This month's issue has:

Letter From the Editor:
"The Coming of Rage"

Japanese Cultural Forum:
"Ritual Control"

Teaching Tip:
Reading and Pronunciation.

Grammar Tip:
Past Simple vs Past Progressive.

Teacher Profile:
Please Call Me…

General Information

From the Clubhouse

WELCOME

Hi, my name is Alastair Bain. Most of you know as 'Ali', 'Al', or simply 'Sir'. I'm the editor of this newsletter. This is a newsletter created to stimulate interest in our work, each other, and our living environment in general.

I've started this newsletter with a few ideas but I want everybody to share in it. So please get into it by responding to articles, and providing new articles, teaching tips etc. I may randomly call on people to submit things. I'm only the collector and organiser of information. My goal is to have everybody involved so that I don't have to do a lot of writing.

So… I have started the ball rolling here; it's up to everyone now to keep it rolling.

Hopefully future issues will have more content.
Alastair

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
The Coming of Rage

The coming of age ceremonies in Japan of late have been disrupted by unruly youth. Is this a microcosm of what we can expect of Japans youth in the future? Are you worried about tomorrow's leaders? Or are they simply fed up with being lectured to with long boring speeches from government bureaucrats? How much of this behaviour comes from Western influences?

NB: Al will soon be intransit. If you have any articles or advice to offer you can fax him at HIB3 until March 12th, and then at NMZ from March 13th. He assures us that he will be on-line soon so we can email him.

TEACHING TIP
Reading and pronunciation

Read a passage aloud together at the same time. Then read the passage again with the student following the teacher just one or two syllables behind. This helps the student to try to make their own pronunciation of words and also have a guide on how to pronounce it. It takes some getting used to with the timing (but that can be a bit of fun just trying to get it right). It also helps the student recognize pronunciation with the different spelling of words. (sounding words out).
The next step would be for the student to read the passage by themselves but more fluently. Pick out a key phrase, have them read it, then cover it, and see if they can reproduce the sentence fluently. This can be used as a form of rhythm training in itself.

Reading doesn't have to be a passive exercise. I always encourage the members to read aloud at home by themselves for homework.
Do you have any reading techniques to help speaking?

GRAMMAR TIP
Simple past vs past progressive.

I was walking my dog and I found 10,000yen!
I walked my dog and I found 10,000yen!
I walked my dog and I was finding 10,000yen!

It's obvious to us, which is the right choice, but it's often confusing for learners. I find a lot of learners can use simple past or past progressive in isolation but have trouble mixing them together.
Past progressive is often used to introduce a story (I was walking my dog); it also denotes the longer of the two actions.
Simple past often denotes the more important or has a stronger emphasis of the two actions.
Often the key to combining the two forms is the kind of joiner you use. (and/when/while etc). Give the students two situations on two separate cards and have them choose which one introduces to the main action and the main action itself. Then they can try to link the sentence together using a choice of joining words on separate cards. This is where learning from pictures is important. You could simply draw the story on the white board to save time making cards.
Try this idea, did it work for you? If it didn't, is there a better way of doing it?

TEACHER PROFILE
Please call me…

Every month we would like to interview a trainer or two to get to know them better (and to pry), so being a one eyed Haibarian, I have interviewed a neighbour Haibarian first.
Please call him.... Sean McCormack.

Sean
Country: Tilbury Canada.
Birthday: January 19th.
Favourite interchange lesson: Directions, it's straight forward.
Favourite lunch at the cafeteria: Spaghetti meat sauce.
Pet hate: when your hands smell like food. Naming the last movie I saw as my favourite one.
Love to do: rant and rave.
Interests: Sport - tennis, badminton, indeyaka.
Best place in Japan: Nagasaki.
Best restaurant in Japan: Cecilio's pizza (Brazilian).
Best bar in Japan: some basement in Osaka.
Favourite movie: Momento (the last movie he saw).
Favourite Japanese word: 'shoganai'.
Dream: speak Spanish.
Stupidest action in Japan: Can't say , it's incriminating.
Phrase to live by: "Piece of cake", "It'll all work out", "Play it by ear".
Favourite Japanese thing: Edamame beans, no safety rules at festivals.
Worst part about living in Japan: not understanding things clearly so you can't stand by your principles. Knowing where you stand.

GENERAL INFORMATION

Steve McFarlane has kindly provided some web sites useful for teaching.
Business English: www.bizenglish.com
This site has a link to a series of free newspaper articles that they will e-mail you regularly. The articles have a vocabulary list but no exercises. A sample is available on-line.
International Business Communicators: www.ibcjapan.org
They hold monthly meetings (mostly in Tokyo) and will have a 2-day conference in Tokyo in March. The site also has a links to a free mailing list they run where teachers can exchange ideas and discuss questions.

Internet TESL Journal: http://iteslj.org
This is a free monthly journal for ESL teachers

PARTY
Well, there was one. In my apartment (Makinohara Grand Heights) on January 19th, for Sean's surprise birthday. Lots of people came, Japanese, Brazilians FIA teachers. About 30 people. Ate lots of Brazilian food and had two kegs on tap. Finished at 4.30am with JD shots. Ask Sean about his new boxer shorts - very original. There will be another party at Makinohara Grand Heights in March (bloody huge one actually) details coming soon.
If you have a party let us know or give us a review of a party that was had!

Name: Bistro fuenetoru (written in Katakana)
Style: French (authentic as far as I can tell)
Price: 1,200yen for a lunch set. (3 courses)
Where: Near the Kurose bridge (the one next to the police station) It's about 50metres past the crab restaurant (opposite side of bridge to Police station) that people went to after the last meeting. It's on the left hand side (set in fro the road) Parking available. It's really small with a wood stature out the front of a French Farmer/country gentleman???. Shop frontage is blue.
Comments: Try the fish. It has a pesto style sauce.

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FROM THE CLUBHOUSE
Thank you Al for getting the newsletter up and running. Everyone please support these efforts so we can make this newsletter as good as it can possibly be.

There will be/have been a few people getting engaged or married over the past months. Best wishes to Hirose-san and Koyama-san on their up and coming weddings. Best wishes to Julian for his wedding in April. Congratulations to Jim Molloy and Alastair Bain on their weddings. Congratulations to Sarah Newcomer and Nicole Dewar on their engagements. Apologies to anyone we have forgotten.

A past trainer will be joining the company in April. John Wellings will be returning to the fold and will be working in the Tobu region. Where exactly we haven't decided.

Mr. Kaneko turned 60 n February 7th. This is an important event for Japanese people and is called "kanreki". The exact meaning I am not sure, but it is like being reborn. Maybe a decent explanation of "kanreki" can be given in next month's edition. Congratulations Shacho.

The Japanese staff have been run ragged over the past month working on the Global program. They have been trying to provide lessons that enable the students to experience the language as opposed to learning through a text book. Coming up with lessons of this nature has been a challenging endeavour at times.

That's about it. Until next time......Pete