Seasons & Celebrations

After Reading question 1:

Here are two e-mails about different celebrations.

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Subject: New Year's Eve

Time: 23.30 Date: 31 December

Hello from Edinburgh!

There are thousands of people in the streets. Everyone is singing and dancing. There are a lot of fireworks, too. It's very noisy! In half an hour it will be midnight. Everyone is excited! Nobody will go to work tomorrow - it's a holiday, and all the banks and shops will be closed. Everyone will stay in bed!

Bye! Tam

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Subject: Halloween

Time: 19.45 Date: 31 October

Hi!

I'm staying with a family in New York. The children are having a party tonight. They've dressed as witches and ghosts - they say it keeps the bad spirits away! There are a a lot of decorations in the house, too - they're black and orange. Outside the door there's a strange light. Someone has cut a pumpkin in the side of a face, and they've put a light in it!

See you!

Tania

******************

I went to business trip to Shanghai in the beginning of November. It was a first visit to China. On the final day, I rode a "Shanghai Maglev Train". The line runs from Longyang Road station to Pudong International Airport. It takes 7 minutes and 20 seconds to complete the distance of 30 km. A train can reach the maximum operation speed of 431 km/h!! It was very comfortable.

Postcard from Shanghai, China

Hi Jim,

How are you?

I'm in Shanghai now (I'm participating in an exhibition).
Today is full moon! It is very beautiful

See you next week!

Noriko Y

Gallavanting around

It's been a bit busy last few weekends for me - I think my family are starting to forget what I look like.

About a month ago I was catching up with my old mate Julian from Barnsley. He has just moved back to Osaka & we explored the old part of town with another mate, having a great meal in a famous but local Korean restaurant. Unfortunately, the food poisoning I got wasn't worth it, but anyway, it's been a while since I have been to Osaka - always exciting and vibrant, and quite different to Tokyo.

The weekend after that, I went to the annual JALT (Japan Association of Language Teachers) conference, this year held near Yoyogi Park. The conference is never exactly exciting, but for me it is a great chance to catch up with a lot of people in the same place, and talk "shop". I managed to find some old Cambridge examiners who want to get back into examining, and interviewed a couple of prospective new ones. I went to a few workshops, picked up some new tricks and remembered some old ones, listened to the good & the great. In between, busy networking. Here you can see my mates from OUP - nearest is Koichi who is a Matsumoto boy, working hard! The OUP was party was good fun, and I met a couple of extremely interesting people.

The first weekend in November I flew up to Sapporo to train a bunch of new examiners. this meant taking two days off work at Luna & cancelling classes, which I hate doing - sorry guys. It was one degree above freezing when I arrived, and snowing - I nearly came straight back! I trained a small group of new examiners for YLE on Saturday, then met the main group of existing OEs on Sunday. Training continued then for KET on Sunday afternoon; PET on Monday morning and a big co-ordination for both that afternoon. A very full schedule and no time for souvenir shopping - I nearly missed the plane back (again) as it was. Literally got back home, changed clothes and came to Luna & taught 4 classes straight. Of course, I did manage to find a pub and watch the football on Saturday, with my Kiwi mate Peter & his lovely wife Yoko, who owns a very nice little school in Sapporo. (The very same pub I was in on June 16th 2002, before the England v Argentina game in the World Cup!)

And this last weekend was another away fixture. I stupidly planned a meeting for Sunday before I could actually get there on the first train, so I got the train down on Saturday evening and found myself in Nakano (instead of Shinjuku). Fortunately, I had my subway map with me & got to Akasaka in time to meet Tall Tim for a curry. We then sampled Whychwood & Old Speckled Hen in the Hobgoblin while we watched Liverpool beat Bolton. Training a brand new group of OEs for FCE was a challenge, as I wanted to improve on the style I was shown. With a bit of help we managed to get my PC hooked up to a projector and could save a lot of time/argument while watching candidate samples on DVD. I was also able to show the new online system to the trainees 'live', which made life a lot easier.

