Current Magazine - Nujeen Mustafa

Inspired by reading a snippet of Nujeen Mustafas's 'Nujeen: One Girl's Incredible Journey from War-Torn Syria in a Wheelchair' in Mary Glasgow's Current magazine, some students wrote about the toughest journeys they've experienced in their lives.


When I was a university student, I sometimes had a part-time job. The university was in Kyoto, so there were some special part-time jobs.

One day, I found the notice of the job with my friend at the student affairs office. It was an extra of a period play. It looked fun and payment was not so bad. We were willing to apply that job. On the day, it was really heavy rain early in the morning. I wonder whether I go there or not. I decided to go there.

The bus was waiting for us at school. After leaving there, it stopped raining. Because of the heavy rain, my friend hadn't come. I went to Uzumasa film studio to wear a peasant costume. I was unhappy.

Everyone got on a bus again for an hour, and arrive at Ado river ibn Shiga prefecture. Around the river was lonely place. There were just only a field and a river. It was a good place to shoot peasants riot. Some professional extras involved in our group. s making a sign, everyone began to run. We did it again and again. Lunch box was served on the bus.

Then we ran in the different field. In the evening another scene was shot. This time we ran with torches. There is no place to go to the restroom. So I gave up to go there. After shooting, they gave dinner box. When I got to my sharehouse, it was nine. It was a unique experience, but I didn;t want to do it again. It was the toughest day trip.

Posted for Hiroko

Current Magazine - Nujeen Mustafa

Inspired by reading a snippet of Nujeen Mustafas's 'Nujeen: One Girl's Incredible Journey from War-Torn Syria in a Wheelchair' in Mary Glasgow's Current magazine, some students wrote about the toughest journeys they've experienced in their lives.


As a matter of fact, I've never had so tough journey in my life. I was born in a peaceful country and
raised up with a nice family in a middle class, and had never desired to have a tough journey.

When I go travel, it was always well planned getting rid of risks. but in 2004, when I went to Europe alone was an exception. My daughter was already in Rome, so I had to go to Rome by myself. It was the first time for me to go to Europe. I couldn't understand Italian at all, so I learned Italian a little.

In the airplane I chose the seat near the aisle. Next to me were two big young Korean guys. They drank alcohol so often, so they went to the toilet frequently. It bothered me. The cabin attendant recognized the situation. At the end of the flight, she gave me a small present of JAL with an apology.

From the airport to Telmine station, I took a train. It was already night, the train was crowded. I could see many kinds of people, looked like from Africa, the Middle East, Asia or America, talking their own language.

At Telmine station, I didn;t know the direction when I saw the policemen. I wanted to ask them the way to my hotel, but they were so big I just hesitated to do it. I checked the name of the road, and began to walk/ But the area where my hotel looked very dangerous. On the dirty road, people were sitting with blank looks.

Finally, I got to the hotel. When I was checking in, there was a phone call from my daughter. She sad she wanted to be with her friend one more day. So, I had to be at the hotel alone. I couldn't sleep all night because of the noise and the neon light from outside.

Posted for Yasumi

Current Magazine - Nujeen Mustafa

Inspired by reading a snippet of Nujeen Mustafas's 'Nujeen: One Girl's Incredible Journey from War-Torn Syria in a Wheelchair' in Mary Glasgow's Current magazine, some students wrote about the toughest journeys they've experienced in their lives.

It was the first time I had been to Hawaii. I was sixteen years old. I went to Hawaii with my brother
and my high-school friends. That journey was hard before leaving Japan.

Before summer vacation, we made a plan to go to Hawaii. I decided saving money to go to Hawaii. I worked in my uncle's factory from Monday to Friday at the beginning of the summer vacation. First my job was very easy. But some old women complained about it. They thought it wasn;t fair so my uncle changed my job. My job was getting harder and harder. Every weekend I worked at swimming school. I liked teaching swimming. I was very tired but finally I saved enough money to go to Hawaii.

We arrived at Hawaii early morning. We wanted to go to Hanauma Bay. It was a fine day. We decided to go there by bicycle. Hanauma bay wasn't so far from Waikiki  but our bicycles were gear-less, so it was very hard to pedal. The road wasn;t flat, it was a slope. If you slipped and fell into the car road you'd have been killed by cars. Finally we arrived at Hanauma Bay. We were all very tired but we were very excited.

Next day we borrowed an open car. It was a nice BMW. We were very excited. It was the first time I had ridden in an open car. In these days there wasn't navigation. We lost our way and wandered into a strange place. It was a beautiful residential area. There were many beautiful houses. When my brother (Lui) was driving slowly, suddenly one big dog appeared. The dog attacked us. Unfortunately our car was an open car! When I screamed, Lui drove at full speed. We were all safe.

Every day I swam in the sea without blocking sun, because in those days a tanned face and body were very attractive for me. So I wanted to get a suntan. But the place was Hawaii, ultraviolet rays were very strong. I got a terrible sunburn. My face grew bigger and I couldn't open my eye. I felt a stinging pain in my body. I was childish and immature, but sometimes I remember those sparkling young days.

Posted for Olga

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/

Brit awards - What are they wearing? (Click Jan-Feb 2016)

Many of you may be aware of Mary Glasgow as a publisher, but have you ever heard of Mary Glasgow Magazines? The magazines cover all CEFR bands and targeted mainly for young learners. It is an excellent reading resource for current topics that are exciting and engaging for kids and teens. Plus a subscription comes with a mountain of online resources, videos, competitions, extra news and much, much more! We can't sing enough praise for the magazines at Luna and love using them with our students.

Here are a few videos (courtesy of the Sock Puppets app) Eleanor and Nanako made about what the stars at this year's Brit Awards are wearing in the January-February edition of Click magazine. Watch this space for more content involving Mary Glasgow Magazines!

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?