Up your YLE teaching game with Luna JP004

April 26th, Nagano, and it's free

Day-long PD session to train experienced and qualified teachers to be become Speaking Examiners (SEs). This workshop will cover the speaking tests for all three Cambridge Assessment English YLE (Young Learners) examinations for children – Starters (pre-A1), Movers (A1) & Flyers (A2). 

The aims of the training session are: to make trainee examiners aware of the general responsibilities of a Cambridge Assessment English SE, likely problems/issues that may arise and how to manage them effectively; to familiarise trainee examiners with the procedure of the three YLE Speaking tests; to give trainee examiners the opportunity to conduct practice Speaking tests; to standardise the assessment of YLE candidates: ensuring familiarity with Cambridge Assessment English criteria, with standards set by standardisation videos, and making sure SEs are able to carry out accurate assessments in accordance with these.

Must have valid visa to work in Japan
Degree &/or teaching qual + recent, relevant FT experience taching English to YLs.

Contact Jim oyajim@gmail.com for application form, details & queeries - all curious YL teachers welcome!

Professional Development in Nagano with Luna International

April 25th, Nagano city - free (Ts & Cs apply).

Day-long PD session to train experienced and qualified teachers to be become Speaking Examiners (SEs). This workshop will cover the speaking tests for the A2:Key and B1:Preliminary, of Cambridge Assessment English examinations for adults.



The aims of the training session are: to make trainee examiners aware of the general responsibilities of a Cambridge Assessment English SE, likely problems/issues that may arise and how to manage them effectively; to familiarise trainee examiners with the procedure of the A2:Key and B1:Preliminary Speaking tests; to give trainee examiners the opportunity to conduct practice Speaking tests; to standardise the assessment of A2:Key and B1:Preliminary candidates: ensuring familiarity with Cambridge Assessment English criteria, with standards set by standardisation videos, and making sure SEs are able to carry out accurate assessments in accordance with these; to give trainee examiners the opportunity to discuss and ask questions about all aspects of the above.

Need a degree &/or teaching qual + recent, relevant FT experience. Must have visa (to work in Japan).

Contact Jim oyajim@gmail.com for an application form & further details/requirements. All enquiries welcome.

Cambridge YLE Exams at Luna International

While Jim's away.... there's lots of hard work to be done!

Congratulations to all the students who took part in today's exams. I'm sure you all did very well - at least, it looked that way from all the studious scribbling that was going on.

Yuki, our Centre Manager, did a sterling job of all the official stuff, while Shizue and I took care of the Speaking Exams.

As I'm sure our students will agree, Learning and Exams are FUN! Especially at Luna!

Until next time,
Tana

Osaka Extensive Reading SIG

Over the last few weeks I have been visiting a number of teaching events and conferences up and down the country, meeting a lot of enthusiastic and knowledgeable people in the English language industry.

As I mentioned before here, I presented at the Hokkaido JALT conference in May. Last month I made it to three events. First, I attended a mini-conference in Niigata, where I was able to put on a display of materials for the examinations we promote and organise up & down the country. The disappointment of the day was listening to a famous professor announcing that his university was designing a new entrance test...not because I want people like that to see the value of Cambridge ESOL examinations, but because of the utter meaninglessness of moving the goalposts again. Schools and jukus etc will only teach to the test, not English to a better standard for the benefit of language learning and acquisition. Groan from me.

Shinshu JALT's meeting in Matsumoto I have previously posted on.

This weekend I was in Osaka holding down a table again, displaying Cambridge ESOL material as well as some support publications from Cambridge University Press - thank you John Letcher for your help. There I met a fellow Centre owner Malcolm and spent the day talking with teachers from the Kinki region, catching up with publisher reps, and seeing a very good presentation from the guru of extensive reading Rob Waring. The man talks an awful lot of sense and is inspirationally keen on extensive/graded reading.

I did not enjoy trying to negotiate the public transport system in Osaka; Umeda station was built by rabbits from Watership Down, it's a warren down there! A very good day out, if a little far. Highlight of the trip = seeing the British Lions win on Saturday night (even if there was a noisy cover band playing non-stop!). Low point? Kicking over my celebratory can of beer on the Shinkansen :(

Matsusho High School - a day in the life

I usually get up at seven o'clock in the morning, and I leave home at eight fifteen. I have to wear a uniform, which I like. The lessons start at eight fifty, and I have a break at ten o'clock

I have lunch at school between twelve o'clock and twelve forty. I usually eat onigiri (a rice ball) and talk with my friends about TV.

