特別ポスト: Places & Traces

Hello!

How are you? Here I will make another special post on your writing about places. It's part of another collection of writing I am putting together called Places & Traces - a gathering of writing about places you find interesting, inspiring, or special in some way. 

Many of you wrote about this picture: 

Many of you found this picture interesting and unique. I think it is too! Here's what you wrote about it:

It is a beautiful place, called Sunshine Sea. The sea is blue, clean and broad. The beach seems soft and damp. There are some visitors on the beach and have a great time with friends. They look very happy. On the hand, we can see a boat on the beach, but the boat is broken and old. Maybe there was magical things happened in the boat.

When I see the picture in this blog or the real sea, it makes me broad-mind and relaxed. I think it is a great place to take a short break in the busy life.

That's a nice way to see this place. How about this one? 

A name of beach is Vespucci beach. It has very large sandy beach and it is very beautiful. A large sandy beach is beautiful white and sea is very clear blue. And Vespucci beach is one of the most beautiful places in the world. There is a big drifted thing. It is mysterious. Maybe it is an old and big boat, but people do not what it is, but they think it looks sad. And there are a lot of colorful and rare birds and fish.

People who saw the sights of this beach can enjoy many things. For example, they can walk around the beach, it is good for couple because they can make good mood. Second we can play beach sports, beach volleyball, beach flags and so on. I think it is good for young people. They can play these sports and if they feel hot, they can swim in the sea. They can also see a view, fishing, BBQ, playing with own children and so on. They can make a lot of great memories and they want to go to Vespucci beach again and want their friends to go Vespucci beach too.

Great! Here's another one: 

The beach in Kanagawa loved by many people and everybody calls a “Sunshine beach”. According to the name, the brilliant sun rises in morning and many surfers come here in the day time. There is each memory of many people.

There is the old ship washed up on the beach. Here was a port town before and many fisherman fished. But it was not able to catch the fish suddenly and the ship was leave something alone. Now it becomes the amusement place of children. The beach is valuable place for every people forever.

Now how about this one? 

“Why does the beach have a very big and long rock? When does it drift to the beach? Teach me mom!” My son asked me with his eyes shining. There is the rock in the beach near my house. Some people goes to there with their friends, family, and lovers to play, to enjoy, to take pictures. I know this beach as famous and popular place but I didn’t know about the rock drifted on the land. Because we moved here last year. So I couldn’t answer this question. After I wondered that the moss grow up on the rock. Furthermore, it was put seaside for a long time. I thought. I tried to research soon. Just then, the truth gradually dawned on me.

At first, there was the rock over there, a part of another one. Several years ago, a big tsunami surged and hit. It has the strong power. Then the rock broke down by tsunami, in the end float in the sea, drifted ashore. “Uh, I see.” I could understand the reason. One day, my son asked me the same question again. I answered it with confidence. My son smiled happily and I was too. We were full of joy each other.  

That was a great short story! 

Now, these are your thoughts and feelings about this picture, but what really is this strange, big thing in the picture? Click on this link here to find out. 

These are great examples of your work. I'm very happy and proud to publish them here. I'll be happy to see all of you in September, when we come back from the summer break. 

See you then! 

Images: Sunset - "Beautiful Sunset" (courtesy of Photokanok)/FreeDigitalPhotos.net/Beach - "Arromanches" by Bulo78 - Own work. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0, via Wikimedia Commons

特別ポスト: The Small Book of Big People

Hello!

How are you? This is a special post to display some great examples of your writing. It's part of a project called The Small Book of Big People - a collection of writing about people who are interesting, moving, inspiring, and in other ways special.

First, many of your wrote about this picture, and the people in it. It moved many of you.

Here are some examples of what your wrote about it: 

There are a man and four children. They don’t smile. They look sad and poor. They try to make some apple. I think they want to escape poverty because they wear ragged and dirty clothes. In addition, I think they look unhealthy.

We can look at a building behind them. It’s probably their house. It is made of some wood and bamboo. It looks massive building. But, I think it isn’t new. I wish they can improve their standard of living and have a twinkle in their eyes. And I want to do something they are happy through a volunteer in the future.

