Speaking Examiner training for Japan

下記の日程にて、ケンブリッジ英語検定のA2 Key/A2 Key for Schools (KET)とB1 Preliminary/B1 Preliminary for Schools (PET) のSpeaking Examiner（スピーキングの試験官）トレーニングが実施されます。


https://cambridge-university-press.jp/events_news/cambridge_speaking_examiner/


In 2019:

June 29: Key (KET A2) + Preliminary (PET B1) in Sendai
July 20: Key (KET A2) + Preliminary (PET B1) in Tokyo
Aug 17: Key (KET A2) + Preliminary (PET B1) in Kagoshima

Aug 24: Young Learners (YLE Starters, Movers & Flyers preA1 – A2) in Tokyo

Sept 29: Preliminary (PET B1) + First (FCE B2) in Tokyo
Nov 2: Key (KET A2) + Preliminary (PET B1) in Tokyo
Nov 9: Key (KET A2) + Preliminary (PET B1) in Nagoya
Nov 30:Key (KET A2) + Preliminary (PET B1) in Tokyo

In 2020:

Jan 18: Key (KET A2) + Preliminary (PET B1) in Nagoya
Jan 25: Key (KET A2) + Preliminary (PET B1) in Tokyo
Mar 21: Key (KET A2) + Preliminary (PET B1) in Tokyo
Mar 28: Key (KET A2) + Preliminary (PET B1) in Nagoya


申し込み・お問い合わせはこちら：

お申込みフォーム

ケンブリッジ英語検定東日本センターJP004
Speaking Examiner Team Leader
Jim George
oyajim@gmail.com

So what does Jim do at the weekends when he isn't teaching?

BYOD solution to get SEs talking!

Last weekend I was looking after the Certification of speaking examiners for one of our fellow Cambridge Centres in Tokyo. This is a part of my job I really enjoy a lot, as I am working with professional teachers who are dedicated to the role they have chosen to pursue in their spare time - doing more teachery stuff! Speaking Examiners do not grow on trees; they need looking after, nurturing, and occasionally patting on the back! They need to know when they are doing a good job, and every year they need to freshen up their skills in delivering the speaking tests and to show that their assessment is in tune...matching Cambridge's worldwide benchmark.

We were fortunate last weekend to have half a dozen young CEFR B2 (FCE) level kids studying in the school, who were keen to have a couple of free practice 'goes'. One of the teachers was surprised one of the boys didn't start crying - so well done my team for not being scary & insensitive! Yes, it's a test, but you can still smile and be 'normal'. One thing I really do not want 'my' cadre to do is get all serious and high & mighty. Our job is to provide the candidates with the opportunity to display all that they can do....

This year I have been throwing my examiners into Quizlet Live games, competing with & against each other to tackle tricky topics like feedback commentaries. Rather than me stand there & bemoan this or that, the examiners themselves have to come to some sort of agreement as to how certain behaviour or outcomes should be considered. That in itself generates a lot of discussion - and consensus - and reinforces the message that regardless of location or circumstances, each & every candidate must have the same opportunity to be successful.

Ayako, Jim & Hiroshi - champions!

So I was delighted to be able to introduce the team later to Ayako & Hiroshi Nishizawa, both former Luna students now running a fabulous restaurant in Naka-Meguro ("Yakitori Champion"). Ayako took YLE while at Luna & has since home-stayed & studied in Warwick; Hiroshi was cool throughout our first 10-day farm-stay to Whangarei in New Zealand, 15 years ago. The food? Fabulous lamb, lots of lamb, and then more lamb. Excellent value, if a bit smoky!

For me, this was a 10 out of ten weekend. What do you think?

Unusual Suspects - after reading The Mystery at Lion Rock

I think a master criminal who lives in neighbour will have 2 types.
One is strange person who is constantly stayed in house and/or is doing strange behavior, and the neighborhood don't know what the person is doing or how the person is.
So, the neighborhood is always on alert against movements of ther person.

Other is a person who is accommodating and takes the lead in activities in the community.
The person is always kind and the neighborhood is lower ther person's defenses.
But a part of persons who are accommodating and kind seem to feel stress and have a possibility to pwepetrate a crime.
So, the person is easy to perpetrate a crime in neighbour and is hard to being suspected of the crime.

In my neighbour, there was a person who is 1st type.
He worked in daytime, but he went to anywhere everynight.
I admired him for having the stamina to work and enjoy everyday.
But, one day his family (his parents and his younger sister) moved home suddenly because he did something bad.
I and the neighborhood doesn't know in detail what he did.

