“The valiant fighter” Marcus Túlio Tanaka

Marcus Túlio Tanaka is the former football player of Japan’s national team. Although he showed many brilliant activities on the pitch, he passed through many difficulties.

He was born in Palmeira d'Oeste, São Paulo, in 1981. His farter is a Japanese-Brazilian, and his mother is an Italian-Brazilian. He came to Japan for the first time when he was sixteen years old. Of course, he didn't know Japanese, and he suffered mentally.

He studied Japanese eagerly and had been a leading player on the football team of his senior high school. He joined Sanfrecce Hiroshima in 2001 after he graduated, and he launched his career as a professional football player. He became a naturalized as Japanese in 2003 and participated in 2010 FIFA World Cup as a player of Japan’s national team. He won many prizes until his retirement in 2019. He was one of the most dominant players in the football history of Japan.

Japan & England are out of the World Cup

How old are you guys?
I am12 years old and my older brother is 13.
You are both a bit sleepy today. How come?
Because we stayed up until 2 to watch a football game.
Shocking news! Who was playing?
In the match, Japan and Paraguay were playing.
Was it an important match then?
Yes, it was because it decided if we can go through to the quarter final.
What happened in the match?
The game ended 0-0. Japan lost in the penalty shoot out.
Was the penalty shoot out fun? Were you nervous?
I wasn't nervous because I trusted Japan.
How did you feel after that? Are you proud of your team?
I was 50 percent proud and 50 percent not proud.
Would you feel the same if you were English, after 'we' got thrashed by the Germans?
I would feel really disappointed and I would think they could do better.
Better luck next time? See you in 2014?
Yes, definitely.
Thanks fellas!


I can't tell you the names of these football-mad lads because they'll get into trouble at school for staying up late. How sad is that?! Good on them, if you ask me! Crunch games in the World Cup don't come along every night of the week, and something you remember for a lifetime.

Japan vs Denmark - match report (2)

Japan 3 - 1 Denmark

On Thursday 25th of June, Japan now have a chance to go to the Championship final and be in the best eighteen (sic).

The first goal was by Honda's free-kick. The ball went into the left corner of the goal. Honda's shot was not spinning and Honda looked as if he was very good at it.

The next goal was also a free-kick, but this time it was by Endo. Endo curved it into the top right corner.

After half-time, Denmark scored a goal, but Honda made an excellent pass and Japan were able to get another goal.

The match finished and Japan are now able to go to the Championship. Japan is going to play Paraguay next Thursday. If we win it, we will play Portugal or Spain. It is hard to win, butI think they will do their best and we must watch the game and see what will happen to Japan.

Japan vs Denmark - match report (1)

Japan 3 - 1 Denmark

Japan and Denmark had a nice match. The first goal was an amazing goal. It was by Honda's free-kick. The ball Honda kicked was not spinning and went in straight to the left of the goal.

The second goal was also a free-kick, but this time it was kicked by Endo. He put right spin and curved it in the right goal.

The third goal was not a free-kick. Honda showed us a nice pass and Okubo tapped the ball in the goal. However, we let in a goal, but we still won 3-1.

We thought we would lose against Denmark but we did well then we thought we will do (sic). Now Denmark is out of the World Cup and Japan moved forward.

We have to see if Japan can go through to the finals!?

Takuro

*This was a 'homework' task after we had used some online resources courtesy of Sean Banville a week or two ago to get in the mood. Check out his extensive resources for football bonkers learners (and teachers!) at Breaking News English Lessons

World Cup in Matsumoto LIVE - Sunday

And FREE - if you wear your team's colours. Non-compliance fine = 2 cans beer for the house.

Sunday 11pm at LUNA. Bring drinks & snacks & comfort blankets or whatever. Can a truly dreadful England campaign actually get into gear? Will Heskey ever be retired? Putch come to a shove, will we ever beat the Germans at anything beyond our own borders?

In my opinion, teams busting a nut like the Yanks, the Aussies & the Kiwis fully deserve to be on the bigger stage. About time the big yins of England, Italy, France, Spain, Germany got a kick in the shins.

FCE - done & dusted

Obviously, as we are in Japan, we've finished First Certificate before other parts of the world have woken up! Our candidates looked tired but satisfied, and happy that there's a decent part of the day left to enjoy - gorgeous sunshine here. Thank you Yuki & Tana for making the day go smoothly.

Second leg of our Upper Main Suite session  this month is on Tuesday in Tokyo, with FCE again; the following days we are busy with CAE and then CPE.

All papers are already on its way back to Cambridge for marking with DHL; all that is left to do now is try and keep track of how many goals we can score against the USA in South Africa :)

Listening practice - topical

Image by ijiwaru jimbo via Flickr

For those of you in my classes taking a break at the moment, here is something to keep your brain juices going and to get you in the mood for England's eventual success in the World Cup in South Africa next month!

Ideally, this 'time off' would actually be next month...watch all the games, late night beers & snack attacks...

Listen A Minute: Easier English Listening and Activities

There are 32 countries taking part in the finals, and there is an activity for each one. And it's free.

Stay tuned HERE for the matches we shall be screening on the big screen at Luna :) Remember to support your country (replica shirt, face paint, dye your hair etc!)

Country profile: South Africa

Image via Wikipedia

The Republic of South Africa is on the southern tip of the continent of Africa. The capital is Pretoria. It is a big country - 1,219,000 sq. km and it is the 25th biggest country in the world. It is about 3 times bigger than Japan.

It used to be the Netherland's and Britain's colony, but it became an independent country in 1948.

The languages spoken in South Africa are iZulu, Xhosa, Africaans, English and other African languages.

There are nineteen National Parks in South Africa, including Kruger N.P. & Table Mountain N.P., where you can see fur seals, buffaloes, elephants, leopards, lions, rhinoceros, and the national symbol, the Springbok.

The Republic of South Africa exports gold, chromium, antimony,coal, iron ore, managanese, nickel, phosphates, tin, uranium, gems, diamonds, platinum, copper, vanadium, salt and natural gas.

There are writers like Nadine Gardinaer & J.M. Coetzee. Of a population of 47 million, there are 5.7 million people who live in South Africa with HIV/AIDS, and the highest death rate (from HIV/AIDS) in the world.

The next FIFA World Cup will be in South Africa! Japan's first game is on June 14th, against Cameroon.

Toshiya's homework, after reading about the life (and tragic death) of Dian Fossey and the gorillas she studied, defended in Central Africa.


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