Grey Owl

Writing #25
It is 1937 and Grey Owl is going to give a talk in your London theater. Make a notice to tell people about it.

Grey Owl coming!

We are having a talk show. The speaker is Grey Owl from Canada, who is one of the last real North American Indian. He lives in the forest in Canada with cute beavers. He can show us a real of Canadian forest and Indian's life.

Please come and see another, great, wonderful, beautiful and peaceful world.

The DARLING BUDS of MAY

Writing 40: Write a description of the Larkins' home. Write about their house, yard and garden.

Larkins' family live country where is far from local village. The family are Mr. and Mrs. Larkins, six children. Children's name are Zinnia and Petunia, Primrose, Victoria, Montgomery, Mariette. There are a lot of chickens and four noisy white gees, three pigs, two horses and other animals.

There is an old stable for their two horses. The yard was full of old pieces of metal and bits of old cars. There are blue and yellow flowers in a little garden.

The woods is near the house, about a few minutes walking. There are hundreds of wild flower es under the trees. Above them, the birds sing loudly.

They live a wonderful life in the country with a lot of kinds of animals.

Karigurashi no Arrietty

Hello,

Last night, while I was watching a movie "Gake no ue no Ponyo", I saw a announcement of new Ghibli's movie "Karigurashi no Arrietty".

I immediately realized that that story is what I read as a homework and I posted to this blog as a first man of the students.
http://lunainternational.blogspot.com/2007/08/borrowers-homework.html

I got interested in the movie just because I have ever read the story.

A Town Like Alice

I like these kinds of stories very much. I’ve already finished reading over 10 books, I ranked this book in the third-best. (I ranked Cinderella man as the best. The second is The merchant in Venice. )
This is a story during world war 2nd. Jean is a heroine in this book. At first she spent happy time living in Malaya, but after world war 2nd, her life was completely changed. People who lived in Malaya were captured by Japanese soldiers, and they had to march aimlessly. The first half of this story, I felt sore because Japanese give them cruel treatment. As I’m one of Japanese, it was really a pity.
I love the last part of the story, the happy ending. She got a big heritage from her uncle. She made a well in Malaya for people who took care of Jean. In chapter 14, Jean was informed by an old man that Joe was alive. It was big news for her and she went to see him to Willstown in Australia. When she lived in Willstown to wait for him, she knew she could not live in Willstown happily and if she married Joe, she would want to live somewhere else. But, she changed her mind. She wanted to make the town better place like Alice Town. I was deeply impressed by her mind that she wanted to make town better place. In fact, she opened shoes factory, a milk-bar, a swimming pool and so on. Usually, people tend to move their place if they find their place uncomfortable, but she didn’t. I love her thoughts and I would like to make our town or our country better place as she did like Willstown. Oops, I don’t have rich family or rich relatives....., but I would have a chance to win lottery like Joe. ：）

By the way, I checked the place “Willstown” by Wikipedia. “Willstown” is a fictional place, but it is reportedly based on Burketown, Queensland, which the arther also visited in 1948. And Burke and Wills were well-known explorers of Australia. Isn’t it interesting fact?

Internet Explorer

Image via Wikipedia

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We are all super-pleased to be able to celebrate Haruka's champion results from her YLE Movers exam, which she took towards the end of last year.

Ha-chan got the maximum number of shields possible - 5 each for reading/writing, listening, and speaking - and I am sure will be very successful this year when she tries Flyers. She works very hard with Jim every Friday evening, and deserves a big round of applause for her great result.

Was I ever worried about her result? No, not at all. I said she'd do the biz! Here she is after being presented with her certificate by Yuki, Luna's ever-popular manager (and the one responsible for all the hard work getting the exams to take place on time!)

Well done Haruka

Man in the news

A Death in Oxford

Police Report: A Death in Oxford

The old woman was killed by the knife at her room on Friday 25 July.Her name was Janet Leinghton.Suspects are three people. Her Clinic's doctor Barbara Collins, her husband Simon Leighton, and her son Chris Leinghton.
There were a book that had been newly bought and the Chinese dog.The book was bought by Simon Leinghton on Friday 25 July.The Chinese dog was hers.The Chinese dog was explained in the book. The criminal ruined the room, and pretended thief's crime.However, the criminal who knew the Chinese dog that it was expensive, therefore he did not destroy it. The criminal is Simon Leighton.

Frank Williams

Ryoma Sakamoto

This statue is Ryoma Sakamoto in Kochi Prefecture Kochi City.
Ryoma Sakamoto was born in 1835 in Kochi City.
He was a hero in the latter term of Edo period.
Ryoma Sakamoto's network was very good and knew a lot of pepople. It is famous for the alliance between Satsuma and Choshu.
Ryoma Sakamoto was killed in Kyoto at the age of 33 in 1867.

