Cheesy songs I love - Number 1

I like this one, both versions.





Plus, you can sing it karaoke at this cool site.

Kid's Websites

Along with www.readingeggs.com (a subscription reading site for kids learning to read), there seem to be a million other websites for kids:

All Sorts of Things
http://www.anglomaniacy.pl/abcZebra.htm


General Online Resources - Reading Material & Activities
http://web-japan.org/kidsweb/ (or http://web-japan.org/kidsweb/language/)
http://www.globio.org/
http://kids.yahoo.com/
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/Home.html
http://www.ipl.org/div/kidspace/

Reference Books
http://www.worldalmanacforkids.com/
http://www.factmonster.com/
http://www.almanac4kids.com/index.php
http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/artcenter.aspx
http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/

Mother Goose
http://www.fidella.com/trmg/
http://www.mothergoose.com/Rhymes/merryMelodieMenu.htm
http://www.mothergoose.com/Rhymes/Azrhymes.htm
http://www.nurseryrhymes4u.com/
http://www.rhymes.org.uk/

Fables & Fairytales
http://www.kidsgen.com/fables_and_fairytales/
http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-stories-fairy-tales.htm
http://www.grimmfairytales.com/en/stories

Kids' Stories Online
http://storynory.com/
http://www.magickeys.com/books/
http://www.pitara.com/talespin/story.asp
http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-stories.htm
http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-stories-little-kids.htm

ESL Teaching Resources & Tips for Teachers
http://www.eslkidstuff.com/
http://www.eslkidstuff.com/TipsLibrary.htm
http://www.genkienglish.net/curriculum.htm
http://www.genkienglish.net/songs.htm
http://www.genkienglish.net/games.htm

Songs
http://www.weesing.com/homepage.htm
http://www.seussville.com/

Phonics & Reading
http://kanagawaschools.webng.com/CILS/Phonics.doc (Sounds of English letter-combinations [graphemes] in order of frequency)
http://kanagawaschools.webng.com/CILS/Phonic%20Rules.doc
http://www.syntheticphonics.com/
http://www.foniks.org/
http://www.verticalphonics.com/
http://www.readinga-z.com/phonics/reading-phonics.php
http://www.icanreadsystem.com/?gclid=CIaQ-9WmgJECFRkZewodmk45_A

Vanilla Sky

Okay...onto my second movie for today (just watched Blow this morning) and am surprised how good Vanilla Sky is. I guess it came out when I was in Japan and I got it confused with Days of Thunder. Therefore, I thought it was a movie with Tom Cruise, Penelope Cruz and fast cars....not quite.

Anyway, half way through. According to one reviewer on IMDB, "I for one really like this movie for some reasons I'll go into later but I want to touch on why I think people don't like it. First off, there are people out there who just like to hate Tom Cruise. I don't understand it really. Second, Cameron Crowe I think successfully p***es off two groups of movie-goers with this film. The casual, relaxed, "not looking to think too hard" group of movie-goers are left confused when the plot takes a complete 180 at the end of the movie. And the deep, philosophical, mystery-fans are devastated when Crowe has one of his characters completely explain the mystery."

I am interested to see which type I am today : ) I think a little of both.

Holidays!

Technically (and, well, actually too) I have three more days of work, but they are fairly light days:

Monday - one class in the computer lab - students are finishing their self-study worksheets (called "Bingo" to make it fun!) - every time someone completes their sheet, I shout BINGO and everyone claps. Love the Japanese!

Tuesday - another class in the computer lab - students will evaluate themselves for semester 1 and we'll discuss what to do in semester 2 - I am tossing up between following the same format as another class (blogs / songs / music / websites / self-study) or having students do presentations on different learning resources (MUCH more hassle)....after that class, there's one more writing class where I am interviewing them individually and giving out summer homework (evil teacher!).

Wednesday - one more 1a class - where the six students who have pretty much failed, get a second chance by showing me how sincere they are about changing their ways!!!

So, only four more classes (my other university classes finished early - as all good universities do). YAY!

Sometimes, though, when I get into holiday mode, it takes a while to adjust. I tend to sit in front of the Internet for hours at a time and not do much else...(what? you mean that's what you all do as well?). To avoid that, I'll make a few plans for each day.

Today's possibilities:

- sew a cushion cover
- clean the apartment from top to bottom
- go to a party this evening in Tokyo
- order some cosmetics off strawberrynet.com
- go somewhere else in Tokyo before the party
- reply to all starred emails
- sleep
- eat

Obviously, not all possible, me thinks....

Other stuff to do during the vacation

- prepare for my trip to New York
- make a scrapbook about my previous trip to Australia
- sort photos on the computer
- check out the Gibli museum (home of Totoro and other famous Japanese animated movie characters by Hayao Miyazaki)
- check out the Tokyo Edo Museum
- go clothes shopping at the Gap and Banana Republic (same company, same clothes, different prices)
- upload all first semester work to box.net (my teaching group's shared drive)
- eat lots of sushi and drink lots of beer and enjoy the 30 degree heat as much as possible
- plan another trip to Ishikawa and maybe to Kansai (Osaka, Kyoto)
- go to Harajuku to see the crazies
- go to the movies
- check out some exhibitions at Odaiba (toy / craft shows etc - thousands of stalls)

I'm baaaccckkkk!

Phew...oh my lord it has been a busy semester. Working two jobs probably ain't the best idea, but I'm doing it and almost surviving.

Today, I had a class party for my 1a class. There is one more class next week, but only the ones who have "failed" must attend - I have a soft heart, so if they attend and do some extra credit work over the summer vacation, they can pass.

The party was interesting. There are three rough boys who are repeating all their English courses for a second year, since they failed the first time around. One says |"I love you!" every time he sees me and waits for my response - it is a good way for me to assess my own mood - when it's good, I automatically say "I love you" back - because I love all of humankind and its many foibles. When I'm in a bad mood, he gets a grunt in response for his ridiculous childishness. Poor guy must really think I run hot and cold, because I do.

So anyway, I made an effort this morning - I bought coke (yuck!), jelly beans, and chips from Costco and baked some lemon cupcakes in my tiny microwave / oven. I made a "count how many jelly beans are in the jar" game for them (my creativity and their lack of English skills didn't extend to anything more) and spent a couple of hours preparing report sheets for each one. The ones who had to do the make-up work got yellow report cards. The rest got orange report cards. I realised most of them are good kids, apart from the three which are basically Japanese examples of Beavis and Butthead.

Another teacher came along and asked me what a more appropriate word than "sexy" would be to call the teacher. Apparently Beavis and co had said "Today, you are sexy" to her. I had a wee chat to the boys, saying it's a bit rude to say that to a female teacher. I asked whether they would say it to a Japanese staff member and they said "Sure, why not?". I couldnt' quite believe it, so I went to one of the office workers and asked her. She said she wouldn't mind, although it was "a bit seku-hara" (sexual harassment). So I went back and told the boys that. I tried to explain about women's rights etc etc. How in "my country" women didn't have to put up with those types of comments. Ha ha ha. I think one kind of understood, but the other two live in/for their lovely world of porn stars, beer and no real female company.

More stories about Beavis and co later.

Now I'm home again with Rai - he's watching Tom and Jerry (something I missed as a child - plenty of Road Runner, no Tom and Jerry in NZ), I'm gonna have a beer.

Phew.