Posted for Ritsuko

Yu-chan`s final mission

Yu's cold green planet.

I lose control of my ship, and it goes faster and faster because of engine trouble. I don't feel good - I'm going to be sick.

I come to a strange planet, land safely, and find my crew is safe. It's big green planet. There are not any animals. I'm wearing a space suit. I'm cold. It's zero degrees outside.

I decide to explore alone - I am brave. I find a tunnel and a ladder. I like tunnels because they are dark, but I go up the ladder because I saw a flashlight. I'm excited.

I find a long corridor with four doors at the end. I want to open the gold door, but I go through the black door and enter a room with metal walls. A panel in the wall opens and I go through it. I find an elevator and want to go up, so I do, but the door closes behind me and I realise that I am trapped. I shout and shout, but nobody can hear me....

Want to be a better teacher? Become a Speaking Examiner...

Delighted to report that Luna's most recent Speaking Examiner training events in Tokyo were a resounding success. This makes sure we are able to have a good rotation of top-class examiners for the coming sessions and beyond, at all adult levels (we are offering all levels of Cambridge English Language Assessment exams for adults - KET, PET, FCE, CAE, & CPE - this autumn, at various locations which can be found via our exams-specific website ).

Experienced teachers prepared to listen & learn

Big slap on the back to the team, giving up two Sundays in succession to tackle some very demanding professional development, and a fairly demanding trainer to boot!

Thanks always to Trevor at King's Road, for hosting us & rearranging classes.. Actually pretty pleased he didn't thump me, after nominating him for the A.L.S. ice bucket challenge!

Certification for all examiners will be taking place on October 19th in Tokyo. Anyone considering becoming an examiner should contact Jim directly.

A look back at classroom smiles through March 2014

What a wild month March was! Snow that we thought would never end and our carpets still wet after the thaw. Business as usual nevertheless in the learning zone, with some big paint jobs taking place in Damian's classroom. We planted a mystery garden (now showing signs of life in all but one planter) and said goodbye to long-term students - going to miss you guys!

Success rewarded as well, with certificates arriving for YLE, KET & CAE passes - well done you!

April is going to be a busy month, and apologies in advance for the state we might be in at the end of the month. Join us, meantime, April 13th from noon onwards for our Cherry Blossom Party (details oin our Facebook page). Have a superb April - we will!

Ha-chan's dream bedroom: KET writing practice

My dream bedroom is big, beautiful and square. Near the wall there is a rectangle soft pink bed made of sponge. There is a long desk and a comfortable chair next to the window. There is a big white leather sofa in front of a big new TV. There is a modern computer on the desk, next to an Italian coffee machine. There are cute little lamps in the corners of the room. There are a lot of Sota Fukushi posters on the wall. There are beautiful pink curtains and a floor made of wood, with under-floor heating.

Yuta's dream bedroom; KET writing practice

Yomiuri Giants (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

My dream bedroom is big & clean. Next to the window is a big round bed made of wood. There are posters of my favourite baseball team on the wall, and there is a very loud amp next to the bed, and there are two speakers on the wall. There is a modern guitar next to the bed.

Mizuki's dream bedroom; KET writing practice

Murray in the bedroom window on the cover of Dream Evil (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

My dream bedroom is big and square. In the middle of the room there is a big square bed made of wood. There is a very large TV screen on one wall,, and there's a big window on another wall. There is a big sofa next to the bed, and there is a big cat doll on the sofa. There are lamps in the ceiling.

Professional Development - Nagoya

I was delighted to be asked to provide a KET & PET examiner training session by Mike Stockwell at Sugiyama University in Nagoya. It is really reassuring that some of the people I hold in the highest regard 'get it' i.e. appreciate just how useful the examiner training is to in-service teachers...let along the quality of the actual exams and usefulness to candidates.

On sweltering day, we worked around felafel kebabs for lunch and potent Mojitos afterwards!

KET & PET (CEFR A2 & B1 respectively) are abundantly appropriate for university language students in this country - far much more so than TOEIC, for example. The speaking parts of the tests, which we were training for today, are especially important. Exam-takers interact with each other with graded material to stimulate an exchange, and are not required to talk to a blank PC screen for 3 minutes. Examiners are professionally experienced, annually re-trained and well-paid - not minimum wage, uni students on piece-rates!

Thank you Rob, Tanja, Steve, Cheryl, Jon & Mike for your very hard work and thoroughly professional work ethic. An excellent day's work, and six of the best joining Luna's examiner corp.

Our recent training sessions - slideshow

Think you will enjoy this slideshow review of the training Luna has conducted over the last three months, in Tokyo & Nagoya. 



