Bugs & Insects in Luna's garden

As part of English Time 1's Project Time at the end of unit 3, we all went outside to explore the garden and see what bugs and insects we could find. We looked in flower pots, under rocks and between every nook and cranny. Here are some posters of our findings!

Acting out not acting up - working together through role playing

For our next instalment of "Luna's got Talent" I would like to introduce Rui, Kaito, Kotone and Moeka acting out the story of Max and Digger from Review 2 of English Time 1 (written by Susan Rivers and Setsuko Toyama). In this story Max gets a little too greedy and gets a stomach ache!

During rehearsals the boys were much more focused on creating the most extravagant and eccentric foods and drinks from the props they had available, while the girls focused more on learning their lines. As you can see from the performances the boys tended to forget their lines! Luckily for the boys the girls were on hand to prompt them when they did. It was great fun getting the students to play the role of director and calling out stage directions when it came to the performances, it's always fantastic to see your students working together to create something they can all be proud of. A great way to build on conversational language whilst having tons of fun.

Rui (Digger) & Kaito (Max)

Kotone (Digger) & Moeka (Max)

Damian Gowland

Lights, cameras, English!

It’s always great experimenting to find new ways of teaching in our classrooms and engaging our students while doing so. However, it is sometimes the simplest activities that can produce masterpieces brimming with the student’s enthusiasm, passion and creativity. In this instance it is the tried and tested role play. Role playing is a fantastic way to the students to have their own input and use their imagination whilst reinforcing the language that they have encountered in the classroom. The student’s visions and ideas never cease to amaze me when they are given the freedom to experiment themselves. It’s as if you’re watching a group of young Steven Spielbergs going to work, just without all the fancy equipment and dinosaurs running around!

All of the books we use for young learners at Luna incorporate either a story or conversation, which allows the students to build on their communication skills by role play as well as having tons of fun doing so! The students love utilizing props and incorporating their own actions and stage directions to give their own unique creative spin to their work.

Here you can see some of my students acting out the roles of Max, Digger and Pat from a story from English Time 2 (written by Susan Rivers and Setsuko Toyama). No signs of stage freight here! I just hope my students won’t forget me when they make it to the big screens as the next Morgan Freeman or Kate Winslet. Perhaps not as they may feel let down by my shoddy camera skills.

Damian Gowland

The boys talk about illnesses

My perennially 'noisy' boys are always up for something different; today we had a go at creating a VoiceThread project, talking about illnesses (unit 10 of our textbook English Time 2 - I hope Setsuko & OUP can cope with the image used?)

They had fun trying to take each others' pictures, then trying to put each other off when it was their turn/asking the harder questions (involving pronouncing 'stomachache'). First effort with this technology which looks very easy to use & obviously a lot of applications for our various classrooms, collaborating on projects & sharing comments. Check it out; comments welcome!

http://voicethread.com/share/1065401/

Tokyo bookfair/Expo

An annual event that I strongly encourage our teachers to attend. We can join in workshops where authors develop ideas for using their books & materials; we can pick up new ideas for teaching different areas such as phonetics; we can find out about new trends and technology; we can discuss teaching philosophies with our peers; we can meet the publishers and see what is new on the shelf.

And quite a lot more. I have a lot of friends working in the profession - as authors, salespeople, teacher-trainers, etc - and the bookfair is a good excuse to socialise as well, network a bit, and make sure everyone knows Luna International is going strong. It strikes me as odd that other schools do not take advantage of this weekend, because even though I've been going regularly for the last 15 years, there's always something new to pick up.

This year my staff & I attended the following presentations:

• Magical keys to the world of the Oxford Reading Tree (Setsuko Toyama). Setsuko has presented at Luna in the past, and will be coming back in 2008. Luna uses the Story Tree series of readers, which are better for students. Have a look at the display in the school?
• Teaching reading to Children (Jason Good).
  
• Task-based learning and authentic news reports (Daniel Ferreira).
• Tips for teaching JHS/HS with 'My First Passport' (Jon Robinson)
• What students really need for the TOEIC (Grant Trew). Grant presented at Luna early this year, and is a source of excellent exam-taking skills... doesn't have to be TOEIC!
• Three worlds unite - using literature in the EFL classroom (Michael Stout). Several good ideas to connect readers with the 'real' world.
• What else can you do with stories? (Tomomi Katsuki).
• Fun supplementary activities for kids classroom (Hugh Graham-Marr)
• Thinking beyond the story - exploring graded readers (Richard Attwood)
• Developing confidence in early readers (Patrick Jackson). This the inspiring author of Potato Pals (new link on the right), who is a very good presenter & also coming to Luna in 2008.
  

Jim also went to a meeting of school owners, where a few interesting things were discussed - including the death of NOVA of course! We did of course have a couple of pints with old friends in the pub as well, where all the best business is done anyway. We met Trevor Jones, the owner of King's Road English School in Akasaka - venue for KET & PET exams in a couple of weeks.

All in all a very good weekend; think you'll agree Luna's teachers try harder than most.

Technorati Tags:potato pals, setsuko toyama, tokyo english language bookfair, tokyo etj expo
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With extra bits!

I went to Tokyo last weekend, for a bookfair. Sounds dull? It does, doesn't it! Over the years, the Tokyo English Language bookfair has produced some of the most incredible urban myths (I'll post a collection one day!). However, the most important thing for me, with my school owner's "hat on", is that I re-establish links with authors and publishers and introduce my staff to authors, publishers & colleagues/peers.

Luna is a small school. No debate there. But you really should see the response our staff get when they give a Luna International business card to people at an event like this! It's like Moses at the Red Sea. Doors open, eyes widen, "ah, Jim. Just a moment, I'll get my boss." It's great! And it makes my teachers feel really important - and makes them feel good about joining my staff. A Luna International business card is like a Gold American Express card!

In the 18 years I have been teaching here, I have been attending conferences/workshops/meetings/training events/bookfairs all over the country. Luna International's teachers have been attending the same events since the school started, which means that our teachers are at the forefront of new developments in English teaching - they meet the authors and get to talk about "teaching stuff", they are asked to test new material for the next generation of books (as we have been in the past - we piloted material for English Time and Potato Pals for instance ...check out the links which are now extremely active. Click on one!)

Anyway, news soon about the bookfair, who we met, what we learned etc., as well as a few new links. Meantime, I just want to ask if you like the new 'functionality' I've been able to add to the blog. Do you like the new bits (widgits, technically)? I think I'll add a poll (questionnaire) next week.

Is there anything else we should think about adding? Incidentally, some students cannot post from work (firewall/security issues) - so please email me from your home email address so I can then invite you again. Remember, this is still a closed group.

For now, any bets on when we get visitor number 1,000?

Technorati Tags:english time, etj, kevin churchley, oup, patrick jackson, paul riley, setsuko toyama, teaching english, tel, tokyo
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