The Theatre: Hidden gem of a restaurant in Kanazawa

Me and Kari doing our best trying to look sophisticated....

Met the girls tonight for a girly dinner and catch up. Standing about trying to decide where to go, Ayako told us about this restaurant that her and her hubby Dustin went to a few weeks ago.

We trekked off to the restaurant, called "The Theatre". Never has the phrase "don't judge a book by its cover" been more pertinent to describe this place!

There's a scrappy looking sign outside the building with an arrow pointing up, ahh its on the 4th floor. There's no lift so you have to trek up 4 floors of a really manky outdoor stairwell.

BUT people I promise, you will be rewarded for the restaurant is such a hidden gem and a wonderful surprise when you get inside. To be honest half way up the stairs myself and Kari were ready to turn back but it was only for Ayako's insistence...

Inside the restaurant has a french shabby boutique cafe feel (rare in Kanazawa I've realised) Wooden floorboards, soft lighting, little Parisian style patio chairs, plants and a very chilled out ambiance.

The owner was the only one there. He was not only serving drinks but prepping the food, cooking it and serving it. God I love a guy who can multi-task...

The menu (in Japanese I'm afraid peeps) advertised homemade pizzas, pastas, rice dishes, salads and a selection of yummy appetizers. We had the homemade "clog your arteries with every mouthful" 4 cheeses pizza which I can highly recommend as well as a few random appetizers.

3 bottles of Chilean's finest red wine later, we stumbled down the 6 flights of stairs narrowly avoiding injury. By the time we left the place had filled up with locals just having drinks so I guess it's a bar to hang out in too. I felt like a right "insider", this isn't a place you'd stumble across thats for sure but well worth the leap of faith and manky stairwell.

The Theatre is in the above building on a little street just behind Kanazawa City Hall. To being extra helpful I've even put it on a google map. Have fun there!

View The Theatre Restaurant, Kanazawa in a larger map

How to use a Western toilet in Japan

Sign in the loo cubicle

On the way back from Osaka in the summer our bus stopped for a quick loo break at the service station. When I got into the loo cubicle I couldn’t stop laughing when I saw this resist this sign of how to use a Western toilet. I guess it’s aimed at the older Japanese generation who are used to using those awful squatters (I've written a post about those here). Who knows but I simply had to take a piccie.

So take note folks. When you come to Japan don't try and back dive off the toilet, ok?!

Influenza (H1N1) at Isurugi Elementary school

Me in the staff room at Isurugi Elementary school

Last week the school was shut due to the fact that 20 of my 6th grade pupils (and pupils from every other grade) were off sick with a new type of the H1N1 influenza that is sweeping the country. So I came into school but only the teachers were in. We were all told to wear masks as a preventive measure. For some reason they seem to look normal on the Japanese but I think I look ridiculous. At least I only have to wear it at school.

We also have to disinfect our hands with this spray that they’ve left at the entrance as well as gurgle our mouths with water after teaching each lesson. Scary stuff but I'm glad they're taking these measures as this thing spreads so fast. On Friday there were 6 pupils and by Monday there were 20...

Just having a quick read on the net and apparently the Japanese (who else?!) have come up with the first anti swine flu suit, check this link out http://www.psfk.com/2009/10/japanese-suit-to-protect-against-swine-flu.html

Brilliant.

Ice dogs: my favourite Japanese ice-cream

My Japanese ice dog

This is simply brilliant and the reason why I love Japan. It's so random.

When we were in America town in Osaka nursing our wretched hangovers we stumbled across this ice cream shop. Nothing new there but they were selling these novelty “ice dogs”. Basically a warmed up hot dog bun (sweetened bun) that they cut open and fill with Mr Whippy (or softo) ice cream. Who would have thought that one up other the Japanese!

Me in front of the paper clippings holding my ice dog

In this case a crazy old Japanese lady who must have been subject to a media frenzy at some point as there were old newspaper cuttings covering the ice dog phenomena all over the shop walls.

You’d think that the ice cream in the middle would melt straight away with the bun being hot but it doesn’t (well ok it does a little) but it is SOOOO gorgeous I’d go back to Osaka now to get another one, in fact Im salivating right now.

I'm seriously considering an ice dog business when I get home for those scorching English summer days..

4th Tokyo Marathon 2010, I'm in!

That'll be lil ol me wearing a blue vest with JESSICA in huge letters printed on the front!

