Room 13 and Other Ghost Stories

Five stories in the book which is written by M.R James are all ghost stories.
A strange accident occurred at The Golden Lion Inn that is old building. There were room number 12 and 14, but there was no room number 13.
Anderson was writer who was writing a book on the history of Denmark. He staied room 12 in the inn.
In evening, He heard strange sound from neighbor room. He looked out of the window. He saw his shadow on the wall of the opposite. The person in room 13 was also standing at the window.

Finally reading, I noticed a result that relate to a history of this town.

Although this story is short, I was frightened when I knew content of the story. Perhaps I will worry next room number when I stay inn on business.

BillyElliot

Q) Did you enjoy this book? Why(not)? What is the story? Describe it for your friends?

A) Of course, I enjoyed this book, because the story is written about both boy's complicated mind and success from poor. I think that the story is heartwarming.

At first, Billy did boxing with other boys. But he was not interested in boxing, because he didn't like to hit people. One day, he knew ballet. He was interested in ballet little by little and start to learn ballet with other girls.

At last, he pass the audition of famous ballet school in London and he made Royal Ballet Company.

Like as Billy, I would like to do my favorate thing (ex. management of pension ) instead of my work. It is my dream.

Yoichi

Grey Owl

Writing 30
Write a page for the internet giving Grey Owl's message to the modern world.

Human are breaking the Earth. If we don't nothing the Earth will die soon.
We(human) live on the Earth, not only the human. A lot of kind of animal, a lot of kind of plant, a lot of kind of life are living together on the Earth.
This is important for human. A kind of animal is in danger of becoming extinct, it shows us that the Earth will die. It mean that human will be extinct in the future as soon.
Think about a lot of kind of animal, think about a lot of kind of plant, think all the life on the Earth. Thinking about animal isn't for others, it is for us.

New Luna Project - our own podcast

Excellent news folks - we have started to produce our very own podcast, with original content & ideas from our students. The first podcast features an interview with Tana, about her home country (South Africa) and her feelings about Japan after two and a half years. She was interviewed by Toshiya (11), who had done his homework (see his earlier posting here) and had a long list of questions! Think you'll agree he did a really good job, and we got to learn a lot about Tana's beautiful homeland.

Please support this new venture - you can find the podcast in the right hand margin. I know it's a bit 'small', but you can subscribe right there, or go to the site hosting it (podbean.com) and 'follow' us there too.

New editions will be highlighted here as they come out and on Jim's Twitter feed ("oyajimbo"). Please be a bit patient, as Jim is famously rather an analogue kind of guy (easily baffled by new technology)!

Look forward to reading your comments & maybe joining us in the pod for a chat!

Jim

The Perfect Storm

I was very impressed by this story because this story is based on reality. This story began from description of people who lived in a small fishing town, Gloucester, Massachusetts. In this town, most of fisherman had gone on the fishing trip to make amount of money. Few men liked to go fishing because the work was very hard and one fishing trip was very long. When they left port once, they had to stay on the ship about a month. The author wrote these people with dark scene description, so it showed us that it would happen unfortunate result.

I often go fishing in the sea by boarding a fishing boat. It is very interesting and exciting hobby for me. However I've worried a little since I read this book. No man expect the change of the weather and sea condition. Even experienced fisherman couldn't except it in this book.

Should I stop to go fishing? Maybe I can't stop it. I think that I would continue this hobby ever. I should learn to swim well first.

Chapter 7

Q1 The author guesses that the storm might have destroyed the Andrea Gail's radio antennas and its radar. He says that if this happened, sailing the boat would have been like sailing in the nineteenth century. Explain what he means.

A1 This means that we have to sail without modern tools and we might loose our way in the sea.

Q2 Why is it strange that no signal was ever received from the Andrea Gail's EPIRB?

A2 Because If the antennas had been lost in the storm, Billy must switch on the EPIRB.

Hideki

A death in Oxford

Oxford Post newspaper report: A case of murder in Oxford

Friday 26 July, Dr Janet Leighton killed at the her house on St John Street. She was fifty years old. Cause of her death was a stab by a knife. There were books and papers everywhere, and then there was no computer. It seems that someone wanted money or things to sell. The cause of a criminal investigation, her husband was arrested for murder.

He was in financial difficulties. He wanted some money. He implored her to give him money, but he was refused her. He was angry, and then he stabbed her by a knife. Unfortunately nobody sad about her dead.

From Oxford

reported by Seiji Kimura

London: my ideas...

What do you know about London? When someone says "London", what do you think of?

London is a big city in England. The people speak English.
I think of news papers, black hats, rain, umbrellas, Big Ben, red buses, The Queen and Princess Diana.

