Pre-teens on future plans

Karen’s Golden Week holiday report

Another sixth grader writes...

My favourite day of the week is Saturday. In the morning, I always go to the brass band. After brass band, I usually go to piano at my grandmother's house.

We're shopping at the department store. My mother was a salesperson in Tokyo. She likes nice clothes. I do too!

I'm going to my cousin's home by car. We always have fun. Last Sunday it was sunny. We were at my grandmother's house; if it's sunny, we want to go to AEON.

It's my sister's birthday on February 23rd.My mother & I are making a cake. She's cooking a chicken too. The party is at 7 o'clock. See you then!

Posted for Karen (13)

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - a highschool student's film review

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a fantasy film. It came out in 2005. The director was Tim Burton.

The story is about the factory's manager Willy Wonka. Five children has Golden Tickets and they are invited the Factory. Bad things happened naughty children but Charlie is very serious boy so he is safe.

I thought the film was very interesting and feel happy. But I think there were two problems with the film. Firstly, the characters were scary. Characters are very real. Secondly, I thought the film music was terrible. It's not a good film for young children.

Posted for Karen

Last summer vacation

Last summer vacation I went to Matsumoto bonbon. I went with my best friend Maki. We ate a lot of foods and met friends. We danced with Luna's dance team. It was really amazing fun and exciting! I thought I want to go next year.

Posted for Karen

Last summer vacation was very interesting. I went to Ogaki to play basketball with my teammates from school. After we practised basketball, we headed to the hotel. We had a good time there. Because we played UNO. If we lost we did a forfeit. For example we call to stranger. It was scary but great fun!!

Posted for Yuta

Describing a photo

This is my best friend Hirono. She lives in Matsumoto. She loves music and dancing to jazz. She goes to dance classes on Tuesdays after school. In this photo, she's eating an ice cream. She's very happy because she loves sweets.










This is my friend Shibata. He lives in Matsumoto. He loves playing video games and basketball. he belongs to the same basketball team as me. In this photo, he's sleeping on the bus.

Posted for Karen & Yuta

Christmas in Japan

In class this week, my junior high school class was reading about Christmas for teens in the UK, in their Mary Glasgow magazine "Crown". We decided to compare our own answers, and this is what we found.

Do you like Christmas?

• Yuta: No, because Santa Claus doesn't come to my house. Maybe I'm a bad boy?
• Karen: No, because I don't get any Christmas presents.
• Jim: No, because I don't like working until the very last minute and not having time to buy nice presents or prepare my home.

Did you get what you wanted last Christmas?

• Yuta: No, I didn't. I wanted a Fender guitar.
• Karen: No, I didn't. I wanted money.
• Jim: No, I didn't. I got socks instead of books about cricket in Afghanistan & the West Indies.

What did you do last Christmas Day?

• Yuta: I went to school, as usual. My teacher gave me some chocolate.
• Karen: I went to school.
• Jim: I skyped my brother's family in Australia & talked to my mum. After that, I started cooking with a glass of wine.

What did you eat last Christmas?

• Yuta: I ate fried chicken (my mum cooked it) at home, with my parents. I didn't have Christmas pudding because I did not know what it is. I'd like to try it this year.
• Karen: I ate chicken & Christmas cake at home with my family.
• Jim: We ate a traditional Christmas dinner that I cooked - roast turkey & vegetables, gravy, as well as other things my wife's family brought (pizza, salad, cake...) and of course we drank champagne & wine. I ate too much!

How about this year?

• Yuta: I want a new basketball, to play with my friends at school - no holiday.
• Karen: I want a polaroid camera. School is off for Christmas this year. I don't know why!
• Jim: I don't want socks. I want a gadget to turn my old analog stereo amplifier & speakers into bluetooth receivers. I hope my children do not get toy guns/swords/anything noisy!

Only one of us has a tree in the house (we have a big one outside the school)!

We'd like to know about how you celebrate Christmas.

 If you don't, what do you do instead?

Karen finds a huge computer

I lost control of my space ship and it goes faster and faster. It's broken but I'm excited. I come to a strange planet, land safely, and find my crew is safe.

Purple planet with local inhabitant!

The purple planet has small mountains and water, and I am wearing a spacesuit. It's cold - zero degrees!

I decide to explore alone because I do not like my crew. I find a tunnel and a ladder. I don't like tunnels because they are dark, but I go down the ladder because I met an alien. It's small and pink with three arms and two legs, and it can fly.

I find a huge computer. My computer is good, so I push a button. The computer explodes and I am very shocked. The tunnel collapses and I am trapped.

THE END.