Had some great news yesterday. Found out that I got through to the Tokyo marathon on the 28th Feb next year. They operate a lottery system you see so when you apply you're not guaranteed to run. About 300,000 people apply for the marathon and only 32,000 get to run so yes I actually felt like a lottery winner (albeit it the prize is running 26 miles....) Apparently if your'e a gaijin (foreigner) you'll likely to be accepted as they want the marathon to be seen as "international" as possible. Great at last, I got a face that fits!

I'm so excited. The Bristol Half marathon was such a fantastic experience. The only issue is that I self-diagnosed myself with either runners knee (Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome) or Iliotibial Band Syndrome (not sure which one) about 3 weeks ago. I had sharp pains around the front and outside of both of my knees and ended up hobbling to school and back for a week.

Since then I haven't been able to run ata ll, it hurts way too much so have been cycling, swimming and doing pilates (which is great) so the knees have been easing up a bit but still don't feel 100%. Fingers crossed that they'll be ok for another 11k run I signed up to in November at Lake Kawaguchi (near Mount Fuji).

I've given myself until next week to start some gentle running again (on a treadmill to start with) Think I just pushed it a bit too hard before. Advice to anyone embarking on a marathon, don't rush the training, only increase length of runs by 10% max each week.

Good Times in Osaka: Shinsaibashi 11 hour Bar Crawl

Haven't been out for a few weeks now (cross training since the old knee is bad at the mo) so felt like I earnt a night out in Osaka.

With a bar map in hand we headed out to an area of Shinsaibashi around 8. Started at Murphy's, an Irish bar (believe it or not!) on the 5th floor of this building. Very weird experience arriving at an Irish bar via a lift but despite it being a bar it still had an Irish feel with guiness everywhere, bar mats tacked to the walls and even the token very hungover, red cheeked Irish barman. We got lucky as it was live music night and this Japanese band equipped with harpiscord, banjos the lot came on and played some fantastic irish folk music. Another bizarre experience but fun.

We then headed to Wax 69, a pea sized bar with a well nice, chatty American owner Jessie who used to be a teacher (what gaijin isn't in Japan?!) so we had a good old bitch about teaching over some nachos and delicious salsa.

Next stop we headed to LA Gumbo. OK sorry rewind, when we were heading to Murphys a big black American guy who looked like Britneys bouncer had tried to get us to go into his new bar, we took a flier and walked off. So forward back to present and we decided to check it out. God where do I start!

LA Gumbo, Osaka. Note cheesy Diana Ross poster in background & guy with doo-rag!

In Japan a lot of the bars are on different levels of a multi level blocks so once you've committed to get in the lift to the 9th floor and opened the door theres not really much backing out..! LA Gumbos was quiet to say the least but it turns out that Britneys bouncer lookalike is the owner, a lovely one too from Louisiana. He gave us some amazing homemade cornbread on the house (usually a cover charge of ￥1000) and then serenaded us with some smooth jazz....ooh yeah baby!

The place had that 80's vibe, cream leather sofas, loads of cheesy posters of Michael ,Whitney and Diana in their hey days and his stuck in times looking mate fashioning a doo-rag!

Brilliant 80's cheese. LA Gumbos, Osaka.

Loved it though as the owner was such a sweetie, I would have felt totally fine going there on my own.

Next stop decided to head back to the building where Wax 69 was as Jessie's friend owns another bar on that floor called Karma Sutra. It was around 12 at this point. Met the lovely bartender who got me into shark vodka (Shark is the japanese equivalent to Red Bull) Then the karaoke came out and I destroyed Dolly Parton's 9-5, Fat Bottomed Girls, Twist & Shout and Rock the Kasbah whilst the angelic penelope cruz look a like bar girl sang Chicago and had the male testosterone levels raise the roof. We left around 3, thats what karaoke does to you!

Karaoke at Karma Sutra, Osaka

On the way home we passed a club called Sam & Daves. Brilliant! All I could think of was Jaquelines in Ross, how could it not be as cheesy? Well we only really went down the stairs to see how much it was. Bargain ￥1000 yen which included a free drink for the ladies, wooo! It didn7t disappoint. Having not danced to some cheese for 7 months, I felt like a nun on the run. Apart from the weirdo who declared his undying love for Raquel we managed to danced our socks off until 7am and then guess what, went for the kebab equiavelent in Japan, a curry! (or ramen but in this instance curry)

Fab night all round but felt rough the next day and discovered a blister the size of golf ball on my foot the next morning, OUCH!

