Three important dates

When I consider three important days, it comes up birthday of three people. The first one is May 14, this is my father’s birthday. Second one is Oct 29, this is my mother’s birthday. Finally, it’s Oct 24, my birthday. If my parents weren’t born in this world, I wasn’t born, neither. In addition, May and October are special month. Because my sister’s birthday is also in May, which is same as my father. And October is the month of the birth for the both of my mother and I although my brother’s birthday is in the middle, which is the end of July. As it is easy to remember of the months of birth for my family, when May or Oct comes, I always think about cakes or presents to my family.

Cambridge First lads succeed at Luna - Can Do!

Congratulations from Damian

A proud Wednesday evening recently as Damian and Jim were both able to hand over Cambridge First (FCE) certificates to successful students, who have worked very hard to achieve this very credible benchmark. 

FCE is not the kind of exam you can just stroll along to and get lucky with; you need to prepare carefully and understand the nature of the tasks required of you. Listening is not a matter of connecting the dots or remembering a telephone number...the writing paper is seriously hard & comes with considerable time pressure - an essay? a report? an article? Reading requires mental dexterity, a sound grasp of unfamiliar vocabulary, and ability to process quickly without panicking/getting bogged down. There's a lot of heavy duty grammar to control as well.

Damian & Jim both know these two lads can cope with the speaking part of the test...both of them could talk the hind leg off a donkey!

And a well done from Jim

Why Tokyo Metropolitan Hibiya High School recognises Cambridge English Exams

Press release on Cambridge English website, June 14th 2017

"Cambridge English Exams have been recognised by Tokyo Metropolitan Hibiya High School, the top feeder community school in Japan to the University of Tokyo.

Mr Takamichi Nakamura, Head of the English Department, explained why they have decided to adopt the Cambridge English qualifications Cambridge English: Preliminary and Cambridge English: First.

‘There were a number of reasons for the school’s decision to begin testing students using Cambridge English. Firstly, as part of Tokyo Government’s recent new initiative, Hibiya High School is a “Tokyo Global 10” school, a designation which carries with it a responsibility to focus more on global issues and considerations. A natural extension of this is an increased focus on foreign languages and English in particular, as the tool with which Hibiya students could communicate their ideas on global topics.

With this mind, Hibiya High School was looking for a testing system that utilised a broad framework, allowing students both to easily compare their language skills with other schools and countries, and to supplement their studying with other textbooks at the appropriate level. As Cambridge English uses the Common European Framework of References for Languages (CEFR), it makes it simple for students to achieve this.

Furthermore, Cambridge English certificates have a real world value; they can be used for admission to a huge number of academic and business institutions, which encourages students to engage more actively in their English classes, and rewards their efforts with certification. The use of a variety of accents in the listening section of the test was also helpful, as many textbooks focus only one particular variant of English, often leaving students surprised by the wide variety of English they might encounter in the wider world.

Finally, Cambridge English lends itself more to whole-class teaching than some other testing systems might. The skills tested by a Cambridge English exam are those that our students are mostly likely to need in situations they are most likely to encounter; speaking skills directed at communicating with strangers and gathering information, listening skills aimed at catching details in announcements at stations, or reading both for general themes and specific facts.

With all these points taken into consideration, Cambridge English seemed the most appropriate test to adopt.’

Year 1 students at Hibiya High School took Cambridge English: Preliminary in March 2017 and Year 2 sat Cambridge English: First in December 2016. Over 600 students took Cambridge English exams in the first year of the school recognising the exams."

都立日比谷高等学校がケンブリッジ英語検定を採択した理由

"東京大学合格者数が全国の公立高校のトップである都立日比谷高校がケンブリッジ英語検定を採択しました。
同校英語科主任の中村隆道先生が、なぜケンブリッジ英語検定のプレリミナリー（PET）とファースト（FCE）の導入を決めたのか、その理由について説明してくださいました。

「学校がケンブリッジ英語検定を導入することを決めたのには多くの理由があります。まず、東京都の最近の取り組みの一環として、日比谷高校は『東京都グローバル10』指定校であり、地球規模の課題や考慮すべき問題に重点的に取り組む責任を負っています。したがって、日比谷高校の生徒がグローバルな話題について自分の意見や考えを伝えるツールとして、外国語、特に英語に重点を置くようになりました。

