Jim's other "hat"

My day job is teaching, as you all probably know! However, with Luna's growing responsibilities as the busiest Cambridge ESOL Centre in Japan, there is so much more to do in a week!

At the moment we are making sure that candidates can still take First Certificate (FCE), Advanced (CAE) and Proficiency (CPE) in Tokyo this December. (The British Council shamefully decided to stop accepting candidates from outside its own school.) We are also arranging KET & PET exams to take place in Niigata, here, and in Tokyo in November. We are also arranging Young Learners (YLE) to take place in Hokkaido, Ishikawa, here & Tokyo in November & December.

Is that all? No! As well as running the exam sessions, we are also responsible for training & co-ordinating all the Oral Examiners - who give the speaking tests. That means we run workshops for experienced teachers all over the place. This weekend...Jim ran a two-day course in Kanazawa, training a group of teachers to become YLE examiners.

Fortunately, the people at Hokuriku Gakuin are very well organised, and have already run two YLE sessions at their school. Having local examiners makes sense - it's a long way for Jim to drive! As you can see, everybody worked hard - the training is NOT easy - and managed to enjoy the work as well. I am looking forward to our newest OEs getting the chance to examine soon; after their hard work over the weekend, I'm sure they'll do very well indeed! Next training will be in Tokyo in November.

Three men in a boat

Dear my friend,

Living a long way from home

A serious posting today. I'm really unhappy to have to announce that Martin will be leaving us next week. I know - he only just got here. I know, he only just replaced the last guy...what's happening etc?

Martin joined us full of the enthusiasm I welcome at my school, and is quite obviously devastated that he has to leave us before he can even warm up his classes. Martin has had to deal with every teachers' nightmare living/working overseas - bad news from home. It's the phone call we all dread - it doesn't matter where you live. I am sure you will all accept that family has to be Martin's only consideration right now, and that you will join me in wishing him a safe journey home. We all wish he could have stayed; I know he was committed to Luna.

I have no idea right now, tonight, about his replacement; good teachers simply do not grow on trees. The kind of people I want to work at my school, teach my my kids/drive all of you on to better learning...these people are very rare! I'm working on it - it is the hardest part of my job (apart from finding out who broke the doors off my Mini)

Martin: all of our thoughts are with you. Thank you for even your short time with us.

Copyright - Thank you

Very quickly want to thank:
Donn Ogawa at Pearson Longman for permission to post images of Penguin Readers
Paul Riley at Oxford University Press for permission to post images of Bookworm Readers

Luna International appreciates your continuing support. Thank you.

Bye Bye Alex sensei

A sad day for all of us at Luna today, as we say goodbye to Alex Gordon. It is hard to believe it has been 15 months already since she arrived here from England!

Alex settled in very quickly and has become everyone's favourite teacher. She's always cheerful and smiling away :) and students will miss her sorely. I don't think we've ever seen her tired or less than 100% genki?

Alex will be exploring Hokkaido for a short while before returning to the UK. We wish her all the very best for the future, and want to thank her for all her hard work and personal commitment to all of her classes & students. We will really miss her and hope she`ll keep in touch. Please send her your thank yous etc as comments below?

While here, should also welcome Phil...big shoes to fill etc, but with all of Alex's preparation & advice, I'm sure he's going to do just fine.

So, sadly, Sayonara Alex - we'll miss you

"The Moonspinners" OUP Bookworm

Hi Jim. This is my first challenge.

The book title is 'The Moonspinners'. This is a story about people who were accidentally involvet in a case of murder and theft. The heroine is Nicola who came on a trip to meet her cousin at the villege. But she met two guys on the way to the Hotel where she was going to stay. One of them was shot and injured...

The question is:
1　You are a police officer. Write a short report about each of the five people involvee with
the crime: Stratos,Alexandros,Tony,Josef,and Sofia.

Stratos : Stratos Alexiakis. The probable age 48 or 49. He is a owner of the Hotel
'Agios Georgios 'which is in Crete. He had successful restaurant in London. But
came back to Crete 6 months ago. He has a sister named Sofia.
Stratos Stole some gold and Jewels in London with Alexandros,Tony and Josef.
He is a leader of them. They hided the stolen articles at the coast near the village.
He doesn't like Sofia's husband Josef.He kidnapped and imprisoned Colin with Tony
and Josef.

Alexandros : He is an accomplice of the crime. But killed by Josef in a mountain near Crete
when they had argument about things they had stolen in London.

Tony : Tony Camble. A British man who helped Stratos's crime in London.
Probable age under thirty.
He followed Stratos and works at Agios Georgios.

