The Magnificent Seven

 

B1:Preliminary & A2:Key successes

Although it's been a pretty crappy year with travel restrictions, health scares etc, it's been a tremendous one academically, for our teens at Luna.

Every one of Luna's students who took a Cambridge examination this year was successful. That didn't just happen by chance! They have been studying hard, reading lots, and applied a positive attitude to class activities as well as homework.

A2:Key - firsts in both their schools

• Lifetime achievement at A2:Key for Schools
• Lifetime achievement at B1:Preliminary for Schools
• Lifetime achievement at B2:First

Each of these students began their formal assessment journeys with our Cambridge Young Learners programme, having taken one, if not all three levels previously. Very solid foundations, and step by step progress with "Can Do" motivation...wanting to show off their English language skills (and not being forced).

Gold Standard - B2:First

Some of our learners smashed their test first time trying - very impressive! Others needed a second or even third attempt to reach their goal, which in many ways is even more inspiring as many would just give up or lose heart. 

Missing candidate, chuffed sister & mum!

And we applaud our students who are have made their own choices in their studies/English learning, and have a clear idea of their road ahead...be it using English to study medicine at university, or not stressing out over centre exams next year but aiming for Canada instead. Others intending to be the first in their school to get the next level as well. Whatever your motivation, it's clearly powerful...and we hope inspires your peers to push themselves in 2022. 

If at first you don't succeed...

Well done all of you - very proud school/Cambridge Assessment English Centre owner!

Register for your next Cambridge exam with Luna International, offering exams 

Tokyo, Nagoya, Nagano at 

https://luna-jp004.jp/

 

Rabbits, rabbits, rabbits!

Ruka's "great escape" rabbit

In the summer, Rabbit and Ruka were playing on a farm.

The rabbit escapes.

I find the rabbit eating grass and carrots.

 

Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

In 1913, Emperor Franz Joseph commanded Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne, to visit the military exercises in Bosnia in June of 1914. Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg were assassinated on 28 June 1914 in Sarajevo by Gavrilo Princip. Princip was one of a group of six assassins (one Bosniak and five Serbs) coordinated by Danilo Ilić, a Bosnian Serb and a member of the Black Hand secret society.
The purpose of assassination was to break off Austria-Hungary’s South Slav provinces so that they can be combined into Yugoslavia.
The assassination led directly to World War I. Austria-Hungary issued an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia after it happened. However, a part of them was rejected by Serbia since Russia promised military support for Serbia. Then, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia because Germany promised military support.
Under the Secret Treaty of 1892, Russia and France were obliged to mobilize their armies if any of the Triple Alliance mobilized. Russia ordered general mobilization. With the Russia's general mobilization, Austria-Hungary and Germany also Austro-Hungarian and German mobilizations. Soon all the Great Powers mobilize their armies and gone to war. As the assassination of Franz and Sophia was the trigger of starting World War I, it is important historically especially for European countries.

Questions for our older students.

When I took CELTA, we were taught to engage our students from the start of a lesson with pictures, questions, and many other prompts. These were extremely useful in engaging the students in the lesson and making them interested. When I started teaching adults, it was a delight! The talk we can have from the mundane to their interest! It was a truly fortunate experience for me. But I always started it with a "How are you?" "How was your weekend?" it turned expected fast. 

Students knew what I was going to ask every week. I wanted to make an impact, ask them questions that they rarely hear, and expand their critical thinking. I talked to Jim one night after all our classes, and he told me to ask them out-of-the-norm questions so I decided to do so! 

I decided to look up questions that were appropriate and not boring or expected. I found 20 interesting questions that fit high school to adults perfectly well and range from Elementary to Pre-Intermediate!

Questions like: 

- Tell me about a favorite event of your childhood.

- Are you a 'morning' or 'night' person?

- What could you do as a child that you can't do now?

- What do you think is the best age to be?

These are simple easy to understand questions but allow students to think and us getting to know each other better. I love getting to know my students and these questions will change from time to time, just to understand how they are as an individual studying a different language. 

Arisa's after reading story :)

Pandasssssssssssssss!

 In the spring, Panda have a baby.

A small baby panda was born in China.

Monkeys in School?! Rina's favourite animal

Rina's rabbit

I went to the zoo in the afternoon. Many people were looking for a rabbit. The rabbit was running away from the hut. Rina happened to have a carrot. So she try to catch the rabbit. I found it wonderfully and was able to catch it.

Malaysian Dances! Part 3: Magunatip (Bamboo dance)

 After learning the Zapin dance moves! We brought in the big guns! We brought in our "bamboo sticks" or more like poles wrapped in green paper! We make do with what we have! When I was researching for these dances, Magunatip really spoke to me! I knew the students would love it, was just something so different, and just fun honestly! Magunatip requires dancers to have agility and skill in jumping/dancing while avoiding getting crippled by the bamboos! Dancers hop in and out of the two or more clapping bamboo poles.