So if I haven't been able to check this blog too much lately I apologise - I haven't been 'here' enough. I have also been a bit behind on my inbox - hope you can appreciate why now! The next few weekends? Let's just say I'm only half way through a very busy season!

The Battle of Newton Rord

I read a book "The Battle of Newton Road".

Answer the questions.

a) Do you like this story? Why?

Yes, I like this story. Because I understand the feeling the people of Newton Road.
I think very important my living area and my neighbours too. And I hope not change my living area surroundings.
This story's choice, I think very happy.

Noriko

Postcard from Amsterdam, Holland

Dear Tana,

Hello Tana - I arrived at Amsterdam at last. After 11 hours by airplane from Narita. It's very far away place here from Japan. I saw a loty of beautiful great building near my hotel.

Please have nice days.

T. Minemura

Postcard from Kampong Thom, Cambodia

Dear Jim,

How is the weather in Matsumoto? It is dry season at this moment, here in Kampong Thom, Cambodia.

Today I visited a elementary school which Epson Union contributed to in 2004. I played with students under the burning sun. I'm sure that my weight has lost more than 3kg by sweating.
Needless to say, I have recovered by cold Angkor beer in the evening.

We took dinner with the Cambodian teachers. They can speak English very well.

See you next week, Koa

Koa - and everyone - check out this related blog http://tumnei.wordpress.com/

Remembering (the end of) World War One

As you'll know from previous postings, I feel quite strongly about WWI. If any of you are interested, there are some excellent materials available at these links with interactive maps & video links.

I hope you will follow the breadcrumbs (links) and post your comments here?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7712908.stm has a tour of the major battlegrounds of the Western Front

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7712419.stm gives you an idea of the horrors of battle (Verdun).

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7717419.stm for how the dead are remembered at Ypres.

Stopping it happening again - we have to tell our kids, and their kids... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7714855.stm which I think still does not happen in this country (Japan) where recent history has been airbrushed completely. Result? Blithe ignorance.

• What do British & former colonial countries/western allies do at 11am on November 11th every year?
• Why do you see people wearing red poppies at this time of year?
• What is the Cenotaph?
• click here to find out: http://www.bbc.co.uk/remembrance/how/

The Imperial War Museum is an excellent place to visit - have a look at its photographic exhibit for example - http://www.iwm.org.uk/upload/package/95/collections/photographs/photographs.html

Even on the last day of WWI men were killed. I believe Michael Palin has made a documentary about it which I hope to find & show to our students. Meantime, here are some tragic final fatalities http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7696021.stm

The story of the Unknown Soldier http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/unknown_warrior.shtml there was a great podcast last year about this but I am struggling to find it. Here is a related one http://www.bbchistorymagazine.com/podcast.asp

So, plenty to start you searching. Please add your links from interesting research you find?

Lest we forget. Jim

Postcard from The Drake Hotel, Chicago, USA

Hello,

It's a little colder than Matsumoto, but Chicago is nice place.
I stay with W. Churchill.

I cannot do my homework because I left my text in the office. Very sorry!
See you next time.

Hajime

"The Drake Hotel is located in the heart of the Gold Coast overlooking the Magnificent Mile shopping district & Lake Michigan"

Love in the Lake

"Love in the lake" is complete love story. It's fun and I have finish the book in one sitting.
I've written some paragraphs explaining how Rovert's and Laura's lives change after the end of the story.

The title is "To coexist with tourists"
The area has some problems regarding the tourists who visit at the Lake District and do water sports. Many of them are bad-mannered, for example, litter the lake with garbage, ride a jet-ski with alcohol. However, they spend lots of money in the area. People, who live around the Lake District, want to find a way to get rid of bad-mannered tourist and to coexist peacefully with the other good tourists.
Robert and Laura began activities to solve the problem. Robert vets near the Lake District and he lost his friend in the jet-ski accident. He has been calling for local government to regulate the jet-skiing. Laure is one of the people who was fascinated by peaceful lake and good food in the area. She runs a food shop and café in London, and her shop plays a role of antenna shop of the area of Lake District. Reentry, their patient effort is producing the little effects. The local government has begun steps toward to regulate jet-skiing, and there is an increasing number of people who visit there for natural food, not for jet-skiing. If the activities are successful, it will lead to the revitalization of the other local city or country town.