こういったことから、日比谷高校は生徒が簡単に他の学校や他国と語学スキルを比較でき、また、適切なレベルの教科書で生徒の学びを補完できる、幅広い枠組みを活用した試験システムを探していました。ケンブリッジ英語検定はヨーロッパ言語共通参照枠（CEFR）を活用しているため、生徒自身で達成度を測ることが容易にできます。

さらに、ケンブリッジ英語検定の証明書には世界的な価値があります。非常に多くの大学や大学院への出願や企業への就職に活用することができるため、生徒はより積極的に英語の授業に参加し、認定証（サーティフィケート）という形で成果を得ることができます。

教科書の中には、ある特定の英語のアクセントのみに焦点を当てている場合が多々ありますが、テストのリスニング問題ではさまざまなアクセントが使われていることも役立っており、より広い世界で遭遇する可能性のあるさまざまな英語に生徒は驚くことがありました。

最後に、ケンブリッジ英語検定は他のテストよりも、クラス全体の授業形式に合っています。ケンブリッジ英語試験でテストされるスキルは、遭遇する可能性が高い状況で、学生が必要とする可能性の高いスキルです。見知らぬ人とのコミュニケーションや情報収集のための「話す」スキル、駅でのアナウンスを聞くことを目的とした「聞く」スキル、一般的なテーマと特定の事実の両方を「読む」ことができるスキルです。
以上を考慮した結果、採用するのに最も適切な試験はケンブリッジ英語検定だと考えた次第です。」

都立日比谷高校では、2017年3月に1年生がケンブリッジ英語検定：Preliminary（通称PET）を、2年生がFirst（通称FCE）を2016年12月に受検しました。
ケンブリッジ英語検定の活用を決めた最初の年に、600人を超える日比谷高生がケンブリッジ英語検定を受検しました。

英語版（原文） "Why Tokyo Metropolitan Hibiya High School recognises Cambridge English Exams"　はこちら"

Revised Cambridge English: Young Learners tests – an overview

Important news for all YLE teachers & schools out there - suggest you pay careful attention to the changes & plan accordingly.

Please don't ask me for new sample or practice materials - the ink is still very wet!

Likewise, SEs, I'm trying to find out when the new materials will be available & implications for certification before the 2018 changes take effect. See the section from 22'35 - 25'00 & a comment at 47'

Killing time with a jigsaw & YLE Starters practice!

As I have written in the description, this was not a planned practice - we were waiting for her study-buddy to arrive and had already put the massive jigsaw together and talked about the things we could see.

The smaller cards I'm holding would be larger in an actual Cambridge YLE Starters speaking test (and the picture a lot simpler!); there would be eight to choose from, and at most the candidate would be asked to place only three into the picture (so we overdid it a bit here!). Note though, we've never done this before and were coming across new words (which we have not learned eg frog, kite) which we might not know, but we do know they were not apples or fish! Not all the vocabulary is in the Starters word list either - never mind!

My students have not come across prepositions before, so we were learning (and teaching each other) as we went. You can see the dynamic changes instantly with the boy joining us? The girl assumes the role of explainer & intermediary, supporter etc. This would not happen in an actual test - one at a time please! The examiner would have a script & time-plan to follow, too. We would be sat at angle like this, or next to each other. I think it is clear that young learners CAN DO if given time & a fair chance; they don't need translations or super-genki distractions!

We are going to be adding more Cambridge English speaking test practice videos on our Youtube channel this year; you can already find loads of examples of our learners making/singing/doing/giggling (a lot)...mostly fun & games at Luna but this I think the proof of the pudding: a serious CAN DO pay off.

Better results from Cambridge English - at Luna

 Take your exam in 2015 at Luna JP004

Did you know Luna International, JP004, is Japan's longest established Cambridge English Language Assessment Centre in Japan?

Did you know Jim is the longest-serving & most active Speaking Examiner in the country?

Did you know JP004 offers exams all over Eastern Japan?

Changes to Cambridge English: Advanced from 2015 (video)