Junior ornithology - swallows

Original artwork by Nanaha

I like swallows. They have thin black wings, small black claws and beaks. They have red throats and faces, and white bodies. 

They are small; 10 - 24cm, and weigh 10 - 60g. Swallows live all over the world, and they make small mud nests under rooves. They have four or five chicks.

Swallows eat insects, but not stinging ones. They find food when they are flying. They can fly fast and well.

I like swallows because they are little, but they fly nicely. I like to see them in the summer.

Posted for Nanaha

Birdwatching in Matsumoto - crows

Crows are my favourite birds. Crows have black wings, talons, and beaks. Crows are 45cm tall, and 337 to 1,625 grams. They live all over the world, and in Matsumoto around the castle and Agata no mori (park).

Crows make big nests high up in trees, 15-60 metres off the ground. Crows have four or five chicks.

Crows eat small animals - mammals, worms, other birds as well as carrion (dead things) and garbage. They find food anywhere.

Original artwork by Izhe

Crows can fly acrobatics, and make big groups. I like crows because they are so smart.

Posted for Izhe

Young Learners & graded readers: win win!

Supplements to class books

I think graded readers have a place in every language learning environment; they certainly play an important part in our learning goals at Luna, and have proven their worth many times over as our students have blossomed from learning first words to biting off big chunks in Cambridge exams - be it entry level Young Learners (pre-A1Starters) to B2:First with us here at JP004.

Young Learners are rarely independent learners, so we use our readers in class to form good habits; get used to the format & style, find the audio or read along with the teacher narrating - we love correcting the teacher if he/she 'makes a mistake'! We exploit the artwork to predict or reflect, recycle & repeat. We get used to the kinds of tasks that are included in the puzzle pages, and understand that we absolutely can turn the pages back to find what we are looking for together (is it a team race? are we working in pairs? are the books on the table even? which pages do we need to look at?) Follow the directions (which are also in English). Stuck? Ask peers or the teacher for help, of course it's OK!

Exploit the glossary

Good choice of reader will mean you can easily suppliment/compliment your regular course books, be it in terms of vocabulary or target structure. Working on animals or numbers...prepositions or suggestions...culture, values, social studies or science? 

Use your readers for much more than 'just reading' and instead a launch pad for inquisitive minds & project work in all shapes and forms - a talking picture of a favourite character being interviewed maybe...a poster or illustration personalising vocabulary & self...scaffolded writing eg focussing on personification, localisation or prediction...use the 'hard' or new words imaginatively not as 'test' items.

Make a meal out of the level of language, and the repetitive nature of graded reader titles? Notice, for

pronunciation mining

example, when you can take advantage of regular past tense verbs. Make it a listening task & colour code your -ed endings and then organise them - organise them into sets in side the front cover (invariably blank real estate there!). Can your learners match up the (probably limited number of) irregular past tense verbs with their dictionary form - another reason to re-read (but this time scanning) & quickly.

Collaborating on a project

Reading out loud? I really think this is a bad idea for so many reasons (stage fright, fear of mistakes, "I'm too slow", not confident with big words, wasn't in class last week, didn't hear the audio etc)! Instead, narrate the story yourself (model good pronunciation/intonation, speed) and only have your students speak particular roles each. This encourages them to read ahead & identify direct speech and to figure out who is speaking...this can take time but let them do that together & agree! What words in the text help us do that? How does the speaker speak (cry? shout? whisper?)...it has meaning! But don't flog it - save more for next week and only give 'homework' if they can do it/know how to do it. Can they actually access the audio components, for example.

Lastly for now, with digital versions of readers available (OUP did a fantastic job in 2020 offering their reading bookshelf titles available for free) it is not hard to cater for online learners as well as our F2F cohort to stay on the same page. Takes a bit of thinking about, but the room for even more exploitation of the materials is there - US or British narration as well as fast/normal/slow choices. Most importantly, enjoy. Reading will yield the best results over time, at a regular, steady pace, at 'not-too-hard' levels and with meaningful engagement/activities. Keep track of progress - not just word count or number of books read, or obsess over reading speed...but build portfolios for your students, give them the confidence to skip tough words & come back later with an informed guess over meaning if they have to; don't translate everything, and don't stuff it all up by making it a test.

