Sick note - Yuki explains his absence last week ;)

I have broken my left arm.

I was playing gymnastics. I was jumping over a vault, when I crashed on a mat.

I went to hospital in my father's car. The kind doctor said "Oh my God!"

The doctor took some x-rays and saw it was broken. The doctor pulled my arm to fix the bone. It hurt a lot.

The doctor put on a plaster cast, and gave me some medicine.

My father paid and drove home. I was very sad. My mother was surprised.
 

Memories with my best friend - Ayumi writes

Chimari and I met when we were in elementary school.

At that time, we were both shy and couldn't talk much. However, when we were in junior high school, we often went home together after school,or went to the shopping mall on holidays to deepen our relationship. Then we started playing a lot together and we became best friends.

I think the main reason why we are still best friends is because we have the same hobbies and favourite things.

For example, we like action and rhythm games. We also like fantasy movies and novels. In addition, we love shopping. That's why we always have a good time.

As you can see , chimari and I have a story friendship since our early school days and we have grown up together. We remain “besties” because we have common interests and we still often hang out together in our free times.

Chimari is very cool.

Posted for Ayumi

Shohei Ohtani: A Remarkable Athlete

Shohei Ohtani was born in Oshu, Iwate Prefecture, in 1994. He has been playing baseball since elementary school. From a young age, his talent was appeared in baseball and joined the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters in Japan's professional league in 2013. He established himself as a two-way player in Japan’s professional league.

After spending successful seasons, he moved to Major League Baseball in the United States and joined the Los Angeles Angels in 2018. He became famous for his ability as both a pitcher and a hitter. In 2023, he joined the Los Angeles Dodgers. Furthermore, he played in the WBC in 2023. He was a great pitcher and hitter in the tournament. In the final game, he struck out his teammate and helped Japan become world champion.

In 2026, he became the highest-paid player in Major League Baseball, with total earnings of about $127 million. Around 98% of this income came from sponsorship deals. He has partnerships with more than 20 global companies from Japan and abroad, which makes him one of the most successful athletes in the world.

He married in 2024, and he is a father for 2 kids. Even though he has his own family, he has continued to focus on baseball. His wife is supporting him very well.

He also helps other people through charity work. In 2023, he donated about 60,000 baseball gloves to elementary schools across Japan. He hoped that more children would enjoy playing baseball. (I saw the gloves at my kids' school!!)

I think fame and fortune have brought Ohtani happiness. Although he has natural talent, his happiness today is the result of his hard work and his sincere attitude toward everything he does.

Ignoring L1 in game play to extract English!

The background to this blizzard of interaction is that two of the students are new to the class, and originally a bit reluctant to speak up/take turns/be decisive (is scared of 'being wrong').

Aim of this game was to pre-teach the difference between singular & plural nouns - notice a) the right name of the animal...b) has it got an s on the end or not? Why/why not? I did not 'teach' this but rather, asked them to notice when it is used...form their own idea & check it out together - then remind each other as each image gave them two 'wrong' animal names, the others a 50/50 singular or plural option. 

Liverpool fan - "off side, ref!"

That the students used quite a lot of L1 while engaging in the game play = totally fine with me. It was
focussed, respectful and enabled them to 'manage' their participation in the game as teammates (encouraging each other to choose the correct answer/use the mouse) & competitors (throwing in bad advice!). What does annoy me enormously when I observe other classes is when L1 interferes with the progression of the activity - back channel to discuss other thiings, which indicates a lack of engagement/interest in the exercise...and/or the whole game is in L1 with next to no English input/output.

I also felt the children in this class were switching languages without thinking about it - really keen instead to get on with the game & win. That they didn't win = small beer; both teams scored loads of points and got most of the answers right - and they did all the hard work...teacher's job to notice 'glaring mistakes' (ignore mis-steps with the mouse or make light of jumping in too quickly & chosing the red-herring). 

