phonics; Masa. Long/short /u/

Created with Sock Puppets for iPhone and iPad.

Damian's ALS ice bucket challenge

Damian's guerilla style ALS ice bucket challenge, storming the castle grounds with buckets of ice cold water for a very good cause.
Remember you can either donate some money to us (which we will be forwarding on ourselves) or donate directly at at www.als.net

phonics; Masa. Long/short /u/

Created with Sock Puppets for iPhone and iPad.

At the supermarket

Created with Sock Puppets for iPhone and iPad.

I can't find my mum (Kaede/Daiya)

Created with Sock Puppets for iPhone and iPad.

Jim's Ice Bucket challenge

Thank you Steve Bond & Katie Malins for nominating me; proud to revisit Rag mentality! ALS a very worthy cause no matter how many of these you have seen - cough up a coin for charity please. Trevor Joseph, Anthony Hogan & Patrick Jackson are my nominees: get wet gents!

Mobile phones - a great invention?

The not so complete mobile phone evolution
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Almost everybody has a mobile phone. But is it a great invention? I think there are both advantages and disadvantages.

First I would like to introduce some advantages. Firstly, a mobile phone enables us to contact our friends anywhere. We can meet friends even if we don't set the meeting place specifically in advance. Secondly, we can search a lot of things by using the Internet. We can search and get information when we want to. Thirdly, a mobile phone has a high definition camera. A mobile phone makes it easier for everybody to enjoy taking or sharing photos and movies.

On the other hand, there are also disadvantages. For instance, we are spending too much time with a mobile phone. We use it with no purpose to kill time and sometimes we spend a few hours a day by surfing the net. Also, a mobile phone is not good for your eyes. Watching a small display definitely damages your eyes. In addition, some crimes happen by using a mobile phone.

In conclusion, I believe a mobile phone is a great invention and it has changes our lives dramatically. It is true that is sometimes causes bad effects. However, if we take care of the way to use it, it's a very useful and safe tool for us.

Daichi

Almost everybody has a mobile phone. But is it a great invention? I think there are both advantages and disadvantages.

The first advantage is that people can contact other people easily anywhere, anytime they want. Secondly, they can use the internet to check something, book a hotel and buy something online. The current mobile phone can do almost everything. Thirdly, in case of emergence, they can use it to call.

On the other hand, there are also disadvantages. For example, people need to pick up their phone or get messages even if they take their holiday. Also, it is bad for their eyesight. We get addicted too easily a lot of using mobile phones.

In conclusion, there are some disadvantages, but the mobile phone is a great invention. I think that people need to think about how to use the mobile phones themselves.

Miyuki

Almost everybody has a mobile phone. But is it a great invention? I think there are both advantages and disadvantages.

I think mobile phone is very useful item. Firstly, we can always contact with our friends. In an emergency, we can call the police easily by it. Secondly, everywhere anytime we can research everything by Internet. If you went out with your girlfriend, your mobile phone would recommend a nice café. So it is a nice item.

On the other hand, I think mobile phones are dangerous. For example, we can receive call or e-mails from our office or business. So, we can't relax on holiday. Some people get crazy about mobile games and lose creative or family time.

In conclusion, the balance is important. It is very good items with good use.

Hidemi

Almost everybody has a mobile phone. But is it a great invention? I think there are both advantages and disadvantages.

The first advantage is that we can use our mobile phones anywhere and anytime. Secondly, we can use many functions with mobile phones like e-mail, photos and listening to music. Thirdly, incase we are in trouble, we can call our family or emergency call (110, 119, etc)

On the other hand, there are also some disadvantages. For instance, we also have a chance to get annoyed with unexpected calls. in addition, we must keep the battery on charge all the time!

To sum up, we need to switch off this great invention at least while we are asleep.

Yuki

Kamikochi information requested

Kamikochi in Matsumoto, Nagano prefecture, Japan  上高地   (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Kamikochi is about 40km west of Matsumoto.  It is one of the most beautiful mountain parks in Japan. There is a beautiful green forest, an icey cold river, waterfalls, beautiful old lakes, and massive tall mountains, many over 3,000 meters high.