Josef : Sofia's husband. Cretan.He is often drunk. Doesn't work much. He waste Sofia's money
and not very good to her. He killed Alexandros at the mountain near the village. He also
shot Colin's brother Mark. But died accidentally by hitting his head on a rock when
scuffled with Mark's friend Lambis at the mountain.

Sofia : Stratos's sister and wife of Josef. She had money form her father. She helped Stratos
to imprison Colin in a windmill. But she took care of Colin and brought some hood for
Colin. She opposed to kill Colin.

This story was quite exciting. and of course, happy end.

Postcard from Angkor Wat (Cambodia)

"Dear Jim-san, There are so many magnificent views here in Cambodia. Today I visited a primary school at Kompong Thom, which is 100km north of Phnom Penh. Tomorrow, I'll move from Kompong Thom to visit Angkor monuments. I'm very excited. See you soon. Koa"

Technorati Tags:angkor wat, cambodia, koa, postcard
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(Koa was visiting Cambodian schools on behalf of the employees' union, Seiko Epson Corporation. Posted August 6th)

Postcard from Nha Trang (Vietnam)

"Hi! How are you? I'm in Vietnam. I'm going to Ho Chi Minh City from Nha Trang by train. Nha Trang has a beautiful beach. I swam a lot, so I got a suntan! I'll go to Angkor Wat in Cambodia tomorrow. I'll send you a mail again. Best regards, Junko" (posted August 8th)

Which Cambridge exam should I take?

A very good question indeed! First, ask your teacher for their recommendation - you should certainly be taking one or another at the end of the year. These exams are taken all over the world, and allow you to prove how much you can use your English. Do not be afraid - I really want to see you challenging yourselves and achieving something meaningful.

You can find some useful information and sample papers (which you can download) etc at http://www.cambridgeesol.org/
On the left side of the homepage, find the "For Language Learners", and then find the particular exam you are interested in.

This year you can take the following exams on the following dates at Luna in Matsumoto (with entry deadlines in brackets)

• K.E.T. Sat. November 24th, afternoon. (Oct 5th) - Y7,950
  
• P.E.T. Sat. November 24th, morning. (Oct 5th) - Y9,950
  
• Y.L.E. (Starters, Movers, Flyers) Sat. December 1st (Oct 12th)
  
• F.C.E. Sat. December 8th (Oct. 5th) - Y18,350
  

Luna is also organising F.C.E., C.A.E. & C.P.E. in Tokyo, Dec 11/12/13. if you are interested please contact Jim directly.

To get your entry form please email Jim: oyajim@gmail.com

What? No Yuki?!

Time to panic at Luna - our manager Yuki is leaving us (temporarily) to concentrate on more important things...like having a baby. She has been the backbone of common sense and good organisation at Luna since I bought the business in the previous millennium. Needless to say, it is going to be very strange trying to run the business without her (and if things don't go quite so smoothly for a while please be patient) nor seeing her bright & cheerful face every day.

Yuki, from all of us past & present, the very best of luck & good health to you and your baby. Please take care, and come back when you are ready...we are all really excited to see your child & can't wait for you to introduce us. xxx

Computer crap? Not me...VIDEO-tastic!!!

Back on June 8th I posted a blog "I like it". I said I'd try to figure out how to whack video of the lesson up... Well, consider it done! Go have a look and please post a comment telling me how clever I am/what a cool, fun lesson we all had etc?!

Falling Leaves

It's really heartwarming tale of love I think.
I remind that we become independent by going through great tribulation. And the many Japanese people(including me) who has never known serious trouble should go thorugh the tribulation.

From the last sentence "Life had come full circle. Falling leaves return to their roots" , I think the dead may be not the end of all.

As an aside, I think the cover-page illustration should be changed, because the illustation is associated with horror story.　(The illustration has a little girl without her foot)

Jun

It's a girl!

Just a very quick post to announce the birth of Eleanor Christine George, on Saturday August 25th (exactly on schedule - very much in character with Yukari!). Mother & daughter are doing very well after a long labour (47 hours!), and I am looking forward to boring everyone to death with photos soon. I am a very, very proud father and you'll have to forgive me if lessons this week are a bit unplanned; not had a lot of sleep!

PIRATES OF CARIBBEAN - homework

(Q29)
Would you like to be a pirate?
What is good about a pirate's life and what is bad?
Write about it.

Good: The life is free.
The life is adventurous.
Bad: The life is dangerous.
They need to became strong man and they need to fight.
They almoust live on ship.

APOLLO 13

(Q13)
You work for a newspaper. Write a story about Apollo 13. Why didn't astronauts walk on the Moon? How did they get home?

