time!
Who knows, we had such fun we might even schedule another one for summer!! So you won't have to wait that long.

Will keep you posted,

Tana

Seven Stories of Mystery and Horror

Which was your favourite story? Why did you like it the best?

My favourite story was THE OBLONG BOX, because I felt this story was sad. I don't like much horror. I'm weak the terrible story but this story wasn't terrible story.

The storyteller met Cornelius of an old friend during a trip on a ship. Cornelius carried the oblong box to the ship. One day the ship sets by a storm. The storyteller took refuge in a life-boat. Cornelius was going to board a life-boat with the oblong box. At that time, "Is your box more important than your life?" The storyteller shouted to Cornelius."Yes! Yes! Yes!" Cornelius shouted. The box and Cornelius fell into the sea.

The box and Cornelius did not come up again. After that, I read a story and knew the contents of the box and became sad.This story is slightly sad and is good.

Unquiet Graves

I resd "Unquiet Graves". This story isn't horrer story. I felt mystery story. (= horrer?)


After reading:
You are going for a walk in a frightening place. Write a discription of your walk.


I didn't go to a frightening place. Because I don't like a frightening place.
But my family have the graveyard. That is a old place. (I don't know how long.)
My family graveyard is on the back side of the shrine. There isn't house around the graveyard and shring. It very quiet place.
There is only narrow road from shrine to graveyard.
My family graveyard have abaut 15 grave. My grandfather and grandmather grave is there.
I go to there once of a year.
I think graveyard isn't a frightening place, it's importance (precious?) place.

Noriko

Next Door to Love

1. Does the story have a happy ending? If so, what is it?
This story rather has a happy ending. Because Daisy was able to live near with his father in the end.

2. Do you think that Kathy and Tony are bad parents to Daisy?
I don’t think so. It’s a familiar story.

4.Put a name from the story by each these jobs. Say what you do in the jobs.
a.　chef: Stella
b.　teacher: Kathy
c. lawyer: Scott
d. judge: Bryant
And I’m a just an office worker.　Mainly produce documents.

5. In the book it says that Tony works with computers and got a good job with computers in Scotland. What do you think he does?
I suppose he is a computer repairer. PC products are composed of almost similar parts and repair way doesn’t depend on region culture.

6. What do you think happens to Stella and Tony in Scotland?
They might break up again. People don’t change easily.

The Space Invaders

[After Reading Question]
What do you think about robot? Here are some questions.

[1] What kind of job do robots do today?
A lot of robots are working in the factory.Especially, same procedure, 24 hours continuas work, very detail work,dangerous place and bad environment, etc.
[2] What do you think robots will do in the future?
I think that more than more robots will work in behalf of human.For example, they will drive the plane, the train and especially the car.In the future, there will not be drive drunk.
[3] Do you think it is good or bad to have robots?
I think it is good.If we had a good robot, our life will be more comfortable.
[4] Are robots dangerous?
I think robots are dangerous sometimes.When robots will be uncontrol, they may harm to human.I think that all causes are human miss. Mistake of design about hardware and software.
[5] Do you think there will ever be a robot like Omega?
I don't know that there is a robot like Omega.When I was child, I liked cartoon "DORAEMON".I thought that it is nice if DORAEMON was in my home.

To Maintain A Healthy Level Of Insanity

1. At Lunch Time, Sit In Your Parked Car With Sunglasses on and point a Hair Dryer At Passing Cars. See If They Slow Down.
2. Page Yourself Over The Intercom. Don't Disguise Your Voice!

3. Every Time Someone Asks You To Do Something, ask If They Want Fries with that.

4. Put Decaf In The Coffee Maker For 3 Weeks . Once Everyone has Gotten Over Their Caffeine Addictions, Switch to Espresso.
5. In the Memo Field Of All Your Checks, Write ' For Marijuana.
6. Skip down the hall Rather Than Walk and see how many looks you get.
7 Order a Diet Water whenever you go out to eat, with a serious face.
8. Specify That Your Drive-through order Is 'To Go'.
9. Sing Along At The Opera.

