Saori writes from her study abroad in England

 

Bath - World Heritage Site

Dear Mr. & Mrs. George

Hi Jim & Yukari, greetings from London

Time flies, already three months have passed since I arrived in the U.K.!! I've just finished taking lesson in Bath. I had been staying with my host mother for six weeks. She was very generous ...so I was lucky.

I could make a lot of foreign friends. And I could know different culture. I've already had many good experiences.

Besides, I went on a trip. For example, Oxford, Cardiff, Cotswolds, Weymouth, Bristol and Cheddar Gorge. In October, I'm going to Venice to meet my friend again. She was my flatmate.

I think that living in England is a great experience to improve my English skill. I feel my English has improved more than before. I'm going to another language school in Winchester on 4th of September. I'll do my best!! I'd like to show my growth by next meeting. Next time (when I come back to Japan), let's talk about what's going on recently.

I'm looking forward to seeing you again.

Best regards,

Saori

Postcard from...Bulli, New South Wales (Australia).

Hi everyone,

Mrs. Turner's wonderful class

Maybe you noticed that Eleanor has not been around lately? Actually, she has spent a whole school term at a primary school near Sydney, with her cousin Joe. She has been 'home staying' with her four cousins, and her Aussie aunt & uncle (except they're both English!).

I took an extra day away from Luna (June 29) to arrive early, and surprise my little girl...we had a wonderful reunion at her bus stop, coming home from school. I got to meet her classmates - they had a lovely goodbye party for her on their last day of term. A very cheerful & chatty bunch of bright faces, shepherded by Mrs. Turner, who has been her teacher and overseen quite a transformation!

Last soccer practice with coach Mark

Before flying back, we had a big family reunion (my mum, my cousins and all their children - 19 of us in a local pizza restaurant) and time for a weekend of sport. Eleanor played her last football match for Woonoona and had to say good bye to her very best "bestie", and shared the goalkeeping gloves with cousin Joe. Lovely buzz around the mixed team, even though they were well-beaten. I went to support cousin Louis play rugby union in a floodlit U15 game, and Uncle Mike play in a 'seniors' league fixture (football) - very good standard & very fit. Memo to self....

Fish 'n' chips in Shellharbour

Long walks on the beach, fish & chips, family dinners - all squeezed into an extended weekend. Delighted to have my girl back; an amazing episode in all our lives. Homestay in 2017, anyone?

After reading Double Trouble...creative writing

 Write about a home-stay visit you have made.

When I was 17 years old, I went to Salt Lake City in U.S. and had a home-stay at there for a week.

It was my first time to go abroad. This home-stay program was planned by Matsumoto city and arranged by JTB. Matsumoto city is the sister-city relationship with Salt Lake City of Utah, and there is a home-stay program every year.

I stayed a small family together with another participant. They are a family of three. Father was a professor of Utah University. Mother stayed at home, their daughter was primary school student. They were believers in Mormonism as the city is very famous for Mormonism.

As my English level was not so high, I often talked with the daughter and play with her friends in the yard. Host mother and father had a barbeque party in the yard and we enjoyed the dinner. I had a lot of activities like river trip, attend the parade, and study English at University together with the groups who attend the program.

It was very amazing experience and all things were new and interesting to me!






Posted for Reiko

I'm sorry, I haven't got a clue

World Peace Flag of the Universal Peace Congress. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I was recently asked to be a judge in a speaking contest, and I grudgingly went along. I have done this before, about 20 years ago, and have managed to avoid doing it again ever since. I was expecting to be droned to death with pre forma banalaties about 'world peace', 'my neighbourhood' or 'my hero'.

Pleasantly surprised - no speeches.

My mission was to conduct a short interview in English. No parameters given. No hints about what to be looking for or what kind of level I should be aiming at. We had been faxed (too much) personal data, which was also in the hands of the other six (male, fossilised) judges. So we knew which schools they attended (and therefore teachers, pals, siblings), as well as their home addresses etc. Fair?

The high schoolers were vying for the chance to do a homestay overseas. They had submitted a piece of writing (in Japanese) and were asked some really banal (and irrelevant/unfair) questions (again, in Japanese) such as "Do you have allergies?" which produced the kind of mundane answers you'd expect from nervous teens in the hot seat. Presumably, if you do have an allergy, you disqualify yourself? What about a wheelchair...

I  asked questions (in English) relating to their experiences (from their bios) and from their submissions (neither of which were in English), starting with something familiar they ought to be able to manage, and getting a bit harder if I thought they could manage. I wanted to get the teens to give us a flavour of themselves, and the opportunity to express themselves less rigidly. Varying degrees of success eg the eventual winner did not have a clue about her supposed heroine, nor the runner-up have any thought about what to say if she met someone famous (beyond "Hello"), but both had a speech memorised about 'my town'.

When each of the contestants had had their turn, there was a totting up of scores - only I was asked what mine were, and then asked to justify them. Apparently, my scores were wrong. No matter guys, ignore me by all means. Much more important that they sat up straight and will not have a reaction to the neighbour's cat?

World Peace Gong (Photo credit: Rolling Okie)

My clear winner came all but last, and her clear lifelong ambition of studying in whichever country she had chosen shot down...the panel's winner, farsically, could not be the winner because she was too young to get a visa to study in the country she had chosen (which was on the form, methinks?)...so the really dreary, politically correct one got the golden ticket. No doubt a very enjoyable trip it will be - but I'd send the one with a bit of personality and chops, wouldn't you, dear reader?. Obviously, I cannot be counted on to apply the proper criteria, even 20 years + since my last speech contest!

