Referendum time – Luna’s voice

Votes are in

The hot topic last week was the Scottish independence referendum, although picking my students’ brains for their thoughts and opinions proved largely fruitless (some were even unaware there was a referendum whilst the rest weren’t really too bothered either way), I did come across this little gem: “I hope Scotland don’t become independent or Scottish whiskey prices will be higher”.

I was in for quite the surprise when I received a phone call from Yukari on Friday morning, just as I was setting off for my midday class at Daiichi High School, requesting if I could prepare an impromptu demo lesson discussing the recent Scottish independence referendum for a slot on the evening news for ABN (Asahi Broadcasting Nagano). I was a little taken back, especially since this gave me a 30 minute window after my midday class to get back to Luna, have lunch and prepare! Despite the unfavourable situation that I found myself in, I decided to give it a shot and make the most of it. It’s not often do you get the opportunity to demonstrate how you operate in your working environment. But I assure you I was in no way calm and collected as I am making myself out to be, to be honest I was terrified at the prospect of conducting a lesson in front of a camera with little to no preparation. What if my students didn't know that Scotland is a country, let alone identify it on a map.

            I motored back to Luna after my class in order to clear my mind so I could set about how I was going to tackle the demo class starting in less than half an hour. However, when I arrived at Luna I was greeted with yet another shocking surprise. The demo lesson plan had fallen through, since we were actually unable to get enough students together at such short notice, so as an alternative ABN wanted to interview English nationals on their opinions of the referendum. Here’s the catch: the whole interview was going to be in Japanese. Definitely not part of the job description when I joined Luna! My head was spinning from just trying to keep up with the day’s antics, I hadn’t even sat down to have my lunch yet. I guess there wasn’t an abundance of potential candidates to choose from either, as they settled on me as an appropriate interviewee. Luckily we also had our friend Mark, who teaches over at Shinshu University, join us for the debate. Thanks for joining us on such short notice Mark!

            I barely had the time to digest the news, and what lunch I could shovel into my mouth, before the crew arrived on set a la Luna. The camera was so big I didn’t think it would fit in my classroom! After brief introductions and usual pleasantries we got straight down to business, the footage was going to be aired in less than 4 hours after all. I was greatly amused by the "voting batons" that had been prepared for us to show whether we were for or against Scottish independence; they were the epitome of Japanese ingenuity and craftsmanship. They had essentially taped on a red circle and blue cross onto plastic tea stirring spoons. They had the last laugh however as me and Mark both had to reluctantly hold up our chosen "baton" for the entirety of the interview, Mark tried to put his down several times but to no avail.

Chewing the fat

            I was a little tense before the interviewing process due to my limited Japanese vocabulary. I thought I would come across as simple and uneducated, which may not be too far from the truth, but I didn’t want people tuning into the news to know that! Having a massive camera sitting right in front of me didn’t help with the nerves either. Once we started though, my fears and worries quickly faded and I quite enjoyed myself. I jokingly mentioned that my biggest relief for Scotland rejecting independence was that we get to keep the Union Jack, as it meant I wouldn’t have to re-teach what the Union Jack represents to all of my students. You wouldn't believe how many people thought the Union Jack was the flag of England.

            But alas the referendum has passed, I had my shot at fame and stardom and the Scots have decided to stay united, for the time being at least. Back to business as usual I suppose. I wonder what old Nessie would have made of Salmond’s plans of an independent Scotland…

Alphabug soup - There's a fly in my soup!

s...s... soup!

I was looking for an open ended vocabulary game to test some of my YLE students when I stumbled upon “Alphabug Soup”, which was tucked away in our vast boardgames cupboard, right next to the gateway to Narnia.

The essence of the game is to get your critters around the board, and back into your soup pot, by naming words that begin with the letter displayed on the letter disks that you pick up after rolling the die. The aim of the game is to collect as many disks as possible, NOT get around the board as quickly as possible. Repeated words are strictly forbidden!