And now, I’m thinking what to do something to help them. I have some idea. For example, I try to raise money. If they get many money, they can buy foods, clothes, houses and medicines. So, they will live better than now. The most important thing than anything is to continue helping activities.

Here's another one:

Marquis who is holding his child, and Tyrone, who is wearing blue clothes, are staring at a cameraman. Because their country doesn’t have machines like cameras. They are thinking about what he is doing. Tyron’s brother Deshawn and Jalen posing and saying hello to the cameraman.

Marquis is a strict father, but he really loves his children. Tyrone often cries because he is bullied other brother. Deshawn likes running and he is the fastest in his class, yet Jalen doesn’t like running. But he is a genius. He always reading books and teaching study to his friends.

Jalen hopes peace. They suffered from lack of food and they are forced to work hard though they are young. So he is studying hard though they are young. So he is studying hard. His dream is to be a doctor and cure illness of his friends and his country’s people.  

書きを続き、ここ下にクリックしてください：

前期・期末作文/final writing assignment

Hello!

How are you? Today I would like to introduce your topic for our final writing assignment (期末作文): writing about people in difficult situations, such as refugees (難民). I will show the steps you will take for this writing. 

1. Scenario
Look at the boy in the picture above. He is a refugee and he and his family are going to Japan. Where could he come from? What is he feeling? What do you think he imagines about his future life in Japan? What do you think he knows about life in Japan? 

Now do the same with these two following pictures. Who are the people in the pictures? What are they doing? Where are they going? Where might they be coming from? What are they feeling? Talk about these.

2. Final writing assignment 1st draft
Now - choose one (1) picture and write about it in class - imagine that you are a person in one of these pictures. You are going to Japan to start a new life.

Think about questions like these for your writing:

Where do you come from?
Why are you leaving your country?
What is your image about life in Japan?
What do you expect when you come to Japan?
What are some of your hopes, dreams and wishes for the future?

3. Final writing assignment final draft
Now - you will type your final writing assignment on a Word document, print it out, and bring it to our final class next week (7/22). 

See you next time!

Images: Top - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Asylbewerber_-_15.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Asylbewerber_-_15.jpg/
Boat - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Refugees_on_a_boat.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Refugees_on_a_boat.jpg /People - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Evstafiev-travnik-refugees.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Evstafiev-travnik-refugees.jpg/ 
All images from Wikimedia Commons. I do not own the rights to these images. Uploaded for educational purposes only.

特別課題：日本に難民の必要/special homework: needs of refugees to Japan

Hello!

How are you? I would like to show you a new topic for special homework - refugees (難民) and what they need for immigration (移住) to Japan.

Homework
Refugees have many problems, and many things they need. Watch this video. It's mostly in Japanese, but with some English, with Japanese subtitles  (日本語の字幕).

Watch the video as many times as you need to. When you are finished, answer these questions in your notebook about the different parts of the video (you can make notes in English or Japanese):

日本のメッセージ
1. What did the first woman say about coming to Australia as a refugee?
2. What did the second woman say about communication between the government (政府) and refugees?

シンポジウムから待たヒント
What did Ishii-san say about the two women's refugee stories?

日本にできること
What did Moriya-sensei from Hokkaido Educational University (北海道教育大学) say about the needs of refugees?

長野県松本市の取り組み
What did Takizawa-sensei from Toyo Eiwa Women's University graduate school (東洋英和女学院大学大学院) say about help for refugees in Matsumoto city in Nagano (長野県松本市)?

求められる視点
What did Daniel Alkhal (ダニエル・  アルカル ) from the UNHCR (国連難民高等弁務官事務所) say about the three different steps of support refugees need?

Make these notes in your notebook. You can make these notes in Japanese or English.

We will talk more about refugees in Japan - for example, what they need in our towns and cities, and your opinions on how we can make them feel they can be a part of Japanese society.

Important note!
This will be the basis for our final writing assignment (期末作文), so please do this homework!

I hope this is interesting for you.

Take care!

Image: "Evstafiev Travnik refugees" http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Evstafiev-travnik-refugees.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Evstafiev-travnik-refugees.jpg

Video uploaded from YouTube. I do not own the rights to the video. Uploaded for classroom use only. All rights reserved to the owner(s).