Information Technology

I thought it's interesting about this topic, before I'm going to read this book.Because, I'm engineer. There were several subjects that I had already known it too.But, there were a lot of subjects that i don't know.

I had interesting section was the Computer History. It is old topic. I am happy that I had gotten to know about history(digit, abacus, big machine( size like room ) and so on.

I understood a lot of issues for the IT changed our lives.Although we think the IT is conveniently technology, we should understand that we had gotten good things and bad things.

I funnily read it.
Yasu

COMMERCE

I read COMMERCE.

This book is written about money and banking, economics.
I didn't have knowledge aobut them. I could learn them.For the first time, I knew that poor countries in Africa was borrowed money from IMF and the World bank. They must pay money for it, so they can't use money for their education and medical. Rich countries try to help them but it is not easy.

This book is very interesting for me.

Luna students' room: Love in the Lakes

Luna students' room: Love in the Lakes

Postcard from Ladar, Croatia (Republic Hrvatska)

Hello, from Croatia!

I am travelling in Croatia. Everything is beautiful in this country!!

I visited some world heritage, like old church which was built in AD800 era. Old town is very interesting for me. I was impressed by fantastic view of Dubrovnik. I see beautiful dream everyday here!

Teruki

Australia and New Zealand

Q3. Read these paragraphs and choose the right answers to make two text, one about the Aborigines and one about Maori.

The Aborigines came to Australia about 40,000 years ago. They lived in houses made from branches, and caught animals and fish. They were good at singing and dancing, and they painted their bodies.
When the British came, many died in fights over land or from diseases. In the twentieth century things changed the Aborigines. They had to live separately from the white people. Now most of them live in cities and towns, and they about 2.4 per cent of the population. One of the best known Aborigines is Cathy Freeman.
There are still many problems, but National Sorry Day has helped to make some things better for the Aborigines.

The Maori came to New Zealand about 1,000 years ago. They lived in houses made from wood, and caught bird and fish. They were good at singing and dancing, and they made beautiful wooden boats.
When the British came, many died in fights over land or from diseases. In the twentieth century things changed the Maori. They began to live more like the white people. Now most of them live in cities and towns, and they about 15 per cent of the population. One of the best known Maori is Dame Kiri Te Kanawa.
There are still many problems, but the Waitangi Tribunal has helped to make some things better for the Maori.

Recycling

I learnt the volume of rubbish, and recycling of countries in the world in this book. And, I was able to know problems of rubbish.

Rubbish at home is divided in my country. However, I wasn't thinking of the meaning. I think that it is also important to do myself though making law by the government is also important. I use things a long time. And, I don't throw away things. I hope for a beautiful environment of earth without problem of rubbish in the future.

After Reading Question 3: "Add two more things you think will be true in the year, and say why you think this."

1 .　I think all things will recycle. All countries won't use landfill site of rubbish.
2.　A lot of wastes thrown away will be removed. And, the earth will return to beautiful environment.

*There are my hopes. To be true, all people should be doing.

eiji

Postcard from Paris, France

Yumiko gave me a postcard from her business trip to Paris - it even had a stamp on it, but she didn't have time to write me a message. I thought today would be a good day to show a picture of the Arc de triomphe de l'Etoile...it is Armistice Day being the eleventh day of the eleventh month.

Although it was built between 1806-1836, I always associate the Arc de Triomphe with the end of the First World War (11/11/1918 - exactly 90 years ago). A day to relect on the pointlessness of war. Please check Harry's War (in the margin on the left) to see if Harry Lamin survived WWI.

Yumiko says she didn't enjoy Paris! Maybe she can tell us why?!

Love in the Lakes

I try to write a newspaper report about Chiara's death.

Police search for the jet skier who run away after hitting a girl.

