My comment for the readers book (3)

It has been nice reading with this book. I enjoyed it very much.
Do you think the stories teach us anything about life? If yes, what lessons have you learnt, and from which stories ?
Yes I am. From "Finders keepers". In this story Harry Chen of main characters got the amazing whistle. When he blew it he must have been outside time in some way. It stopped Time itself. During this period only he can move and do anything. Then blew the whistle again , get back to the former world. After he knew everything about this, he would do wrong thing. But unfortunately after he blew it, the whistle was broken by accident. Then he couldn't get back to the real world. Wound up too much , terrible thing will happen. Scared.

I think Both is very carefree city. And the shopkeepr shold be more careful.
I can't understand why he treat such a baluable coins and stamps so coarsen.
But I like the country city. Beautiful landscape, rich and varied nature and so on.

I hope someday to visit Both and enjoy good culture and nature.

Postcard from Auckland, New Zealand

You have ten minutes remaining

The sound of pens and pencils furiously scribbling as the clock counts down. Oh yes, exams again!

Luna's venue in Hokuriku hosted its first KET & PET session on November 23rd. Jim drove through the very early morning freezing rain and sleet to be there help the school get started, and also to conduct the speaking tests with one of our recently trained new oral examiners. Jim had to let her do all the hard work as he had a bad cold and could barely speak - well done Mo!
Meanwhile our Tokyo venue once again ran a smooth session concurrently, for which we need to give a lot of credit to Trevor and Chie, and thank Reiko at Westgate for helping us sort out OEs. We are going to be on a big OE recruiting drive in 2009, which will be an exciting year for us (more news on that soon).

The first weekend of December means First Certificate of English (FCE). The Gold Standard!My favourite exam for several reason, two obvious ones being it is the reason I got interested in Cambridge (UCLES) exams in the first place, and that I believe it is an achievable goal for all of our students at Luna. This is the first time we have run FCE on a Saturday at two venues; with Yukari's help, Eleanor's co-operation, and Tana's generousity with her free-time, candidates sat the test in Matsumoto. Hijiri also spent his first day without mum Yuki, who left home at 4.30am to supervise the Tokyo sitting at Oxford University Press's headquarters, driving down with Jim; a busy day for Luna's family!

OUP looked after us superbly, and we are very grateful to Colin for all his help, and to OUP as usual for their kindness and generosity.

A picture to Remember

I have read the book.I interested to this story.

I selected the after reading No.3: Which character did you like best in "A picture to Remember".

I like Daniel. Daniel is a gym manager at the Recoleta Health Club in Argentina. I thought if Daniel is not exist in story, then this story is not established.But he is not both a main person and a heroine.
Daniel save Cristina(main person in story) from mafia(Roberto and Calros). And her headache went away by Daniel's action as 3 below things in story.

1. Roberto dropped a weight to Cristina and hurt her, when Daniel quickly leave for her and give medical treatment in his managing gym. Also after following her, he aggressively tryed to dig out the criminal.

2. When Cristina and Daniel ran away from mafia(Calros and Roberto) on the Argentine road , he actived to protecting her at ending story. Then Daniel said things at last sean (Carlos and Robert's car hit the police car), he said "Stay here, It could still be dangerous." I felt he calmed down and judged a situation at any time.

3. A lot of people come at his gym. Maybe his gym is comfortable and clean for guest by his good humanity (At anytime, he smile and polite to first coming guest).

I wanted to emulate Daniel's behavior after reading this story.

Regards,

Hironobu Inada

TWO LIVES

I have read the book. I enjoyed this story very much.
After reading No.8. “Write a letter from Megan to Paul, saying that she has decided to marry Huw.”

Dear Paul

Thanks for your kindness. I can’t marry you. I can’t forget Huw. He is in my heart fully. I found his letters in a box of my father’s papers. They were unopened. I never knew that he had written to me. I thought his new life in Canada had made him forget me. It was not true. He had sent his letters for me, and had waited my letter. Huw and I met in Tredonald. We had spoken about the old days. I was happy every time I saw him or heard his voice. I felt that I couldn’t live without Huw. It was difficult for me to escape from thoughts of Huw. I realized I loved Huw. I’m sorry I can’t marry you. I won’t meet you any longer. Don't look for me. Good-bye.