10. Five Days In Advance, Tell Your Friends You Can't Attend Their Party Because You have a headache.
11. When The Money Comes Out The ATM, Scream 'I Won! I Won!'
12. When Leaving the Zoo, Start Running towards the Parking lot, Yelling 'Run For Your Lives! They're Loose!'
13. Tell Your Children Over Dinner, 'Due To The Economy, We Are Going To Have To Let One Of You Go.'

And The Final Way To Keep A Healthy Level Of Insanity

14. PICK UP A BOX OF CONDOMS AT THE PHARMACY, GO TO THE COUNTER AND ASK WHERE THE FITTING ROOM IS.

Send This E-mail To Someone To Make Them Smile. It's Called... THERAPY

Luna student living in a tree

Mai has been reading about an American woman who lived in a tree for two years without coming down. I asked Mai to imagine she was living in a tree and interviewed her.

What do you like about living in a tree?
- I can sleep in fresh air. I can sleep well!!

What do you do in your tree?
- I watch animals. There are many animals in the forest, such as birds and monkeys! I send e-mail to my family and friends.

Why do you want to stay in a tree?
- I enjoy a wonderful life. I want to stay in a pleasant place.

Well, it sounds like you're having a good time!

The new super car

This car is very eco- freindly and practical. This car has purple tires and
very cool black windows.

This car has a two rokets so it can fly like helicopter,but it can't fly to the moon.It has yellow wings too.It has blue air pipe so it can go in to the water.

In the car there is a computer.
that can speak to the other people.

お花見パーティー

お花見パーティーのお知らせ

ルナでは、４月２６日（日）にお花見パーティーをします。
桜はすでに葉桜になっているかも知れませんが...
花より団子ということで、楽しいひとときを過ごしましょう！
ご家族やお友達etc...　どなたでも大歓迎です！
食べ物や飲み物を持参してください。

日時　４月２６日（日）　12：00～
場所　城山公園

Singtation

My Wednesday boys can be a bit of a handful sometimes, but today we were all literally singing off the same hymn sheet; the Black Cat song from Let's Go 1.

Like most kids, they 'know' colours already; today we were making sure we could read and follow directions to colour objects. That was 'easy', as expected, so the challenge was to listen to a song and pick out the various bits and pieces,then draw/colour what they heard. Lots of shouting and speculation as they demanded to listen again and again, until they 'got it', bit by bit.

This will only work with a strong class that has already been exposed to the language you are trying to pick out; the beauty of a song like this is the relative speed, rhythm & ellision; single words no longer carry equal stress but get joined up. "Black" and "cat" are both familiar words; stick them together naturally and you get 'blackat'; similarly "yellow" and "eyes" gives you 'yelloweyes'. Picking words out from a real context like this really helps students 'want' to reproduce the same sound themselves - and not just singing along. So a drawing/colouring task becomes a challenging listening job, which in turn works on pronunciation and thus speaking.

Another bonus for them with this kind of exercise is that it replicates the part four task in the Cambridge YLE Starters listening test. Now, isn't that nice!?

Canadian homestay - Sayaka defrosts

Hi, Jim!!

This is sayaka. how are you doing? I'm sorry I haven't sent you an email since i came to Canada

Finally, it started getting warmer recently in Salmo. it was soooooooooo cold in Salmo this winter!! And we had way too much snow I was so excited about snow at first, but I dont want it anymore :( You seem to have had soooo cold winter too!!!I'm so happy cuz i love spring!
have cherry trees bloomed already? I really wanna see them!!

my life in Canada is pretty good - all the members of my host family are sooooooo kind and friendly. I think everyone in this village is very friendly. I've got new friends. I'm enjoying talking with them everyday. I experienced a lot of new things here. I'm having so much fun!!

you'll have a party!?!? ohhhhhh i wanna gooooo!!!
if you take pictures, please send them to me!!! xD

my host sister's is turning to 6 next week. my host brother is 4 years old. i have another host brother whose name is corbin. he is only a year old. they are all sooooooooo cute!!!!!! if i take pictures with all the members of my host family, i'll send them to you!!

hows your life?
I wanna know about members of LUNA too - are they doing ok?

xoxoxo sayaka

Congratulations!!

