Crosswords for phonics with young learners

 A recent activity with an elementary school-age group was an great success.

TY Naomi for the collage

The aim was to help them establish spelling rules for long vowel sounds/dipthongs - for themselves. Recognise a long sound in a word, isolate it, and build the word with other, "known", consonant sounds.

We had a cheat code or three up our sleeves - already gained confidence with an exercise last week sorting words into long vowel sound groups...and the splitting them (eg spelling with central ee or ea...same sound, and no clues other than remembering).

We used a printed copy of a wordwall crossword (each), and the appropriate phonics page open from a textbook on the table for 'reference', and also the digital version of the same puzzle on a screen we could all see. The beauty of a crossword approach like this is that students can pick off the easy ones they already know, and therefore later have some of the letters already in place for the less familiar words. Of course they can ask teacher "What's this?" as often as they like - and play with the pronunciation themselves to fine tune the vowel they're hearing/making. Teacher was the secretary with the keyboard, entering 'best guesses' (not always right, but no drama) while encouraging 'good guesses' maybe not too confidently tried.

Mistakes not penalised, but instead a team rethink and an ironing out of repeated spelling errors. And hey presto, we all enjoyed the challenge of completing a crossword in English, with so much repetition involved but nobody noticing. Drill baby drill!

Here is a link to a Japanese take on this class https://www.instagram.com/p/DfdhCNNyI9H/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&exln=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==&srtk=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Visiting artists in northern Spain - an illustrating conversation about Carme Sole Vendrell

Carme Sole Vendrell (2nd from left)

Recently, one of my students came back from the Basque country with beautiful photos of striking buildings, wonderful street views, delicious food and all manner of art galleries and museums...many of which have been written about before no doubt.

What interested me were the visits she made with her husband and an interpreter to meet a couple of local artists, who have made careers illustrating childrens' books. I wanted to to know more, so our fellow class member and I decided to ask a few questions and share what we heard. My words here are from my notes of our conversation about Carme Sole Vendrell - any inaccuracies are mine.

The studio

Although in her eighties now, Carme Sole Vendrell still enjoys working hard, creating large works of art. An energetic and powerful personality, her desire to create art and her drive made a big impression. Her main theme or topic is children - a topic close to my own/my husbands hearts. Her works especially represent victims of war (from Afghanistan and other conflicts) - refugees, the displaced, orphans and others traumatised by war. Having recently visited Guernica & seen Picasso's work, this was especially poignant for me.

What's the connection? My husband was on a jury panel with her, years ago, judging illustrations from children's books. We try to visit 'connections' when we travel...this occasion we were in Barcelona and could visit her at home, in her spacious flat with art everywhere! There was no elevator to the fifth floor, so we savoured the sparkling wine we all shared, talking about her career (she gave us a copy of her book) and ongoing projects.

Carme explains to my husband + translator

Although well-known in Spain & Spanish speaking countries such as Argentina, she's less well-known in Japan. Would an exhibition of her work here be a success? Difficult to say.

All Hallow's Day - the kids will play! Young Learners SE certification

 

A quick posting to highlight the dedication a lot of Jim's colleagues around the country have to maintaining their Cambridge Speaking Examiner eligibility. Most teachers happily staying in bed after Hallowe'en...some of our SE team I was unable to visit this year (I can't be in Kagoshima and Sapporo at the same time - running out of weekends in 2026), but also we know our team have other things to do when we do manage to be in town...kids' sports days, being unwell or visiting relatives in hospital, out of the country, a PhD or a presentation to finish off, working, and all manner of other perfectly reasonable commitments.

Meeting speaking examiners online is the least worst solution to our annual certification requirement. It does mean we can connect professionals from around the country and share fresh ideas & experiences, hear new voices and also appreciate we are all trying to achieve the same thing and have the same professoinal outlooks...and we have all been given the same training, guidance, and feedback. Consistent. Coherent. Competent. Classy.

Just because we are assessing young learners, does not mean we have to be childish or play games - quite the contrary. Our SE team need to be very professional, child-aware & safe. And then have fun...cheerful, child-focussed delivery with assessment criteria built into an examiner's desktop. 

