*REMEMBER: your “reading and questions” are due before class starts on May 12*
On May 19th we will have our first Achievement Check so in the next lesson (5/12) we will do a practice check together. For the practice, we will listen to a historical story called “Spy Kitty vs. the Soviets” and read a magazine article titled “Sunday Morning at Bill’s Cafe”. Think about the titles and then in the comments, please make a prediction about what we might hear in the listening and read in the text.
These vocabulary words will be important for the lesson: a spy, a kitty, the Soviet Union / a Soviet, Australian English, a branch (of a store)
*REMEMBER: your “reading and questions” are due before class starts on May 12*
Interactive English: Reception 
I think that we mighy hear a story that cats spy the Soviet. Some organization raise kitties to use them as spies. Then, the organization send the cats to the Soviet in order to get valuable information. People who live in the Soviet may open their minds as soon as they see the cats because the cats are so cute! everyone who see the cats become that they want to say their true minds.
In addition, we might read an article about a cafe which have many cats. In the cafe, we can touch cats and play with them. Some of the cats are spy cats, so they can gather information efficiently.
Judging from the picture,I might listen to the story about the Cold War.
I think that Spy Kitties don’t mean kitties which spy the Soviets but spys who are like kitties.
That is,the spys act quickly and cleverly and are good at getting away with anything.
Then,I might read the article about a cafe and learn how to manage stores.
That is because a branch of a store means Bill’s cafe is a big business in Australia.
But what does Sunday Morning mean?
Busiest day?
Have a nice GW.
I think “Spy kitty ” is the cat the western bloc sent to the Soviets in the Cold War era in order to get information of the tendency of the eastern bloc.
People attached a hidden listening device or a small camera to the kitty but the chances that the mission proved successful were low because it was not a human being.
Also, we will read the story about a small tranquil cafe. An Australian customer comes there,and he can’t make himself understood in his English.
When I first saw the title, “Sunday Morning” composed by Maroon 5 occurred to me.
Hello! Mr. Matt. I’m Yuki. I was happy to speak a lot to you in the last class because I became a leader. Thank you so much!
When I read those titles, I had imagined other things. Kitty means that ,in the world, famous character, Kitty chan. And, Sunday Morning means a song of Maroon 5. That song is in my head now. ~Sunday Morning rain is falling~♪That may be all I need~♪ Hahaha…
Anyway, It was difficult for me to predict what we might listen to and read.
However, maybe, from words, Soviets or spy I think theme is “Cold War.” Spy Kittys might have been the enemies against the Soviets, so It was an organization of America? That staff embeded something like small cameras in cute cats called Kitty and they made them watch the Soviets.
In addition, Bill ran his cafe, but in fact he was a member of the staff, Kitty and a spy himself. One “Sunday Morning,” the key person of the Soviets he looked for for a long time came to his cafe at last! There, he heard ……
Oh! It’s very interesting. I’m looking forward to next class.
Thanks. Have a nice GW!
I think we will read a story about clever cat. Bill is a name of man who takes care of the clever spy cat. Sunday is a holiday so Bill’s cafe in the sunday morning has relaxing atmospher.The cat feels little bit boreing and he is haveing a nap. It is a pretty day, so everyone in the cafe feels very happy.But suddenly a man who has a difficult problem come in to the cafe. The man needs someome’s help. And Bill and his clever cat try to help the man… I think “Sunday moening at Bill’s cafe” is a prologue of a story!
Hi, Matt. I am Mika.
I have never heard about “Spy Kitty” before. I am interested in the sentence written in the photo “Spy Kitties are always watching…”. I wander what they are always watching. Judging from “Spy Kitty vs. the Soviets” , kitties are thought to be the enemy of the Soviets and they may watch the Soviets move. I think we may listen to the story about the cold war. Spy kitties must be on the Western side. I want to know how to make kitties get information of the Soviets and whether the strategy succeeded or not.
I have no idea about “Sunday Morning at Bill’s cafe”. Please listen to my prediction. Bill is the owner of the cafe. His work is going smoothy and has many branches of the store all over the world. On Sunday morning, the special dishes are sold. The number of special dishes made is limited and we can see the long lines of people who want to eat them in front of the cafe.
I guess we will hear the story that a kitty sent from Europe or America spies the Soviet.I think it is a story in the Cold War era.Judging from the picture,the cat seemed to be clever and continue to watch from shade calmly , but some problem might be occurred and the cat will try to deal with it.
We will read another story. The Sunday morning was as slowly as usual in the cafe, but an Australian customer will come. He might bring about trouble, and everyone in the cafe try to solve it together.
I am looking forward to seeing the true story next week.