Enjoy reading :)

Young Learners - making things "harder"

colours & shapes

We love teaching children at Luna, and we particularly enjoy students who come to every class with big "Can Do' attitudes, like gannets hungry to learn & use English.

You'll notice in the photos our textbooks are not front & centre; we really like to encourage our learners to become independent of the printed word (massively useful to set out structures etc, for sure, and provide direction + continuity)...but to get language properly into heads we need to use it variously, flexibly & realistically.

Problem I have as a teacher with this class is to slow down ravenous appetites for progress! Instead, add on a lot of extras & let our students really go to town with their awesome willingness to jump into challenges bravely and intelligently, teaching/helping each other and being very positive.

"Outer Space" (Learning Resources)...was on the table five seconds when these two started playing (first time!) asking each and answering questions "What is it? .. "It's a blue circle." then game play asking each other Yes/No questions. Winner irrelevant as loads of great language work, prompting/correcting each other nicely. And the teacher lost!

Everybody Up on the board

Song "It's a book, it isn't a notebook" from Everybody Up 1 (Unit 1) > listening task & digging out the flashcards to pop on the board & then point along as we listened again...'narrate' it at their own speed, then join in & switch places half way through. "Re-write" the song by choosing other vocabulary items...and then try with the reverse sides (words) only...still too easy!

Can't wait to get into our new graded readers, but somehow I doubt they'll help as sheet anchors either...full speed ahead!
 

Can't do my homework: Part 3 of 3 - flipped class

Activity from Primary Grammar Box (CUP)

Books closed, use it to hide a pair work activity and to lean on (one in-class learner paired with the Zoomer whose screen share also 'hidden' on another monitor). Pencils at the ready - no need to spell anything (although all the target vocabulary is familiar...didn't want to defeat the object of this exercise by getting bogged down again!) but the possible issue of artistic limitations/reluctance instead?

To be honest, I didn't monitor that output. Rather, I tried to see what the students were doing to get the language out...

• glancing at the rods to 'get started' & 'load' the full utterance in their mind before starting
• glancing at the rods to double check they'd 'used' each block/word ie completed their utterance (I wanted to make sure the time phrase was included to give meaning to the past simple target structure)
• moving a rod to make sure they'd used the right word needed to add a couple of extra rods for the plural (doubled the ones in play) forms - nicely previews or flips next week's lesson
• listening to each other better (for nitty gritty bits!)

...and of course listening to their spoken out & giving as much non-verbal encouragement as possible - which was not really necessary as they got on with the task really fluently, collaboratively and effectively. And, despite the masks, pretty chuffed smiles all round. And the dark clouds have lifted.

With that, I don't think any of us are dreading the next lesson! 

What are your solutions/suggestion/reactions? Let me know @oyajimbo on't twitter :)

Appendendum: a few days later I asked my son to get his homework book out (imagine the face!). I asked him to underline the words in the structure we'd been practicing with the same colours as we'd used midweek. Penny dropped - the colours had done the trick & he could correct his own work...

Where can you buy Cuisenaire Rods? 

Can't do my homework: Part 2 of 3 - a different tack

Cuisenair Rods = colour + length 'coding'

I wanted to take the words out of the equation, but leave them in somehow. Replace them?

The Game Plan...and no, I couldn't remember exactly all the words either.

Solution...post-it notes. As a group, I asked them to write one word at a time on to a post-it (books open if needed); my online student did so into the Zoom chat. So no, not a 'spelling test' per se. Fortunately, my post-it notes were not very sticky so they needed weighing down (fan was on for a reason!).

Online? I'd opened a Google Jamboard & drawn colour lines where I wanted my student to enter text. Hard for newbies, but he's been learning on the job for a year now, and could cope with the challenge (enjoys messing about with the mouse/keyboard when I give him control, defacing things!). Problem = few colours available for the pen/type tools on Jamboard than I needed...

Unsticky post-it notes...just the excuse!

So we had the question form on the table, in a straight line, and then the answer below, so's that words 'lined up'. Putting the Cuisenaire Rods on the post-its = words were there but obsured, and could be peeped at if we needed a prompt (ie "I want to read the word")  without referring to the book. We negotiated block lengths to suit the actual words...subliminally giving each part of speech a different colour code into the bargain.