In the evening yesterday, at Lake District, an Italian girl who had been swimming at the lake was run over and killed by a jet ski. She was killed on the spot. Killed in the accident was 19-year-old Ms. Chiara Rosa, a student of the faculty of medicine in the University of Milan. She had visited the Lake District on vacation. Investigator said that the jet skier seemed to be drunk.

DOUBLE CROSS

(Q3) Write Monika's diary for August 9th.

Today I had a good thing and a bad thing.Today was the third day of the Stockholm Water Festival.There was a flying show. I looked forward to this show from last year.I trained very hard everyday. I was chosen for main demonstration of acrobatic flying.I flew today. The crowd watched me and waved me. Acrobatic flying was big success. I was happy and happy.However, after flying, I had a very bad thing.When I was walking near the City Hall, young man talked to me.He was wearing T-shirt which said 'MAD ABOUT FOOTBALL!'.I tried to run away from him. He followed me for a long time.Then he touched me. Next I pushed and kicked him into the river.It was a worst thing for me today.

A Picture to Remember

Q.2 Which museums or art galleries have you visited?
Are there any pictures that you remember very well? Why?

I visited Anker exhibition in this May. It was held at Matsumoto city museum.
Albert Anker(1831-1910)was born in Ins of Switzerland.
He is not known well in Japan though, he is popular in Switzerland.
His painting is really realistic. I was especially impressed by the painting of grandfather and two grandchildren. I thought that the painting people are look like real human when I saw it.
I hope to see it again someday.

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.

Bonfire Night

As you can see from this screen-shot, your contributions to Luna's blog have attracted an outstanding worldwide readership. To all our anonymous readers out there, thank you for your interest in our work. Your comments are welcome, as we'd love to know 'how we are doing'.

Keep it up bloggonauts - quality just as important as quantity...

The map in the right-hand margin will reset to zero soon - please help fill in our new one!

Jim

Logan's Choice

No1: What have you learnt about Edinburgh from reading Logan's Choice?

There are rich areas and dirtier, poorer areas in Edinburgh.

Leith is in the north of Edinburgh, by the sea. Many years ago Leith was busy. Lots of boats came in and out every day.

These days there were few boats and many of the old buildings were now flats for the young people of Edinburgh.

Princes Street is in the north of Edinburgh Castle. Princes Street is unusual for the main street of a large city. These are shops on only one side of the street. The Princes Street Gardens are on the other side. In the summer the gardens are full of people sitting in the sun.

Posted for Michie

A Matter of Chance

I read “A Matter of Chance”. At first, I thought this book was a love story, but it was an action. When I finished reading the book, I was sad and my mind was in the dark.

Q1; After reading A Matter of Chance, how important do you think change has been in your life?

I think a Chance is very important for every one’s life because a chance could change our life. For instance, people get married because of “A Chance” when and where they met somehow.

Takaaki

The University Murders

I have read two murders stories continuously. These two stories are interesting because the criminals are unexpected persons.

I like mystery, so I have read this book in this three-day weekend. I wonder Billy Marr wasn't necessary in this book. What was his function ? The last scene, it seems like a stretch.

Q5. Imagine you are going to make a film of The University Murders, but it will take place in your country. Which university city would you choose, and why ?

I choose Nara city. I think the city has to have a good nature and good situation to be able to apply the study in the university. On the other hand, the city isn't an urban area and it hasn't so many people in university area. Thus I choose Nara city.

SUPERBIRD

I had finished to read this book. This story is Science Fiction, I felt this story like space odyssey on one woman. I like story like as this. I want to wish for Mary Mount becoming happy and I wish her bad dream is not going to come true.

Q1. Imagine you meet a visitor from another planet. What questions would you like to ask him or her?

How do you think aout our planet? If you are peaceful, how do we are peaceful, too?

Australia and new Zealand

I read a book "Australia and New Zealand". I haven't almost known about both countries, but this book gave a chance to know. The climate of New Zealand is like Hokkaido, but seasons are just opposite of it. I remember a piece of news about twenty years ago that a melon farmer in Yubari, where is famous for its production of good melon, opened his farm in New zealand, then he succeeded too grow melons all of year in Yubari and New Zealand.

