Holiday plans to friends in Australia

 Dear Nancy and family, 

Hi! How are you? I'm looking forward to you coming to Japan. I maked a plan your trip.

On Tuesday, we're going to go the Tokyo Disney land, and the hot spa in Tokyo. On Thursday and Friday, we're going to Kyoto. After that, we're going to Osaka. In Osaka, we're going to the Universal Studios Japan.

Summer in Japan is hot and humid. Please be careful of heat stroke. I think that you should have some water diligently. To Kyoto from Tokyo take about three hours. Because you'll have better childrens toy to play in bullet train.

I'm going to do recommend nice some Japanese foods. I bet you'll love it.

If you have some questions, feel free to ask me anytime.

See you!

From Kanako

Postcard from Universal Studios Japan - Osaka

Despicable Me!

Hi everybody at Luna.

I drove across Gifu prefecture on the backroads to avoid big traffic jams, but still got stuck around Kyoto & Osaka. The next day, I think we met everybody as they were all queueing for rides at USJ as well. Oh my word, so many glum looking people waiting for over three hours with NO entertainment to sit on a 90 second ride. Admittedly, the rides are pretty amazing (Harry Potter was first choice, and Despicable Me/Minions in the old Back to the Future zone was second) but good grief the waiting was grim.

Souvenirs? What a racket - Y5,000 for a plastic chopstick with a crap light bulb in the tip = Harry Potter's wand. Every other kid had a Minions water cannon backpack - starting at Y3,000 each. You can seriously drain your bank account here without trying very hard/doing very much.

My kids even had to wait to get a picture with Kitty-chan, and again with Elmo! Best use? Charlie Brown's bullpen.

Meet the throng

In all, I think we stood in line for 7 hours. My suggestion? Don't go to USJ or Disneyland in the summer, and certainly not on a national holiday. If you must, try a pre-typhoon day or a nice snowy one. Take your own food & drinks, and take turns waiting in the queue - go do something else while one of you waits :)

Guest Blog: Tom & Damo's adventures (Part 2)

Making friends

On next to Nara. Having not heard of Nara before my visit, I was pleasantly surprised by the amount it had to offer in such a small town. We visited the park and fed the deer some deer crackers. Once the deer realised you had food, 4 or 5 would surround you in seconds and nudge you in the hope that you fed them. I have never seen deer so tame and relaxed with humans. Although it was very funny to see one of the deer sneakily steal a pack of crackers out of a lady's hand when she wasn't watching. We also visited some more temples in the area, including the Big Buddha at Toudai-ji. Standing at 15metres this Buddha was enormous! And surrounding him the temple itself was also huge. A very impressive sight and a must see. 

We saw Jim on our travels

Along our stays we also camped. Damo brought along a tent and sleeping bags, and so we ended up building the tent each evening. Although slow at first by the end we got pretty quick at building it. Trying to find a spot to camp at 11 o'clock on the evening was not so much fun though, especially when really tired from the sightseeing in the day. However, this was all worthwhile when we found a perfect spot at the top of a hill overlooking the town. This had a shrine, and a viewpoint which gave an awesome view.

Enjoying the view from Umeda Sky Building

Next onto Osaka. I knew the city was big, but didn't realise the size it would be. We drove through the hills and mountains then suddenly appeared on the outskirts of Osaka, with buildings as far as you can see. After finding a hotel to stay in what I would call, a 'rougher' part of town, we planned our days and set out on the city. We went up the Umeda Sky Building which was awesome. I recommend to any visitor, the view was amazing and you can see across all of Osaka in all directions. Any couples, make sure you look for the lovers seats at the top for a photo. You can also buy a heart shaped keyring to lock on the wall at the top to ensure your love is everlasting. In the evening a trip to Dotonburi was required. After getting off the subway, we ended up walking the wrong way by mistake for 20 minutes! This meant we had to work backwards, oops! We walked down the famous street and took a photos of the Glico man, the big crab, and the great bright lights outside of every bar and restaurant. After a few drinks at the foreigner friendly Zerro and Murphy's bars we headed out to the clubs until the early hours. Dotonburi definitely provides a good night out. 