I didn't want to hide the words for my Zoomer, as he's already operating from the far end of the telescope and he has a lot fewer clues to work with - cannot pick up non-verbals etc. But, as his workspace was on another screen, my in-class gang did not realise he had an "advantage", so he became quasi-sensei & his ego was suitably enhanced.

Did it work? 

(Part 3 will be posted tomorrow)

Can't do my homework - it doesn't make sense. Part 1 of 3 - the problem

Ever had one of those classes when you assumed you had a relatively straightforward lesson coming up, and 2 minutes in you realised it was going to go horribly wrong and you had no escape route? Happens to us all - especially if you make stupid assumptions and you have a blended F2F/online classroom. As I tell my teachers all the time, have a plan B and 'go to resources' just in case...and don't make assumptions!

Everything fell apart when I could not see whether my online student had done his homework or not (still struggling with that 'problem' as he cannot fax his homework book, nor scan it on his own - he's 11). Holding it up to his webcam about the best we can manage at the moment (cannot spot mistakes/spelling/handwriting obviously). Goody two shoes had done her work in pristine condition + extra doodle decorations; older lad was absent (happens); and the left-hander presented a dog's dinner. I blame the parents (that would be me...).

The rest of the lesson was painful for all; no dynamic as everyone had different starting places...could not do 'next' as the last thing we'd done was clearly a train wreck. Orally, this class usually steams through content. Listening? Too easy. Reading - we get by, and the graded readers are core to this, especially as we now have audio + online presentation tools. Comprehending question/answer word order...decoding the grammar if you like...at home, alone showed for the most part I had not done my job at all well. I'd assumed it had 'gone in' when I had not paid careful enough attention.

My son avoided me for a day or two - ask any school owner & you'll realise that is not difficult, and I had a whole week scratching my head trying to figure out a nifty app or online game that would deliver a "Tadaa" solution. Lazy.

So I asked myself what would Alex Burke think of. 

Colour. Ah yes, colour. And inaccessibility - my lefty does not like reading for detail. It overwhelms him (Japanese maths problems - he can do the numbers but he does not 'understand' the questions). 

More sleepless nights for me, and lefty's homework bag an abandoned nightmare on the floor in the genkan (entrance hall). Dark clouds as the next lesson loomed.

(Part 2 will be posted tomorrow)

Sir Bobby Charlton - Biography

Sir Bobby Charlton is the former football player who had played for Manchester United Football Club and England's National team. He is called the greatest football player in England.

He was born in Ashington, Northumberland on 11th, October, 1937. He joined Manchester United Football Club when he was seventeen years old. But, he faced "Munich air disaster" on 6th,February, 1958, and he lost many teammates in this accident.

He recovered from his shock after two months, and he was chosen to be a member of England's National team. He brought not just many titles to Manchester United Football Club but also the championship of the World Cup in 1966 to England's National team. 

Although he is eighty three years old, he is still well. For celebrating the sixty years anniversary of his debut, the south stand of the Old Trafford, the home stadium of the Manchester United Football Club, was named "Sir Bobby Charlton Stand".

Poul Henningsen (1894-1967) - Biography

 

Poul Henningsen was famous for modern lighting designer.

He was born Ordrup, in Denmark, on 9 September 1894. His mother, who was noted author.

From 1911 to 1917, he was trained at Copenhagen Technical College and the Technical University of Denmark, where he studied to be an architect, but had not graduated, he chose a career as an inventor and painter.

In 1919, he was hired by Kay Fisker. From 1920, he freelanced as an architect and designer. Henningsen presented the Paris Lamp at the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts at Paris which was a World’s fair, was designed by the French government. He won gold medal for the Paris lamp, was consisted of 6 shades and made of silver.

A few years later, in 1925, he worked with Louis Poulsen which was company, had corporate with him until he was died.

Henningsen designed PH lamp series, which has three-shade system. The lamps were successful and gave him for royalty. 

He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1963, struggled with difficulty speaking, when he finally died on January 31, 1967. 