Think you have what it takes to become a Cambridge English speaking examiner? Get in touch.

Examinations dates & venues for May, June, July

We are very excited to announce that we are offering ALL adult levels of Cambridge ESOL examinations in the first half of 2013.

Any and all enquiries should be made to Yukari, our Centre Examinations Manager here
All entries can be made online here , where you will also find schedules, fees etc

May 11th: Certificate of Proficiency in English (C.P.E./"Proficiency") at Luna - Matsumoto (map)

• Deadline for CPE entries is March 31st 

May 18th: morning. Preliminary English Test (P.E.T.) in Tokyo (map) and at Luna - Matsumoto (map)

and

May 18th: afternoon. Key English Test (K.E.T.) in Tokyo (map) and at Luna - Matsumoto (map)

•  Deadline for KET & PET entries is April 13th 

  June 8th: First Certificate in English (F.C.E./"First") in Tokyo (map) and in Nagoya (map)

•  Deadline for FCE entries is April 21st

 July 13th: Certificate in Advanced English (C.A.E./"Advanced") in Tokyo (map)

• Deadline for CAE entries is June 9th

 We are very grateful to our friends at King's Road School of English for their help and support.

A slideshow of super Luna smiles

We are delighted to share a whole host of happy faces from our classrooms this summer! Which class did you really want to join?!

Nanako's dad & KET Certificates

This is a slideshow of an event Jim organised with Shinshu JALT last Saturday evening. One of Luna's dads was a speaker...and he was also one of our ex-student's surgeons, which is why this promise to present was made about six years ago!




Among the audience was the current National JALT President - I think the first time that this has ever happened...so while he was here, Jim asked him to present Yanissa with her Cambridge ESOL Certificate for K.E.T. (she passed "with Merit") and we are all very proud of her achievement. Unfortunately, Hokuto & Tomoro had other plans and were unable to attend the short ceremony. We gave them their certificates last week, and as you can see they also look very pleased - well done boys!

If you were going to Paris, what 5 things would you pack? Why?

The first thing I must buy is a phrase book. It will help me communicate with French people. Of course, I will need a raincoat because I don't know when it rains and it is more compact than an umbrella. However, the weather conditions can be mixed, so tp protect my head I have to bring a hat. Insect bites can be painful, so I have to buy several tubes of bug cream. Last, but not least,, never forget to include sneakers, because I will be walking around the city a lot. Yuya

Cambridge ESOL Young Learners

Back in the country 24 hours after a delightful break in Australia, before grabbing my pre-packed suitcase of training materials and legging it to Haneda for a flight to Chitose (Sapporo). I wish I hadn't double checked my careful pre-holiday packing as I dumped some rather important bits, stupidly. Thank heavens our ESOL exam venues are predictably well-supported by publishers such as Cengage, OUP & CUP who have the vision, and teachers who use the best materials. (Still, pretty dumb to leave vital stuff on my office floor!)

I don't mind the travelling, but the dislocation annoys me; half the train trip to Tokyo is 'out of service' for internet connection. That does mean the other half of the trip is  'connected', but the on/off nature of the tunnel interruptions means you cannot actually get anything done. Work on plane? Mostly pointless, as searching for a connection kills battery-life.

Anyway, I was in Sapporo to finally make sure our northern lights were still able to examine - this coming weekend. A rush job, then. Well done Kate, Peter, Vicky, and Mary; scripts remembered and assessment criteria under control. Special guest star Brick made sure we also have a full house of squared away examiners when we are finally able to offer KET & PET in Hokkaido, something we at Luna have been keen to achieve since 2007. Looking forward to Lower Main Suite exams taking place in Hokkaido in May, as well as in Fukushima, Niigata, Nagano, Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka - and in association with our colleagues at JP176 in Okayama too.

Congratulations in the meantime to our young achievers here at home, who stepped up at the end of October. Here is Kaeda with proud mum (and shy sister) and Simon sensei (namesake of her first teacher), receiving her Starters certificate. this is just the start Kaede - onwards and upwards :)

Examiner training dates announced

I am delighted to be able to announce that we have been able to confirm all dates & venues for training at all levels of Cambridge ESOL examinations this autumn. Training will be conducted by Jim, in his capacity as 'Team Leader' for Luna International (JP004).