Originated from the Borneo land of Sabah! Performed by the Murut tribe while wearing their utterly beautiful traditional costume! Picture below! This dance originally performed for healing ceremonies and returning headhunters as a celebration (sounds of clapping, gongs and cheering made the blood of nearby villages run cold) is now performed during cultural events and festivals throughout Sabah. Most commonly now, it's performed during the harvest season or weddings as a sign of joy and happiest to their roots!

   Isn't it gorgeous?!

Two people will sit opposite each other and move the bamboos following a rhythm while 2 or more people jump and avoid the sticks! I knew I had to avoid any accidents (can't afford a lawsuit T_T) and the safety of the students does come first! I sought help from Yukari-san and Tomo-san in moving the bamboos while I jump as an introduction. We managed to create a routine where we counted (1-5) and managed to not get hurt! We were ready for the students! 

Video here:

Magunatip (warrior dance)

Students started off again watching a video and were just amazed! They were frightened but definitely ready to be jumping everywhere. I started off with a demonstration, twirl in front of the bamboos and then the jumping starts! We did it by making students follow my lead one by one until they were comfortable doing it on their own! They were later curious about the "Bamboos" and wanted to move it while the others jump around. They learned fast! By the end of it, I was sitting at the side as the students became masters! They wanted to do more tricks but were quickly shot down! 

But boy did the students enjoy it! I for one had fun teaching them about my culture as well as immersing myself in it! 

Malaysian Day Part 2: Zapin Dance

Took me a while writing this, but I made it finally! Continuing our story from last time, the first dance we learned was the Zapin dance commonly done in the West of Peninsular Malaysia and the most popular Malay traditional dances. Legends have it, it was introduced to Malaya (Malaysia's old name) back in the fourteenth century by Persians and Arab Muslim missionaries from the Middle East. Due to the gender inequality of the time, only men were able to perform the beautiful dance but proud to say, women dancers are now finally allowed. 

Source: The Sun Daily

Both men and women move beautifully across the stage that has a deep-rooted foundation to the traditional entertainment that has graced many Sultans in the past and present, hopefully, future as well. The Zapin dance is usually accompanied by traditional musical instruments such as the Gambus, Gendang and Rebana. Due to the missionaries back then, Zapin has been introduced to not only Malaysia but also Indonesia and Singapore. Hence, creating different variations of the dance. 

Due to my lack of knowledge in teaching someone to dance, I decided to follow a few tutorials I found on Youtube and use that. To be honest, it was a mixture of a lot of Zapin dances but hey! It worked out well!

We started by showing everyone a video of the whole performance of a Zapin dance that followed the song by Malaysian sweetheart, Siti Nurhaliza.

Video here: 

Zapin Ya Maulai

Students by this point were amazed and thought they will be zipping through the classroom like professionals! But sadly, I had to burst their bubbles and they will only learn a few simple steps. We started off with a move called the Inang. We sway both our hands up and down repeatedly a few times. The followed by the Asli which is a slower version of the Inang and we move left and right on a horizontal line. Then the fun starts! We zip into the Zapin move where our right hand is held in front of us as we move forward and back in a V shape style. Hard to imagine I know!

The Inang move

The Asli move

The Zapin move

The twirl move

We finished off with my favourite of all, the one hand raised and the twirl! A classic! In all seriousness, the students loved it! We then danced while wearing the costume we made and danced to our heart's content! Next time, definitely will have more moves and have a complete performance!

"Agony aunt" column in a magazine

 [Column from Ruth]:

I’m in agony for “mother-in-law”. Maybe there are many people who are same situation as me. In my case, she interferes in my family too much! I feel that tightly overseen by her as well as her husband. My town is small, and the people are like family. In other words, they know a lot of things even though another person.

Recently, I was upset because she had given a chocolate to my kid before dinner. If he ate a chocolate, he could not want to eat dinner much, so I don’t give him any snacks before meal. I understand that grandmother loves to see smiley face of grandson, however, I think she should pay regard to parent policy.

[Reply]:

Hi,

I had agonized same trouble in a couple years ago and I understand your feeling well. As for me, I had discussed with my husband many times to solve a problem. As my husband didn’t know that my suffering firstly, I explained details to him. Also, I asked him to talk his mother to refrain to give snacks for my kid before dinner. This is important point that I talked with her not just husband and I expressed my gratitude for understanding. After that I kept a suitable distance with mother-in-law. I’ve made a good relationship with her. I recommend that you talk with your husband to find any solutions first. In my experience, it is better to have many allies to raise your child. There is a potential for your mother-in-law to become one of ally! Hope you can built good relationship with her😊