With best wishes
Megan Jenkins

Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

20 Katrina is Brom's wife. She asks him about the legend of Ichabod Crane and the ghost rider. Write Brom's answer.

Brom said as below,

Some people say that there are two ghosts in Sleepy Hollow. One is the white woman near a big tree. Another one is the horse rider without his head near the small river. The Ichabod's hat was found near the river, so I guess he met the horse rider. Maybe, he was very surprised and fell from his horse Gunpowder. He've run away to New York, because he hated country side with ghosts. I think he misunderstood other thing as the ghost. I believe that there are no ghosts in Sleepy Hollow. 

Hajime

My comment for readers books (2)

I enjoyed this book very much. I have taken much time to finish reading it. I'll get short to complete reading the next book. I'd like to write about the followings. Would you like to live and work in a foreign country, like Paul and Jacky ? Why ? Why not ?


Yes, I'd like to. I was wondering if I could live one of western countries for the the future. If possible, it would be the place where is moderate climate. Also I want to work in a foreign country at least once in my life. I think it make me more interesting.

My comment for readers books (1)

I have read the readers book , " The Amsterdam Connection". I enjoyed this story very much. I'd like to write down my opinion for the followings.
Which actors would you choose to play the main characters ?
Would you make any changes to the story ?

I like Charlize Theron as movie star, one of Hollywood celeb. She looks very beautiful and has a strong character. Also acting very well. Her character completely match in this story. That is why I would choose her as one of the main character, Kate Jensen.

Yes, I would make two changes. One is place, the other is sports around this story. I would change the place from Amsterdam to Toronto and the sports from football to Ice Hockey. This change make it interesting and more thrilling.

Enkai season

Oh yes, the cold wintry nights are upon us, and with them the season of parties and red noses!

I was invited to join a lovely gaggle of ladies I have been teaching lately to celebrate (I think?) the end of their course. They were in good spirits by the time I managed to get there - I couldn't get off work any earlier. They had enjoyed the Tapas menu fully, by the looks of it.

It is always nice to see students away from the classroom and to be able to interact fully. Of course we had a ni-ji-kai (very civilised Japanese habit of kicking on for a "second" party) and I managed to catch up on the drinks. So much so, I found the Hagen Daaz I bought on my way home still in my pocket, unopened, the next time I wore my warm coat - three days later. Should I eat it...this is the question!

Professional development - Luna leads

For the last 15 years or so I have made an annual trip down to Tokyo to take part in the Tokyo English Language (TEL) bookfair, which these days is run with English Teachers Japan (ETJ).

The event is sponsored by the major publishers as well, and as such is a good opportunity to see what new materials are available. A lot of authors are there to present their new books, and other experienced educators, teachers, material developers are there to demonstrate new ideas and old, explain the obvious and suggest new ways to skin a cat. I always find something useful to bring back to my school, and am delighted to report that so did Tana. Again. I am very pleased that our staff as in the past make the extra effort to develop their professional skills and are prepared to travel, join in, and take their jobs seriously.

Luna's teachers are always well looked after by the publishers, and we are grateful for their continuing support. Cambridge University Press were delighted to see how much use of their readers is on show here (as they should be - there's a lot of quality work being done by you)! Our friends at Oxford University Press are lending us premises to hold FCE exams next week, and we are looking forward to doing more with McGraw-Hill.

This year I let Tana be the genki one, and she found herself on stage rather a lot. She brings this energy to class, as you can imagine. I went to see a few technical presentations, including one by Mr Stout, whose presentation two years ago prompted me to get this blog going properly. Again, he showed a bunch of very handy ideas that I hope to bring into our school's orbit. Please visit his blog? A couple of other presentations fell in to the "me, me, and more about me" category which really annoy me, me, and me; I want practical stuff not 45 minutes of self-inflating rubbish.

Anyway, if Tana & I look tired today, bear with us. A weekend in Tokyo working takes a little getting over!

But was it Murder

Eliod said at last "In life you could never be sure of anything." Yes, I agree with him. The world is moving. The human society is also moving for somewhere. The human emotion is foamy. Everything is changing and also life is uncertain. We can be sure of one thing - there will be a change. However, someone said "A man is not finished when he is defeated. He is finished when he quits." I also agree to this.

STRONG MEDICINE

(Q1.) What do you think happens to Mark Latto and Sylvia Koning next?

I think that they love each other. Of course, they married soon after incident of Deborah Spencer. They live at Latto's house in Scotland. They continue research of helping patients with Parkinson's Disease. They refer to Deborah Spencer's book about helping patients with Parkinson's Disease. That work is very difficult and they have to spend many time. After a few years, second incident happens. Keiffenheim Laboratories don't like the work of Mark and Sylvia. Mark and Sylvia fight to Keiffenheim Laboratories. The action story is 'STRONG MEDICINE II'.