At first, when I saw the title “Spy Kitty vs. the Soviets”, I thought that this story must be funny. This is because I know some funny stories in which some animals play an active part in the human world. For example, “Dr. Doolittle” or “Beethoven”.
However this is a historical story, so I associate it with Cold War. Judging from “vs”, I wonder the kitty is west country side. They are spy, so they will stole some information from the soviets.
When I first saw the title “Sunday Morning at Bill’s Cafe”, I recalled the food store named Bills, so I think something happen in the Bill’s cafe on Sunday. I am sorry that I couldn’t hit upon another ideas…That is all.
Hi, Matt! Long time no see. How’s your holiday? I went sightseeing around Tokyo during the week. The trip was great, but also tiring. I feel like my feet are killing me now. (T_T)
OK, let’s come back to the homework. According to the picture and the title, I think we will listen to a story about a “war” between cats and human. Perhaps once upon a time, there were many cats living in the city with the Soviets. The cats would spy on people and seek for chances to steal food from their house. People were annoyed by these little “thieves” and tried all kinds of ways to get rid of them. And then, the “people cat war” began…
As for reading, I think it’s hard to tell what we’ll read about. It can be a love story, an introduction of the café, or a special event held on Sunday morning. Anyway, it seems to be an interesting article.
That’s all, thank you.
Hi,Matt!
Did you have a good time this GW?
I went to Kiryu city,Gumma.I wonder If you know the city,so I’ll tell you a little about what I did there.
To begin with,I want to get materials to write the report that have to be submitted by the end of this semester.Kiryu city is famous for the Kiryu textile,that is recognized as Japanese traditional thing,and has a whole bunch of traditional buildings.I think I can get good materials to write the reports there, and I went there May 5. I visited some museums and stores which deal with the textile,and , of course, I was able to get good materials! I believe it is great memories for me.
Well,I ‘ll go back to the main topic from this sentence.
I would say we will read some stories ,like a cat which spied what Soviets did or whatnot.
It sounds like interesting!
But I can’t imagine,addressing the article titled “Sunday Morning at Bill’s Cafe”,what we will do about it.Can we relax at Bill’s Cafe!?
In any case, I am looking forward to seeing all of you.
thank you.
The first thing I came up with is that someone bring up kitties to be spies, but I have no idea about how we do this. Cats are not so clever, you know. So I think someone send kitties with cameras or recorders on their collars to Bill’s cafe, where Soviet leaders often have a cup of coffee. People might think the kitties are Bill’s and he might pretend in that way. Maybe Bill is also a member of the spy organization. I don’t know. I want to know early whether my guessing is right.
I’ve heard the story that at the time of the Cold War CIA tried to make the kitties to spy the Soviet, and invest massive money to this project. CIA’s research workers like doing research on psychiatry so they hit on the idea that they can spy the Soviet to attach a bug to kitty and send it to main facilities in the Soviet.
Sunday’s Morning at Bill’s Café? I can’t imagine what it means. Does Bill’s café mean café Bill runs or café Bill likes? Does Sunday Morning mean the busiest day of week or the happiest day of week? It cannot be understood.
According to the title, “Spy Kitty vs. the Soviets”, I think this story has something to do with the Cold War. I guess the Spy Kitty are owned by the US. She raised the kitty to get the spy who can get the information of the Soviets because she thought the Soviets hardly doubt such a cute kitty is the spy from the US.
And I didn’t hit upon any idea about “Sunday Morning at Bill’s Cafe”. However, this is the magazine article so I think this article tells Bill’s Cafe is the famous and popular cafe and many people visit the cafe on Sunday morning because most of people have a day off and in search of a drink first after waking up.
I can’t wait to listen and read it !!
Hi,matt,I’m Ling from your T4 class.
When I saw the topic of our next week’s class,I was very interested in it.The word called ‘spy kitty’ is interesting.As we all know that kitty is a cat from Japan and popular all over the world.especially around the young and teenagers,because its cute action and facial expression.Why the word spy is paired up with kitty,probably the cute kitty is also a spy?Maybe the kitty will be trained to collect information stealthy by some people.But in a word,I’m looking forward to the class next week.See you!
I think we might hear a story about cold war.
I looked up the word ‘kitty’ in a dictionary for sure and I was satisfied.
I think that ‘kitty’ is not a cat, but a girl who is trying to cheat on men and get useful infomation for her country. I feel the kitty spy is American.
Also, the reading may be about a secret meeting. An American government officer and the American girl are meeting at the Bill’s cafe (maybe it’s in Britain), to exchange information. Or, an old lady, once was an American spy, recalls the old days at the cafe. She was a shrewd spy, but one day she made a big mistake and that is why she is alive now.