This activity on Baamboozle not a filler at the end of class (the 'reward' or lack of a full lesson plan). Rather, previewing the next topic we are going to be dealing with in Everybody up Starter - essentially flipping the classroom & already drilling the vocab set (domestic/farm animals) & grammar point.

Win win.

 

A tram affair!

I was not expecting to fall in love in Toyama...

The most noticeable thing around the city centre is the relative lack of cars (maybe it was because of the summer holiday) but also the gentle rumble of the city's trams! And they all look so cool - variously wrapped, some old, some very modern, getting people around town in simple comfort & and on time.

There are a number of routes, as you can see from the route map, with departures every 10-15 minutes; fares are cheap & there are a number of special offers, such as a one day pass.

The city's official website says:

 "In 2006, the former Toyama Port Line was reborn as Toyama Light Rail (Portram).

With its sleek design and low-floor vehicles that make boarding easy, the new system quickly gained attention and made access to the Toyama Port area far more convenient.



7000 series, types 1 & 2 (yellow)
In 2015, city streetcars began operating at the newly built Toyama Station stop beneath the Shinkansen viaduct.

Following the completion of the conventional railway’s elevation in 2019, the long-awaited north–south connection was achieved on March 21, 2020.

This marked the completion of a seamless streetcar network centered around Toyama Station.

Today, Toyama’s streets are shared by a diverse fleet of streetcars.

These include the circular Centram line in the city center, north–south routes such as Portram and Santram, modern low-floor vehicles,
as well as classic and retro-style streetcars that retain a nostalgic charm."

 

Wondeful goalkeeper Zion Suzuki

Zion Suzuki was born in the United States to a Ghanaian father and Japanese mother and grew up in Urawa, Saitama that has a football team named Urawa Reds.

His mother taught him from a young age to take care of things himself. He tried to see his distinctive appearance as an advantage, and he made a conscious effort to behave properly and do the right thing, and he dreamed to become a Japan's first goalkeeper and play in the World Cup.

He started his carrier at Urawa Reds, and transferred Sint-Truiden in Belgium, Parma in Italy. Now, he plays for Aston Villa in England. During the 2024 Asian Cup and the 2026 World Cup, he showed a good/stable performance and became famous. On the one hand, when the team lost a game, there were discriminatory messages about his appearance.

He made his dream come true. Now, he tries to enjoy his new challenge at Aston Villa. He may get some opportunities from fame and fortune, but I think those may not bring him real happiness.  I hope him to enjoy his carrier and his new challenge, and keep Japan’s goal in the next World Cup.

 

Tamagoyaki

 My mom loves cooking. She often takes a memo when she finds any new recipe, and always tries to cook it.

I love mom's Japanese food. She can cook most of them if I ask her to cook.
Among them, Tamagoyaki always makes me comfortable and relaxed when I eat them.
Tamagoyaki is very popular Japanese food. The recipe is simple, so the taste varies from home to home.
Here is my home's recipe.
1. prepare two or three eggs and crack them into a bowl
2. put two spoons of sugar and a pinch of salt
3. pour it into a rectangular frying pan after mixing it well
4. mix a center of egg mixture until half set
5. roll from front to the back of the pan

As Tamagoyaki was always put in my lunch box, it was soft, sweet and jiggly, with a brilliant yellow color from well-mixed eggs. It always made me comfortable. One day I got up early for climbing mountains of a school event when I was a junior high school student. As I had some time before leaving, my mom taught me how to make Tamagoyaki, and I cooked it for the first time. Because I put too much sugar, it was burned and turned black in no time...

At that time I felt the simpler the recipe was, the more difficult it was to cook.

A postcard from Toyama Castle, Japan

Toyama Castle - southern ramp

I've shot through Toyama city several times on the shinkansen, in a rush to get somewhere further west - Kanazawa for a training session or exploring the full extent of the Hokuriku line down to Tsugura, without getting off to explore. I also used to drive to Kanazawa for work, but again, always in a rush (or taking the scenice route through Gifu instead).