Analogue Story Generator - a dice & a homestay visitor

This is a fun activity which worked very nicely in class with my returnee brothers and their English homestay guest in a one hour class last week.

I was expecting them to not be in the mood for a regular class, prepping for FCE, and also that our native-speaking guest would probably have a lot of raw language I could use more creatively...

Column 1: Superhero - think of silly name for the six rows, brainstorming eg people we know & admire, sports stars, anything silly...
Column 2: Villain - maybe a baddy we don't like from school or the news...
Column 3: Location - somewhere local, or a place we like or want to visit...
Column 4: An object - a favourite toy or super-power delivering tool...
Column 5: Main event - more dramatic/mundane the better...
Column 6: Ending - obvious? Challenged mine to come up with a sticky end, a twist, comic book, science fiction, sporty & surprising finishes.

Materials = piece of paper with 6 rows x 6 columns, and a dice. Pencils would be handy!

The brain storming actually took quite a while as I needed to filter suggestions a bit so we would end up with an interesting variety of outcomes (and publishable ones!).

Selection phase = students throw the dice in turn to choose a superhero from column one. Repeat for the other 5 columns: each student now has a very eclectic set of characters & bizarre storyline to concoct!

Embellishing = decide on a cast list for the main characters (Mum featured as did the teacher), a narrator, supporting cast, a title.

Homework - write a summary of the plot (rough draft). Aim = second draft with more detail, structure/organisation, Hollywood moment etc!

Immediate feedback = very entertaining interaction & entertaining suggestions - only told them the 'story' aim after we'd brainstormed all the 36 components (otherwise the'd have been filtering their own ideas - as it was they guessed they were going to make a story - but a horizontal one eg all #4s - and had tried to make things 'fit')

This activity would never work with my usual junior high school/high school crowd; it did work splendidly with noisy, energetic, imaginative, competitive teens. One-upmanship added a lot to the storyboard, and I for once was not 'the expert' - all I had to do was pass the dice around...and moderate the input!

Super Saya celebrates

Bad news for all the boys in Matsumoto - one of the most eligible girls in town is off to the bright lights of Tokyo....and how?!

Sayaka will be studying as Waseda University when term starts next spring! How cool is that? I am personally over the moon for her, as a lifelong fan and sometimes her teacher, totally thrilled. Obviously Saya is rather happy with her news too, and deserves a great big hug for all the hard work that she has done to get in.

This is the same girl that:

• hid behind her mum's leg for the first six months of our classes
• cried all the way to New Zealand, on our homestay trip
• escaped high school here & spent two years in Canada
• just took FCE
• is going to be very succesful

xxx well done girl!

Sayaka returns - Canada's loss!

New podcast episode - Sayaka tells us about her Canadian high school & homestay

Sayaka joined my class when she was about three - she has just come back from High School in Canada. She changed a bit! Today, I got a little revenge back, asking her to help out with our current crop of nearly threes in pre-school. Into the bargain I grabbed fifteen minutes to ask about her experience living & studying in British Columbia over the last two years, while Tana held the fort (making bugs!)

I have always had a big soft spot for Saya-chan; I think you can hear the personality and warmth of the girl very easily in this podcast? She obviously enjoyed herself very much in Canada - I am sure ever so much more than she would have done through the drudgery of the local high school she attended her in town (I qualify to have an opinion - taught there!). She might not have been in school so much, but she sure learned an awful lot more about life & relationships, the world she is a citizen of.

 

Please listen to what she has to say* - she answers Patrick's question from Dublin, by the way - and please leave any comments below.

And pre-school? They loved her!

(*Podcast player now lives on the "Easy Listening" page - see tab at the top)

FAQs - High School & homestay in Canada

What would YOU like to know about living in studying in Canada, as an overseas student? Thinking about sending your kids?

Now is your chance to find out - leave your question(s) as comments to this posting.

One of our ex-students is popping in to Luna on Friday to 'say hello' - she has just come back to Matsumoto after spending two tears in British Colombia, graduating high school last month. I will be interviewing her for a podcast, and will put your questions to her. Podcast will be published over the weekend - subscribe on the Easy Listening page (tab above) so you don't miss it!

I love it when our extended family come back as all grown-up friends!

Canadian homestay - Sayaka defrosts

Hi, Jim!!

This is sayaka. how are you doing? I'm sorry I haven't sent you an email since i came to Canada

Finally, it started getting warmer recently in Salmo. it was soooooooooo cold in Salmo this winter!! And we had way too much snow I was so excited about snow at first, but I dont want it anymore :( You seem to have had soooo cold winter too!!!I'm so happy cuz i love spring!
have cherry trees bloomed already? I really wanna see them!!

my life in Canada is pretty good - all the members of my host family are sooooooo kind and friendly. I think everyone in this village is very friendly. I've got new friends. I'm enjoying talking with them everyday. I experienced a lot of new things here. I'm having so much fun!!

you'll have a party!?!? ohhhhhh i wanna gooooo!!!
if you take pictures, please send them to me!!! xD

my host sister's is turning to 6 next week. my host brother is 4 years old. i have another host brother whose name is corbin. he is only a year old. they are all sooooooooo cute!!!!!! if i take pictures with all the members of my host family, i'll send them to you!!

hows your life?
I wanna know about members of LUNA too - are they doing ok?

xoxoxo sayaka

Postcard from Auckland, New Zealand