DOUBLE CROSS

Which character do you like the most? why?

There are many appealing characters in the story. For example, Blom, Bruce, Carsson, and Cabind. (Chapman and Vitjord are not appealing)
Above all, My most favorite character is Monika in the story, because she was twenty-six years old pretty woman with blonde hair, and she loved her work, and sometimes she fight against strong enemies even if several mens. But my most favorite point about Monika is to wear bikini for her work.

I think that her bikini style is very appealing. In summer, I would like to swin with her. It would be exiciting for me. So, I like Monika. Yoichi

Chilly Florida

Last week I visited to Florida on business. I was told to send postcard, but I was too busy to do it. Therefore I am posting a report here, instead.

I have lots of experience to visit there, I've ever been there even in the middle of winter, but this time it was unusual cold as warm Florida. I had free time on Monday morning, so I went to beach. It was fine day, but very windy and cold.(By the way, I forgot about the postcard at that time. It was only chance to buy it)

As for business, we had a lot of good result, though it was very tiring week. We had a long meeting every day.

Unlucky happening had come at end. My colleagues and I left for Japan Saturday early morning, via Chicago. We arrived at Chicago without any trouble. We boarded next flight to Japan on time at noon, but the airplane didn't start. According to a announcement, the aircraft seemed to have some trouble on its engine, and mechanic was trying to fix. Then, they gave it up, and we had to move to another airplane, after waiting for a few hours in the airplane. The alternative airplane would depart at 4:00pm. We boarded again, but they gave up again due to aircraft servicing.( I don't know actual reason because I didn't catch the detail of announcement. Of course that's English...). New flight was the next day. We had to stay in Chicago , after wasting a day in the airport after all. We could have had enough time to go sightseeing in the downtown if we had been able to predict it.

D51

We rode on D51 that was an old steam locomotive of Japan on the last weekend.

This train ran for the 120th anniversary memorial event of Shin-Etsu line of JR. This locomotive is called by the pet name of "Degoichi". We rode on this train from Nagano to Kurohime.

A lot of people saw and took photos this train on railway side.I also took many photos of the train and my family.

After dinner, We saw fireworks of "Ebisu-Kou" festival in Nagano city.

My family had a very exciting day. But, I was very tired. Because I drove a car from my home to Nagano-City, and I ran to take photo and held tired children and walked.

eiji

Australia and New Zealand

Question: Choose a city or part of Australia or New Zealand that you like to visit.

I hope to visit New Zealand.

I like snowboarding. I know there are a lot of very good snowboard place in New Zealand. New Zealand’s season is opposite to Japan. I can enjoy winter sport in summer of Japan.

Add, I want to enjoy nature and watching unusual animals.

On is a volcano on North Island. I interest to power of nature.
I want to learn culture of New Zealand such as Haka. I thought that this travel becomes very exciting.

eiji

Martin Luther King

I read Martin Luther King. I knew his name because he is a famous man but I didn't knew what he did in detail.

He was a person who managed to change racism between Black pepole to White pepole. Additionally He was a person who win the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the second American who win it.

I thought that there are no American racism now but I knew that American racism has leave yet after I read this book.

Recently Mr Barack Obama became the president of America. This is very big change for American racism. I hope that he will change this problem.

COMMERCE

I read the book, I remembered the USA recently are occurred economic anxiety by subprime leading. It might occur next the great depression in the world. It means be connected commerce all over the world. I felt a large scale that are made commerce by people. And I felt the commerce have a lot of history.

D.Project work Read the advertising slogans for Coca-Cola on page 19. Then choose another product and make an advertisement. Think of your own slogan for the product.
I make advertisement of printer product.

'People and People communicates by printing' I think the communication.
'Exceed printing your vision' I think the future.
'Reduce it by print' I think the earth environment

yasu

The USA

I have seen or heard about USA every day, and I feel the USA is really big and exciting country. 

Now America might have many problems about rich and poor, appeal by arms, a discriminatory consciousness... Next year, new president Obama will appear, we hope his appearance would give a good impression to all of world.

I have ever visited California two times by business trip about eight or nine years ago, then I visited Napa Valley and San Francisco in holidays. At that time, I found the difference of grape farms between California and Japan. In San Francisco, I experienced falling down from top of the S-shape steep slope by car, but I have heard nowadays that's action is prohibited.

Junji