Time to Tonga!

Oktoberfest in Sapporo

Thoroughly enjoyable day “getting in the mood” for England’s first game of this World Cup with Damian, after an expensive & too-noisy start to proceedings at Sapporo’s “Oktoberfest”. Nestled under the Tower, fleeced for a couple of snags and a beer. Exeunt as soon as the band relented (I don’t jive to YMCA nor German drinking games!)

Chatted again throughout the day to interesting visitors, their impressions of Japan & travel plans (some heading to Matsumoto in between games - like me?!) & bought a Tonga shirt for a mate in Brian Brew...Sapporo’s rugby shrine with all fans not supporting Italy!

The 'hard' flag!

Then the mass migration to Sapporo Dome and the disappointment of all fans that were no big screens with the Ireland v Scotland game. Big #fail So instead, several hundred fans adopted Lawson’s as a watering hole & admired each other’s fancy dress!

Where's the yellow one?!

The game itself? Not the best, but a winning start with some impressive individual moments. My record here two for two in World Cups! Great atmosphere & very hoarse, which the oysters helped! Heading home from Hokkaido tomorrow. Maybe.

Oyster-tastic

Bulah Vinaka

Host City: Sapporo

A super Saturday of sport in Sapporo!

Wandered around on a beautiful morning before meeting Damian & catching the first game of the day on a big screen with a crowd delighted to see Fiji give the Wallabies a few early frights!

Met loads of cool people during the day & into the evening; only police I saw were inside the Fanzone, presumably helping prevent anyone from having a good time! 

Bula Vinaka Fiji!

Fiji fans full of enthusiasm (unlike the dreary pair of Northampton Saints ‘fans’). We enjoyed another game in Odorinishi Park, and topped off a great day in an Izakaya, chatting with some English travelers/fans.

#RWC2019

Deja vu

Welcome to Sapporo

Truly bizarre feeling this afternoon, walking south out of Sapporo station towards Susukino & Odori Park in the mood for a World Cup. This time, unlike 2002, I was not followed by paranoid cops...which is a shame, as I haven’t been pictured in Time magazine for 17 years! To really square the circle, I would have loved for England to be playing Argentina in the Dome :)

Initial reaction #RWC2019 is that most fans are about my age, not Japanese, and thirsty. And there is almost NO mingling of international fans with locals. Pity about that.

And check out the buzz kill rules for the “Fan Zone”!

Crap Fanzone

Proudly sitting Cambridge YLE

We were very proud to hold our annual Cambridge ESOL Young Learners (YLE) exams today, at Luna.

We have been doing this since 2000, and consider this the day when our students can comprehensively demonstrate what they are capable of...of course, nerves can have an adverse impact, but basically our children are in a familiar environment and 'business as usual' doing stuff in English...just sitting in different seats!

Obviously I have a vested interest in my own students, as well as my own school's students, and am nervous for them to do well; that we had students from two other schools made this session feel 'bigger'. Thank you Magnus and Rico, for your help on the day as well.

Extra nerves for me personally today though, as my own daughter was one of the candidates...just what will this show of our efforts running the pre-school at Luna (her little friend Hinata also sat - not very still - the Starters level. She had to ask mummy what a test was yesterday! In my honest opinion, YLE Starters is about as a gentle a test as you can hope for. Should we test children? Argue yourselves in circles on that one. Let children show off what they can do and reward them with an internationally recognised certificate? Absolutely!!!

Reactions afterwards were 95% positive - one little lad had a melt down, but such is life! Well done children - proud of you all for trying; can't ask any more than that! Looking forward to handing out certificates :)

We would also like to say 'well done' to all the children in Sapporo who took their YLE exams today at EFL Club. Thank you Laura for your hard work organising the seeion & preparing your students, and to Peter & Mary for examining.

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 :)

Oral Examiner training - September

Teachers in Tohoku
http://www.eltcalendar.com/events/details/4534 (YLE) 13/9/09

Teachers in Hokkaido/northern Japan
http://www.eltcalendar.com/events/details/4531 (KET) 18/9/09
http://www.eltcalendar.com/events/details/4532 (PET) 19/9/09
http://www.eltcalendar.com/events/details/4533 (YLE) 19/9/09

Speaking in Sapporo

I was very happy to be asked to present at Hokkaido JALT's Teaching Children Mini-Conference over the weekend. Organiser Peter Schinkel, asked me if I would do it, the last time I was in Sapporo (last October) to train OEs. Of course I agreed, but the last week has been rather stressful actually putting the presentation together & figuring out how to get the most from Power Point without overdoing it.

Unfortunately, I presented in the graveyard slot - first thing on Sunday morning, so my audience wasn't huge. However, I think it went down well enough, despite the speakers I was given being as useful as bacon at a barmitvah...my audience couldn't hear a thing. Also unfortunately, I couldn't stick around to see many other presentations which looked really interesting - couldn't afford to miss my flight again or miss classes today.

I did get the chance to catch up with a couple of colleagues in Sapporo, which is always nice, and to make a few new connections; the Hokkaido EFL scene seems to be very healthy and enthusiatic, and I am really looking forward to going back again in July. With any luck, this will coincide with the Beer Festival (or is that such a good idea?) ! And I am really hoping I'll be able to give my presentation elsewhere too, after fine tuning it a bit and making sure I have louder speakers next time.

I should thank OUP for sponsoring my presentation, btw. Thank you Colin & Kayo for your help.

Jim

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!