Maho

Diggers & wheelbarrows

Originally uploaded by ijiwaru jimbo

Today was such a lovely sunny morning we couldn't stay indoors forever. We'd sung the "How's the weather?" song and got a resounding "It's SUNNY today!" response. We 'did' our letter /Mm/ words and could see the mountains clearly from our big windows, with their snowy peaks against the blue sky.

Shoes and coats on for a wander down the riverside, where some workmen were spending our taxpayers money, slowly. The girls were really interested to see the men choosing the right sized rocks for the holes they had, and then knocking them into position & cementing them there. They had a dirty old truck, a clean yellow digger, and an old blue wheelbarrow to help them.

We sang songs from the Billy Goats DVD as we walked - "There's green green grass, over the river" we had to change to 'brown'; we looked for a nasty Troll under the bridge but couldn't see him; and we sang about the 3 Billy Goats living on the mountain yonder!

On the way back, we found a ladybird, which bit Naomi. We counted its black spots before it flew away. We also looked at the buds on the trees - spring is coming, so we'll have to come back and check on their progress in becoming leaves soon.

Back at school we finished some colouring - today we read a Potato Pals book about "In the morning" and our daily routines. We also had a big I Spy with /Mm/, /Ss/ & /Rr/ words...and so much more. The walk was the highlight though, as you can see. We haven't been out for ages and now the weather is getting a bit nicer, maybe we can explore some more soon!

A North Korean Wedding

I went to a lovely wedding on Saturday at the Buena Vista in Matsumoto. Japan. So I got the nationalities wrong? Nope! There is a vibrant and resolute community of non-Japanese in this country, a carry over from Japan's colonisation of the Korean peninsula at the beginning of the last century. Hundreds of thousands of Korean nationals were brought to Japan as cheap or slave labour, and worse.

I am proud to have been involved with the local community here in Matsumoto for the last 13 years or so, since my very good friend Yong Mi asked me to help her teach English at the North Korean school here in town. I and my school have been associated with the school ever since, and every single one of my teachers over the years has thoroughly enjoyed teaching at the school. There is something palpably different and cheerful about the children there which I wish we could bottle.

Thirteen years ago there was a 'troublesome' class of lads none too keen to study; on Saturday they were on centre stage celebrating the fifth wedding from their small class. I attended because I have taught every single one of the family of the groom over the years, at the school and at Luna, and I was delighted to have been invited. Both bride and groom studied to become English teachers...so Yong Mi and I both felt maybe we  contributed a little bit.

The well-matched couple changed no less than three times, punctuating the meal with sashays into the room. I don't think they ate at all. There were drums - old Matsumoto Mongrel football team members will remember Chi Hiro as our star player years and years ago (his year - class -  had too few boys to make a team, and besides they were not allowed to join the local school league anyway)...front & centre!

There was Karaoke; I remembered the night years ago the groom's father took me out to sing Beatles songs in Korean (I'm fluent?!) and spent Y50,000 in an hour. The hostesses still stole my favourite hat! All the men in the room joined the chorus, while the poor bride looked a bit lost.

There was dancing - I was going to wish the happy couple well but got collared into an arm waving dance instead. For once I was the most sober in the room! The groom's mum was a picture of elegance in her Choguri. Her two daughters were later described to me (by my daughter) as 'princesses'. I always thought so, especially O.R. whom I have known since she was knee-high to a grasshopper.

My grasp of Japanese is ropey, and my Korean is non-existent, but it was obvious everyone enjoyed this union immensely. I chatted to the bride's sister & her fiance in English, and hope to meet them again in Matsumoto soon. A couple of the lads from the class have really made something of themselves & are getting ahead in the world; there were children everywhere which means a healthy next generation to teach at the school.

It was refreshing to see the speakers at the end get heckled! Broke the ice a lot. The bride's father made a great speech and had everyone in his spell, both mums tearing up and not really a dry eye in the massive audience either. Sometimes you don't need to know what is being said - the context and the emotion does the trick. This was a wedding I was very glad I didn't miss.

The hero

The hero toby is a curious,smart boy.
Moreover,he also helped people in need,so he is a very gentle child.
This book describes how he solved two cases by using his brain
while he went to delivernewspapers.
It was interesting to read the book from beginning to end,because the end is uncertain.

L.A.Winners

Herman is about 30 age; tall and heavy; works as abodyguard for film stars.

Sandy Bonner is 25 age; has long dark hair; owns a ranch and keeps horses.

Lou Weaver is about 60 age; employed as a ranch hand.

Slim Peters is mid-forties age; big man, quite fat; employed as a rasetrack sevurity guard.

Dick Gates is about 40 age; tall and geavy; has long red hair which he ties in a pony-tail.

Ventanas is about 40 age; tall slim man with dark hair; owns a racehorse called Golden Dragon.