I have science lessons three times a week, but I don't like it because it isn't interesting. My favorite lesson is PE, which I have on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. I am good at tennis.

The lessons finish at three thirty, and I go home by bicycle. It takes about twenty minutes. After school I do homework for two hours. I hardly ever use a computer. I have some important exams next month and in April.

Cambridge Young Learners Exams at Luna

Luna International was proud to host the Cambridge YLE exams at the weekend. Candidates came from in and and around Matsumoto, and some came from as far as Nagoya to take part!!

I hope that the candidates all enjoyed the day, and we'll have our fingers crossed for their results!

Many thanks to the external examiners, and of course the staff at Luna, who helped make the day a success, and without whom the day would not have been possible.

Luna firsts - Niigata & Tokyo

Today Luna International added two new 'venues' for Cambridge ESOL exams under our status as a Centre (Japan's most active).

Alan Morrison owns an English school called Sunshine, in Ojiya-shi, Niigata-ken; Trevor Joseph owns King's Road English School in Akasaka, Tokyo. Neither school has previously held Cambridge ESOL exams before, and naturally both Alan & Trevor were nervous about 'getting it right'. I am delighted to say that both ran really well-organised sessions, under a lot of pressure, and that all candidates today were able to sit their exams in professional & proper circumstances. Well done Alan & Trevor - you both earned a cold beer this evening, and put your schools on the map. Both Alan & Trevor should be very proud of themselves/their schools & students.

Both Sunshine & King's Road deserve a big thank you from me. In Niigata, we need to thank Ayako for her help ushering & Mark Brierley for giving up his day & a long trip from Matsumoto to invigilate & examine. In Akasaka, thanks due to Martin Nuttall for helping make sure the sessionwent smoothly, and to Malcolm Prentice/David Munn for examining a lot of candidates in cramped conditions & under time pressure.

Altogether, 20 candidates took K.E.T. today, and 26 took P.E.T. A lot of candidates came from the two schools hosting the exams today, but also a lot of private candidates from far and wide; high school & university students, housewives, engineers & business people alike sat side-by-side.

Results will be available online within 4 weeks, and candidates will receive their certificates mid-January. I am really excited with today's session for Luna too - first time we have run multiple venues for Lower Main Suite exams. Altogether a very good day!

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1,500km

On Saturday (June 9th) I travelled all the way to Aomori & back, to examine some children. Jon Adams also made the trip, as we were due to OE KET as well as YLE. I was very glad for the company, as it was a looooong day of fast trains & platform-dashes. Think this doubled my shinkansen experience!

I left home before 5 to pick up Jon, then drove over to Ueda as dawn broke, to catch the first train to Omiya. From there, we whistled north through Sendai to Hachinohe at breakneck speed, before slowing down on the limited express to Misawa. Neither of us are still sure where we were exactly, because it was foggy. We could hear jets landing & taking off from the nearby US airbase, and we quickly learned that the first Trans-Pacific flight took off from here (the beach, as a matter of fact) to land near Seattle in the US. 1931 sound right?

We were met off the train by Sophie, who despite being French had the most lovely Middlesex accent! Speaking to Europeans - haven't done that for years! Next we were introduced to the staff at the school, and nobody was sure which language to use. They all realised my French was even worse than my Japanese, so everyone gallantly engaged us in English. Thank you beaucoups!

The children themselves were sweet, and in their way quite different to Japanese candidates that I'm used to examining. You kind of get used to the same answers for certain questions, so today was the unexpected ones (eg not "fish & miso" for breakfast). French accents, French words instead of English ones, French shrugs instead of Japanese head-tilting, fair hair & blue/grey/green eyes. All very different, and very rewarding.

And too soon back to the station & a zoom back across half of Japan. We wanted to get to know Sophie, and hear about her adventures in Greece. We wanted to know about Yann's multi-cultural background - Brazil, Gabon, Mauritius etc, and his martial arts. Really interesting people, but we couldn't hang around...and we'll not meet them again because the school is closing. We finally figured out why there was a French community there - the nuclear reprocessing plant is a French design.

A Grand Day Out, as Wallace & Gromitt would agree. Bon voyage mes amies!