The voices of the masses, recorded at Luna's goodbye party for Tana & Yuki on December 4th.

You can listen here, but why not subscribe and save yourself the agony of missing out on future and subscribe?

"I wasn't at the party but really want to sign the card etc" - leave your message in the 'comment' section below.

New podcast episode - Misaki interviews Tana

Yes folks, the skeletons come tumbling out of Tana's closet in this exclusive 'teacher bares all' interview.


Just how much did you think you knew about our effervescent Springbok sensei?  Find the latest installment of Luna's podcast series on the easy listening page (tab above) or go directly to the podbean .


Why not subscribe, y'all, and save me boring you with updates like this :)

(By the way, I think Misaki does a terrific job, don't you?)

Help for tourists to Matsumoto - podcast super episode

Something I have NOT managed to get done since last October finally all fell into place this evening - my last student is absent, so I had a moment!

Please LOOK at our latest podcast - it is a slideshow for tourists visiting Matsumoto. I always felt it a shame visitors all take the direct/easy route to the castle from the station, then head back the same way and miss everything! All the cool shops I know, things to see down side streets (the things you always find out about after your trip?)

So, in full shiny podcast glory is Matsumoto for foreigners. It is an mp4 file - download it & email it to friends or send the link http://lunainternational.podbean.com/2010/08/06/illustrated-audio-walking-tour-matsumoto-city/

Visitors can load it on their iPod or iPhone & enjoy my lovely voice for 40 minutes of commentary, silly jokes and misdirection - don't blame me if people get lost (maybe I edited it badly?!) It was windy, so pls excuse the buffeting. Any good audio editors out there?

I am very excited about this - please subscribe? The podcast player is found on the "Easy Listening" page, tab at the top. Enjoy :)

http://lunainternational.podbean.com/mobile/   to subscribe directly with your mobile phone

Sayaka returns - Canada's loss!

New podcast episode - Sayaka tells us about her Canadian high school & homestay

Sayaka joined my class when she was about three - she has just come back from High School in Canada. She changed a bit! Today, I got a little revenge back, asking her to help out with our current crop of nearly threes in pre-school. Into the bargain I grabbed fifteen minutes to ask about her experience living & studying in British Columbia over the last two years, while Tana held the fort (making bugs!)

I have always had a big soft spot for Saya-chan; I think you can hear the personality and warmth of the girl very easily in this podcast? She obviously enjoyed herself very much in Canada - I am sure ever so much more than she would have done through the drudgery of the local high school she attended her in town (I qualify to have an opinion - taught there!). She might not have been in school so much, but she sure learned an awful lot more about life & relationships, the world she is a citizen of.

 

Please listen to what she has to say* - she answers Patrick's question from Dublin, by the way - and please leave any comments below.

And pre-school? They loved her!

(*Podcast player now lives on the "Easy Listening" page - see tab at the top)

New podcast episode

Find the podcast player under the new 'EASY LISTENING' tab at the top of the page. (This is a new 'static' page, where you can find our podcast and many other audio resources - podcast recommendations etc.)

Check out the other pages too - how do you like the revamped look?

This podcast episode features a chat with ten year old Haruka about the last movie she saw - "Night at the Museum 2". She'd already read both books and is quite a fan!Do you agree with her choice of role model? How many people did Ivan the Terrible actually kill? Why is Al Capone "black & white"?

You' ll just have to listen to find out - and why not subscribe, while you are there? Never miss another episode  :)

Our next Governor - Jim interviews Takeshi Matsumoto

Our school blog is not the place for a political debate, nor a place for politicians to get up on their soapboxes. However, I think it is very important that we in the international community get involved as much as we can with events and issues locally. Unfortunately, we are not able to vote.That is something that really annoys me personally, having lived here for 20 years or so and been a good boy most of the time...I certainly pay my taxes and sometimes even clean up the neighbourhood at 6am on a Sunday morning.

Anyway, main point here is that I was able to have an hour of Takeshi Matsumoto's time last week. He is standing in the forthcoming election to become the next Governor of Nagano prefecture. He has a good chance of winning, too. He won't admit that but there is a buzz around his campaign and from people who have a 'nose' for these things. I thought it would be a fairly unique opportunity to hear what the man has to say in a non-political environment (we met at Luna over a cup of tea) about his background and his ideas for the future, should he be elected.