How did we do this today?

• Baamboozle
• Quizlet
• Kahoot!
• Wordwall

Sorry, no I can't share - join the Speaking Examiner team ;)

A quiet Sunday afternoon?

A2 Key SE Team contemplating

Our Jim was online on Sunday afternoon, talking to Cambridge Speaking Examiners from around the country (Nagoya, Kagoshima, Kobe, Sapporo, Oita, Fukuoka & Tokyo) who are all English language teachers from around the world - Jamaica, Scotland, USA, Canada, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Australia, Syria, China, the Philippines, Japan & England...

Of course Jim could not resist some rugby 'banter' & cricket chat...but quickly encouraged to move on!

The serious matter in hand was certifying participants for their roles delivering and assessing speaking tests, which is not exactly easy on a zoom...but the bonus is that members of our far-flung team get to talk to and share ideas & insight with other teachers they're rarely likely to meet. Having said that, we are turning to some remote assessment solutions to geographical problems, where we do not have enough examiners on site & instead need to rely on team members elsewhere online. This not without its own challenges, but being familiar with the potential issues using zoom & peripherals helpful, and learning from each other (not just Jim talking) beneficial. Jim always prefers to encourage the team to share & develop from peer experience rather than him reading from the script.

B1 team SE working hard

Our afternoon covered three exam levels - A2:Key, B1:Preliminary and B2:First. All of these levels incidentally, which we at Luna aspire for our students to achieve...SEs were challenged to manage test materials online - harder than face to face, to be honest (rotating PDFs, using multiple devices or screens - or just one!?), and to demonstrate their familiarity with scripts, procedures and timings. This is an annual requirement of all SEs around the world, to ensure validity. Any exam, globally, must be to standard, and certification is the time to prove it. This is not a rubber stamp exercise!

B2 SE team with guest appearance - the boss!

Jim also tries to add variety to certification meetings, without wasting time. Instead, new/varied ways to focus participants on the same requirements - accurate delivery of course, but also dissecting candidates' performances forensically, fairly. Every examiner has different interpretations of particular aspects of spoken output, but with all our mutual years of experience, the discussion we have after any video is
always enlightening...we learn from each other, adjust our inbuilt bias, and achieve really accurate analytical scores. Do we all completely agree? No, and we never will! Are we using the same terminology to diagree a bit - yeah? Absolutely fine :)

Really glad we were able to make sure our outlying speaking examiners' certification is looked after for 2026, and that we could connect/re-connect. jim is really looking forward to not having to do this so much via zoom next year. Instead, face to face meetings & long-overdue socials afterwards in order.

Visiting artists in Spain - Elena Odriozola

The artist and her works

My student recently travelled to northern Spain and met children's book illustrators. Her classmate & I were very interested to know more, so we kind of interviewed her to learn more, as she often meets really cool people all around the world. She told us about her visit with Elena Odriozola - this is my appreciation of our conversation, not verbatim. Any mistakes are mine.

The (homemade?) chocolate sandwich cookies were absolutely delicious, as we drank tea in Elena's lovely, quiet farmhouse & garden, which used to be her grandmother's.  Tucked away in the Basque countryside - maybe a forty minute or so drive from Pamplona, and a big difference to San Sebastian where she did not enjoy living, because of the noise. 

Elena's passionate about her work, yet calm, quiet, and strikingly sincere...the translator grew more & more concerned as she rooted about her studio enthusiastically finding works to share with us. Life is peaceful, and she's able to imbue 'presence' or atmosphere into her illustrations (mostly Spanish books, although her work can be found in Japan if you look hard enough) which convey mood, and a world beyond the text. She has a unique style, and sense, often using a stencil technique. 

 

Disappointing end to my ballet career - zombies don't dance!

 I prefer the ending on the mountain, beacuse it's the only one that I could still have a hope. I'm not a zombie, and I'm with someone else who is not a zombie, and I'm in a safe place. Then maybe we can survive.

The worst ending for me is the one when a zombie eats my leg. Before I fell asleep, I was resting to come back home. however, next morning, my leg had been eaten. How disappointing! I thought is was just a bad dream, but it wasn't.