Congratulations to this group of young learners - They've just finished their coursebook and have been promoted to the next level. Something worth celebrating I think ;)

I have really enjoyed teaching this class. They are always fun, full of energy and enthusiasm. I am looking forward to seeing great things from them this year too.

Cheerful chibbies!!!

A quick photo essay of one of my little classes, which you can see is obviously a high-energy and cheerful one. It's pretty much non-stop stuff, and I get just about as much out of the class as the children do. Big smiles and a do anything attitude is infectious!

In class last week we were reviewing numbers from one to ten (counting "potatoes"), remembering parts of the body (yes, that tired old chestnut of a song did get a run out) amongst a bunch of other things; quick read of a big book and we were done for another week, singing and dancing all the way home. Homework to "interview" mum about food.

Books galore

With a pile of books this deep it must be time for this season's business classes to get started. Once again, we will be getting busy in class with all manner of communicative exchanges, developing our everyday language skills and in many cases focusing on work-related topics in particular.

Outside of class, there will be plenty of reading; this time we are mixing up the readers with titles from OUP's Bookworms series, CUP's catalogue, Penguin's movie tie-ins, and newly adopted Macmillan's hot-looking red readers. I'm looking forward to a stream of good posting here. I think it's great that students of all levels and abilities can get stuck into a good book.

Holland's Education from Birth to 4 or 5 years old

Children in Holland enter elementary school at the age of 5. But they can at 4, too.
So parents who have their baby from birth to 3 years old leave them to nursery school or the day nursery. Most parents work for part time job and they are taking the system of working sharer at home or working places. Only 10 or 20 percent of parents of them use nursery school.

Young married men and women take care of their children if they have their children. They have time and money to do it suitable or so. and make a good family for their children.

When their children are little parents give them a lot of reading and listening by using good picture books, or they take care of a lot of praise in the way of protestantism.

Nursery schools have 2 parts - morning and afternoon. So some parents who want to leave child all day long, they send their children to another nursery school in the afternoon.

If their parents can't send or meet them there, they ask to do it to their grandparents or their neighbors. It costs only a maximum of E48 and a minimum of E12. Parents pay little money for it, so a country give a subsidy for the school.

By the way, a lot of Japanese are sometimes called workaholic, and they are very busy from morning till night. A father only sees his sleeping baby at night. It's realities in some aspect of Japan.

In conclusion I hope to solve this problem by taking the system of Holland's working style and enjoy more work-life balance.

Mine

Holland's Working Life Style

A few months ago I visited Amsterdam city hall which is called 'Iveen'. I met Els Heldens who is responsible for Education. She said she works 32 hours a week. She goes there 4 days a week and works 8 hours a day. She is a part timer.
Of course she receives a good salary and also receives health insurance, a pension and other kinds of provisions, the same as a full timer receives.
Her husband is also a part timer. So when they got married and had a child, they took their holidays sliding to take good care of their child, so that they could bring up their child themselves with good couple cooperation at home and she could keep working.

I also visited 'Humanitas' in Rotterdam. It's an aged people's establishment. It was very big with 4 thousand people working there. There were people working full time and part time, 8 percent of them were part time, and 8 percent of the part time staff were women. They weren't so young. There were a lot of people in their 50s and 60s. They said if they all do the same job there then their wages for an hour are the same. There's no difference between full time and part time for an hour's work.

Thus a lot of Hollanders are working part time. They can have more leisure time and money to enjoy life with their partner, child and friends etc.
A lot of people can earn money even if they are not so young. They live their rich lives keeping the balance between working and enjoying life.
I understand the working system like this is taken everywhere in Holland, at home, schools, working places and companies if people need to.
As a result a lot of people can lead a happy life with a good work-life balance. It's an ideal system and social place.

In Japan there are a lot of problems to solve. For example, 70 percent of women stop working when they get married and have children, the problems of welfare, the increasing aging population and the decreasing birth rate. I'm sorry about it. I hope that these problems will be solved by this working system and life style in Holland, now in Japan too.

written by Mine