Love by Design

After a long time, I have a feeling that I read the love story.

This story is interesting and amusing, because it has a lot of scene to change something.

I recognized Tom's jealousy while Reta met other man. Perhaps his jealousy was made by Reta. It is designed by Reta. I think Reta was loving Tom when they met from the beginning.

It 's nice like the platonic love.

Chocolate beer - what would Homer Simpson think?

And why not? There's chilli beer, after all, and all those poncy fruit beers from the Low Countries! Up until now, my favourite was an English grapefruit beer.

Chocolate beer, indeed. Now I can almost stop eating altogether! I have no idea what the calorie count is, but let's assume my doctor would be hanging his head in dismay!

I found this hiding on the shelf in Jusco, and very literally did a double take, thinking "No, can't be right." I took it home, curious, and poured it out into a nice glass. Instant 'chocolatey' smell, but not sweet or overpowering. It tastes...well, like beer with bitter chocolate in it. Rich but bitter, with that nice refreshing beer 'hit'. I don't know if I could drink the stuff all night, but certainly something I'll be trying again before it gets sold out.

Surely a Valentine's gimmick, but not a bad one. In a land of 'giri choco' (girls 'obliged' to give chocs to the boys in Japan, especially to teachers/bosses/colleagues) this is one gift I wouldn't feel too unhappy about opening - and certainly more likely to be enjoyed by me rather than my dentist!

Country profile: South Africa

Image via Wikipedia

The Republic of South Africa is on the southern tip of the continent of Africa. The capital is Pretoria. It is a big country - 1,219,000 sq. km and it is the 25th biggest country in the world. It is about 3 times bigger than Japan.

It used to be the Netherland's and Britain's colony, but it became an independent country in 1948.

The languages spoken in South Africa are iZulu, Xhosa, Africaans, English and other African languages.

There are nineteen National Parks in South Africa, including Kruger N.P. & Table Mountain N.P., where you can see fur seals, buffaloes, elephants, leopards, lions, rhinoceros, and the national symbol, the Springbok.

The Republic of South Africa exports gold, chromium, antimony,coal, iron ore, managanese, nickel, phosphates, tin, uranium, gems, diamonds, platinum, copper, vanadium, salt and natural gas.

There are writers like Nadine Gardinaer & J.M. Coetzee. Of a population of 47 million, there are 5.7 million people who live in South Africa with HIV/AIDS, and the highest death rate (from HIV/AIDS) in the world.

The next FIFA World Cup will be in South Africa! Japan's first game is on June 14th, against Cameroon.

Toshiya's homework, after reading about the life (and tragic death) of Dian Fossey and the gorillas she studied, defended in Central Africa.


Listen to this episode

The statues in Nagoya

I was born in Tokyo, then I moved to Nagoya at five years old. Now, my hometown is Nagoya. Nagoya is a very comfortable place to live. I love Nagoya.

There are many statues in Nagoya. For example, Kiyomasa Kato's statue. He was a Japanese daimyō of the Azuchi-Momoyama and Edo era. He was born in 1562. He was born in Nagoya.

Then, there are Shachihokos. They are orca dolls. They are on the roof of Nagoya castle.They are gold. We call them "Kin-Shachi" in Japanese. They are a symbol of Nagoya.

Then there is the Nana-chan doll. Nana-chan was a girl, born in 1973. She was from Switzerland. She is a mascot of the Meitetsu department store. She is very tall - 610 centimeters. She stands in front of Meitetsu department store. She often wears clothes. She is a smart dresser. 

by　Seiji

Chirpy chappy - YLE Starter star

Takuro is in my favourite 'noisy boys' class on Wednesdays...and Takuro is the noisy one. I like that though. He's got a tongue in his head and a spark of mischief, a good sense of humour and he's brave (well, he's always challenging me!). My job is to try and focus that energy, chip off the rough edges and point him in the right direction

I am delighted he managed to stay quiet for 20 minutes at the end of October when he took YLE Starters. He obviously charmed his way through the speaking test - maximum points there.

Next mission with these lads is making sure they can all spell their long vowel sounds consistently. Already most of the way there, so Movers this autumn boys?! Well done Takuro - proud of you!

The Perfect Storm

The Perfect Storm
Sebastian Junger

This nobel is based on a true story of a swordfishing boat sank in the storm "Hurricane Grace". Hurricane Grace was so strong and terrible. Unfortunately another storm moved toward Hurricane Grace, and they hit on the sea.