Jet setting around Japan

Where's Damian?

I hope that you've all had a grand Golden Week, letting loose and relieving any pent up stress.

I was one of the more fortunate souls and got over a week off! I made the most of it and went travelling around Chiba, Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara, Osaka and even a little bit of exploring closer to home. Had an absolutely amazing trip and would like to thank Jim for lending us his tent. We really would have been roughing it without it!

Replicating Tom's favourite movie scene

I won't go into  further details as there will be a guest post from my friend Tom (once he finishes his 30 hour transit home!), who I am grateful for putting up with me during our travels.

I took my fare share of photos, so if you're interested in having a look, here's a link to my album on Facebook (should be able to access without a Facebook account). 

Driving stories - riding without a windscreen

Mountain road (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When I was twelve years old my father had been driving with my family for about two hours. He drove very narrow mountain road. There are no fence beside road.

Suddenly he shouted "Oh no!" and the car fell from the road. It revolved and landed on the road below. The front window broke all of it.

But we didn't have an injure. Only my father cut his finger a little. Then he drove to his university hospital. We were examined. We were all well.

We went home from Kyoto to Osaka by that car. It was very cold because there wasn't front window.

Olga

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.

Professional development in Osaka - Jim's other job

 If this is Saturday, we must be in Osaka!

I was delighted to be back in examiner training mode - it has been a while. New materials for 2011 to master - some late nights before I legged it to Indonesia last week - and a new city/venue to create a 'cell' in. Hopefully, not sleepers for long.

Discussing assessment - stand your ground

Welcome aboard UK Plus Osaka. Although things came together very last minute, I felt the teachers here handled the challenge very gracefully and professionally...two qualities the job rather demands! Thank you Tony and your staff for getting stuck in. MN, thank you for applying yourself to FCE and CAE - I know you were expecting KET & PET (me too).

It is always reassuring to venture into a school which identifies itself as British - map on the wall, a London bus picture somewhere, proper (Yeah, proper!) exam info and prep classes scheduled. A graded readers programme obvious, and even pictures of the school owner putting his own carpet down. Oh Joy! A fellow traveller!

Peer practice - take it seriously

Now, this won't sound like rocket science, but today I switched the running order of training modules. I have been annoyed that no matter how keen participants are, imagining oneself in the examinee role quickly leads to a breakdown in purpose. I've done it myself - glib, obtuse or daft answers make the trainee interlocutor's job impossible. Usually a colleague or respected peer, it is very hard not to join in with the tension relieving joke or interruption, aside, observation. The interlocutor needs to have a 'clean run' through the script. Using students as practice candidates at this initial stage for my money is unfair on all - reading a script and managing materials, time, assessment, interaction all off the cuff? On top of that, feedback from a hovering observer? No. Not workable.

I was surprised that this had not been suggested before though - after all, ESOL has been the market leader in assessment since whenever, right?! By tackling assessment first (which everyone always assumes is the 'bigger' or more professionally demanding aspect of the examiner's job) we get the serious hats on early. Everyone can impress the crap out of their peers with lofty discourse critiques, isolating grammatical nuances, announcing their experience with particular nationalities' pronunciation etc. Thank you for sharing, everyone! Now, let's look at the assessment criteria and see where everything you just said can be found...Oh dear.

Justify your assessment - refer criteria

Playing field, abracadabra, level. We are looking at "Can do" rather than "Can not". Nowhere will examiners find reference to accents, grammatical shopping lists or body language critiques. In no more than two sentences, assessors have the tools required to accurately 'nail' candidates performances within a mark. Examiners worldwide use the same criteria, watch the same candidate performances, and are required to come to the same conclusions. Like it, or lump it. The bottom line, is "Cambridge ESOL said so" (with apologies to Stone Cold Steve Austin!)

