Writing English A: Spring semester final writing assignment・前期末作文

Hello!

How are you? Here is our spring semester final writing assignment (前期末作文) - writing an analysis of a poem.

Topic
I will post here links for two (2) different poems - "Jaguar" by Francisco Alarcon, and "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost.

Read both poems - then choose the one (1) that you like the most.

To read the poem "Jaguar" by Francisco Alarcon, click on this link here.
To read the poem "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost, click on this link here.

These poems are very different from each another, but each one has rich, and unexpected, things in them. So for whichever poem you choose, write about these points:

• A general background to the poem (for example, in the case of “Jaguar,” an animal in a zoo, with some explanation as to why or how you believe the animal got there)
• The kinds of metaphors (隠喩) or other images shown by the words
• A surprising point or some unexpected image, or use of a word or some words, in the poem
• Your idea of a bigger or hidden theme, issue, or story that the poem hints at
• What you think or feel about the poem – if and how you liked it (or – this is okay – if and how you did not like it)

I am gathering writing on these topics into a book called Words on Words - this is a book about student analysis and opinions on poetry, stories, and other literature. The best of your writing on this topic could go into this book, so write to the best you can! 

How much to write

I would like you to write as much as you can, because your work may be published (出版した) on both this blog and in the Words on Words book. I would like to see maybe 3-4 paragraphs' worth of writing. 

Deadline (締め切り)

It will be July 17th (7/17), by the end of class. 


Here are the board notes for our class on 7/3:

Good luck! I look forward to reading your great writing!

Take care!

Images: Top - by Katie Chan - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=41882238/Bottom - by Famartin - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47766834

Writing English A: Literary circles questions for "All Along the Watchtower"・文学的なディスカションの質問「見張り塔からずっと」

Hello! 

How are you? Here are the literary circles leader questions for "All Along the Watchtower."

I decided to make this a separate post, as it would've made the blogpost before this one with the pictures too long.

About literary circles 
What is a literary circle? It's a small group short study and discussion about a piece of literature (文学) - where people get together and read and study, then talk about the meanings and feelings, of a short story or a poem the groups has read together. 

Literary circles can be made longer to include study and discussions over many meetings about novels. We don't have time for that! But we can read together, study a little, and talk about the meaning and our feelings and understanding of a poem - in this case, the words to one of Bob Dylan's most famous songs, "All Along the Watchtower." 

We won't listen to the song, though if you want, you can search it out yourself on YouTube.  

How literary circles work
Literary circles usually have four (4) members. Each person in the circle has a job to do. Each circle has a leader who helps the other groups members stay on task, and helps them if they need it. 

Each group has a summarizer, who writes a short summary (要約) about the story or poem being studied. 

Each group also has a details master, who answers questions that the leader shows to him or her. The details master then writes answers to the questions in his or her own words. 

Finally, each group also has a vocabulary master. The vocabulary master writes meanings, in his or her own understanding, to a list of words the leader will show. He or she tries to make his or her own meanings without a dictionary, though for any difficulty he or she can ask the leader for help, and use a dictionary if the vocabulary master really needs it.

In groups with only three (3) members, the leader will have two (2) jobs - he or she will also be the vocabulary master.  

So are you ready? Let's begin!

Leader questions about "All Along the Watchtower"
First question for every member of the group: Who are the two (2) main characters in the poem?  

For the summarizer

Are you ready to summarize the poem? (Can you read to us your summary of the poem?)

For the detail master

1. What is the feeling of the joker?

2. What was the thief’s reply?

3. Who else was along the watchtower when they spoke?
4. What did they see and get a feeling about outside the watchtower?

(Leaders - think of two (2) more questions of your own from the poem to ask the details master!)

For the vocabulary master

1. What is confusion?

2. What does a plowman do?

3. What is a servant?

4. What does approaching something mean?

(Leaders - think of two (2) more words of your own from the poem to ask the vocabulary master!)

Final question for every member of the group: What kind of situation are they in? What do you think may happen next?  

I hope this helps you to understand and enjoy the words to this song. 

Take care!

Image: Cropped version of photograph originally by Matson Collection - Library of CongressCatalog: https://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/matpc/item/mpc2010004316/PPOriginal url: https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/matpc.18827, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=67311769

Culture through English A: Spring semester final presentations・前期末プレゼンテーション

Hello! 

How are you? Today I will introduce our final presentation assignment. Here are the topics, deadline, and guidelines.

Topics

You can choose one (1) of these topics:

• The origins of some family names in Japan
• An immigrant community in Japan (such as Koreans or Chinese born in Japan) or immigrant/unique ethnic community in another country

For the first topic choice, be sure to show:

• The ranking of the family name in Japan (for example, how common is the name) and number of people in Japan with this name
• Any changes in the kanji of the family name over time
• Any differences in kanji within the same family name (for example, the difference between 渡辺 and 渡邉) and reasons for this difference
• The different parts of Japan that the family name has migrated to and the parts of Japan that the name is most often found in 

For this second topic choice, here is a list of some unique communities and ethnic groups in some different countries. You do not have to choose one of these - you can think of an ethnic group or community of your own. But you can choose one (1) of these if you like:

• The Travelers (Ireland)
• Bretons (northwestern France)
• The Basques and their language (northwestern Spain/southwestern France)
• The Sorbs and their language (eastern Germany/southwestern Poland)
• German minorities of Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan
• Hungarian minority of Romania
• The Sami people (northern Norway and Finland)
• Metis people of Quebec (Quebec, Canada)
• The Haida First Nations (British Columbia, Canada)
• Hasidic Jews of New York (U.S)
• The Lumbees (east central cost of the U.S.)
• Cajun (Acadian) people of Louisiana (the U.S.)

Special note about the deadline (締め切り)
I know that in our class today, I had said that we would do these presentations on July 24th.

I have made a mistake. I have found out that in fact our last day of class is July 17th. This is my fault and I am very sorry about my mistake. So, this means that our presentation day will be on July 17th (7/17), so you have two (2) weeks to prepare them.

I am very sorry once again about my mistake on this. I will give some extra points towards all of your final grades for my mistake.

Guidelines

You have a choice between doing a poster presentation or Power Point show. 

You will also write a summary (要約) about the presentation topic. You will hand this in on the day of the presentations.

Here are the board notes for our class on 7/3: 

Good luck! I look forward to our final presentation day on July 17th! 

See you next week!

Image: Top - by Angie from Sawara, Chiba-ken, Japan - Flickr, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=639426/Bottom - by (WT-en) Bobo12345 at English Wikivoyage - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=23702671