The Call of the Wild (by Jack London) - book review

I’d like to introduce " The Call of the Wild", written by Jack London, and write about the person I most liked in this story.

This is a big dog's adventure story. The dog's name is "Buck". Buck had a happy and peaceful life in California until Mr. Miller’s bad and greedy gardener stole him. Buck was sold to people who were hurrying to the north-west of Canada to look for gold.

At this time, Buck's life changed dramatically!! Buck had to work like a horse, pulling people on a sledge every day. In this new life, four sledge owners had Buck. The last owner, Thornton, was a very kind and good person who always took care of Buck. He gave Buck plenty of food and rest. Every night, Buck slept with this man..

One day, Buck heard the call of the wild from the forest near Thornton's house, and he understood the forest was his house. When Buck came back from the forest , he followed Thornton's smell to a deep pool, in a river near their house. He stayed by the pool, walking restlessly. Thornton had been killed by someone. ....Buck went to the forest and got together a wolf team, as a team's boss, after Buck and wolves were biting each other. Buck's dream came true, being the strongest, top wolf.

I recommend this book. It's good for easy reading, and I believe you'll enjoy Buck's adventures.

Thank you ,
Momo

SUPER STAR (by Doug Campbell) - book review

Hi, Friends !

I'd like to introduce " SUPERSTAR" , written by Doug Campbell.

Being a super star is a dream for us once a life. In addition, working in the music business brings a dream to be famous and make lots of money, too. I also believe it must be a very exciting life. Actually, I do not know whether a super star is happy or not.

John tried to escape from his boring life . One day, he met a very good band. Then he offered to manage this band because he was sure that the band would become really successful. After that day,his busy life began. He called many music companies and introduced the band to newspapers and TV.

John's good management brought a lucky opportunity - they had a chance to perform on " Talent Tonight " a TV contest. The final winner could get a key to the entrance of being a super star. However, this lucky break gave them a test at the same time. When the band came on the stage and sang a song, the judge mentioned the bass guitarist should be out for going through to next round. John had to make the decision to throw him out. Th e guitarist said to John, " See you at the top and goodbye". This band was his last chance to be a super star......

I know you want to know who the winner was in the final competition of " Talent Tonight", but I do not want to write down. Please read this book and find the final winner and how to win.

After a few months of TV programs, a person standing next to John looked familiar at the supermarket. It was the guitarist. He was smiling. John did not remember him smiling so much. He looked so happy,too.

He made more money after he joined a professional band and now he played at parties with a DJ. After John and he said their goodbyes, John heard him shouting , " See you at the top !". He was laughing and walked away

Being a super star always does not bring happiness. However, to try being on top with our best is good way to live in a happy life , I thought. What do you think about it ?

See you,
Momo

Book review - T School Basketball Club

Image via Wikipedia

I found this book deeply inspiring as well as very thought-provoking. And it is truly original.

This story is set in Tokyo. It is about a weak school basketball club which changes by experiencing many hardships. The main character whose name is Youichi used to be in a different school and was in the basketball club, but he got bullied by his team mates because he was a very good player. He was extremely hurt and he stopped playing basketball and went to a different. He meets some people from the basketball club and gets invited to join them. At first, he didn’t want to, but in the end he said “okay”, and they cultivate their friendship in this story.

I have no reservations about this book.

In the story it tells you how fabulous it is to have lots of friends and how important it is to have them. I really recommend this story.

Posted for Toshiya

Whodunit - book review

Dear Adam and Marcos

I really liked your story WHODUNIT because I could not guess who the murder was so it was exciting. There were also lots of suspects and variety of characters so it was very interesting. The story was just the right length for me and I also learned difficult vocabulary like frame, attorney, coroner and warrant. The puzzle was tricky so it was fun doing it. The CD gave more information of the crime so it helped me to guess who the murder was.

I think there is nothing I want change about these stories.

I think I did become a better reader by reading this book. I learned lots of new vocabulary and I went back to check. I used my imagination reading the story and I also predicted what would happen next while reading. I always wanted to read more and finish reading because the story was really clever.

I really enjoyed reading this story and I would like to read more by you.

Sincerely,

TK

Flame of Adventure - book report

I actually read this book during my trip to the UK (most of it on the way there because British Airways is rubbish) in July - I haven't posted about it because I lost it on my way back. I don't like losing books (just have a look in our office - our shelves have four times as many English titles as the library does!)

This is a mountaineering/biographical book. The author is Simon Yates. I know he isn't famous here. Which I find amazing, because he and his best friend lived one of those "urban legends". Find out for yourselves - google a bit? His best friend's name was Joe Simpson.

This book actually annoyed me. I understood this man's situation after his trip to South America. I grew up in Sheffield; I even climbed on some of the crags - I doubt my scrabbling efforts up Burbage Edge or Stannage rated much. "V Diff" was my limit.

I found this book annoying, because I got the feeling that no matter how traumatic Simon's experiences were, he made a series of dumb mistakes, and seemed to be a difficult person to be around. Maybe it's just the way he has written about his experiences in Pakistan etc, but I wouldn't enjoy travelling with him - no matter how fabulous the sccenery was!

In contrast, Simpson's books are breath-taking; "Beckoning Silence" in particular rates as one of my favourite all-time books. Flame of Adventure doesn't hold a candle to it.

Graded Readers

One of the ambitions for this blog is that students will gain confidence writing - not just a place for Jim to write about himself :)

One experience over the years has convinced us of the need to encourage students to read more; to read more in terms of quantity, but also variety. It is of course important to read the right kind of material. If it's too hard, of course you give up. If it's too boring, you fall asleep & never finish. If it's not your kind of subject, you don't pick it up. If it's too long, you are too scared to start it!

So we are in the process of encouraging more of our students to get into the habit of reading for fun. Which sounds a bit contradictory doesn't it?! Encourage to have fun? Well, it actually starts by carefully assessing the students' ability & then recommending a level for them to try - nothing too hard, but at the same time nothing too simple or irrelevant to their interests (or work). Involving students in selecting the books is always a good idea - maybe a movie they've seen or an attractive front cover? Whatever!

It's never too late to get into the reading habit - nor too early. Our younger learners also make great progress with readers, developing all kinds of skills (not just English, by the way). Predicting & describing, role playing & personalising...from a language point of view, vocabulary gets recycled & repeated, grammar develops logically & slowly. Spelling & phonics start to make sense, and unknown words don't 'shut down the story' - guessing from context or just not panicking & getting on with it.

Anyway, all good graded readers have a follow up stage, and that's where this blog comes in. Once we've gained a bit of confidence reading and into the habit of picking up another book, reviews/book reports will be the next step. Nothing Times Literary Review or anything - but still an attempt to write coherently & for an audience. Students should peer-review each other's work & post comments. As a class, all students will eventually read the same set of books & post reports on each one.

I look forward to reading some juicy book reports, and I hope you will too.