Holiday brain food

I came across this interesting article in the Guardian today and thought my keen students would be interested in checking out some new vocabulary. Follow this link to find out what snollygoster means.

Then there's the challenge to remember what happened in 2009! Try this.
Too hard/too easy? Try an interactive quiz from the BBC.

OK, so you think you know a few things about sport? Beat my score (12) if you can, here.

Remember, you are supposed to be cleaning the house or tidying something up, so this is called 'doing your English homework' - you need a cup of tea or coffee to help you concentrate...Enjoy!

Grown ups' Christmas party at Luna

Barely time to catch our breath after the children's party this afternoon, before we welcomed our bigger friends and students to the school for our end-of-year/Christmas party. Last year's BYO format was really successful, so why change a winning format?!

It never ceases to amaze me that in Japan, "start at 7pm" means you can expect everyone to arrive at 7pm on the dot...and so they did tonight. A lot of familiar faces, some bravely coming for the first time and making new friends. Eleanor stole a few hearts, and Jim went quiet for the first time all day.

Unlike last year, we put on a couple of events which got people working together less self-consciously. Tana's quiz was hard - "What do Turkmenistani people do at Xmas?". The winning team scored about 40% - and this was multiple choice!

The "Who am I" activity worked well - Taro Aso won. However, some very long faces due to the fact that Bugs Bunny was apparently a woman, Nelson Mandela and Winnie the Pooh American. Jun didn't know too much about reggae, and Ineko couldn't remember John Lennon's name. Oh well!

Frank Sinatra also featured, as we broke into some unusual karaoke to the tune "I love New York in June". Two teams had to organise the lyrics first, then put a dance together and sing along. Hilarious efforts from both teams and a lot of fun, before attention returned to finishing off the buffet.

Lots of happy faces, new friends made, promises to come and party some more with us in 2009. Wishing everyone a super Christmas - few more classes yet before we can relax properly though!

Cheers!