So, I'll never dance ballet again. Now, I'm SO hungry...

Posted for Nanaha, the zombie

Young Learner at Luna becomes Young Learners examiner for Cambridge!

Mizuki energizing the room (left)!

I recently ran a Cambridge Speaking Examiner training session for Young Learners English exams in Tokyo. That's not unusual - been doing this kind of event for twenty years or so, and I'm still learning & loving the experiences...

However, what was new this time was that one of the participants was one of Luna's former students, Mizuki. I would have have taught her when she was a JHS/HS here in Matsumoto. We've kept in touch over the years - teacher's pet student!

Over the years, she's been busy - went to university in Tokyo, raised a family, became an English teacher, runs her own language school in Shizuoka, is an amazing artist and yet continued to be a ball of enthusiastic energy and the kind of person who lights up a room.

So I was thrilled when she joined my training course with a group of language teachers from around the world, and held her own as we managed potential problems with testing younger people in a foreign language to assessing their skills in real time. Did me proud - as indeed did the whole gang of cheerful educators...just this session was a little bit more special for me (chuffed Dad kind of feeling!).

Well done Mizuki - we love it at Luna when our students grab their opportunities to flourish :)

 
 

Jim's other classrooms...a Cambridge Saturday in Tokyo

Chuffed to bits to run out of chairs & tables for this #B1Preliminary pre-session briefing, and to catch up with a whole roomful of the #Kanto #speakingexaminer team on match day! Very foolish to not read JP026 guidance/advice in advance…and to not give
Keiko Ohashi your full attention when she’s offering ‘advice’!


And a very satisfactory afternoon ensued with 320 or so candidates cheerfully engaged. Great to see.

(Teach English in Tokyo? Feeling professionally left out? 2 seats left in next weekend’s #B2First & #C1Advanced SE training gig…)

A leader worthy of respect - Jacinda Kate Laurell Ardern

Jacinda Kate Laurell Ardern who I admire was female political leader of New Zealand in 2017-2023. In October 2017, at the age of 37, she became the Prime Minister of New Zealand, making her the youngest female head of government in the world. In 2018, her first baby was born and the vice prime minister took over politics during her six-week maternity and parental leave. I’ve seen her being interviewed on TV after putting her kids to sleep or breastfeeding. It's easy to imagine that the Prime Minister whose schedule is planned by the minute, must be really tough to raise kids and make time for family.

Her leadership earned New Zealander and international recognition in response to unprecedented crises, including the 2019 Christchurch Mosque shootings and the COVID-19 pandemic. Particularly during the pandemic, she implemented speedy and decisive measures, such as early border closures and thorough testing systems.

In January 2023, she fully retired from politics. It is said that she faced difficult situations like opposition movements against mandatory COVID-19 vaccination, economic downturns, as well as excessive pressure as a female prime minister. Also, she wants to prioritize time with her family.

I think gender equality isn’t about women becoming like men, and is created in a society that things can keep going no matter the situation. I hope we live in a time when everyone has a chance of becoming prime minister even if you’re not super tough and have no enough time.

Zombies in Tokyo - book reviews from Matsumoto

Did you enjoy this story?

SAWA: Yes, I did, because I could choose the storyline myself. I didn't get tired of this story because there were many characters.

Who are the main characters? Can you describe them?

TAISEI: I am the main character. I am a genius because I didn't become a zombie.

Where does the story take place?

YUKI: It takes place in Tokyo, the biggest Japanese city. It has 10,000,000 people

Which ending did you like the most?

YUKI: I like the ending when I keep going to find a safe area and find food. We didn't die.

TAISEI: I like the ending when Maru's whole family and me survived, beacuse we are safe and we didn't die.

SAWA: I lke the ending when everyone in Tokyo became a zombie at the end. Everyone in Tokyo was happy & smiling, because they didn't have to work.

Which ending didn't you like?

SAWA: I didn't like the ending when I died, because the police shot me. I didn't want to die.

YUKI: I didn't like the ending when I went home, but I met children zombies and I died.

TAISEI: I didn't like the ending when I became a zombie and was killed.