The Chief is 12 age; two metres high; has brown hair and brown eyes; retired furom his former job.

Dr No

Dear all,
This story was written by Ian Fleming. Since Flaming wrote the story ,the names of some countries and their kind of governments have changed.

Do you know JAMES BOND? The story of Doctor No takes place in the 1950's.
The task sends him to Jamacia, where he joins forces with Quarrel and a loyal CIA agent.

An agent of the British Secret Service, James Bond (007), is sent out to the West Indies in order to find out why another of his number was killed.

The story of Dr NO was made into a film in 1962. The film started the actor Sean Connery, and the Bond films continue to be huge international successes.

I love the third JAMES BOND "Roger Moore". But ｈｅ ｄｉｅｄ　at 91's.

by keiko.

Dengerous Journey

I thought that it was a story of the exploration.

Of course, it was a story of the exploration.

However, it was a little different when beginning to read.

A bad relation between a leader and a clever man was drawn in this story.

This is a relation also in the company with seem....

However, it was not a story that had drawn only a bad relation.

I thought that All members admired for the leader, and the story of the team that cooperated each other.

HACHI

The statue of Hachi is in front of Shibuya station. He was a japanese dog (Akita-inu) who waited for his master's return at the station, even after his master's death, for several years. The first statue was made while he waited for his master, but it was removed to be melted down in World War 2.
After the war, a new statue was built there.

Room 13 and Other Ghost Stories

I read Room13 and Other Ghost Stories.

This book has some stories. Some stories are very interesting for me, but THE MAZE is not interesting.

I can't understand to read THE MAZE. People couldn't go out the maze. There are some creature in maze. Why are people go out in maze? Ledy Wardrop puts her handkerchief on a tree on the right-hand side of the path. After that she have come this way again. But her handkerchief is on the left-hand side. I couldn't understand this reason.

This story is very difficult to understand its contents.

Tales of Horror

I read a book "Tales of Horror". This book has three story, all story is horror. I don't like horror story and don't like this book. I felt a boring and grim story this book.

Most boring story is first story "The Judge's House". Why Malcolm was killed the painting? He is student. He want to study hard, only want to quiet surrounding. But he was killed ghost(?). I didn't understand this story, I was not satisfaction.

I felt second story "Iron Maiden" is grim story. Elias killed kitten. Kitten's mother revenge Elias. Cat revenge Elias is right. But I felt very grim that Elisa was killed way. I didn't like this story like book.

I hope next book is interesting story!

Noriko

Rendezvous with Rama

This novel was written by Arthur C. Clarke who is very famous science fiction writer around the world. When I was junior high-school student, more than 30 years ago, I read his novels and watched his film, e.g. 2001: A Space Odyssey.
This is the first time for me to read Rendezvous with Rama. Rama is a kind of space colony and I’m sure that Space colony like Rama will be put to practical use within this century, but it’s striking that he wrote this novel in 1972, around 40 years ago.

Points for Understanding


15-1: The Raman biots always ignore the human visitors. Norton has an idea about why this happens. What is his idea?

Earthmans breathe oxygen, and the Ramans breathe oxygen too. The biots probably can’t see any difference between one kind of oxygen-breather and another.

15-2: ‘Is this place some kind of Raman church or temple?’ Mercer asks. Why do you think he asks this question?

I think it was Mercer’s desire, that is to say, Ramans took care of church or temple as same as Earthmans. It was good for him to know that.

Koa

Azumino tourism 104

I was briefed to teach a group of 16 or so people in the local tourism industry on Wednesday evening. They had decided they were 'intermediate' level. I had decided this might be an ambitious estimate (if the other options were 'zero/beginner' or 'advanced'), especially in my experience earlier in the day.

I was expecting a group who were involved in running museums, galleries, outdoor activity businesses etc, so figured I'd base this lesson on my experiences working, travelling, and taking tours to New Zealand. The ideal material was listening to a fast talking foreigner (Scottish) talking to a Kiwi (tourist info officer). After that, the scene was set to have similar exchanges modelled on the original, then to less structured work based on their own backgrounds & demands as potential tourists.

Having four guys from the same business was a blessing; my original role play idea became a lot more realistic as I challenged them to do some sales/respond to enquiries, and the rest of the group to get some key info as well as a discount if at all possible.

Now, some of the people who came along were not 'intermediate' level by any stretch of the imagination, but even they realised that if a local retiree can batter them down for a discount or answer simple questions (from people who know their product/service) then they'd better pull their socks up. I was delighted with the effort everyone made this evening, becoming 'genki listeners' and responding to what potential guests would like to do.

