Hello again...
By the way...My name is Chris ... I am the head teacher at Canadian Voice...and I am the guy who does the BLOG
I have been teaching in Nagano for almost 16 years...
I am Canadian and so....of course I love hockey...

I also love to teach and make lessons...
Making lessons and games has been so much fun that it has become one of my hobbies....
I love to sit down with a coffee and try to come up with some good ideas...

I think that only learning from a textbook is not enough and so...
I try to mix the lessons with games and videos to make it more interesting and a lot more fun...

Alright...now...
If we take a look at my new Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel game which arrived yesterday...

I will use it as a supplement to review the nouns in the textbook....and....to practice making sentences with the new prepositions on page 50 & 51....

I have made some new cards for it....Here are a few examples..

And...I got Jessica sensei to cut and laminate them for me...

I found a video that is short and cute and I will be able to use it to review and teach other vocabulary from the Let's Go 1 & 2 Books....

By the way....This is the Swedish Chef from the Muppet Show...
When I was growing up he was one of my favourite Muppets...

Now...I know what you are thinking...
What is a Muppet?
Well...A Muppet is a kind of puppet that was created by Jim Henson in 1955...

Great characters like Ernie and Bert from Sesame Street are also Muppets... 

This is a story from 1969 where Bert loses his nose...

Let's go Fun Flap...Adjectives and Nouns...

Here is a Fun Flap that I made for the "Let's Go Textbook"...

It was just for fun and it was my first one since elementary school..

When you were a kid...Didn't you just love these things???

Good Luck trying to make it....

Anyways...Enjoy...

Silent e words.... "e"...

A few days ago.... I posted the silent e "a" words....

Well...Here is the list of silent e "e" words....

Study Hard....

Coffee Shop Conversation Questions...

This week...
We will take a break from Trump and...we will talk about coffee and coffee shops...

We will talk about and compare the 2 biggest coffee shops in Nagano City...
Starbucks and Tully's...

Here are a couple of questions from today's lesson...
I also included some student answers....

1.       Are there any Starbucks coffee shops around here?

*There are 2 Starbucks 

*There is one across from Tokyu department store

*There is one on the 1st floor of the station

*There is one at the station on the 1^st floor

*The other one is near Tokyo

Alright now…

How about Tully’s Coffee….

2.       Is there a Tully’s coffee shop around here?

There are 2 Tully’s coffee shops around here…

*There is 1 in Ivy Square

*There is 1 on the 2^nd floor of Midori

*There is one in Ivy Square

*The other one is in Midori on the 2^nd floor

Alright now….Question…What do you think?

3.       Which is better Tully’s or Starbucks?

*I think …..is better

*I think so, too.

Why? 

Tully’s is better..

*I like the atmosphere there

Starbucks is better.

*The coffee there is delicious.

Tully's is better.

*I like the staff there

Starbucks is better

*I love the snacks there.

Alright…now…A little bit of coffee history…

Do you know…

4.       Where did both coffee shops first start?

*They both started in Seattle

Alright now…

If we take a look over here…

5.       When did the 1^st Starbucks open in Seattle?

*It opened on March 31, 1971

*The first Starbucks opened on March 31, 1971

Alright now…

We could also use “kanroyke…”

6.       How long has Starbucks been open for?

*It has been open for 45 years

OK…now…

When we use “kanryoke”….

We can’t say “from”…

So….We can’t say…

From March 31, 1971…

7.       What do we have to use instead of “from”….

*We have to use “since”

OK…sounds good....now...

8.       How long has Starbucks been open for?

*It has been open since 1971

*Starbucks has been open since 1971

Alright now….

How about Tully’s…What do you think?

9.       Is Tully’s younger or older than Starbucks?

*I think…

Alright now…If we take a look…

10.   When did the 1^st Tully’s coffee shop open?

*It opened in 1992.

*The first Tully’s opened in 1992.

Sounds good and so… again…Kanryoke version, please…

11.   How long has Tully’s been open for?

*It has been open for 25 years

Ok…now…Please use “since”

How long has Tully’s been open for? 

*It has been open since 1992.

OK…and…If we take a look at Wiki…

12.   How many Starbucks coffee shops are there now in the world?

*There are 24,464 shops

*There are 24, 464 shops worldwide

*There are 24,464 shops around the world

Alright now…

Again…What do you think?

13.   Are there more or fewer Tully’s coffee shops?

*There are fewer Tully’s coffee shops

*There are more Tully’s coffee shops than Starbucks

OK…now…

If we take a look at Tully’s on Wiki…

14.   How many Tully’s coffee shops are there in America..

*There are only 17 stores.

*There are only 17 stores in the US

Now…

Besides the US…

15.   Where else can you find Tully’s coffee shops?

*You can find them in Korea and Japan

Alright now for … “Yappari”…There were 2 patterns …

“Yappari….”

#1 ~ I knew + S + would + doushi

#2 ~ I knew it…+ bunshou

(Please write #1 & #2)

OK…now…

“Yappari….Starbucks no hou ga ooi”..

#1 ~ I knew there would be more Starbucks coffee shops

#1 ~ I knew there would be more Starbucks coffee shops than Tully’s

#2 ~ I knew it…there are more Starbucks coffee shops than Tully’s

OK…and….How about the age of the coffee shops…

“Yappari…Starbucks no hou ga furui”

#1 ~ *I knew Starbucks coffee would be older

#2 ~ *I knew it…Starbucks is older than Tully’s

Whew....Well...Again...
These were a couple of the questions and student answers...

**I also found out that Maruyama Coffee is from Nagano...Cool...

The Sneaky, Snacky, Squirrel Game...

I have been doing game some more game shopping ....again...
I finally found a copy of this game on this game on the internet...

I had been looking for a used copy for a long time to replace missing parts....
It was used as a game in the "Let's Go" textbook ...
Kids could practice using new grammar points as well
It was a lot of fun and kids really enjoyed it...

The game has won multiple awards...it is cute and colorful...
#1 ~ It teaches kids colours....
#2 ~ Helps to develop matching skills
#3 ~ Strategic thinkoing
#4 ~ Hand eye coordination
and...
#5 ~ Fine motor skills...

Yeah...What she said...

Well...Hopefully this time...the pieces don't get lost...

Silent e words.... "a"...

Young kids are going to have to start practicing silent-e words soon...

We will start with the "a" words  and work our way up to the "u" words...

If you have time...Please practice reading with your kids...

I liked this OLD, OLD song....It was cute...and it teaches how the grammar works..

Good luck...

The Great Wall of Trump....I am not surprised....I wouldn't be surprised if....

Last week...

We talked about:

#1 ~ Trump's wall

        Why America might need it...

         Drugs and drug dealers...

We saw a few clips from this video...

#2 ~ How much the wall will cost

#3 ~ What they will use to build the wall

We also saw clips from this video...

Here are 2 prints from last week's lesson...

First Blog in a long time...Trump's Wall..."Yappari..."

The first Blog in a long time...

I have been able to hand out prints to students in class and so...I haven't been keeping up with the BLOG...

But...Since many students have been sick...I will start it again....

Anyways...

This week...

We were talking about 

#1 ~ illegal immigrants in the US 

#2 ~ Trump's border wall

#3 ~ Trump's plan to deport illegal immigrants living in the US

While we were talking about these points...We tried to include and use "yappari"....

Here are a few examples from class....

Take a look...and hope they help...