Musical postcards

 As it is very difficult for many of us to travel abroad, we used our imagination. I asked Takeshi and Kanako to listen to this song and draw a scene of what came into their heads. I then asked them to pretend that they were on holiday there and to write a postcard as their homework task. In a time where we can't send/receive postcards, this is probably the next best thing!

Audrey Hepdurn - biography

Audrey Hepburn is one of the best players in golden time of Hollywood’s movie and the EGOT actors who win all sorts of awards - Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony. She was also an icon and popular actress who had slender appearance and bright smile. 

She had influenced  not only to cinema production but also to fashion market. Her dresses of  "Breakfast at Tiffany’s"  had been designed by Givenchy, and the black dress she wore is one of the most recognized as her style.

Her life, which we receive from articles in the magazines,  shows brilliant success and supreme happiness. However, her true story in childhood was relatively unknown. World War II had broken her future as a ballet dancer by malnutrition in the war. In her late life, after getting many prizes, she dedicated her life to UNICEF which helps the poor children who need help for their lives.

While traveling for UNICEF, she had found out she had cancer. To get back to all of the children who had been waiting for her help,  she decided to fight the cancer in the USA, but she couldn't win. Her family recommended she go back to her peaceful house in Switzerland which she loved, and lived happily with her family. 

Although her body had no power to walk by herself, Givenchy prepared his private jet plane for her safe return.  In 1993, she had breathed her last in her house with her loving family at her side.

Posted for Yumi M

Jake Shimokuburo - biography

Born in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1976, Jake Shimabukuro is a fifth-generation Japanese-American. At the age of four his mother, is a veteran ukulele player and singer herself, handed him a ukulele and he started to practice for hours every day.

In 1998, while working a clerk at a musical instrument store, he formed a band with several friends. Together, they won the Na Hoku Hana Hana Award, which is said to be "Hawaii's Grammy Award" and then he released his first album. Four years later, a Japanese music production company signed him, and he has since released an albums in Japan.

In 2006, a famous guitarist posted his wonderful performance on Youtube (without his knowledge) and became internationally famous. He played Bohemian Rhapsody on TED-talks TV, with just his ukulele, to  in 2011.

Now, he has become a master ukulele player,  playing super-fast "like lightning" and with an unrivaled technique. Known as the "Jimi Hendrix of Hawaii", he is still active , regularly collaborating with famous singers and performers.

Posted for Masaya S.

Letter to university friend - after reading

Dear Anna,

I hope that you are doing fine. It's been awhile to write a letter to you because I was in a blindness and was losing my mind. I have been a sniper for a team since this war occurred. I was thinking it was right decision, but some things happened to me lately and I realized that I was wrong.

One of things that happened to me is that a man was truly trusted from the bottom of my heart was killed by the top of my team. I thought I was choosing what I want to do, but it was wrong. He was protecting me from the top of team. The top of my team is cold and demanding. Now, they want me to kill someone, which I don’t want to do that.

Another thing which changed my thought is a cellist. He started to play cello after bombing at bakery. 22 people died for the bombing, and the cellist plays cello for 22 days. One day, I heard his play, and realized there are too many hates in this town. No one of my enemies or me doesn’t have to be a killer. I’m regretful to be a sniper very much.

Now, people of my team are chasing me because I didn’t obey them. Maybe, they will kill me. I hope I can survive and meet you again. I want to hang around with you after this war is over someday.

Your friend,

Alisa

The first day at school

I met my best friend on the first day at my university.  

I entered the University in Aichi Prefecture in Japan.  It was my first time to live alone.  My flat was about 2km away from the University, so I went school by bicycle.  I don’t remember why, but I went through the farthest gate from my flat on the first day at my university.  There were several students walking towards the building and one of girls turned to me.  I was surprised to see her face because I knew her.  We went to the same high school.  I knew we took the entrance exam of the University, but I didn’t know she decided to enter the same University.  Neither she did.  If I went to the nearest gate from my flat, I couldn’t meet her in such a memorable way.

We soon became the closest friend and spent most of the time together during University.  Both of us came back to our hometown and we have been building our friendship further.  Sometimes we talked about the memorable day, how much we were surprised and how beautiful the moment was.  In our memory, it was like one of the movie scenes.