The aim of the game - is not gaming...students speaking up for fun

Talking about food - Tummyache!

As you can see, our young learners are coping with a board game in a foreign language, with books closed/heads up, having a great time and managing without support! On top of that, drilling, drilling, drilling!

They're talking to each other, helping/supporting/correcting each other (no teacher involvement here at all, unless asked for!) and competing hard! Language already 'onboard' from Everybody Up Starter - training wheels off & fluency in full flow.

Crazy Chefs & Happy Learners

Second shake of the dice = we followed up a week later with Crazy Chefs (thank you orchard toys, a rare game made for five players rather than four) and as you can see in the video, all students involved pretty much the whole time...including listening to peers & remembering the 'script', rehearsing responses & memorising new words; addressing the listener face to face while asking & answering questions - and acknowledging responses with an extra conversational politeness - "Here you are" - "Thank you" - "You're welcome" (lifted straight out of one of the delightful chants in the text book. 

James's Journey of Change

At the beginning, James is a lonely and unhappy boy. After his parents die, he lives with his two aunts. They are very mean to him and do not look after him kindly. Because of this, James is always scared and does not have much confidence. As his two aunts do not allow him to go to school, he also has no friends and feels very lonely.

However, James starts to change after he met a mysterious old man.

Due to the magic seeds, a peach begins growing big. He goes inside the giant peach and meets the insects. They become good friends and help him during those journeys. From them, James learns that having friends and helping each other are very important. He also learns that everyone has different good points, and they can work together to solve problems.

During the journey, James and his friends have many difficult and dangerous situations. James starts to think about what he can do to help everyone. He comes up with good ideas and becomes more active. Through these experiences, he becomes braver and more confident.

James also learns more about himself. He finds that he can think of good ideas and help others. At the end of the story, James is not a scared and lonely boy anymore. He learns to believe in himself and understands the importance of friendship.

The cake speaks!

What a cool way to finish off a graded reader! Personalised project after reading "The Cake Machine" (an OUP Read & Imagine book) where she listed ingredients and took ideas from the text...then put her own creation together in text - guided writing with prompts/questions from the teacher (and some spelling help for new vocabulary not in in the glossary). 

As I've previously written here, I love the Chatterkids app to record student voices with their original artwork, to anonymise their output...this reduces stress/panic! They can also practice & re-record (critique & edit themselves, or speed up delivery/polish pronunciation & intonation, to the thirty second barrier.

What do you think of Yuri's cake and her description of it? 

 

Two frozen shoulders and maximum TPR? A work around :)

As you can see, it is not hard to motivate pre-primary/kindergarten students to get up and dance! 

The beauty of having built-in video content with digital text books now = the content is a click away. My role? Well, with two frozen shoulders at the moment, I'm not the most dynamic TPR (Total Physical Response) teacher/leader, so I'm limiting the amount of pre-teaching involved here! I try to get out of the way as quickly as possible - as you can see, the children actually love the challenge of trying to 'keep up' and imitate the moves they can see (here, actions for wild animals, eg 'snap, snap' for the crocodile) ... and also usurping "Oh NO!" as loudly as possible for every reaction (never mind - it's funny!).

Having kindy kids seated most of the time, and in small groups works for me - I can move around the room & monitor/correct/encourage bookwork. It gives them space for their stuff, and unlike last year when I was confronted with two, long parallel lines looking forwards & forever knocking crayons off their tables, instead addressing their peers & being able to share/compare/help/comment. And I can make the 'front' of the classroom anywhere I like; bluetooth speaker etc I do not have to be tied to the whiteboard area. 

As this song is 'new' to the kids, the less confident ones are going to be reticent at first, but they've got buddies to copy...and they'll all shout to want to do it again (not teacher insisting they do it better!) - they want to maximise movement time and show off, be louder, get even more moves (ie learn the song...their objective not mine!).

And not overplay - leave the chance to re-visit this song next time dangling there - anticipation...the ideal & 'yay' ice-breaker that they really want to participate in :)

 

Postcard from...Amsterdam, The Netherlands

 My first time visiting Amsterdam!!