Dedicated effort this summer break to take a slow look around the castle & city centre!

I have to admit there's 'not a lot to the castle'...it was flattened/burnt to the ground towards the end of the war in 1945 (Aug 2nd). The grounds remain, with the basic outline of the domain but only one small, rebuilt tower on the south side.This reinforced concrete 'reconstruction', on the site of the Honmaru Kurogane-mon, was completed in 1954; there's a hint of a gateway that would have crossed the inner moat. It looks like the moat, as in many other castle cities, was filled-in & re-used as a tramway & or main road. The north side of the domain does feature a lovely river as part of the defences (even offering short river cruises under the cherry blossoms I assume), but again, as usual, post war corporate/local government construction within the larger grounds is incongruous. 

Toyama castle's extant moat

Nothing much has been done around the keep - a nice open park - but pretty hard to take a nice photo of the 'castle' without a hotel in the immediate background or a stupid clock in the foreground!

Lonely concrete keep

Unfortunately this castle lacks a wow factor - but I did instead fall for the trams...more about them in a post coming soon...cities with tram networks are really cool, in my opinion!

Full history here

An imaginary entry in Anne of Green Gable's diary

Today was the happiest day of my life...so I thought. I was so excited to come to Green Gables. The road was lined with old apple trees. they were full of sweet-smelling and snowy-white flowers! The beautiful way made me feel like I were walking into a wonderful dream. I fell in love with this lovely place at once.

But everything changed so quickly. Matthew and Marilla wanted a boy, not a girl like me. What a horrible mistake! Why was I not born a boy? My heart was full of hopeness in this morning, but now, I feel so lonely and miserable.

What will happen to me tomorrow？Will they send me away?

Oh, Dear God, please! Please let me stay here. I promise I will work hard and be a good girl.

Posted for Nene

Upcoming training session for Cambridge assessment - Young Learners (YLE) in Tokyo

Can you manage eight flashcards in one hand, talk about/point to a picture with the other, and remember a child's name? Can you do this with a smile & encourage a young learner to 'tell you more'? Can you also focus on a speaker's use of vocabulary & (simple) grammatical structures, word stress & the amount of support you needed to provide over a 5-minute interaction?

Got three years or so experience teaching younglearners as an English language teacher (in Japan or overseas)? Currently teaching YL full-time in the Kanto region & looking to add some professional development to your skills set? Got two references to stand up your application to become a Cambridge Young Learners Speaking Examiner? Check out the requiremenets & details below...and apply now before we run out of chairs!

https://lnkd.in/gwTQpBkZ 

YLE Starters (pre-A1): https://lnkd.in/gvKkqBwQ

YLE Movers (A1): https://lnkd.in/gWDiefxC

YLE Flyers (A2): https://lnkd.in/gUCRAU-W

Memory of my local train station

When I was a high school student, I used to take the train from the nearest local station every morning.  Trains came frequently during morning time.  It came usually every five to ten minutes.  I always got on the same train and stood in the same spot near the train door.  After a while, I noticed that the same people were there with me each morning.  I didn’t know their names, and I never asked which schools they went to, but from their uniforms and bags, I assumed they were also high school students.

 

I usually traveled alone, so the routine of the morning train became something I looked forward to.  During the ride to the station where I got off, I often listened to their conversations. They talked about homework, teachers, club activities, and sometimes their boyfriends.  I never spoked to them and I never even said “good morning” to them.  We   shared the same space and time.  So, it felt as if we were part of a team, commuting to school together every day.  Secretly, I felt a quiet connection to them.  

 

When one of them was not on the train, I found myself worrying.  I wondered whether she had overslept, or she was sick.  Even though we were complete strangers, their absence made my morning routine feel incomplete.

