Bus man's holiday

I have tried to make it to the annual Tokyo bookfair (TEL) as regularly as possible for the last sixteen years or so. I was struck this year by the very low number of participants, and the absence of several publishers. This event used to be unmissable; I worry it may no longer be so. There are a number of other healthy mini- conferences eg Niigata, Nakasendo, Pan-SIG (in Matsumoto, May 2011) that might supplant this calendar staple.

I was unimpressed with the first presentation I went to about "Expansive Reading": I can read, so having someone read their own (dull) PowerPoint made me reconsider the wisdom of waking so early to catch the first Azusa to Shinjuku. Reading is a favourite topic of mine and something I wish our own students did more of...the Black Cat Readers look attractive but promoted like this I doubt they'll find much room on our shelves. Useful teacher resources at www.blackcat-cideb.com

Nothing to see here - Lexxica for Kids

I was equally annoyed that the next presentation I went to see was mis-titled "introducing the Kids Word Engine!" because Guy Cihi patently did not. It has not been made, nor was there anything even beta to see previewed. Clearly very keen on himself and his financial success, I was cross that this chap had no grasp of delivering phonics. Go have a look at some great iPhone apps? Basing his next money-maker on Smart Phonics is flawed as the book is unsound; the book while introducing good sensible phonics practice uses the same font 'a' as here for instructions to learners...who don't recognize it. Also, 'practice' will involve learners having to translate (& therefor be able to read) hiragana. That, for me, is not language acquisition. Now, if you were using images...I saw Charles Browne present at the first ECAP conference in Tokyo and know Lexxica is a very good product for certain aspects of targeted learning, especially exam preparation (but not for my beloved ESOL ones!). Last comment I have is that this kind of technology has to migrate to smart phones pdq.

Two Oberlin University teachers held a very good workshop on podcasting in the classroom. Sensible, practical & jargon-free demonstration of how easily this can be done. I am not a computer techie or anorak myself, but have managed to produce our own school podcast (on Podbead & found on iTunes). Reassuringly, David Brewster & Hans von Dietze had to cope with unfamiliar equipment! After explaining the how (I want to check out "audacity" for editing, especially if it comes with jingles etc) the audience was challenged to record group answers to a simple question - the content (you have students brainstorm & plan before this stage of course). Within 20 mins this was done, edited on the hoof, uploaded & published. Think you'll find it as 'teachers' at www.podspress.com A very worthwhile 45 minutes, inspiring me to make our students do more of this (exploit our graded readers more, I think).

Rob Waring is the man-mountain of Extensive Reading. I have heard him make sense many times before and am always impressed with his calm authority of his mantra - and totally agree that learners have to read to make progress (but they have to want to. Teacher can't read the books for you!) New titles in "Foundations", "Pageturners" & "Footprint" series - I love these non-fiction titles Cengage have come out with National Geographical. These are standalone + CD or backed up with related DVD material. Best of all, these titles are all supported on ER Moodle. The 4th Extensive Reading Seminar will be in Okayama Feb 13th; Rob Waring will be a featured speaker at Pan-SIG.

@mickstout presents Whodunit

Michael Stout (@mickstout) is the inspiration behind this blog; his presentation at TEL three years ago was a "Eureka" moment for me. I rely on his presentations for new ideas and angles into old media with Web 2.0 approaches. At last somebody showed me the much acclaimed "Whodunit" which is going straight into action with one of my adult classes asap. Will try to incorporate smart.fm & mindmeister as suggested; think there is a role for quizlet perhaps, and certainly Edmodo, timetoast.

ELTNEWS.com ran a very good Charity quiz, Russell Willis in sparkling form keeping team-members onside & audience involved. ¥50,000 went to charity & an iPad prize drew a good crowd.

I was more than happy at stumps; saw some good stuff and caught up with the usual suspects. OUP are peerless, but I want to know more about Colin & the librarians. Likewise, Koichi needs to explain the source of his KitKats. Last time I saw those distributed at TEL (Ikebukuru) an urban myth was born. And no tequila tonight - safely on the train home!

Tokyo Bookfair & Bledisloe Cup

Last weekend I spent in Tokyo at the annual Tokyo EFL bookfair/English Teachers in Japan jamboree. I try to go every year, to dig up new ideas and remember old ones, figure out what the next big thing in teaching will be etc. It is also a good opportunity to meet old friends in the industry - teachers as well as publishers - and to catch up over a few beers on the Saturday evening.

Delightfully, somebody organised the Bledisloe Cup to coincide at the National Stadium...and along a good sized group of us went, finding a row of seats up at the back of the stand. No problem except we couldn't see the screen/scoreboard for replays, score updates etc; neither did the beer dollies manage to make it far enough up the stand with any supplies for our thirsty mob. Some parts of the ground apparently ran out altogether. Bad planning again, JRFU. Why do they insist on selling canned beer, openning each one and pouring it it a cup? Think this is why draft beer was invented...

Anyway, good game, and as will be with this weekend v England, Australia outclassed. We lost a few stragglers on the way to Shinjuku, picked up a few others including one of my old students at Waseda now. A fairly bizarre night as it was also Hallowe'en!

The presentations over the weekend proved valuable for me; these days I orientate towards the more technical ones as I have seen enough happy clappy ones to last me a while. One in particular on using Google documents more effectively made the trip worthwhile.

Professional development - Luna leads

For the last 15 years or so I have made an annual trip down to Tokyo to take part in the Tokyo English Language (TEL) bookfair, which these days is run with English Teachers Japan (ETJ).

The event is sponsored by the major publishers as well, and as such is a good opportunity to see what new materials are available. A lot of authors are there to present their new books, and other experienced educators, teachers, material developers are there to demonstrate new ideas and old, explain the obvious and suggest new ways to skin a cat. I always find something useful to bring back to my school, and am delighted to report that so did Tana. Again. I am very pleased that our staff as in the past make the extra effort to develop their professional skills and are prepared to travel, join in, and take their jobs seriously.

Luna's teachers are always well looked after by the publishers, and we are grateful for their continuing support. Cambridge University Press were delighted to see how much use of their readers is on show here (as they should be - there's a lot of quality work being done by you)! Our friends at Oxford University Press are lending us premises to hold FCE exams next week, and we are looking forward to doing more with McGraw-Hill.

This year I let Tana be the genki one, and she found herself on stage rather a lot. She brings this energy to class, as you can imagine. I went to see a few technical presentations, including one by Mr Stout, whose presentation two years ago prompted me to get this blog going properly. Again, he showed a bunch of very handy ideas that I hope to bring into our school's orbit. Please visit his blog? A couple of other presentations fell in to the "me, me, and more about me" category which really annoy me, me, and me; I want practical stuff not 45 minutes of self-inflating rubbish.

Anyway, if Tana & I look tired today, bear with us. A weekend in Tokyo working takes a little getting over!

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?

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