Good Times in Osaka: Temozan & the Touchy-Feely Pet Garden

Touchy-Feely Pet Gardern!

Just had a fantastic time in Osaka wioth Raquel. I must admit this trip wan't particularly cultural but sometimes you just have an urge to visit an Irish pub, order a BLT from an English menu, dance to some cheesy Eurotrash and shop. So guess what we did at the weekend? I would like to mention though that we did try to do some culture and went to the Kabuki theatre (traditional Japanese theatre) but nothing was on! (and this is the 3rd biggest city in Japan?!)

Anyway, we spent Saturday shopping for Christmas gifts (yep I'm starting early as I now have a crap salary) at Tempozan Harbour Village, a waterfront shopping area with a huge ferris wheel, an aquarium, an IMAX theatre and boat cruise operators.

In the middle of our shop we stumbled upon this indoor farm inside the shopping centre, well to be exact they hilariously called it "The Touchy-Feely Pet Gardern" (I so love Japanglish) It was the cleanest "pet garden" I've ever seen though still had that farmyard poo smell. I felt at home!
The funniest thing was watching the farm attendant (a glammed up Japanese girl who really didn't look like she enjoyed getting her hands dirty) clean up some fresh droppings from the hayless sheep pen and then finishing it up with one of those dettol wipes, hehehe. I had to laugh, it just couldn't be more different than home, see video below!

After trying out some Osaka's special "takoyaki" octopus balls in the shopping centre we headed back to our hotel in town to get ready for our night painting the tiles red.

ALT Lesson Plans with Eigo Note. Lesson 3- When is your birthday?

OK here are my lesson plans for lesson 3 of 6th grade Eigo Note "When is your birthday?". The target language is "when is your birthday?" and "My birthday is...August 16th" so they will also need to learn months and ordinal numbers (1st to 31st)

Grade 6 Lesson Eigo Note Lesson 3- (6.6) Months/When is your birthday part 1

Grade 6 Lesson Eigo Note Lesson 3- (6.7)- When is your birthday part 2

Grade 6 Lesson Eigo Note Lesson 3- (6.8)- When is your birthday part 3

Grade 6 Lesson Eigo Note Lesson 3- (6.9)- When is your birthday part 4

ESL Months flashcards that I made. Sorry for some reason August didn't come out that well. The one side of the flashcard i is something Japanese and the other is something English (i.e Halloween for October, Summer Solstice for June, Guy Fawkes and Bonfire Night in November)

Horoscope game worksheets for part 3 of the lesson- will upload as soon as I can convert to PDF

Skyscraper picture for ordinal numbers game - blow this up to poster size, see lesson plan.

I'm afraid I didn't use much of Eigo Note for this section. I thought the activity on page 16 of Eigo Note (matching the picture to the month) was pretty pointless as they're effectively just matching image to a number.

I downloaded a version of Queen's we will rock you song and used this for the chant whilst showing the flashcards. So I would start with Jan-April then the chorus would kick in " we will, we will rock you.." which all the pupils would sing. They seemed to enjoy it and it certainly beats the chant in Eigo Note!

The superhero skyscraper game worked really well and was great practice for learning ordinal numbers. We did one lesson to practice 1st to 15th and the next lesson we learnt 16th-31st.

They really struggled with pronouncing "th" (i.e 15th, 16th, 17th...) so slow it down and have them all just try sticking their tongue between their teeth and then try prouncing it.

Enjoy and post any questions to the comments section.

ALT Lesson Plans with Eigo Note. Lesson 5- Turn right

Hi folks
OK here are my lesson plans for Lesson 5 of Eigo Note which covers giving directions and learning places vocab (i.e bookstore, department store, barber shop etc).

Grade 6 Lesson Eigo Note Lesson 5- (6.14) Turn right part 1 Orks and Hobbits "Where are you going?"
Grade 6 Lesson Eigo Note Lesson 5- (6.15) Turn right part 2 Mr Bump Game
Grade 6 Lesson Eigo Note Lesson 5- (6.16) Turn right part 3 Local town guide game
Grade 6 Lesson Eigo Note Lesson 5- (6.17) Turn right part 4 Star Wars game with some changes

Not sure how useful it is to be teaching 12 yr old Japanese pupils how to direct in English when the majority have never left the country BUT I guess you just never know!