Upcoming Cambridge SE training in Tokyo - B2:First & C1:Advanced

Looking forward to running this #B2First & #C1Advanced #SpeakingExaminer training session for Kawaijuku JP026 Sept 12-13th in #Tokyo

Need a roomful of chalkface professionals to work with! Please check out the recruitment details below - can you walk the walk and talk the assessment talk? All applications welcome if you meet the MPRs - no 'native-speaker' bias.

https://lnkd.in/grrDFcrd

Great chance to put assessment learning into practice in your own teaching environment; great chance to network & work with educators from a wide variety of teaching backgrounds - language schools, high schools, corporate, universities, with an international outlook.

What is B2:First? https://lnkd.in/gXwyWB_T

What is C1:Advanced? https://lnkd.in/geKYvfT6


Now you know! Come & join the Tokyo team - recognised globally.

Let the kids talk!

Three videos here, highlighting how even very young learners can quickly become content creators in their English langauge learning journey! Each of these examples are a result of after reading projects, from graded readers, which all of our students at Luna invest in. We use these readers in a myriad of ways - not 'just' reading...we try to 'milk' them for all the're worth!

Misaki's Cake is the outcome from Oxford University Press' Read & Imagine graded reader called 'The Cake Machine'. Inventor Grandpa has a fairly calamitous baking experience...our children do better with a drawing project (homework) & then guided with a writing task in class to describe their lovely, dreamy, cake creations.

My approach as teacher is to do the background prep quickly, then let the students take control of the creative process, using the iPad + Chatterkids app intuitively. Recording themselves & criticising their own speaking (want to be smoother, or quicker, or not stop in the middle or get a word wrong...) is an easy fix - just re-record against the thirty-second limit. Their own pressure, not teacher's! As you can hear, the focus is on far more than just a list of ingredients - a proper description. As a quick finisher, Misaki was first - after that, she was first assistant & bling direction for whoever finished next. Teacher - job done (help the slower finishers with gentle suggestions & corrections).

 

What do you think of Misaki's cake?

A twist on this exercise I love with slightly older young learners, is to have them interview each other about their after reading projects. Here is Moe's description of her favourite animal (her real pet), from OUP's Read & Imagine title 'In the Treehouse'. Here the pressure is on both learners to ask, and answer, a set of questions quickly...so of course they want to practice a few times before hitting the record button - who said 'drilling' is boring?! Love Moe's "Wolfie"?

And from another class, Yuri & Koharu tackle the same task from their reader. 

Extensive reading has obvious benefits - so does intensive reading...the two do not need to be mutually exclusive. As you can hear, students are empowered with being able to share their imaginations and are unencumbered with stage fright, instead collaborating and being bold. Love these outcomes!

Let the kids think!

 I'm a firm believer in teachers waiting for students to actually ask for support. If you're playing a game, and really want to take your turn & progress, then the motivation is high...but teacher, don't jump in to facilitate. Instead, wait for the language to percolate, language attempted, missing word isolated.

And wait for an actual request (weaker learners who are unable to verbally ask for help will indicate no-verbally they need a boost - watch carefully). Other students might be able to help - if not, then chances are they'll all need to use this same 'unknown' word again soon and will listen/practice/rehearse before their turn comes around.

Similarly, let students self-correct. Accept what they are trying to say, and let them reflect on their output/pronunciation/accuracy. Maybe teacher indicates that something was not quite right, or it needed to be faster or more fluently delivered? Not teacher driven, but students striving to 'get it right' on their own.

Teacher's role in any game, for my money, is to facilitate as much English with as little active participation as possible. Encourage, keep the focus, make sure we're playing nicely and having fun. For sure, allow books open to glance at key structures, question or sentence structures...but let the players do all the work. Can't see any English here? Because it's all been absorbed already :)

Where are all the words?!

My take on a recent online Cambridge SE certification session - I'm biased!

 

As we all know, with work & family commitments we can't always be available when we intended to be - same is true for Cambridge Speaking Examiners (SEs) & their certification commitments/requirements. Despite numerous face-to-face meetings throughout the year, and around the country, some of our valued team members have simply been elsewhere. Great to be able to reintegrate valuable assets who've been out of country.