The most thing I admire is both Australian and New Zealanders are always looking for new things to do, make, or sell, -their positive thinking and activities. This book tells me geographies, histories, races and so on, of these near located two countries. It is better if I could read a disposition of people in both countries.

Junji

But Was it Murder ?

This book is interesting: A man who had everything - good looks, momey, a beatiful house, a girlfriend was dead. Why ? The reason is the book's title.

We don't live without anybody else. But the other people have their own circumstances.

He was dead, because he was so gentel.

Q2:Do you think "But Was it Murder" is good title ? Make up a different title.

Answer : I made a new title "The Truth".

Please make a new title if you read this book.

The University Murders

I like a suspense story and this book was interesting for me, I could finish reading it without boring.

I strongly recommend you don't read my comments before your reading this book, because I have mentioned who is murderer in it. :-)

Q6: In Scotland, the punishment for murder is life imprisonment - which means at least fifteen years in prison. Do you think this is the right punishment?

Except in this case, I think the life imprisonment is too light for ****** *******. Because She has killed two university students to get their researches for herself. I can't find grounds for extenuating circumstances. In Japan, the punishment for murder is life imprisonment or death sentences. It's very difficult to say which is the right punishment, but I think we should judge the punishment in a comprehensive manner. e.g. background, reason, modus operandi and etc.

Koa

STRONG MEDICINE

I had read this book. It is interesting for me. I recommend reading this book.
After reading No.1: “What do you think happens to Mark Latto and Sylvia Koning next?”

Mark returned to UK once, and continued Parkinson's disease research during six months. Sylvia kept researching the same disease which was done by Spencer in California. To take time to research alone, Sylvia asked for help to Mark. Mark moved to California for her invitation and they kept researching the disease. At last the research reached at Spencer's level. The patients who had Parkinson's disease in the world were pleased that they announced the result of their research.
Mark and Sylvia lived together by continuing this research, he got on with her, and they will get married. It’s a happy end.

Homecoming

I went back to the my hometown in October.

My hometown is Saijo city, Ehime, in the Shikoku-island.

The report of the travel is upload.

To the 1st.

I went to the Dougo-Onsen in the Matsuyama city with my family. It is oldest Onsen in Japan.

We went on the "Anpanman train". Anpanman is Japanese famous anime. All children like Anpanman. My children lile him too. This train is drawing Anpanman's character. It's very cute. My children enjoyed it!

To the next. From here, it's my favorite time.

I joined the big festival in my hometown. It is "Saijo-Matsuri" .

For two days,People drank a lot of the Japanese Sake, and carried on the "Danjiri". and they hardly sleeps. It's very hard and crazy!

2nd day's morning. I was very tired and fell asleep. I slept on the ground during about 2 hours. I got up and restarted drink and enjoyed festival.

Of course, family service was also done.

http://www.danjiri.tv/ 　More infomation is in this URL.

Please contact me, if there are interest. I can do sightseeing guide there.If you take some holidays and go there.

eiji

Rainforests

Inada >> All of us(include me), in every country of the world, must try to help and save the rainforests.

After Reading No.1: Here is an interview between Wangari Maathai and a reporter.

Reporter: What happened to the rainforests in Kenya? Wangari Maathai: Without the trees, we get less rain, and the weather gets hotter. Then life gets very difficult for the rainforest people.

Rep: And what changes has that made? WM: Once there were lots of rainforests, but now 90 per cent of them have gone.

Rep: So you decided to help them. What did you do? WM: I planted my first trees in 1977. That was the beginning of the Green Belt Movement.

Rep: What new things are you doing now? WM: Now I am starting some new coffee plantations. They use no chemicals, so they do not damage the forests.And tourists can come to spend their holidays with us, planting trees.

Rep: And how many has the movement planted now? WM: 30 million - and now other African countries have organizatiions like ours too.

