One last class – what would you teach?

So, this week sees me in the home stretch of teaching in Japan. I’ve been teaching here for two years now and I’ve done lessons on all sorts of topics from favourite foods (and favourite this and that!) to ‘virtual water’, do google that if you’re interested. Once you start reading, you won’t be. So for my last lot of lessons I wanted to do something special to me and interesting to the students. Well I try to make every lesson interesting for the students. I have done a range of lessons on different travel-related topics which often involve an English grammar point, but this week I was given the topic of ‘your favourite character’ to make a lesson for the first years.

So yes, my friends will know where I went for that topic! I finally got to do a lesson about Doctor Who! Well, it’s not my first, I have used Doctor Who here and there in a couple of lessons, but never as the central theme of a lesson. And so I spent the weekend creating a short video about Doctor Who (none of my students have heard of Doctor Who except through me of course) introducing the character of the Doctor and choosing some choice bits. I wanted to explain why he is my favourite character – so I talked about his ability to change his face, about facing danger, being brave, funny and caring for his friends.

I kept the message simple – a must for all lesson plans here, not always the easiest though with some of the topics I get thrown (see ‘virtual water’). I included some scenes from Doctor Who featuring the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and ninth Doctors (unfortunately Adobe couldn’t handle the files from the tenth and eleventh because I had some moments in mind) and it was interesting to watch their reactions. Not a lot of dialogue of course. They laughed at Patrick Troughton posing for the camera as soldiers stormed past him, and went ‘awwwww’ in amazement as Tom Baker turned into Peter Davison. The Orgons they found particularly funny in ‘Day of the Daleks’ and then the video asked them – ‘who is YOUR favourite character?’ (well, it said favorite as we are using Ameriglish here).

Mickey Mouse has proved popular, I was expect a lot of Doraemon, according to the net the most popular character in Japan. Not one from the first class! Actually, in contrast to many of the typical ‘favourite’ exercises I’ve given my first graders, I had a surprisingly wide variety of answers. And no, none of the students can borrow my ‘Terror of the Zygons’ DVD. But I do hope one or two look ‘Doctor Who’ up on the net after that.

The white board awaits the students!

Imagine it’s your last class, what topic would you like to bring to your students that is important to you and who you are?

My final worksheet

Andrew is a travel blogger and the writer of the ebook series ‘Short Journeys’. Check out his travel writings at:

World Journeys

Top Ten Countries - Number 7: The United Kingdom

So I lied. I changed the order just a little silly me! Had a rethink during the week about which was next, and I am returning to Europe – but not the mainland! The country I am talking about is not really a country – it’s three! England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, it’s the United Kingdom. Or Great Britain. Or just Britain. Or the United Kingdom OF Great Britain if you like. Nevertheless, I’ve been there three times now. Or is it four?

Sylvester McCoy and I.

When I was young, I really wanted to visited the UK, and I had a very very good reason for that – it was the home of the most awesomest television programme in the entire world – Doctor Who. In 2011 I managed to actually meet a whole host of stars when I visited from the show, including Sylvester McCoy, Louise Jameson, John Leeson, Richard Franklin, the amazing Colin Baker, the lovely Sophie Aldred and the charming and incredibly friendly Sarah Sutton, who I met twice!

with Sophie Aldred

For the Doctor Who fan London has it all. Locations of so many episodes obviously, ‘The Who Shop’ for absolutely every piece of Who-merchandise you could dream of, and if you go to Earl’s Court you’ll even find a police box. But the UK has so much more as well.

Big Ben

Shakespeare's Globe Theatre.

London gives you the recreated but just as brilliant (well, I didn’t time travel so I’m guessing) Globe Theatre, home to Shakespeare’s plays – oh and where they shot the episode ‘The Shakespeare Code’ of the aforementioned show J. The Tower Bridge is a stunning piece of architecture, St Paul’s Cathedral is grand and big and everything you want in a cathedral, there’s Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, the experience of taking the tube (where the 1967 episode ‘The Web of Fear’ was… ok sorry!). There’s Oxford street for all

your shopping, there’s Buckingham Palace for a glimpse of her majesty the Queen, Hyde Park and lots of others, impressive stations such as King’s Cross, London is really the complete city in my book. It’s one of my favourite cities on the planet.

Inside York Minster

I loved York. The town is so atmospheric, there’s city walls to walk around, the stunning York Minster, and for train buff’s a brilliant train museum. The cobbled streets are brilliant too as is the town’s love for Richard the Third, there’s even a rather eccentric little museum.