Some of the Eigo Note translations are a bit iffy. Police box isn't really the correct translation of "koban", at least we wouldn't use it in the UK, USA or Australia. We also wouldn't use "barber shop" but I used it anyway for the sake of the listening exercises. Flower shop? We would say florist but again I used the former for the sake of listening exercises.

The chant is pretty dismal. I used it once or twice and the pupils weren't exactly singing from the rooftops. The target English for this section is pretty small when considering you have 4 lessons to cover it. It was however a lot of fun! The Mr Bump game and the Star Wars game were a great success, the pupils forgot they were even using English and I swear were screaming out "Turn left, go straight etc" I used photos from the lesson for my English board (I cut speech bubbles saying "Turn right" on the photos) to let the other pupils know what we get up to.

Also, if you can, try and get hold of a map of the local area where you teach. Enlarge it to A1 size and put onto the blackboard. Then have different groups of pupils direct you (just use a little picture of a car stuck to a magnet) to either their homes or their favourite places in their town. This makes it really personal and the pupils can relate to it, very important when teaching 6th grade elementary pupils! I did this with one class and just used Eigo Note for another class but I've posted both ideas in the lesson plan. Let me know how it goes!

Typhoon Melor, what typhoon?

Yesterday we were all whipped up into a flurry of panic (ok maybe just me, it was my first typhoon!) when it was announced all the schools in Toyama Prefecture would be shut for Thursday because typhoon Melor was heading our way packing gusts of up to 144 kilometres (89 miles) an hour. Forecasters were describing it as one of the worst storms to threaten the country in the past decade.

I then got an email from Interac, my employer, informing us what to do during a typhoon. Here is an excerpt which really got me going:

Do consider purchasing a flashlight and some non-perishable food (power outages) and expect to be apartment-bound and unable to go out during, and immediately before and after, the storm.

Brilliant, how to panic the entire 3000 people workforce!

Our headmaster then came and told us school was going to be closed. It took everything in me not to punch my fist in the air with joy. A paid day off, woop woop. So yesterday I woke up with childlike Christmas anticipation thinking the typhoon might just be beating down my doors and window (only one) but alas, just a strong wind and a heck of a lot of rain. Apparently the typhoon had decreased from a category 5 (highest) to a category 4 storm and diverted it's course to the east so Tokyo and the east coast were the worst impacted.

I've seen worse in the summer in England to be honest, sooo disappointing!

Nabe resturant in Kanazawa, perfect for cold wintery nights!

Nabe restaurant, the entrance, haven't a clue what its called!

I love Nabe!...

or to be technically correct I should say "I love Nabe dishes (or nabemono)" for the word "nabe" (鍋), actually means the type of clay pot they use to make lovely warm stews, perfect for autumn and winter time. I guess nabe dishes are the equivalent to a Lancashire hot pot, only probably healthier.

The thing I love about having nabemono (I'll call it nabe for short now..) is that you put the pot in the middle of the table on a little stove, cook it and then share (a bit like a fondue but DEFINATELY healthier!) So having dinner becomes a bit of a shared experience.


I found this great place in Kanazawa that serves up nabes big enough to feed a British army. First the waitress will come and switch on your nabe cooker (which in fact is a gas camping stove, I had one for camping trips back home), you then wait until the broth at the bottom is boiling away and then throw in the plate of ingredients that she leaves for you. Wait about 20 mins, stirring frequently and then eat. Amazing and because it's low calorie (guessing here) you can eat twice as much!

Mum salivating whilst watching our nabe cook

There are so many different types of nabe, a full list is on that trusty little thing called wikipedia here.

Anyway, this fab restaurant which also serves yakitori (BBQ meat skewers) is directly opposite Omi Cho market in Kanazawa, next to Lawsons convenience store. The menu is in Japanese but just say "nabe" and they'll understand. I think.

Weird and wonderful autumnal Japanese fruit

I'm not usually a fruit person as most of you will know BUT I recently came across some really unusual fruit that I've never seen in my life and I just had to try it.

I love experimenting with different foods (apart from cows tongue & cartilage) and Japan is such a fab place to do so so on my last supermarket trip I filled my basket with some weird and wonderful.

So here's what I bought:

Japanese persimmon fruit

i) Persimmon or kaki (柿) in Japanese. I have to admit I had never even heard of the English translation. Apparently they grow in the US too but not England! A persimmon looks like an orange tomato but harder to touch, shinier and a tougher skin. I ended up googling "how to eat a persimmon fruit" and the opinions seemed mixed as to whether you should have to peel the skin or not. Apparently if they're ripe yopu should be able to eat skin and all. Just use a towel as I made a right mess. Opinion: delicious or as they say in Japan "oishieeeeeeee"!