Rep: Finally, you are a famous person now. What would you like to say to the people of the world? WM: I think that every body in the world must work to help the earth - every one of us.

TWO LIVES

Keigo, thank you for your information about using CD. I tried to listening to the CD while I was reading. It was a good pacemaker for me. I couldn't stop reading, even if I didn't understand a sentence exactly.
But... it was hard to me :-P

After reading No4. "What was life like for young people in Wales in 1945?"

The life for young people in Wales in 1945 was not happy. They either worked underground at the village's coal mine for eight hours a day, five days a week, or they didn't work at all. That was very dangerous and hard life, or very boring life. That was all. But it was better than being soldier and fighting foreign country. This was the most dangerous and meaningless life, I think.

At a weekend, young people sometime went to dancing or watching a film. This was their only pleasure, I think.

To infinity - and beyond

I saw a Space Shuttle mission take off from Cape Kennedy on August 27th, 1985.

It remains one of the most memorable events in my life, and I will be forever indebted to Charlie Crockford & Linton Higginbotham for dragging me first all the way to Florida and to a cheap motel in Cocoa Beach...and then for them managing to drag me to a perimeter fence of the Kennedy Space Center at first light the next morning, after we'd driven all night from (sweet home) North Carolina. And what did I see?

I guess most people these days think Bud Lightyear/Tom Hanks have both been to the moon. Must admit, Apollo 13 is a favourite movie of mine. So is The Right Stuff. I am old enough to remember blurry black & white pictures of men on the moon. Of my childhood I remember Nixon a snake, Ian Paisley worse, huey choppers in Vietnam.

My favourite TV show was Star Trek - to boldly go...Even now I do enjoy a stolen episode of Stargate , a re-run of any Star Trek, or one of the new Space 1999 episodes.

I loved this book. I knew bits and pieces, as a child of the Apollo generation I have the memory built into me. What happened to man's burning desire to explore? When did we chicken out? The remarkable people of this story never did - reading of the later Apollo missions makes it obvious how close we - MANKIND - were to taking the next big step as well. Of course it costs money to put missions & men into space. Of course it is dangerous (life is dangerous. Never had an accident?)

Putting our species into space is a fantastic investment. Selfishly, the technological return is guaranteed. My mum loved her first Teflon frying pan - it was from NASA. I remember her saying that. I remember washing that pan and also thanking NASA. Often.

Why on Earth aren't we exploring space better? Witnessing a space shuttle take off was an amazing thing to behold. Just like this book, which takes you right there with the astronauts, it was a kick in the guts when the sonic boom hit us, miles away. My reaction then was to leap up and down trying to escape Earth's gravity myself...a day later I was jammed in Miami between hookers fighting over a stolen TV and a hurricane, trying to get to Hemingway's Chair in the Keys!

Loved this book. Knew the story but couldn't stop turning the pages...

G'day Matt

Today we welcome Matt to our ranks. I have known Matt for several years, and it's about time he joined Luna's teaching staff. I should thank Jon for reminding me.

Matt will be teaching most of our Saturday classes for us; we are hoping he'll be able to do so for a good while. Like Yuki & I, Matt also has a young child to look after. Unlike Jim, Matt can actually speak Japanese. However, Matt is an Aussie...

Matt has already met our Saturday roll-call of stars - here he is with Ayako and Mai-chan. Ayako is deaf, which is why she's covering her eye! (Actually, it was funny; these two are old-time buddies but studying independently. They wanted to gossip about their new teacher but couldn't - Matt & I were listening. What did they do? Bloody sign language!)

Saturday at Luna - looks good!

Who's a clever girl?!

I love it when students are too modest to realise they have just achieved something remarkable!

Congratulations Shizue, on passing First Certificate! (Here is Luna's Local Secretary Yuki presenting Shizue with her certificate.)

Shizue spends every other Friday teaching me. She knows more about English Literature than I ever will, and her questions about grammar are truly frightening! She is the worst student I know for doing homework - I don't think she has ever actually done everything I asked her to...but that doesn't matter because she has passed FCE. She is the only Japanese English teacher I know that has managed to do that. Most, in my experience, would be badly shown up.