There is a lot of wildlife in Kamikochi. There are friendly wild monkeys, secretive rare Ptarmigan, dangerous black bear and shy quiet deer. There are also pretty chirpy birds.

Our summers are lovely and cool, with clear blue skies. You can go camping in safe cheap camp sites and hiking along easy enjoyable tracks. You can go boating in interesting small boats, and  take photographs of beautiful natural scenes.

In winter, there is heavy snow, with good snow-shoeing spots. 

I hope this information is useful for you.

Best wishes, 

K.I.

Tomoro's summer holiday report

Mount Jōnen from Mount_Akaiwa 赤岩岳から望む常念岳 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In my short summer holiday I went to climb a 2986m mountain called Jonendake with my mum. It was very easy to climb because it wasn't so high. At the top of the mountain we took some photos of the beautiful mountain scenery. The weather wasn't so bad but, it was raining a little bit. We stayed for one night in a lodge at the top of Jonendake, and we ate a good hot dinner of hunberger, rice, miso soup, vegetables and jelly for dessert.

I also went to my grandmothers' houses in Chiba and Kanami. In Chiba I saw a Japanese samurai film called Ruroni Kensin. It was really enjoyable because the samurai Kensin, the star, was a very cool killer. The rock music was super and the fighting was very glory. In Kanami I tidied my grandfather's room, which took a long time as it was really untidy. I also watched a lot of the high school baseball tournament on TV. All of the games were good. My grandmothers were very happy to see my face and I was happy to see them.

I had a very good time this holiday, but next year I will have a high school entrance exams so I won't be able to play much then.

My camping experiences in Japan - a student writes

When I was young, I experienced several camps with my family and as a member of school student and Girl Scout. The places were different every time, but I always used dixie to cook rice and had dinner outside.

In the camp with my family, the camp place was sea side. We enjoyed playing fireworks and doing BBQ. The tent was very narrow and a little bit hot. However, I was happy as my mother fanned me until I felt into a sleep.

In the camp as a member of school student, we hiked to Utsukushigahara highland and stayed in a lodge. I was happy, as a boy who I liked and I were in the same group. I could cook and had curry with him. In addition, I danced with him by the camp fire. It was my one-way love, but it was good memory.

The camp as a member of Girl Scout was more complicate than other two camps. Especially, building big tent was analog (physical?) and hard work. I remembered that talking with other members was fun in the tent, but next day, we had to unbuild and fold the tent…

I haven’t done camps for a long time, but they
were good experience for me. If I have children in the future, I want them to experience unusual life like camp.

(Posted for Chinasa, after reading "Stranger Danger")

My favourite possession - my iPod drip!

Ipod touch (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It's got two high quality cameras at the front and back, the one at the back has flash which also can be a flashlight. It's got a big 32GB memory can hold lots of apps, music and photographs. It's got a clear big touch screen.

I like to use it to text chat with friends and family, phone them, send pictures and videos. I also like to listen to my music, take pictures and videos. I can play games, watch videos on YouTube, check quizlet and search for some answers for my homework. I check the weather every day and use it as an alarm clock which has various ringtones. 

I accidentally dropped it in the river last week, so I'm really sad.

Takuro :(

The most idyllic place I have ever visited is....

The most idyllic place I have ever visited is Ohshika-mura in Nagano Prefecture.

I lived in Nagano Prefecture for a long time, but I didn't know Ohshika-mura until one of my friend worked for elementary school there. I visited her together with my friends. It is located in the southern part of Nagano.

We drove to south by express highway and exit from Matsukawa IC. It was a long winding road to the village. It took over 30 minutes into deep valley to east. There were neither houses nor shops along road. Sometimes deer and/or monkeys jumped out from valley.

After coming out of a tunnel, there is a small village. There are dotted with houses. There is only one grocery store, but no convenience store. I love the hot spring spa there. It was located in the middle of mountain. It is a small facility and has only open-air spa. In the spring, I could enjoy the beautiful green landscape down to the village.

 Ohshika-mura is famous for Kabuki which is the traditional Japanese performance art. The people living in Ohshika-mura play some famous story every spring and fall.

Well, I love to visit there but I don't want to live there. I am living within walking distance from the convenience store as well as bus stop. Also our parents live near to our house. It is very convenient environment for me.