They became more terrible than anyone can imagine. That was a perfect storm. A swordfishing boat named Andrea Gail was hit by this perfect storm and sank.
This nobel describes people around Andrea Gail, crews and their family, friends, etc.
I thought this is an adventure story at first, but it was wrong.
This is a story of phantom on the sea! I was scared because I go fishing on the lake so many times!
Are there some phantom in the lake, too???

Points for understanding

2-1 Swordfisherman put "lightsticks" on the "gangions" which are attached to their mainline. What are lightsticks and why are they used?
Lightsticks are clear plastic tubes which give out light. As swordfishing eat at night, fisherman use lightstick. Swordfishes come near to it with curiosity and eat fish bait beside it.

2-2 On September 20th, when the story bigins, Billy Tyne has had a lot of problems. Who is Billy Tyne and what problems has he had?
Billy Tyne is a captain of the Andrea Gail. He has had a trouble of vacancy in crew. He asked some people to go with him, but some refused.

Hachiko

The statue of the Loyal dog, Hachiko,in Tokyo.
Hachiko was an Akita dog kept by Professor Ueno,of the department of Agriculture at the University of Tokyo,who lived in Shibuya Shoto town. Hachiko's routine was to get the professor to and from Shibuya station when the professor went to the university. After the professor's death,Hachiko wainted for his master,who never came back,at Shibuya station for ten years.
That became a national anecdote and Hachiko's bronze statue was made in 1934,when Hachiko was still alive.

Aki

OE Team bonding in Nagoya

OE Team bonding
Originally uploaded by ijiwaru jimbo

Over the weekend I was asked to train a new group of Oral Examiners at Mejio University in Nagoya....and I was delighted to do so.

I think it is clear that everyone had a good time, and got on very well together, even though many were meeting each other for the first time on Saturday morning. By Sunday afternoon, organiser Naoki was confident that the ladies would catch him!

Training follows a fairly standard procedure, which I'll not bore you with again. I will say that I always enjoy listening to professional teachers applying their unique classroom experiences to the materials & videos. There is always something new to consider and to use positively, and generally of benefit to all present (not just for examining, but in terms of professional development).

These workshops are also very good settings for teachers to make new professional contacts. It is pretty easy after two days to figure out whose opinion you would like to have on certain issues, whose advice you trust etc. It is unusual for teachers to have this opportunity without having to make a presentation, and then the dynamic is quite different. Here, a sense of 'all in this together' is reassuring non-threatening, as everyone is learning something new and having to reappraise their own performances quickly.

I had a good weekend, then. Busy, hard-work, but very enjoyable. Well done attendees and thanks very much indeed for your patience and professional attitude. Look forward to seeing you in action in March.

Brave Heart

Q. It is a year after William Wallace's death. Princess Isabella has had her baby. She write to a friend. She tells her about the baby and her life now. Write her letter.

Dear Nicolette,

I haven't seen you for along time.

Since I divorced with Edward, I have lived in Lanark with my pretty son "John". He is 7 months years old and begin to crawl. He will be a brave man like as my husband "William".

Now, I am working on a farm and we live in a small house. We are happy though we are poor. If I earn enough money, I'll go London again. I would like to meet both you and your daughter "Malia". I am looking forward to seeing you at that time.

Best wishes

Isabella

Dangerous Game

28. Imagine that you are Louis. Write a letter a friend in Australia. Explain what has happened. Tell the story and your feelings about it.

Dear Jim
How are you?
I have sorrow news about my friend. His name was William Harris, who was a writer. I’m a writer, too. I’ll tell you about his story.
William died on the night of January 25th, 2000. He had no family and I was his only friend. I usually went to his house at eight in the evening and we played chess for about three hours.
I went to his house, at the night of Wednesday, January 26th, 2000. The house was completely dark. I knocked at the front door and waited. There was no reply. I found a small window that was open. I climbed through it. When I went into the bedroom, I felt a strange fear. I felt someone was watching me. Perhaps I only imagined it. There was a pillow at the top end of the bed. It was over the head of the person in the bed. It was right over William’s face. I realized he was dead.
I noticed something strange on the pillow. There was a clear on it – like the shape of a hand.
I thought “something” led William to die. How do you feel that is true or not?

Best wishes
Louis

Girl in red shoes

The statue of Kimi Sano (“Girl in red shoes”) in Yokohama

She was born in 1902 in Shizuoka, Japan. She migrated to Hokkaido with her mother. She became American missionary's adopted daughter because their life was poor.

Her mother thought that she went to the United States. However, she died of tuberculosis in Tokyo in 1911.

Her mother didn't know that.

MATILDA

Q. Write a list of some of the rules at your school.

There were a lot of strict rules at my junior high school. Some of them are below.