Young Learners - Starters, Movers and Flyers:

• Okayama - Sept 23
• Osaka - Oct 8
• Tokyo - Oct 16

Lower Main Suite - KET (Key - A2) and PET (Preliminary - B1):

• Okayama - Sept 24
• Osaka - Oct 9
• Tokyo - Oct 15

Upper Main Suite - FCE (First - B2), CAE (Advanced - C1) and CPE (Proficiency - C2)

• Tokyo - Sept 17
• Nagoya - Sept 18

In order to qualify to participate,  experienced English teachers should be in full time employment and be a university graduate/EFL certified. You should be available to examine, be reliable and display sound interpersonal skills. Non-native speakers are welcome to apply, but do need to demonstrate a good working use of English appropriate for the level to be trained for. Anyone interested in taking part should get in touch with Jim by email and request a Nomination form by submitting their CV.

Teacher's PETs (and KETs)

Double success - Misaki & Misaki

Our two Misakis are now proud owners of shiny Cambridge ESOL Certificates, for the exams they successfully took in November. Very big congratulations to you both!

'Younger' Misaki announced she has also passed Eiken 2, so her success is no fluke. Passing KET at first attempt is something she should be especially proud of.

It is a bittersweet swansong for 'older' Misaki, as she is leaving us next month - spreading her wings and flying away (not literally, she will probably go on the train). Life as a university student beckons. We are sure she will flourish, as she has been a super student with us...first taking Young Learners (Starters) in 2006.

We are now recruiting students to join this class - must be smart, hard-working and enjoy English. Places are limited!

Kyoto - Examiner Training

A dozen of the nation's finest EFL teachers gathered in Kyoto today to participate in Cambridge ESOL Oral Examiner (OE) training.

Today's attendees had already been tasked with a certain amount of pre-training which meant we were able to get cracking at a decent pace. I have found that providing recruits with as much info as possible beforehand saves a lot of aggro on the day, as examiners have a lot to process/manage/do, and digesting a 50+ page booklet at the same time has proved to be too much in the past. I love Dropbox!

We gathered from Okayama, Osaka, Nagoya, Matsumoto (our Tana) as well as locals based in Kyoto & Shiga.In all  would say there was over 150 years of English teaching experience in the room; quite a lot of experienced examiners (other levels) too. Great to see motivated and capable teachers pushing themselves professionally and being open to guidance/a bit of tweaking even with all that experience. It is rare that we teachers are challenged to justify our opinions and have a common framework with which to discuss student/candidate performances.Very few teachers (in Japan) are experienced enough/qualified to deliver & assess these levels (CEFR B2/C1).

Personally it was great to see OEs I have previously trained at other levels (YLE, KET, PET) in three different cities (Okayama, Kobe, Nagoya) get down to business very much "on the same page". I was even happier to hear myself quoted as OEs collaborated during the day on rubric delivery (interlocuting) & assessment. I find it very rewarding personally to see & hear teachers/trainers I respect 're-tweeting' my suggestions/sharing their experiences moulded in consistent "Cambridge-speak".

I tried a few new things before & during this session, which I hope added value. I have given up reading commentaries to the room; the 'mana from heaven' approach falls on barren ground too often :)  Today I asked trainees to assess performances alone & then discuss their scores together, before giving them commentaries without scores to fine tune their ideas against the analytical criteria. This stops everyone arguing with me! At the end of the day, here is Cambridge's mark. "Move your scoring to this benchmark!"

Tomorrow the Himalaya of EFL - CPE... The absolute pinnacle of a student's ambitions. Very rare air at this level.

OE Team bonding in Nagoya

OE Team bonding
Originally uploaded by ijiwaru jimbo

Over the weekend I was asked to train a new group of Oral Examiners at Mejio University in Nagoya....and I was delighted to do so.

I think it is clear that everyone had a good time, and got on very well together, even though many were meeting each other for the first time on Saturday morning. By Sunday afternoon, organiser Naoki was confident that the ladies would catch him!

Training follows a fairly standard procedure, which I'll not bore you with again. I will say that I always enjoy listening to professional teachers applying their unique classroom experiences to the materials & videos. There is always something new to consider and to use positively, and generally of benefit to all present (not just for examining, but in terms of professional development).

These workshops are also very good settings for teachers to make new professional contacts. It is pretty easy after two days to figure out whose opinion you would like to have on certain issues, whose advice you trust etc. It is unusual for teachers to have this opportunity without having to make a presentation, and then the dynamic is quite different. Here, a sense of 'all in this together' is reassuring non-threatening, as everyone is learning something new and having to reappraise their own performances quickly.

I had a good weekend, then. Busy, hard-work, but very enjoyable. Well done attendees and thanks very much indeed for your patience and professional attitude. Look forward to seeing you in action in March.