Posted for Tomoko, after reading "Double Trouble"

The Secret in the Farmhouse - writing about being brave

I have three dogs. The accident happened to one of them nine years ago. It had past several months since I had her. I had taken her for a walk every morning.

One day, I changed the lead to new one for her as the previous one was a little bit complicating. It, however, was too loose to hold her. When she stopped to sniff a tuft of grass, I pull the lead and moved forward. Then, she came out from the lead. When I tried to catch her, she was surprised and ran away! I chased her, but she continued to escape from me.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have mobile phone. In addition, there were no any other people around there. Therefore, I could not ask anyone to help and I had no way but to keep chase her not to lose her. I had been struggling with the situation for twenty minutes.

After that, I found a dog in the backyard of a house. I suddenly recalled that my dog liked other dogs. I thought that she came close to the dog if she saw the dog and I could catch her.

I didn’t know the owner of the house, but I knocked the window from the backyard to call the owner. The owner was surprised, but when I talked about the accident, she took her dog to me. When my dog saw the dog, she was pleased to come close and I finally caught her. I was very relieved and appreciated the owner and the dog.

Voice in Silence - Shigeki Tomura’s Drawing and Drypoint etching Exhibition

Shigeki Tomura's work

Shigeki Tomura’s Exhibition “Voice in Silence” will be open on September 11 at Trattoria Gallery Matsumoto. Shigeki Tomura was born in east-northeast in Japan and he lives in Morioka-Iwate, now. Since 1984, he has been dedicated to drypoint etching. Drypoint is a printmaking technique, in which an image is incised into a traditionally copper plate with a hard-pointed needle. He has received some international prizes since 1989. His works are extremely delicate and sensitive. They are in monochrome silence world. You can feel real air and deep atmosphere in the works. His works are very quiet but they have great presence. His works are really popular for people. It will be his first exhibition in Matsumoto city. 

The gallery restaurant “Torattoria Gallery Matsumoto” is a unique style gallery restaurant in the city. Many kinds of homemade pizza and pasta are popular.

World flag - design and describe

A recent little project some of my adult students have been doing, which at the time coincided with the FIFA World Cup, is a lesson plan from www.onestopenglish.com: Beyond: Knowledge: Geography. The website offers a variety of resources and fully prepared lesson plans with materials for free, with even more to be unlocked from joining their "Staff Room". The lesson plan focuses on identifying and describing flags, alongside giving students an opportunity to design and create their own world flag. For this task I asked my students to be as original and inspiring as possible with their designs. So I would like to present to you a collection of "world flags", accompanied by a brief description.

Misako's design

I imagine everlasting world.

Pale blue part means sky.

Blue part means sea.

Read part means the sun.

Four leaves clover is a symbol of peace, hope, human love, fortune.

Misuzu's design

The green part is an earth.

The pink part is flowers covering the earth.

The blue part is sky.

Please imagine if you go to space, you can see the earth like this shape from spaceship window.

Yuuko's design

This flag has on green background.

It's football field.

In the middle, there is peace mark.

This year is FIFA world cup year.

FIFA world cup entertained all over the world people.

Sports games makes a world happy and peace.

Reiko's design

This flag has black background.

There are a big blue circle in the middle and olive leaf on the big circle.

And this have one big circle and one medium circle seven small circles slantingly and straight.

One medium circle is on bottom left.

The big circle is between one medium circle and seven small circles.

In left side one medium circle and 2 small circles.

In right side five small circles.

The medium circle's color is orange.

The small circle's color is yello.

The olive leaf's colour is yellow green.

The olive berry's color is olive.

Background black mean the Space.

The big blue circle mean the Earth.

The olive leaf is a symbol of Peace.

One medium circle in bottom left mean Sun.

Seven small circles mean the solar system planet.

From bottom left Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune.

The flag mean the peace of all of the world and all of the space.

Rie's design

In the middle, there is a symbol. A symbol that looks like a snake. This flag has gradation background. The meaning of the gradation is the variety of people on earth. There are various races, but it is connected like slow gradation. The ring formed snake represent the state that without opening and ending.

