BR1-4: Egyptian Adventure

The people put their hands together and raised them in the air. Then they sank down on their knees. "They are bowing to us," said Chip. "They must think we're important." "How strange!" said Nadim. The people were not bowing down to the children. They were bowing to Floppy.

Egyptian Adventure is a book in the Oxford Reading Tree series. It is a Stage 8 book. In the story, the children have just made a model sphinx and pyramid when the magic key takes them to ancient Egypt. They become slaves for a while, and Floppy is worshipped by the Egyptians. It seems that they have some kind of legend of a yellow dog.

Oxford Reading Tree is the most popular series of books in UK primary schools. They teach us about lots of countries and periods of history.

Hunt, R. & Brychta, A. (2003). Egyptian adventure. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

(137 words)

Liverpool

In the Premier League this year, Liverpool are not doing so well. They lost their match against West Bromwich Albion yesterday, and now they are in 8th place. Many fans are very disappointed, but a good point in their season is that they have already won the Carling Cup, and they are also in the FA Cup Final. So if things go well, they may end up with two trophies at the end of the season. But next season the owners will probably demand that Liverpool ends in the Champions league positions, i.e. the top four.

Yesterday's defeat was particularly bad news because West Bromwich Albion's manager is Roy Hodgson, who was Liverpool's manager last year but was booed by Liverpool's supporters and was fired from his job.

(127 words)

The Hunt for Gold

"Gold!" he yelled. "We've found gold." He picked up a big nugget of gold and jumped up and down. Everyone ran to see…"Hooray!" shouted Luke's mother. "We have found gold at last," she said. "I thought we'd never find any."

The Hunt for Gold is in the Oxford Reading Tree series. It's a Stage 7 book. It's part of the Magic Key series. The children go back to the time of the Gold Rush (1848-1855) and look for gold. It's a fun story and it teaches us about this interesting period in American history. I recommend reading all of the Magic Key series!

Hunt, R. & Brychta, A. (2003). The hunt for gold. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

(115 words)

The Motorway

Gran told people in the village about the motorway. Everyone was upset. "We don't want a motorway here. We must stop it," they said.

The Motorway is a book in the Oxford Reading Tree series. It's a Stage 7 book. The children and Gran are playing in the fields when they find out that a motorway is planned for their village. But they are not happy about it, and they set out to stop it. Will they be successful? Read it and find out!

Hunt, R. & Brychta, A. (2003). The motorway. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

(94 words)

Premier League and Champions League…and more!

The end of the Premier League season is getting ever closer. Everyone had assumed that Manchester United were safe at the top of the table, but, after leading 4-2 against Everton, they drew 4-4 yesterday. Manchester City won, so now Manchester City is exactly 3 points behind Manchester United. Manchester United will win the championship if they win their remaining games, but one of those games is against Manchester City. If Manchester City win that game, the two teams will be level on points, but Manchester  City's goal difference is better than Manchester United's. So if Manchester City win their remaining games including the match against Manchester City, they will be champions…for the first time in many, many years.

As you probably heard, Barcelona lost their Champions league semi-final first leg against Chelsea, and then they lost their La Liga match against Real Madrid. It is unusual for Barcelona to lose two matches in succession, so many people are wondering whether they are too tired to do well in the Champions League. Anyway, we'll find out soon!

(177 words)

BR 1-1: The Sky's the Limit

"Oh, please stay," said Angela. "I don't see you a lot these days. And the children don't see you at all." "I'm sorry, Angela," said Max. But it's an important dinner. I must go."

The Sky's the Limit

I read The Sky's the Limit. It's a Heinemann Guided Reader. It's about a man called Max, who is poor but then finds a job at a company called Friendship Services International. He is ambitious and he becomes more and more distant from his friends and family.

Whitney, Norman. (1992). The sky's the limit. Oxford: Heinemann.
(91 words)

More on the Premier League and F.A. Cup

As I mentioned earlier, the FA Cup is also reaching its climax in England now. The semi-finals were held yesterday and the day before. In those semi-finals, Chelsea beat Tottenham, and Liverpool beat Everton. The matches were especially interesting because they were both local derbies (Chelsea and Tottenham are in London, and Liverpool and Everton are both in Liverpool). The final between Chelsea and Liverpool will be held at Wembley on May 5th.

As I mentioned earlier, the Champions league semi-finals are also fast approaching!

(84 words)

BR 1-1: Goldilocks and the Three Bears

"Someone has been sleeping in our beds!" said Papa Bear and Mama Bear. "And someone is still in mine!" cried Baby Bear.

I read the Scholastic version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Maybe everyone knows this story, which is originally from Tolstoy. It's about a girl who goes into the bears' house when they are out, and eats and drinks their food and drink, and sleeps in their beds. She is very rude!

Findley, Violet. (2006). Goldilocks and the three bears. New York: Scholastic.

Premier League and Champions League

These days, the Premier League is rather exciting. Although it seems fairly clear that Manchester United will win the championship, the difference between them and Manchester City is not so big now. The fight for 3rd and 4th place is also quite intense. Although now Arsenal is in 3rd place, Tottenham and Chelsea are close behind. And Chelsea appear to be in good form now, so probably it won't be decided until the last week of matches. 3rd and 4th places are very important because 3rd place means automatic qualification for the Champions League, while 4th place means qualification via playoffs.

The Champions League is also exciting this year. The semi-finals feature Chelsea against Barcelona, and Real Madrid against Bayern Munich (Munchen). Both should be exciting matches, because the opposing teams have a history of rivalry. The Chelsea semi-final is made even more interesting by the fact that Chelsea yesterday won another semi-final, the FA Cup match against Tottenham.

Hi everyone!

Welcome to the Writing 3 course! Last week, we did the Typing homework, and I hope you mastered the method of opening the Word document sent to you by Mr Tomei, pasting your typing into it, and then saving the document and attaching it to your reply to Mr Tomei.

This week, let's talk more about the syllabus. But before that, let's try Juppun ha Juubun and book reviews!

(68 words)