Clearly, watching a variety of examiners deliver the rubric to the letter, on time, neutrally, and professionally is a benefit. Trainees will have taken in the fact that regardless of the materials used, abilities of the candidates, distractions, personal preferences, each speaking test took approximately the same amount of time, each candidate had an equal opportunity and their was no horseplay. Part two of training = replicate that.

When you have no idea of the tone you are supposed to be presenting, I think it is awfully hard for even experienced teachers to switch into examiner role. As teachers, our natural default setting is "help". As assessors, it is perhaps counter-intuitive to focus on candidates abilities rather than the faults they may or may not demonstrate.

In context here in Japan, candidates do not get credit for "being ambitious" - rather, assessment tends to focus on any loss of control or inaccuracies. Net result = lame, middle of the road and 'safe' performances. Getting this single point across to my speaking test examiners is crucial. As soon as we can focus on ambition, development, familiar vs abstract, clarity to the untrained listener eg my mum...we are getting there.

Lady and gentlemen...Osaka is GO    : - )

Gallavanting around

It's been a bit busy last few weekends for me - I think my family are starting to forget what I look like.

About a month ago I was catching up with my old mate Julian from Barnsley. He has just moved back to Osaka & we explored the old part of town with another mate, having a great meal in a famous but local Korean restaurant. Unfortunately, the food poisoning I got wasn't worth it, but anyway, it's been a while since I have been to Osaka - always exciting and vibrant, and quite different to Tokyo.

The weekend after that, I went to the annual JALT (Japan Association of Language Teachers) conference, this year held near Yoyogi Park. The conference is never exactly exciting, but for me it is a great chance to catch up with a lot of people in the same place, and talk "shop". I managed to find some old Cambridge examiners who want to get back into examining, and interviewed a couple of prospective new ones. I went to a few workshops, picked up some new tricks and remembered some old ones, listened to the good & the great. In between, busy networking. Here you can see my mates from OUP - nearest is Koichi who is a Matsumoto boy, working hard! The OUP was party was good fun, and I met a couple of extremely interesting people.

The first weekend in November I flew up to Sapporo to train a bunch of new examiners. this meant taking two days off work at Luna & cancelling classes, which I hate doing - sorry guys. It was one degree above freezing when I arrived, and snowing - I nearly came straight back! I trained a small group of new examiners for YLE on Saturday, then met the main group of existing OEs on Sunday. Training continued then for KET on Sunday afternoon; PET on Monday morning and a big co-ordination for both that afternoon. A very full schedule and no time for souvenir shopping - I nearly missed the plane back (again) as it was. Literally got back home, changed clothes and came to Luna & taught 4 classes straight. Of course, I did manage to find a pub and watch the football on Saturday, with my Kiwi mate Peter & his lovely wife Yoko, who owns a very nice little school in Sapporo. (The very same pub I was in on June 16th 2002, before the England v Argentina game in the World Cup!)

And this last weekend was another away fixture. I stupidly planned a meeting for Sunday before I could actually get there on the first train, so I got the train down on Saturday evening and found myself in Nakano (instead of Shinjuku). Fortunately, I had my subway map with me & got to Akasaka in time to meet Tall Tim for a curry. We then sampled Whychwood & Old Speckled Hen in the Hobgoblin while we watched Liverpool beat Bolton. Training a brand new group of OEs for FCE was a challenge, as I wanted to improve on the style I was shown. With a bit of help we managed to get my PC hooked up to a projector and could save a lot of time/argument while watching candidate samples on DVD. I was also able to show the new online system to the trainees 'live', which made life a lot easier.

So if I haven't been able to check this blog too much lately I apologise - I haven't been 'here' enough. I have also been a bit behind on my inbox - hope you can appreciate why now! The next few weekends? Let's just say I'm only half way through a very busy season!