Fresh figs, I'm hooked!

ii) Fresh figs or ichijiku in Japanese. Call me ignorant but I've only ever had the dry variety and thought they only grew figs in the Middle East. So I googled "how to eat fresh figs" and again opinions were mixed some saying skin on, some skin off. So I ate a whole punnet one night, they were so nice BUT warning! I didn't realise they had that same cleansing effect that prunes have. WOOOO! One a day next time.

Purple potato? No! Japanese akebi fruit

iii) Akebi (あけび). This was the weirdest looking thing. A chubby shaped fruit the size of a small potato, rich purple in colour, soft to the touch. The akebi fruit is a product of the chocolate akebi vine (or apparently chocolate vine in English) and before you start thinking no it doesn't produce chocolate as well.

Inside of an akebi fruit

Open it up and the inside there is a mushy jelly containig hundreds of black pips. Now I just took a scoop full of the inside pips and all but the pips are really bitter so I spat them out. Maybe you're supposed to scoop out the pips as well and just eat the white bit leftover (which isn't much!) and tastes a bit like a banana, not sweet at all. If anyone could enlighten me!

Japanese Dragonfruit (the pink one at the bottom)

iv) Japanese Dragonfruit. Another weird looking one. Bright pink with soft spikey leaves on the outside. At ¥395 (about £2.70) each this has got to be a special one.

When you cut it open its a real WOW, bright bright purple/pink watery inside with black pips.

Inside of Japanese dragonfruit

Unlike the akebi you can eat the inside with no pip problems. It is sweet and has a similar consistency to watermelon but not quite as crunchy. Yum but still doesn't beat the figs and persimmon.

v) Chestnuts or kuri (栗) in Japanese. I've only had them roasted at Christmas time back home but here they boil them. Yes BOIL! Some teachers brought a huge bag of them into school pre-boiled. So all you do is cut them in half with a sharp knife and then scoop the inside out with a teaspoon. They actually taste great.

Mighty Japanese chestnuts

Kuri-gohan or Japanese chestnut rice is also abundant right now. Again one of my teachers bought in a huge container of kuri-gohan which we devoured in seconds at lunch. YUM!

Japanese pears are also a bit odd. They look like huge apples and are much crunchier than the European variety (which they call LaFrance pear- uhh? do you Japanese think they're only grown in France or something?!)

Autumn time in Japan

Rice harvesting in Senmaida

I don't think there any nation who celebrate their seasons more than the Japanese. It's almost inconceivable that the progress of the cherry blossom would be covered on national news as well as countrywide cherry blosson viewing events , but believe it because it does happen.

Autumn is here and boy don't you know it. In England, you'd hardly notice when summer ends and autumn begins, I'd blame it on the amount of rain.. The first sign of autumn in Japan, along with the massive drop in temperature, was a teacher coming into school with a bag of boiled chestnuts. You then cut them, scoop out the inside and eat. Delicious! Then another teacher brought in a sackful of homegrown grapes....you get the picture, lots of seasonal homegrown food and the supermarkets really go to town with autumn produce signs everywhere.

Anyone who has experienced Autumn in Japan will have noticed one or several of the following:

i) The profuse summer sweating turns into a mild sweating and then finally it's over!

ii) All of the oranges disappear and are replaced with abundant amounts of autumnal fruit including fresh figs, persimmons, dragonfruit and akebi. See my Japanese fruit post.

iii) Teachers bring in their autumn produce for you to try out

iv) Suddenly the plain bowls of rice become chesnut rice

v) Rice harvesting everywhere and anywhere where theres space to grow it

vi) Rice harvest dust gets to all hayfever sufferers.

vii) You start wondering where your hottie is (hot water bottle)

viii) You get invited to an apple/pear picking trip

I have personally loved the drop in temperature. It's been like an English summer here for the past few weeks, and I can actually breathe again, perfect!

Autumn leaf viewing is also a favourite Japanese past time along with autumn apple, pear and grape picking (well....technically it's tasting) Last week I went along to an apple picking trip in which we crammed so much in it as worth writing another post. I have yet to go on a leaf viewing excursion, I'll keep my eye out though!

RoundOne; fun on a rainy day in Nishi Kanazawa

Erica boxing at RoundOne

Went to RoundOne today with a bunch of JETs I met in Noto to celebrate one of their birthdays.

