Take-Away Japan

In Japan, many people think their own health is very important. So, quite healthy take-away restaurants like Hokka-ben and Hokka-motto are looked upon well.

However, many Japanese people do like fried food & hamburgers. There are McDonald's, Mos-Burger, KFC and we can even get take-away ramen. Japanese eating style has greatly changed since the end of the war. It is getting oilier & unhealthier.

Although it is unhealthy, we cannot help eating fried chicken, chips & nuggets, when we know how delicious they are!

By Takuro

Check out the vocab for this article in the magazine, for learners at CEFR B1/B2 https://quizlet.com/115775930/club-jan-feb-2016-take-away-britain-flash-cards/

Are iPad good or bad

Many people are against iPads, but I think they are good thing. Some people say that we play too much with iPads.

Today lots of people wear glasses because they play too much with iPads. In addition, some apps cost extra money and some people spend a lot of time playing with them so they become fat and unhealthy

I don't agree. I think that iPads are a good thing, because you can communicate with people around  the world. Also, you can play with games, watch videos and use as a mini PC.

So some people think that iPads are a bad thing. But I think they are a great way to have fun and learn. 

After reading "The Secret in the Farmhouse"...

Write about an act of bravery that you have personally witnessed or experienced.

I have three dogs. The accident happened to one of them nine years ago. It had past several months since I had her. I had taken her for a walk every morning.

One day, I changed the lead to new one for her as the previous one was a little bit complicating. It, however, was too loose to hold her. When she stopped to sniff a tuft of grass, I pull the lead and moved forward. Then, she came out from the lead. When I tried to catch her, she was surprised and ran away! I chased her, but she continued to escape from me.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have mobile phone. In addition, there were no any other people around there. Therefore, I could not ask anyone to help and I had no way but to keep chase her not to lose her. I had been struggling with the situation for twenty minutes.

After that, I found a dog in the backyard of a house. I suddenly recalled that my dog liked other dogs. I thought that she came close to the dog if she saw the dog and I could catch her.

I didn’t know the owner of the house, but I knocked the window from the backyard to call the owner. The owner was surprised, but when I talked about the accident, she took her dog to me. When my dog saw the dog, she was pleased to come close and I finally caught her. I was very relieved and appreciated the owner and the dog.

Posted for Chinasa

A respected teacher - Jungle Book after reading

Mowgli gets a lot of good avice from his teachers. 

Write about a teacher you respected and why their advice was important for you.

My 1st grade’s teacher was an old man. He looked very scary face. But he was kind for me. He taught us not only studying but also how we should spend in the school or society. He taught us school discipline, too. The most impressed his advice was that when I come back home, I have to talk about one of my today’s news with my parents. I talked my news every day. This was good for me and my parents. For me, it was good opportunity that I talked with my parents a lot. And for my parents, they could know how I spent in the school. So we talked about my school life a lot every day. I still talk about my news when I meet my parents. He wrote a letter which was written about what we studied that day, almost every day to our parents. And he sent students handwriting New Year’s card every year till he was in poor health. I think if I wasn’t a his student, I spent a different school days. I thank him very much.

Posted for Yuri

My friend on the fiddle - Tales from Longpuddle (after reading)

 Write about a time when your friends played live music (well or badly).

My friend, Masako can play fiddle.

One day, she invited Chinasa, Reiko, and me to the recital of an orchestra, which she trained in. I was very pleased to be invited her recital because she hadn’t allowed us to come and see her recital for a long time. I felt I could be a little more her close friend. I met her at work, where she was cheerful and unfussy person. I heard that she had played fiddle since childhood, and I thought it was great hobby when I heard she played fiddle.

Her recital came. It was sunny day in fall.

She showed up from the left side of the stage. The orchestra consists of forty people approximately.
I don’t know well about kind of instrument, but there were six people in the fiddle team. The conductor started music, and she also played fiddle with other member. She was very serious and concentrated in her play. She had a different face, comparing to work. She never lost her concentration during her play.

It was fantastic playing, and I felt how much she liked playing fiddle, and had a passion on music.
I saw Masako after she played; her face was back to her cheerful face as usual. It was good time to see her private face, and I grew to like and admire her more than before when I saw her fresh face.

Posted for Yumi

Talking Animals - after reading The Jungle Book

There are a lot of stories about animals that talk. 

Describe your favourite one, and explain why you like it.

I only reminded the Japanese old stories for children when I saw this question. Such as Momo-tarou, Akazukin-chan, Urashima-tarou, etc.

After that, I reminded a famous animation from Ghibli. It is "Majo-no-Takkyubin" ("Kiki's delivery service" in English). The heroine is Kiki who is a young witch. She needs to live alone in a city to be a grown witch. She goes to a city with her black cat named Gigi. Gigi can talk to Kiki and always encourages her when she faced problems. But Kiki cannot understand what Gigi says when it comes to the end of story. I think it means the day when Kiki can live her life without Gigi's help.

 I like this story because it gives me a positive feeling after I watch this film.

Posted for Tomoko

Some lovely new flashcards created on Quizlet...for YOU!

Check out a recently created set of flashcards for PET level learners (CEFR B1), which is all connected with the topic of travel. There are many ways to study with Quizlet as I have talked about before - search the blog! Thought you would like to see how attractive and clear the actual flashcards are, and how much they can help any/all learners build their vocabulary. Do you like Quizlet? Find a class you like by searching for "LunaTeacher" in the site, and then choose some classes or groups to join. I am sure you will find yourself learning more & more!