The beautiful canals and iconic architecture make city so uniques and charming!

I'm especially glad I finally got to visit the Anne Frank house - it was something I'd been looking forward to for a long time. And of course seeing many masterpieces by Rembrandt and van Gogh made the trip even more special :)

Today I'm going to Barcelona!

Teruki

Journey on the Giant peach

James had very happy life until he lost his parents at four years old. After that, he is lonely, unhappy, and mistreated by cruel Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker.

First, the giant creatures are terrible to him, but he feels nice to hear somebody laughing and feels happy to hear “We won’t hurt you. You are one of us now” and thinks that they are his new friends. Also, James learns that the creatures are important and nice. Farmers and gardeners need earthworms and ladybirds to help them grow plants and to help them by eating horrible little insects that eat their plants. Spiders can make soft hammocks and the strongest string in the world. Grasshoppers can make music.

Throughout the journey in the Giant peach, the creatures and James trust each other. While he faces some troubles such as sharks, storms, and the Cloud-Men, he can make decisions　to solve problems and helping his friends. The creatures trust James and do their best to do James’ plans.

After the journey, James always opens his door of the Giant peach and talks about his adventure on the peach for hundreds of children. He is never sad and lonely again because he has all the friends in the world.

I think James is always kind but is braver before the journey.

An American Folk hero - Johnny Appleseed

 John Chapman is a folk hero in America. In American stories John is cool and kind, and he plants apple seeds. In this picture he is wearing brown clothes and he has long brown hair. His friend is Abraham Lincoln. He doesn't have enemies. 

Posted for Kokona

Postcard from Antwerp - Belgium

Hello. I'm in Antwerpen, Belgium.

I went to the Cathedral today after finishing my presentation at the academic conference.

The small photos show Antwerp Cnentral Station and trains of Nederlanse Spoorwegen (NS)

Kaoru

Postcard from - Eiheiji Shrine, Fukui

Toilet slippers = carry shoes and take photos?!

While I was massively disappointed with Fukui castle, I was just as massively surprised with the magnificence of this shrine complex, which dates back to 1244...the year King Henry III decided York needed a stone castle to thwart the Scots. 

This is Daihonzan Eiheeji - The Temple of Eternal Peace. It is nestled into the foothills of western Fukui, and an easy 30 minute bus ride from Fukui station + a gentle stroll up the hill. You have to pay to get in, and then follow the zazen trail through the maze of buildings - a very peaceful, respectful shuffle (generic toilet slippers required footwear).

There were lots of monks politely ignoring the punters; this is very much a Zen in action shrine. As such, buildings such as the kitchen & bath house part of the infrastructure still very much in use. The main buildings are also in use daily for...being very quiet in, as well as for lectures on how to meditate, I guess.

Joyomon, with Joyoden behind

The complex is simply beautiful. The grounds are meticulously groomed - not a fallen leaf out of place, a cobweb in sight nor a pebble misplaced. Moss covered rocks, mature woodland surrounding, weathered beams and precious relics everywhere you look. 

And preciously, no suitcase bearing, skin-baring, tiktok blaring influencers (so I hope they're not reading this for inspiration!)...I've lived in Japan most of my life, and I love 'finding' hidden gems such as this. And I really want to go back and trudge around in the snow, with my real camera (I was not tooled up for this last-minute side trip!).

Moss park

 

Postcard from - Fukui Castle

Site of the main tower, looking north

 For once, a really disappointing castle site. Within 5 minutes' walk of the station but overwhelmed...

It's impossible to enjoy this location without the shadow of the dreary prefectural offices looming over you. Within the inner walls, and almost on top of the main bailey. The walls have been left to topple, no doubt earthquake damage but also badly neglected/not reinforced - feature of these kinds of walls is the need for weight on top to maintain their structural integrity.

The (rare) covered bridge has been restored - and is the only recognisable structure. 

The moat IS being repaired, but for that project to have any meaning, the concrete office blocks within have to go.

Moat under considerable repair

I get the feeling the castle site here is an inconvenience, which the trams have to go around. There's a nice park over the moat...this could be so much better if opened up and treated with some respect.

Within the covered bridge/gate