Please read a synopsis of the interview and my own opinions at our Podbean site, which hosts our podcasts. You will also be able to listen to the whole interview - unedited and unscripted - or download it if you prefer. It is very important to realise that Mr. Matsumoto was very able to manage this discussion in English, which is impressive itself. Please have a listen to the interview and leave "comments" either below here, or at Podbean. Why not subscribe to the podcast, so you won't miss future exciting installments? Feel free to contact Takeshi Matsumoto yourself with your reactions.

The Farmer and the Beet

Listen along in the podcast as Jim re-tells this popular story for children. As you can see, this is our dog-eared copy!

Subscribe to the podcast and you'll be immediately happier! At Podbean...

Jim reads "Around the Zoo with Baboon"

Everybody has to make new friends sometimes - it can be very daunting.

Jim narrates Baboon’s progress around his new home, meeting new mates and being made welcome.

Why not get into the swing of things with Baboon, as she climbs around - children (and grown ups) act like the animals she meets. I am sure you can do better voices too!

Available now as a podcast at Podbean - why not subscribe in iTunes?

Jim reads "Who is in the Pond?"

We don’t actually have a pond in the school, but we do have some very active imaginations


We hid toy animals/flash cards under a (fortunately) blue blanket, but told the children to be very careful not to dip their toes in the ‘pond’. We asked them what they thought might be ‘in there’…All kinds of suggestions and it sounded very dangerous indeed - so we moved a little bit further back from the edge and didn’t peek!

Instead, we read along with Jim, checking our guesses off a mental list as we went. There really were some fierce animals to be wary of…as well as some very nice ones that we can find in our local pond in Agata-no-mori Park. And when we finished the book?

Of course, we jumped into the ‘pond’ to see what we could find!

You will find the recording at our podcast site or you can subscribe in iTunes

Podcast available on your mobile phone

It is very easy! 

Go to this address ON YOUR PHONE's browser to find our podcast in a mobile-friendly format. Never miss us again - how wonderful!

If you have a pencil, write this down instead of clicking the link

http://www.m.podbean.com/podcast-detail?pid=63301

Jim reads "Pam, Pam"

One of young learners' favourite big books is "Pam, Pam". Pam, Pam is a cow, with lots of generous phonetic friends. You can find the recording here or go to the podcast widget on the right.

Jim will be posting more readings of our favourite books soon - subscribe to the podcast (through iTunes) to avoid disappointment!

Podcast S1 E3 - amazing flatmates

Episode three of our shiny new podcast features the work of Jim's Thursday afternoon business English class, describing how they'd imagine some very famous people, living together, would go.Flatmates they line up are:

• Paul McCartney & Eric Clapton
• Japanese Prime Minister Hatoyama & the opposition leader Mr. Ozawa
• Tiger Woods & Barrack Obama
• Bill Gates & Steve Jobs

Now obviously these are hypothetical (imaginary) situations, but the idea was to suggest how their potential flat-sharing relationships might deteriorate & finally bottom out.

In the podcast you can here Masao, Shuji, Susumu & Keiko delivering their monologues, as well as some reaction from us all. Which is your favourite? We'd love to know! Comments welcome - please subscribe :)

New Luna Project - our own podcast

Excellent news folks - we have started to produce our very own podcast, with original content & ideas from our students. The first podcast features an interview with Tana, about her home country (South Africa) and her feelings about Japan after two and a half years. She was interviewed by Toshiya (11), who had done his homework (see his earlier posting here) and had a long list of questions! Think you'll agree he did a really good job, and we got to learn a lot about Tana's beautiful homeland.

Please support this new venture - you can find the podcast in the right hand margin. I know it's a bit 'small', but you can subscribe right there, or go to the site hosting it (podbean.com) and 'follow' us there too.

New editions will be highlighted here as they come out and on Jim's Twitter feed ("oyajimbo"). Please be a bit patient, as Jim is famously rather an analogue kind of guy (easily baffled by new technology)!

Look forward to reading your comments & maybe joining us in the pod for a chat!

Jim