It was Saturday,April the 11th in 1970. Apollo 13 was launched to the Moon with 3 astronauts. But serious problem happened. Oxygen got out to the space. 3 astronauts and many staffs in the control center on the Earth thought, thought and thought. They had to change the plane that to walk on the Moon. They solved some accidents, and lastly, 3 astronauts could return back to the Earth.

Sandwiches - homework!

A Tuesday morning class to discuss sandwich making? Are you sure, Jim?! Well, actually yes. Point being to practice writing instructions of a step by step process; so this morning we shared our favourite sandwich recipes & remembered our countable/uncountable nouns as well. A couple of other things came to light as well, such as not putting a whole pig in sarny - just a chop is plenty! Gentlemen (and ladies too!), your sangers as 'comments' please!

Big Hand Bon Bon

Bon Bon 2007 was a blast; I really hope our "Big Hands" had as much of an impact on the crowd as they did on my arm/shoulder - feel like I played tennis all night! Anybody else sore??

We started off by the back of Parco, looking a bit sheepish & unsure....but that changed as soon as the music started! Eri's buddies jumped into the lead rank and stayed there pretty much for the rest of the evening, giving everyone else something resembling the Bon Bon dance to follow. Thanks guys!

As with every year we had a very young bunch of dancers, who had a blast being the stars of the show. Kayo-chan's niece once again showed us her moves, and again we were stranded for about an hour without moving - this time half-way down Eki Mai dori. Well done all our little ones for staying the pace.

Around about this time one over zealous staff member tried to tell us off for having too much fun & interacting with other groups! As if?! Never heard anything so ridiculous - not allowed to have fun at a matsuri. Anyway, I think she understood English because she didn't come back to bother us ;)...guess she didn't see me getting a bear hug from the Yamaga FC gorrilla

Last year we picked up a Chinese group, this year some home-stayers from the US, here with my old friend Mark Gribsco. Also a few other folks I didn't know, but presumably British, as they didn't mind putting on the Union Jack bandanas. Late arrivals Kouichi, Mark & family, Tsuchida-san padded our ranks welcomely as some tired ones toddled home.

Thanks this year to my parents-in-law for pushing us around - manning the drinks - and to Alex & Martin, Liza, Owen, Michelle for genki-ing up the crew. Big thank you to Maki guarding us, her baptism of fire as we tried to manage without Yuki-chan for the first time since we started joining Bon Bon about 10 years ago (of course she still organised everything!).

And of course a very big thank you to all who danced with us, or came along to cheer us through the streets. Take a moment to share your photos please at Lunasafamily@groups.msn.com and remember to book early next year for "Bambino Bon"!

DR STRANGELOVE

I’m sorry for my late reply, but please find my writing homework as follows. I still couldn’t understand why the author chooses “DR STRANGELOVE” as a title.

(Q23)
What do you think is the main message of the book? Do you think it is still important today?

I think what the book wants to say is “don’t rely on the machine too much”, because there is no prefect machine. In the end, our real(not prefect) human are making and using the Machine.
I also think that the message is more important today, because we can do everything by PC and internet. E.g. shopping, cashing drawer, dealings on the stock exchange and etc
The cyber terrorist may be able to control the computer at Pentagon (United States Department of Defense) by hacking.
Finally, I think that “the Doomsday IT” is more appropriate than “the Doomsday Machine” in these modern days.

APOLLO 13 (2)

Hi,Everybody!

I'm going to write about APOLLO 13, which was I read long time ago.
[13]You work for a newspaper. Write a story about Apollo 13. Why didn't the astronauts walk o n the Moon? How did they get home?

APOLLO 13 COME BACK THE EARTH WITH IT'S CREW !

Apollo 13 had an accident through the Moon. The control ship had got an engine trouble. The astronauts, who got on Apollo 13 wouldn't go to the Moon. But Apollo 13 was on the way to the Moon. The Moon landing ship had saved them. They used it for a main rocket. It went about the Moon and round the Moon. They could be back to the Earth.

Airport time

Jim sensei twisting my internet arm to contribute to a bolg...glog...grog..oh yeah! a blog. First time blogger (really) long time friend of Jim. Missing Matsumoto as it was the very best place to live in Japan. Lucky to have had a chance to visit last October and do the onsen tour with your blogger host. Many baths and many beers later...on the train back to Tokyo and a long flight home.

Inside yet another airport today (Tampa, Florida) and trying out blogging for the first time. Will contribute photo if I ever join the 21st century and buy a digital camera. Actually got a new cell phone with camera, but haven't tried the darn thing yet. Don't camera phones steal your soul when they take your picture?

Florida is a beautiful place if you've never been and even if you have. Trying to find a job and move down here. If any of you have Florida contacts, please let me know. If you are Chicago-bound, let me know that too. Time to catch my flight!