Shouko's design

The Earth is full of dreams.
I was represented by a star that dream.
Big dream, a small dream.
There is a dream of various shapes.
All its wonderful.
That dream come true and Holding Hands is people from all over the world.
The message "Holding Hands".
Blue is the color of the earth.
Also easy to match the skin of any color is purple.

Postcard from Dusseldorf, Germany

Hi Jim,

I arrived in Dusseldorf, Germany. It's a sunny day. There's a nice breeze coming through the window.

Tonight, I'll have a good beer with my company's staff.

Tomorrow's meeting will be tough, but I will enjoy my business trip.

Yumi

Post Card from Ayres Rock, Australia

Dear Mr Damian Gowland,

Hi, I am in Ayres Rock, Australia. Do you know Ayres Rock Uluru? That located the middle of Australia
island. I have stayed for three days. Then, I am going to visit Cains. This picture is Uluru - Ayres Rock, second biggest Rock in the world. Yesterday I climbed up this Rock. I was too tired, because this Rock is very steap. My leg muscles have pain. Tomorrow, I will swim in the ocean. I want to enjoy and relax.

See you next class,

Thanks

Muraki Takashi.

In the Garden - homemade flashcards + Quizlet

Lethargic students with thunder & rain rolling around the valley, my good readers quickly made this set of key words for a Story Tree book they read/listened to at home. A change of pace, and plenty of disagreement about which pictures to use. Like?

Bon Bon 2014 – Let me see your Union Jacks

Ready to start

This year was my first ever experience of the Matsumoto Bon Bon, I don’t even know how to begin describing this immensely monumental occasion. The streets were jam packed with different companies, groups, organizations, schools, clubs, and anything else you could think of, in their various unique uniforms, happis or kimonos. Everywhere was hustling and bustling in preparation for the 3 hour dance marathon, the crowd was buzzing.

Home-made fans

We had a great turnout, with many of our students taking part including their parents and family as well as friends, both new and old. This year we got to show off our own custom fans to use for the Bon Bon, which our students worked very hard to make themselves. We were armed with our very own Union Jack design fans as we paraded the streets of Matsumoto, chanting and dancing, fuelled by the atmosphere of the occasion with the “veterans” of Luna leading the march.

Having never participated in the Bon Bon before, I thought it best to

In full swing

prepare myself and learn the Matsumoto Bon Bon dance. So I took it upon myself to search the dance on YouTube in order to familiarize myself with the steps to avoid cluelessly flailing my arms around when the fun begins. However when 6 o’clock rolled around and the dancing began, it became apparent that I had learnt the wrong dance! D’oh!  For the opening few minutes I was in a complete state of panic, I had no idea where my arms where going or where they were meant to be going. I found myself in the exact circumstance I was trying to avoid. What made the situation worse was the fact that the students were looking to me so they knew what they were supposed to be doing. I tried my best to stay calm and observe the participants around me, attempting to compose myself and fit in with the dancers around me. The initial few minutes were nerve-racking to say the least. Nevertheless, I soon became accustomed to the Bon Bon dance, and as the evening continued I enjoyed myself more and more. It was fantastic fun rallying up our group, I was very fortunate not to lose my voice from all the chanting.

Finishing troopers

A huge thanks goes out to everybody who took part, even those who joined us briefly or part way through, and a huge congratulations to those that made it to the end. An extra thanks to Kento’s granddad, who helped distribute drinks for our young dancers so they could remain refreshed and energized. Also a special mention must go to: Naomi, who without any obligations helped us set up, get organized and lead from the very beginning, Jim, for making sure everyone was safe and enjoying themselves, and more importantly made sure there was never an empty beer cup in sight, and Yukari who was the star of the show as she was responsible for all the behind the scene jobs of organizing such a successful event. I hope even more of you will be able to join us next year, I guarantee it will be another cracker!

Now, who has a spare pair of legs I can borrow for next year?

Suzuki Method's rather large violin lesson

Jim popped along to hear how the very big lesson was going at the gymnasium; and reports 'very well'. There must have been about 750 children of all ages joining in! Some more than others, one or two asleep, but by & large mostly on the same scoresheet.