Why isn't there some universal measure of English language skills/requirement for English teachers in this country? To be fair, this should include native speakers too - just because you grow up speaking a language doesn't make you an expert, let alone a teacher. And yet Nagano prefecture wastes millions upon millions of taxpayers' yen on unqualified imports - working alongside mostly less than competent English-langauge users.

Do I know what I am talking about? Sadly, yes, I do. Do I have any useful suggestions? Again, yes I do...

Well done Shizue: shining example of what teachers should be capable of in this country. Proud of you.

Oh, and by the way, Shizue will be examining Young Learners for us on Sunday!

Jigsaw learning

At first glance, you might think trying to do a jigsaw puzzle in class is a bit of a lazy cop out!

If you just sit there & don't make any English happen, then you'd be entitled to ask for your money back, that's for sure. However, I'm allergic to refunds!

Aim of this class was some very early prep for the YLE Starters speaking test - these lads are too inexperienced to have a bash at that just yet - and to develop some co-operation/reduce snatching.

Method? Well, kind of made up as we went, because it was pretty tough to predict how the boys would respond to this fairly free activity. They actually surprised me in that they found it very hard at first to "see" the picture. So they started asking me simple questions - pointing at the blank next space in the carpet & asking me "What's this?" !

Once we had the frame sorted out, they were off to the races & needed calming down a bit - time for instructions like "Don't walk on it" and "Let him put it there" etc. I like this puzzle because the bonus baggy has mini cards of all the main vocabulary. First we matched, then some dictation (no writing) - "Put the duck on the tent" and so on.

Do they know all the words? No way. I haven't taught them prepositions either...all about context and experimentation. Trying is not the same as being wrong a lot! They were checking their ideas with each other a lot as we got on with it, and quickly coming to conclusions about meanings & teaching themselves - much better way to learn than being 'told' by me!

As we went, other questions were obvious - asking about colours, shapes, number; "Have you got a ...?" or "Do you like ...?" We had a ball, and truly milked this excellent resource for all it was worth. Only problem is, I have only got the one puzzle!

Double Cross

Hi, homework season has started again!!

First of all, I'd like to give you a kind of tips. As you know, audio CD is attached to the book, this time. So I tried listening to the CD while reading the book. I found that was very comfortable and very helpful for me to read the book faster. I'd recommend you do it.

[Q(2)] Think about Monika. What kind of clothes does she wear? What music and films does she like? Where does she go on holiday? What are her favourite foods?

I imagine she is slim and good figure woman. She usually wears suits with tight skirt and white shirt while working, and wears slim jeans and sweater or jacket in her private time.

She listens to classics to calm down her mind. Her favourite movie is adventure movies and, of course, spy movie like "James Bond" or "Mission impossible".

In her holiday, she goes shopping to buy a stylish clothes as well as most of women like, and has a break at tasteful cafe. She has a sweet tooth.

Happy Birthday Hijiri

We helped Hijiri and his mum, Yuki (our manager), celebrate his very first birthday today.

Hijiri looked really excited and was the centre of attention, as he got presents, cards, and a lovely cake with a little candle on it for him to blow out. To be honest, Hijiri is always the centre of attention when he comes to work with his mummy - we can usually hear him chirping away, pointing at things and generally trying to put the whole office in his mouth!

A year ago Maki was holding the fort for us, and we were struggling up a really steep hill with our first Cambridge exam sessions in Tokyo, handling entries and enquiries from all over the country, etc. We're doing that again now, but thank goodness we actually know what to expect & were able to prepare properly first.

Hijiri brightens up everyone's day at Luna; he's already on the verge of walking by himself, so we'll have to be extra careful not to trip over him. We love seeing him here, and are delighted to eb interrupted by his singing & pointing!

Congratulations Yuki & Taka - you've got a lovely little boy on your hands - and happy birthday Hijiri....ONE already!

Thank you for all your birthday wishes!!!

Hi everyone!