For SEs 'in good standing' we are able to offer occasional online meetings to ensure our team maintains compliance. Obviously doing so via zoom requires quite a bit of preparation by the Centre and participants, and managing activities differently - the variety I have tried to incorporate into F2F sessions this year won't work in break-out rooms for example. Also bandwidth & screen(s) size can negatively impact the core details of the job - delivering exams per scripted format & procedure, managing unforeseen circumstances (always new ones!); and applying assessment criteria consistently.

In the latter regard, discussing performances with a wider cadre is motivating - we can get a bit used to the same faces that we usually bump into annually. It's also vastly reassuring that the same messaging & 'examiner-speak' is in play no matter where SEs are physically based in our network...#Kanto, #Ryukkyu, #Kyushu, #Chubu, #Hokkaido, #Tohoku


An added benefit of conducting our annual get-together online is that we can also assess the possibilities of remote assessing, and workshop such eventualities realistically. Well done our JP026 team recently!

(NB online certification is not 'an alternative' to F2F certification. Essentially, all SEs must attend certification meetings in person, annually).

A very non-veggie Japanese teen - a healthy diet?

DIET

I think my diet is bad. I'm not a vegetarian. I don't usually eat vegetables because I don't like them. I like unealthy food, which have have a lot of calories.

HEALTH

I think I'm healthy. I don't get many colds or fevers. I sometimes get headaches, but that's when I'm very hot.

EXERCISE

I don't follow an exercise proram. I have to take three hours of P.E. every week at school. I should do more exercise.

Postcard from - Shenzhen, China

 Hi Jim sensei,

I came to Shenzhen, China for a short business trip. I stayed here for three nights and had three appointments.

My passport will be expired in a year, so this will be my last trip with the current passport. I had lots of trip with good memories!

Tomoko

The food I eat - a teen's report on his diet

 DIET

I think my diet is good, bacuause I eat salad every morning and I always eat healthy food, but I like burgers & pizza.

SNACKS

I sometimes eat fruit or yogurt for snacks. I don't eat ice cream in front of the TV. I try not to eat unhealthy snacks like potato chips.

DRINKS

I usually have milk with my breakfast and I often drink tea with my dinner. I like grape juice and Japanese plum juice, but my mother usually buys them.

Posted for a teen!

Magic Ingredients! App-smashing with a reader

One app I really enjoy using with our graded readers as a boost to after reading projects, is to make sure that all of the students have taken time (and been shown how) to produce full, grammatically sound, sentences.

In this case, after reading OUP's Read & Imagine beginner level title The Cake Machine, easy homework was to draw their own 'dream' cake. The blank space below 'describe your cake' is a forbidding prospect without guidance...teachers job to ask leading questions, and then help everyone agree on their responses (all different, of course, but simliar in structure.

Obviously, most of the structures & vocabulary they need are high frequency from the book they've just read (and enjoyed) + the Picture Dictionary at the back a rich resource. "New words" (our own ingredients) an easy share on the whiteboard.

Bit of teacher speed needed to photo & crop drawing into the app, and then gave a example of 'how to' for early finishers, who get on with their project enhancement. Then they help the slower finishers through the tech hurdles and encourage the narrating part (they read their own writing into a 30 second limit). 

 

A teen's report on his diet

My diet

I think my diet is bad, because I don't eat vegetables. I often eat rice & ramen. These have many calories. And I often eat fast food, too.

Drinks

At home, I usually have milk with my breakfast and dinner. I sometimes drink tea. I love milk, and my sister likes milk too, but it has a lot of calories.

Possible changes

I love chicken and I often eat chicken when I eat breakfast. I probably shouldn't eat so much chicken at breakfast because it's unhealthy. I should eat vegetables at breakfast.

Posted for a teen!