Rather than focusing on a specific vocabulary set, this game provides the students with freedom to choose their own words. I was especially pleased when “Union Jack” was uttered during game play! The game also helps clear up some common mistakes with words beginning with "l" or "r" and "b" or "v". One of my classes was struggling with differentiating between b and d, the competitive aspect of the game soon straightened out those errors.

I’ve also experiment with some variations to the game and upping the difficulty. Instead of only picking up 1 letter disk per turn, players pick up the amount of letter disks as shown on the die face, moving forward 1 space for each correct answer. For hard mode, the number you roll is the number of words you must say beginning with the letter shown on your chosen disk.

“Alphabug Soup” is fun, versatile and basic enough to suit classes of ranging abilities, whilst allowing for a broader range of vocabulary to come into use. The students also don’t seem to mind the collections of critters bobbing away in their soup pots!

Bon Bon 2014 – Let me see your Union Jacks

Ready to start

This year was my first ever experience of the Matsumoto Bon Bon, I don’t even know how to begin describing this immensely monumental occasion. The streets were jam packed with different companies, groups, organizations, schools, clubs, and anything else you could think of, in their various unique uniforms, happis or kimonos. Everywhere was hustling and bustling in preparation for the 3 hour dance marathon, the crowd was buzzing.

Home-made fans

We had a great turnout, with many of our students taking part including their parents and family as well as friends, both new and old. This year we got to show off our own custom fans to use for the Bon Bon, which our students worked very hard to make themselves. We were armed with our very own Union Jack design fans as we paraded the streets of Matsumoto, chanting and dancing, fuelled by the atmosphere of the occasion with the “veterans” of Luna leading the march.

Having never participated in the Bon Bon before, I thought it best to

In full swing

prepare myself and learn the Matsumoto Bon Bon dance. So I took it upon myself to search the dance on YouTube in order to familiarize myself with the steps to avoid cluelessly flailing my arms around when the fun begins. However when 6 o’clock rolled around and the dancing began, it became apparent that I had learnt the wrong dance! D’oh!  For the opening few minutes I was in a complete state of panic, I had no idea where my arms where going or where they were meant to be going. I found myself in the exact circumstance I was trying to avoid. What made the situation worse was the fact that the students were looking to me so they knew what they were supposed to be doing. I tried my best to stay calm and observe the participants around me, attempting to compose myself and fit in with the dancers around me. The initial few minutes were nerve-racking to say the least. Nevertheless, I soon became accustomed to the Bon Bon dance, and as the evening continued I enjoyed myself more and more. It was fantastic fun rallying up our group, I was very fortunate not to lose my voice from all the chanting.

Finishing troopers

A huge thanks goes out to everybody who took part, even those who joined us briefly or part way through, and a huge congratulations to those that made it to the end. An extra thanks to Kento’s granddad, who helped distribute drinks for our young dancers so they could remain refreshed and energized. Also a special mention must go to: Naomi, who without any obligations helped us set up, get organized and lead from the very beginning, Jim, for making sure everyone was safe and enjoying themselves, and more importantly made sure there was never an empty beer cup in sight, and Yukari who was the star of the show as she was responsible for all the behind the scene jobs of organizing such a successful event. I hope even more of you will be able to join us next year, I guarantee it will be another cracker!

Now, who has a spare pair of legs I can borrow for next year?

Photo slideshow for June/July inside lovely new Luna

All of us are very happy to have finally moved premises. Although we lost quite a lot of space and had to rationalise materials (throw away a lot of junk, basically!) it is an absolute pleasure to be able to relax - and not have a miserable git of a landlord sneering constantly.

We have been gearing up to turn Bon Bon red, white & blue this Saturday evening, as you can see...but so much more too! Check out all the happy faces and busy bodies from our classrooms in June/July.



More photos shared at https://www.flickr.com/photos/saint_george/sets/72157645650054759/