RoundOne is an all singing all dancing 6 floor indoor entertainment centre that has 2 games arcades, ten pin bowling, ping pong, an 80's roller skating disco hall, pool tables, football nets and on the top floor an open air basketball court (well half of one), crazy golf (not that crazy though), baseball pitching nets, archery and a mini football pitch.

You pay ￥1800 about 12 quid which gives you 3 hours to run about like a headless chicken playing on anything you can see (you can only go on the mini ten pin bowling, shame), a membership card and a free ketai kitty chain. (little objects they like to hang off mobile phones in Japan)

The Japanese never cease to shock me though and on one of the floors is an indoor fishing lake (well more like pond..) Still I couldn't believe it. You can catch real fish (carp) with your RoundOne rod with the noise and neon lights of the games arcade next door. Who said fishing was only meant for rivers & oceans ey?

I just couldn't resist taking a video, see below:

International friendship festival, Kanazawa

Hula dancers on the friendship festival stage

Today I worked most of the day at the International Friendship Festival at Kanazawa City Hall, organised by the city council and the Kanazawa International Exchange Foundation to foster better international relations and open Kanazawa up to the world through exchange activities. I had volunteered to help out on one of the stands as my teacher Yoko has done me some favours in the past so felt I owed it to her.

Yoko (in the black sari), me and some other Japanese ladies on our stand

It was such a beautiful autumn day and the outside of the city hall was packed with about 50/60 little stalls each representing countries including Russia, Korea, China, Turkey, Malaysia (no UK there..) There was also a main stage with a crammed 2 day schedule of dance and music performances. (I saw a teiko drum performance and oddly a hula dance when I was on my break)

Our stall (on left next to Pakistan)

For some reason I was on the Malaysian stand. Yoko isn't Malay and I don't exactly look Malay either. Anyway, I was there to help so was put in charge of cooking and selling the quesadilas (yep quesadilas are Mexican but just hang in there..) It was so much fun I didn't care that I was a white English girl cooking Mexican quesadilas on a Malaysian food stand. Everyone was shouting Irasshamase! at the top of their voices trying to attract customers. In any Japanese shop you walk into you will hear this chorus of shrieking irasshamases, you'll know what I mean if you have been to Japan.

The girls

At one point we were having an "Irasshamase!" shouting battle with the Russians next door (who were mostly Japanese) Brilliant fun and it's not half as annoying when you're doing the shouting.

Fun day all round and I'd definately recommend it if you happen to be in Kanazawa at the time.

ALT Lesson Plans with Eigo Note. Lesson 4- I can swim

OK here are my 4 parts to Eigo Note lesson number 4 "I can swim". Target language is "Can you....?" and the response "Yes I can" or "No I can't". Quite a lot to learn here including some really random vocab like "Lets make rice balls and miso soup" and "Lets make them together" which is a bit off topic.

Anyhow, I'll stop babbling. Here are my lesson plans for Eigo Note lesson 4:

Grade 6 Lesson Eigo Note Lesson 4- (6.10) Can you part 1 Can you play....sports*
Grade 6 Lesson Eigo Note Lesson 4- (6.11) Can you part 2 Can you play...music
Grade 6 Lesson Eigo Note Lesson 4- (6.12) Can you part 3 Genki English superheros
Grade 6 Lesson Eigo Note Lesson 4- (6.13) Can you part 4 Presentations

Also the listening exercise which they suggest on page 24 of Eigo Note for the first lesson is fairly difficult for beginners so I decided on the following lesson flow:

i) Start with sports since pupils are already familiar with most sports.

ii) Move onto music and you can play the band game which had my 6th graders go crazy and have fun (often it's like talking to a brick wall)

iii) Introduce other concepts around "I can...." such as I can fly, I can jump etc and great opportunity to introduce the Genki English superhero theme (I can jump, I can hide, I can cook etc) which they enjoyed and also making sure they can tackle the listening exercise on page 24 of Eigo Note

iv) Do presentations of what you can/can't do. I do like the fact that the 4th part of Eigo Note lesson is always the "show what we have learnt" & finale.

* For the interview sheet, I just photocopied the sports pictures on page 26 & 27 of Eigo Note and stuck them horizontally onto the grid of an A4 sheet. I just left spaces for them to write their friends' names going vertically. I then made copies from this sheet.

Good luck, feel free to post any questions.