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• New Zealand: Whalewatching company wins Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Awards (telegraph.co.uk)

Azumino tourism 103

On Wednesday afternoon I was asked to teach a large group of people in the tourism business a few 'useful' things. I have never met this group before and was totally unsire about their level, abilities, motivation, goals etc. I also knew that this was a 'once off' so little chance of establishing much of a relationship with my clients.

As this group was self-diagnosed 'intermediate' (what criteria were used, please?!) and apparently were used to using English in their workplaces (hotels & restaurants predominantly) I figured a 'conversation-style' class would be old hat & pointless. Also mostly self-employed, probably at least my age (21+)...I might not teach them anything new (I didn't want to try anything 'too hard' and be pulling teeth all afternoon) but at least I could give them the kind of class they may not be so familiar with. Maybe even allow them to realise they need to brush up on a skill or two.

I challenged them to read an email from an inbound tourist asking for info at a hotel (in Turkey), and to identify why the writer was writing, and to 'describe' the layout of the mail. The long & short of the rest of the (2.5 hr) lesson was to use that email as a template & write our own email (pencil & paper for now) requesting info, before 'changing hats' to read an incoming email, decipher it (and then realise that the layout is vitally important!) and compose a professional reply.

Outcome? I think the realisation was that 'I always do this' or 'I always say that' is not the same as the having the desired impact. Which in an email to potential customers is often a one-shot deal.Well done team!

Cambridge KET exam? Easy!

It is my pleasure to announce that both our youngest and oldest candidates for the Cambridge KET exam have both passed with flying colours.

Congratulations and a jolly well done to both of you!! You both worked extremely hard for this exam and deserve every bit of credit for your final scores. I am over the moon with your results, and very proud of the effort you put into achieving them.

Which just goes to show that age is no obstacle, old or young!

Tana

L. A. Winners

This story is a private detective's story.

The client came when private detective's Samuel took a nap. A client is a woman. She told a private detective to want you to look for 〝 The Chief 〟. The Chief was a horse.

First half, I worried about the private detective. I thought 'Is it really a detective?' Latter half, he became reliable.

This book was interesting.

Little learners - lots of language

 Today was all about the letter "Mm", which unfortunately has very little to do with Thomas the Tank Engine, but there you go! Oh, wait a minute, one of the engines is called 'Mavis'. Safe!

We did lots of 'Mm' words (really funky ones like mushroom, moon, and mountain) and talked about what we can do - run, jump, help mummy, etc. of course we ran around and jumped and stuff! The girls helped Jim read a couple of books and predicted the outcome rather well.

We also spent some time in the afternoon thinking about categorising things - by shape, by size, by colour. A really cool discovery was fitting six small triangles into a larger hexagon. The other cool discovery was making jewellery out of the plastic shapes, and stacking blocks higher and higher!

The odd thing is that Goldilocks & the Three Bears is an unpopular DVD. I think it's because Goldilocks is naughty, or maybe because she gets caught. Either way, the only DVD that gets a 'No, thank you'. And that's OK too - tiny opinions are just as valid as anybody else's, and usually less coached in bias. They just don't like it!

The Eye of the Tiger

I could imagine this story was about the treasure from the picture of face. An evil-looking people came and it led me to the conviction. I like an adventure story but this story wasn’t interesting. The people except the hero died one after another conveniently, and the hero was able to make the treasure his own. I thought that this couldn’t be true. When everyone was alive around him, did he share the treasure with them? I don’t know the answer but he decided to give the treasure to the President of St Mary’s, so I think he would make a decision by himself only.

Question 16-10. What had Harry kept hidden in Turtle Bay?
Answer: He had kept the gold plates in Turtle Bay.

Bad day at the office

Bad day at the office
Originally uploaded by Mikey Down Under

My brother took his camera for a walk along the beach last weekend.
Think he did quite well.

Me? I went to Nagoya on the train.

New Caledonia - postcard from Rie

Dear Jim, Tana & Yuki,

How are you? I wish I could see you right now.
I hope your happiness & good health for 2010!!
I miss you and the wonderful time at Luna.
Take care, lots of love,

Rie.

PS I went to New Caledonia for honeymoon. Although some happenings, we enjoyed the nice time!

Fukuoka dome

In my town, the most beautiful and famous building is Fukuoka dome. It is enormous.

Fukuoka dome was built twenty years ago by the Daiei company. It's the largest arena in Kyushu.

Around the Dome is the Genkai Nada sea, the Fukuoka tower, and a shopping center. Fukuoka tower is very high, but it isn't higher than Tokyo Tower.

Baseball games have been played in Fukuoka tower. Softbank Hawks play baseball games against other Pacific League teams. , There are a lot of food shops in Fukuoka Dome.

We can't climb to the top of Fukuoka dome, so we can't see the view.