Yurina's musical postcard

Dear Jim,

Today I went to a live house in Italy. A man, whose hair is curling, was playing drums and other instruments were played. I really enjoyed the music.

I'll go to eat pizza tomorrow. Eating pizza in Italy was my hope for long years, so I can't wait!!

See you next time.

Yurina

Moeka's musical postcard

Dear Jim,

I'm travelling in the United States. I'm in New York now.

I saw the Statue of Liberty yesterday. I was surprised that is was bigger than I imagined.

Today I see a circus. Animals like lions and monkeys were performing. It was very pretty and exciting.

I'm going to listen to jazz. That will be cool!

I will talk a lot when I get back.

Your student, Moeka
 

Triggering creative writing in teens

Album artwork (unseen)

This activity is an oldie (like me), but still a worldie!

My high school class on Thursday evenings has been focussing on music recently - what we listen to, when, how it makes us feel etc. Obviously, as the fuddy-duddy in the room, I have no clue about the J-pop & k-pop sounds they are into...and they have no comprehension of what a CD collection is!

With a (scary) blank piece of paper, they were tasked to draw any image that came into their heads from some music I'd chosen (an EP, for vinyl fans = more time to be creative!)...and to then pass their picture on to the left & keep drawing, in the vein they were inspired to be feeling/imagining, and so on until they got their original picture back, with everyone else's contributions 'on top'.

Once the imaginative juices had been fired up, the follow up task was to keep the music in mind & use the artwork created to 'see' an imaginary holiday experience, and to write a postcard thus inspired. You will see unique takes on Bob Marley's Iron Zion Lion reggae track here in the next few days - I hope you'll enjoy!

Artists at work!

I'm never critical about 'drawing' or art skills - I'm rubbish! I was hoping that my students would show their imagination & reactions to the team pictures & the vibe from the music, and explain their holiday so far, current activity, and plans for the next day or two > subliminal aim = demonstrate control of a variety of tenses. How did they do? Any other tips on getting cool music into high school students' doamin?!

My best friend

 Mariko has been my friend since we were two years old. We often played together after elementary school and I remember that we were delighted to be classmates at junior high school. I have a lot of special and fond memories of junior high school and these memories were created with Mariko.

Our families lived within walking distance.  Unfortunately, Mariko’s mother died when she was nice years old. My mother sometimes cared about Mariko as she might have had something on her mind which was hard for her to say to her father. This is why I feel Mariko is my best friend and is a part of my real family.

I am very happy that she lives with a very kind husband and a cute son.