First, boy had to be clean-shaven head. We were checked our head at the morning meeting by teacher. If a teacher found a pupil who went against this rule, a teacher shaved his head.

Next, all pupils had to wear uniform. There were two type of uniforms. One type was, as we say, 'the uniform'. Another one was 'jersey'. We usually used to wear 'jersey'. We wore so-called uniform only when we had a ceremony.

Third, there were some rules when we rode bicycle. We had to wear a helmet and we had to apply a registration plate that indicated class to bicycle.

Finally, we had to belong to any club activity. I belonged to a baseball club.

GEOS Bankrupt?

Australian newspapers (Melbourne Age, Sydney Morning Herald) are carrying the news on front pages.
2,300 students & 390 staff in Australia found out yesterday (Jan 29th) when they arrived for classes in Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney, Gold Coast, Cairns, Brisbane: school doors locked with a notice to contact the Administrators Ernst & Young.

Does this affect GEOS Japan? Yes. It is fairly common knowledge that GEOS has been in trouble for ages; wages of local staff has been late/unpaid since at least September 2009 in Japan. Has the company denied this? Yes. GEOS website is silent, and GEOS head office in Tokyo responded tonight "What are you talking about?". Question is, why are they in the office at 9pm on a Saturday night?! Financially, GEOS relies on overseas income (especially from Australia) to pay the bills in Japan.

Does any of this sound familiar to anyone? Very good link with up to date news here. Have a nice weekend!

Zenkoji Temple

The most beautiful building in Nagano city is Zenkoji Temple. This is oldest building in Nagano city. This temple is made of wood.

This temple was built the seventh century. This temple has suffered from fire manytimes. The present building was made in 1707. I don't know who it was designed by.

Zenkoji Temple has three big buildings. "Hondo", "Sanmon" and "Niomon"."Hondo" is national treasure, "Sanmon" and "Niomon" are important cultural properties.

Inside Hondo is quite dark. There is a dark maze. People go into the maze to touch a big key. This key is connected to "Honzon". People touch a big key to receive"Goriyaku"(grace).

Zenkoji Temple has a big event every six years, called "Gokaicho". It happened last year.Many people came to Zenkoji from around Japan. The next "Gokaicho" is in 2015. Why not visit Zenkoji Temple?

Noriko

Kanazawa Castle

Kanazawa Castle is the most beautiful building in my hometown.

The castle is in the centre of Kanazawa city, in Ishikawa prefecture in Japan.

There was a big castle in the past, but there is a gate of castle and a part of building here now, becouse Kanazwa castle was destroyed by fire in the past.

The gate of castle is Ishikawamon. A part of the building is 30kennagaya. 30kennagaya has been restored recently.

Kanazawa castle has very popular park near Ishikawamon, called Kenrokuen. Kenrokuen is big Japanese garden. The garden is as famous as the Korakuen of Okayama and Kairakuen in Mito. They are called the "Big three" gardens in Japan.

You can see a beautiful garden and Japanese buildings here for three hundred yen.

Shinichi Suzuki - statue in Matsumoto

This statue of a little old man and two young children stands very quietly under a tree, tucked away behind the NHK building in Matsumoto. He is not the most widely recognised of men, nor the most famous - even in his adopted home town of Matsumoto. In the musical world, his name is synonymous with teaching children the violin. He shared the stage with then President Carter at the Carnegie Hall.

He was born in Nagoya, October 17th, 1898. He lived to the ripe old age of 99 - with plans unfulfilled for the decade after his centenary! He was a plucky old codger when I met him, chain smoking & carrying on three conversations at the same time. He had a reputation for being a bit of a tyrant in the classroom, but seems universally loved. He would notoriously turn off his hearing aid at recitals if he thought the performance was not up to scratch.

Suzuki's father was Japan's first violin maker. The young Suzuki spent eight years in Berlin, where he married Waltraud Prange. He had a long, and noted history of achievements which you can read about here. A living monument to Suzuki is the Talent Education Research Institute (better known as the "Suzuki Method"), the headquarters of a network of Suzuki teachers numbering 1,400 in Japan, with tentacles spreading to 38 countries. The main instruments taught are violin, 'cello, piano & flute.


Victoria Harkness teaches violin in Whangarei, New Zealand. Belinda Yourn, in Australia now I think, teaches flute. I wonder if Pablo teaches 'cello in Chile to children?! (Yes, friends of mine!) In all, 400,000 children follow Doctor Suzuki's Method - "All children grow, it depends how they are raised" he said. Every year Matsumoto has a 10 Piano Concert which is charming; March 30th will see the 52nd Annual performance of 3,000 young musicians at the Budokan in Tokyo.