My major language is Russian so I’m really looking forward to next lesson.
I think the U.S. sent the cats to the Soviets. Maybe the cats with small cameras collected important information.
Bill’s cafe was a place where the cats spied. Usually people don’t caution cats. So, the cats played important roles…?Or, someone noticed the cameras…?
I don’t know the way went well…
In terms of meaning of words, “kitty” means a cat (“kitty” is a word for cat, used especially by children.). And “the soviets” are people who lived in Soviet. But “spy kitty” is , I predict, the special cat which is traind to get a lot of imformation about enemy.
So I think of the cold war and I predict the cat ontributed to reconciliation.
Also, I think ” Sunday Morning at Bill’s Cafe” has a connection with the spy kitty. So we are possibly going to read about the spy kitty’s story.
Judging from the title, Spy Kitty “vs” the Soviets, I thought about the Cold War. Maybe Spy Kitty is something to do with US or Western countries. Recently I watched a short video which is symbolizing the Cold War, so I cannot think about other things! I’m majoring in Russian, so it seems interesting for me.
Is “Sunday Morning at Bill’s Cafe” related to Spy Kitty vs the Soviets? I don’t come up with good idea, but I think it is just a relaxing story, because I consider cafe as to be relaxing place.
Judging from the title and vocabulary words, I guess that we will listen and read about a story of the Cold War.
I like history,but I am not familior with this era.So I guess the contents only from the given information.
I think that the Soviet trained kittens to be a spy and then, the spy cats infiltrated into daily life of western countries,for example,they spied at a branch of cafe chains.I guess the name of the cafe might be Bill’s cafe and kittens might spy there on Sunday morning.
Kittens are so cute and sometimes people give themselves away to animals,so spy kittens ware able to correct the useful and credible information at the cafe.
I have no idea about Australian English.
I can’t wait to read and listen to the truth in next class.
Judging from the title “Spy Kitty vs. the Soviets”, I think this is a story related to the Cold War. I have never heard the word “spy kitties”, but I guess the United States, which was an enemy of the Soviet Union, is compared to the kitty. That is because in my opinion, kitties cannot take an important part as a spy, so I think “kitties” are metaphor.
The title”Sunday Morning at Bill’s Cafe” makes me annoyed. I think this story is related to the other story, so l predict that the soldiers of the Soviet Union hold strategy meetings to win the war in Bill’s cafe at sunday morning. However, this prediction may be wrong, so I want to read this article soon.
“Spy Kitty vs. the Soviets” may be the story of the Cold War. Generally,everyone doesn’t think kitty is hostile.I think kitty is so cute that it should not be watched out. Therefore, I guess “Spy Kitty” is the spy of the US, who was in the Soviets but not noticed by Soviets.
When I read the title of “Sunday Morning at Bill’s Cafe”, I feel at ease. We can spend Sunday morning drinking coffee, reading a newspaper and having toasts without hurrying because it’s a start of our holiday! Sunday morning is good time so it’s worth getting up early in Sunday.
HiMatt!
I’ve never heard these sentence,but I think “Spy Kitties”means one of the kind of spy in soviet of cold-war. I guess maybe sent from USA and they belongs to a side of western. Their feature is a small like a kitty, so I think they are like a small camera.
And,I think “Sunday Morning at Bill’s Cafe” is a comfortable feeling article. In my opinion, Sunday morning is most relaxing morning in a week. So I image the scene of people enjoying relaxing time in Bill’s Cafe.
I think that spy kitty is story during world war Ⅱ. During WWⅡ, Germany fought against Soviet Union. German army had a lot of spy kitties, sent them and got much secret information from Soviet Union. But finally soldier in Soviet Union found and killed them.
“Sunday morning at Bill’s cafe” is story about what do people do according to their age in this cafe. For example, elderly people often read magazine or newspaper, one family, which is going to go on a trip eats breakfast, prepares and plans what they do at their destination.
Hi, Matt! How did you spend your GW?
Concerning the picture with the caption “Spy Kitties are always watchin…” the historical story “Spy Kitty vs. the Soviets” sounds related to “1984”, is a dystopian novel by English author George Orwell published in 1949. In the story all the people are under watch by ‘Big Brother’ ,who holds absolute power, like people of USSR under Stalin and the absolute authority pushes the propaganda “Big brother is always watching you!”, which looks like the caption of the picture you uploaded for this class. I relatively have a conviction for this prediction.
I find the article “Sunday Morning at Bill’s Cafe” a essay where some old man makes difficulties over use of language of young people, wastefulness of his wife, behavior of his boss in office or blah blah blah. At any rate the article may make us blue…if not I am happy.
Thanks
Kenji(T4)