Gorgeous York building.

Oxford is just as brilliant with its Universities and its buzz. Visit the universities, the churches, feel the student vibe, it’s great. Bristol on the other side of the country I equally loved.

Inside a University in Oxford.

But around the place there are surprises and so much more to see. The countryside is beautiful, and you find surprises like Cardiff – a really lovely city (DW Experience anyone… ooops sorry again). But Cardiff was a real highlight of my 2011 trip. Buzzing, wonderful place. Day trips to castles. Well, it has its own, quite impressive castle too.

Cardiff Bay

Head north to Scotland, I visited Glasgow (scene of the tragic helicopter crash this weekend). Actually a great city with nice pubs and a young vibe. But then you have Edinburgh. With an amazing castle overlooking the place, is there a better place for arts and drama and comedy in Europe? These two places typify why the UK is so awesome – the vibe of the place. The pubs, the streets, wherever you go in the UK something is on. Something is happening. And there are still a list of things I haven’t seen there that I want to, starting with Stone Henge. In that rough area of the island, I visited the Glastonbury festival in 1999. Yes I was much younger, but that was a blast too. Maybe I am too old for it these days.

So. Today’s blog was a bit of a mish mash of 100 thoughts. Sorry about that. I also have no kindle writings concerning the UK. The closest is my Dhaka to Dakar on Europe, but again, NO UK in there. Closest I get is Germany.

Dhaka to Dakar: Book Two – Europe

So we have –

10 – Slovakia

9 – Romania

8 – Mali

7 – The United Kingdom

What will be number six?

Geeking out at a professional level.

As the sun set on my short trip home to Australia, I geeked out like I have only geeked out once or twice before in my life. I went to the biggest Doctor Who convention in Australian history – ‘Lords of Time’ at Rydge’s Hotel on Exhibition street. What a day and an evening it was!

I feel bad because it all seemed a bit too geeky for me, despite the fact that I happily put my hand up and say ‘I’m a geek!’ Hell, I write and produce my own Doctor Who fan fiction! However, sometimes it is a bit confronting. When there was a costume contest at the event I went to in England back mid-2011, the contestants were children. This time they were, in the majority, adults. As someone said to me ‘nothing wrong with a bit of cosplay’. Hmmmm, living in Japan I’m not sure that I would class a forty-year old woman as participating in cosplay because she dressed up as the TARDIS.

A bevy of Doctors.

A fan made (?) TARDIS console

Anyhoo. There was a stage shared by the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth Doctors – Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann. Other guests included John Leeson, voice of K-9, Nicolas Briggs who does the Dalek voices but more importantly is the man behind the Big Finish productions – a series of audio stories that began back in 1999 when Doctor Who was not on the tele, and my personal favourite the feisty and very funny Janet Fielding who’s time on stage with Peter Davison was incredibly entertaining. Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy also make for a very fun time when they are on stage.

Janet Fielding and Peter Davison

There were autographs, photo-opportunities and much more. Some people were prepared to fork out $650 for a VIP pass that got them a meal and cocktails with the stars and I think their own photo with them. At that price it seemed a bit over the top but if you’re a fanatic then you’d be saving your pennies from way back. Photos with the stars cost $40 each so that on its own is steep and if you want one with each person...

The stars themselves are very well behaved, and extremely friendly towards the fans despite some of the awkward questions they get. I found myself overwhelmed trying to think of something to say to Paul McGann and embarrassingly talked about the weather and daylight savings time. Better, I guess, than asking some continuity-based question about his 17^th Big Finish adventure. By the way, the Big Finish adventures are excellent for any ‘Who’ fan out there reading this and hasn’t listened to a few yet!

Rob Lloyd and Vicki Kyriakakis in the improvised show 'Time Lord'

The second day was wrapped by the incredibly talented Robert Lloyd, a Melbournian (originally from Dubbo) who has his own Doctor Who themed one man show called ‘Who, Me’. It was perhaps the highlight of the entire day and a bit, a very funny show indeed. Rob is now touring it around in different conventions and festivals. In fact, later in the year it has its premiere at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival! Rob was also involved in an improvised Doctor Who show called ‘Time Lord’ on the opening night, where he played the Doctor! 

For more information on the shows and Robert, please visit his website :

Rob Lloyd's Website

The next day was awesome weather. We had a BBQ in the back yard enjoying a cloud-free day, friends and warmth. Before I could say ‘Jack Robinson’ my time home was over, and that evening I was on a plane on my way back to Japan. It had felt like possibly the shortest three weeks of my life...