So what do so many enthusiastic fiddlers sound like all playing at the same time?

listen to ‘Suzuki violin gig’ on Audioboo

Eleanor was playing in her favoured ambassadorial role, making friends and networking, but our Miyu & Saki were also there from Luna's YLE ranks. Anybody else I couldn't see?

Alphabet song sung well!

listen to ‘Alphabet song sung well!’ on Audioboo

Yuto's amazing minibeast

I like ants because they can lift 50 times heavier than their body.

I like beetles because they are cool and they fight. 

I don't like spiders because they are disgusting. They eat mice & frogs' liquid.

I don't like flies because they are annoying and dirty.

This is my "kabuto" or Stag Beetle. I like it because it is big - about 10cm long. It eats syrup from wood  & banana. Mum says it smells bad, and it makes a noise like pencils clicking when it moves.

Yuto

A place of interest - Melbourne

Great Ocean Road Cliffs-Beach-12= (Photo credit: Sheba_Also)

Dear Chen

Melbourne is the second biggest city in Australia. Melbourne was capital until 1927. The climate is dry. There are beautiful long beach called "Great ocean road". It is very confatable to drive there. And we can find Coara bears in forests.

"Ayres rock" is the biggest rock in the world.

In 1956 Olympic game was held. Japanese Takagshi Ono won the Iron rod game.

In the morning lets fly in a hot air balloon. You can look over the Melbourne city and natural park.

I hope this information is helpful to you.

Mieko

Posted for Mieko

My home town - Azumino

DAIO Wasabi Farm (Azumino, Nagano, Japan) (Photo credit: t-mizo)

Dear Marcello,

Thank you for your inquiry.

Azumino is located in Nagano prefecture.

You will come to here in about three hours by express Train from Tokyo.

In the recommended spot, hot springs, museums and wasabi garden.

Wasabi garden is the most popular tourist place in Azumino.

I think trip's best season is early summer.

It is almost sunny and temperature is around 20 degrees in May.

Winter is very cold. Sometimes temperature becomes -10 degrees.

But you can enjoy in winter.

Because you can watch swans, and enjoy illuminations in national park in Azumino.

Please come to Azumino.

I hope this helps.

Best regards,

K Maruyama

Posted for Kazuko

In the Ocean with Nanako!

The ocean is deep & clear. There are many differents kinds of fish and mammals in the ocean.

In this book, the biggest animal is the whale, and the smallest is the clownfish. I think the scariest animal is the lionfish. I think the cutest animal is the dolphin, and the strangest is the lionfish. 

My favourite animal is the dolphin, because they are cute & active.

One day, I would like to go down into the ocean and explore, because I
would like to see lots of animals.

My teacher can't read properly - The Dolphin Pool with YLEs

One of the things I like to do with my YLE classes is to review a graded reader by reading it badly. Sounds a bit daft I know,  but for my way of thinking, if the teacher's making mistakes, it's alright if the kids do too!

This works as a listening exercise, as well as a (mostly) model for pronunciation, and gives learners time to think about the words & be reassured with how they will say them. No more than one 'mistake' at a time is challenge enough.

Importantly, reading out loud is not 'a test' or final proof of understanding, internalising the vocab etc. It is hard to do, as we are doing different things to reading silently (eg skipping words we are not sure about, just like the teacher told us to do!). Of course, I would like the higher frequency words to have gone in & be recyclable by now, but new ones (eg met for this first time in this book such as 'whale') or hard ones (eg 'through') ain't no biggie if we need help. Help provided to if, as in this case, we are a weaker class and struggle a bit with confidence. Nudging along and finishing is an important landmark for us all - no need to sweat on the hurdles.

listen to ‘The Dolphin Pool’ on Audioboo

Would love to know if other teachers have tried this and if it was successful/fun?

Rui's trip back to London

I went to London 2 Fridays ago. We flew from Haneda to London. It took 11 hours on ANA. We had Paella for dinner. I saw Captain America , Hunger Games and more. 

We stayed in Hilton near the airport for 1 night, then we went to an apartment near my old school. After that  my mum went to see her old friend and me, my dad and my brother went to shopping in Brent Cross. We bought books, a school uniform for my school. 