As you may remember, I celebrated my '23 again!' birthday a few weeks ago. I was overwhelmed by wishes and seemed to celebrate the whole week long! So I just want to say a big THANK YOU! to everyone who remembered and who wished me a Happy Birthday.

And just to show you how spoilt I was - here are a few of the cards that my students made for me.. aren't they beautiful!!

It's official - we're chocolate!

The grand prize giving is upon us for the person who correctly guessed the new colour of our school.

As you know, about six weeks ago we were wrapped in blue scaffolding. At the weekend we emerged like a beautiful new butterfly from a cocoon! You can see from the picture that our MK Building is now milk chocolate colour - a massive improvement on the old, dreary & decayed-looking grey we were before.

You will also clearly see that our windows are CLEAN at last! Where I come from, being told you have dirty windows is a major insult...and it has been bothering us for ages that our windows were filthy. Jim dared the scaffolding and gave them a jolly good scrubbing - Tana & Yuki are charged with doing the safer inside job.

Our satellite antenna went up today, but some little rotter has broken the power switch on our decoder box. The electrician said he'd fix it and sort it out tomorrow. with a bit of luck, we'll be able to start showing our regular channels again - BBC News, Discovery Channel and maybe the Cartoon Network if asked nicely enough!

We have rearranged the office while we were being redecorated outside. We've done our best to become wireless; we also now offer students free access to the internet with a computer in the main room. Please take advantage of this to access your favourite websites, check stuff out on Google or Youtube, post on the blog etc.

Lastly, we've put a crib in the main room, as a number of our students have very little younger brothers and sisters (this is Kaede's little sister). Hijiri is already starting to toddle & no longer needs it. Please be gentle with both (Hijiri and the crib!)

Oh! I nearly forgot. The winner of our competition - big fanfare - with two tickets to see Manchester United et al play in the Toyota Cup in Tokyo on Dec. 21st is - more fanfare - NOBODY. Unfortunately, absolutely nobody suggested "chocolate, "cafe au lait", or anything else brownish to win. Too bad! Better luck with the next competition!

New bits - follow me!

A very quick posting to tell regular readers (and those of you who want to be but forget etc!) that I have added two new "widgets" for you - please use them!

You can now subscribe easily - a couple of clicks
You can "follow" the blog - fan club in the making!

Find them on the right hand side - scroll down a bit and click!

Jim

Want to study in Ireland?

There will be a study abroad festival in Osaka on Oct 11^th and in Tokyo on Oct 13^th. Representatives from the 15 colleges and schools listed below and the representative from Marketing English in Ireland will attend.

If you wish to attend you need to pre-register, which we will help you do (NB This is not a Luna event!)
Thought this might interest some of you.

アイルランドの大学/ Irish Third Level Institutions

ダブリンシティ大学/ 　Dublin City University

アイルランド国立大学　メイヌース校/ National University of Ireland, Maynooth

ユニバーシティ・カレッジ・ダブリン/ University College Dublin

ダブリン大学　トリニティカレッジ/ Trinity College Dublin

リムリック大学/ The University of Limerick

ダブリン・ビジネス・スクール/ Dublin Business School

ナショナル・カレッジ・オブ・ダブリン/ National College of Ireland

アイルランドの語学学校/ English Language Schools in Ireland

アトランティック・ランゲージ・ゴールウェイ/ Atlantic Language Galway

センター・オブ・イングリッシュ・スタディーズ/ Centre of English Studies

エメラルド・カルチュラル・インスティテュート/ Emerald Cultural Institute

イングリッシュ・ランゲージ・チュートリアル・プログラム（ELTP）/ English Language Tutorial Programme (ELTP)

インターナショナル・ハウス・ダブリン/ International House Dublin

ランゲージ・スクール・アイルランド/ Language College Ireland

ランゲージ・ハウス・スクール・オブ・イングリッシュ/ The Language House School of English

マーケティング・イングリッシュ・イン・アイルランド/ Marketing English in Ireland

ダブリン・ビジネス・ランゲーグスクール/ Dublin Business Language School