In my best day I went to my old school and surprised all of my class. They were very  happy to see me. At school I played and watched a movie. I was very happy to see my friends again. After that We did barbecue with are class because it was end of year. I also had sleep over with my best friends. We went to a park and played football. 

We went to Harrods for some shopping but it was so so so boring ! Nandos was better. English food is rubbish compared to Japanese. 

I want to come back to London soon because my best friend is there. I enjoyed my trip a lot !

(Written by Rui on his cool iPad mini!)

Workshop No. 6: Using Activities Effectively

My final (a sigh of relief for both me and you I imagine) report of the series of IIEEC Teacher Training Workshops I attended, entitled "Using Activities Effectively" and presented by Miki Sakai. I have learned a great deal from attending these workshops as well as mulling over my experiences and writing them down in the form of these reports. I intend to continue to progress and develop as an English teacher, applying all that I have learnt during these workshops as well as taking some well needed self reflection time every step of the way. Enjoy my final rant and as always any feedback is appreciated.

Leaning activity: complete the alphabet

As teachers, using our time in the classroom efficiently is crucial. In most cases we are limited to 45 to 60 minutes (or even less!) of contact time a week with our students, further emphasising the importance of putting effective teaching methods into place. In this workshop we were taught the importance of implementing “learning activities” and effective review activities, as well as using the students’ mistakes as a way of highlighting the weaknesses in your teaching methods.

First on the agenda was differentiating between the use of games and “learning activities” in the classroom. Learning activity can be another name for a game but in this instance they are implemented with a specific purpose; either reinforcing vocabulary, correcting pronunciation or providing context to what you are teaching etc. Games tend to be more orientated about having fun and not necessarily practising for fluency (even though you can adapt almost any game in order to suit your students’ needs or build on the main focus of your lessons).

Reviewing numbers by matching

Learning activities should be short and repeated many times. I know from experience that some games can seem to go on for an eternity, with minimal speaking time for the students. A short activity that is repeated many times is going to be much more effective than a long drawn out game. It’s important to consider when planning and introducing learning activities that you yourself are familiar with the activity. How are the students expected to know what to do if the teacher is stumbling over their words? On top of that, always, always, always demonstrate the activity rather than attempting to explain it in detail. You are wasting your time! Students will learn much more quickly from doing rather than listening. Also don’t forget to revert back to the 6-second MAT drills if the students are struggling, (this was drummed into our heads continuously throughout all the workshops) or are in need of straightening out the kinks in their pronunciation. And if all else fails, abandon ship immediately and resort to “plan B” or move onto the next activity.

Something's a little off...

The next thing to consider; student’s mistakes. We must acknowledge that mistakes are unavoidable. We should expect our students to make mistakes and in turn learn from them through trial and error. Although mistakes (especially repeated mistakes) may become frustrating at times, avoid blaming the students, instead reflect on your approach to teaching them. Student’s mistakes can be used as a tool to analyze aspects of your teaching that need developing, perhaps the way you introduce the language is not clear enough, maybe your learning activities are not up to scratch, or your students’ concentration levels are dropping due to the lack of engaging classroom tasks. Try changing your teaching style to see whether you evoke a different response from your students.

The final area to consider during this workshop was effective review activities. Review is hugely important, especially when it comes to younger students as they have a knack for forgetting things quickly. The easy part is getting information stored into short term memory, but difficulties arise when embedding new information into long term memory. This is why we must review EVERY LESSON. No exceptions. This does not only mean reviewing what was covered in the previous lesson, but reviewing everything covered from lesson one, book one. In order to do this effectively, we must be creative in our review activities by combining as much of the previous language as possible. Otherwise your hands will fall off from attempting to review previous vocabulary by cycling through flashcards. Another significant point to take away from this workshop was to alter the way you review something from how the students initially learnt it. This provides an alternative means of students to express themselves, whilst adding much needed diversity in your classroom 

Since attending this workshop, I have been making more of an effort to include more learning activities during my lessons, even something simple as rolling a die to elicit vocabulary from the textbook or throwing a ball to each other in order to practise the question and answer form of a sentence. I have always made it a point to vary activities, as conveyed in this workshop it is important to differ how you review a topic to how you introduced it. This prevents lessons from stagnating by repeating activities over and over again as well as allowing students to use English in a different context.