Writing English 2A: Comparison & contrast with places, homes, & lifestyles・場所、家、ライフスタイルの比較対照

Hello! 

How are you? Today, let's look at comparison and contrast (比較対照), with different kinds of places, homes and lifestyles. 

Look at the apartment building above. Could you see yourself living in it? Maybe it's not your style, but maybe some other person might like it!

Activity/homework
Look at these different kinds of places and homes. Which do you like? Which do you see yourself wanting to live in? Which one is better than another one? Which kind of place or home fits your personality the best? Talk about these with your classmates and write some notes about what you like, and which you think is better. 

Life in Tokyo

Life in a small town

Living in a danchi

Living in an apartment 

Now how about your lifestyle? Which do you think you would want to do? Do you see yourself…

…getting married and having a family? 

Or being happy to stay single? 

Have fun! See you next time!

Images: Top – screenshot from http://keywordsuggest.org/gallery/118943.html/Tokyo scene - screenshot from http://www.worldpropertyjournal.com/asia-pacific-commercial-news/japan-reits-apartments-tokyo-office-daiwahouse-6732.php/rural street -Kawanishi, Nara-ken - By 名古屋太郎 - Own work PENTAX K10D + smc PENTAX-A 1:2.8 20mm, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=46124112/Danchi - By BrianAdler - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3216112/Colorful apartments - screenshot from https://www.japlusu.com/news/new-approaches-apartment-living-japan/Couple with child – screenshot from http://www.ibtimes.com/japan-encourages-young-people-date-mate-reverse-birth-rate-plunge-it-may-be-too-late-1562867/Single person in room – screenshot from https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2013/03/25/micro-apartments-tight-squeeze-but-livable/vDRdMnChgdhCdFOrmupnyN/story.html

I do not own the rights to the original material of screenshots. Uploaded for educational purposes only. All rights reserved to the copyright holders.

Culture through English 2A: Spring semester presentations・前期プレゼンテーション

Hello!

How are you? Today I will tell you about our spring semester presentations. Here are the topics, deadline, and guidelines. 

Topics

You can choose one (1) of these topics. These topics are based on what we have learned about so far in our class:

   •    Introducing a historic (歴史的) place in Japan 

   •    Introducing a historic (歴史的) place in another country

You will research about the place you choose - then present about it. 

Deadline (締め切り)

Our presentation day will be on July 20th (7/20), so we have two (2) weeks to prepare them.

IMPORTANT NOTES
1. You can present in a group - but you have to stay with your group! Once you have decided which group members you want to be with, you can't change to another group. 

2. You have to be there on the day to do your presentation! Please be ready. If for any reason you cannot be there to present on the day, you must talk to me before the day.

Guidelines

You have a choice between doing a poster presentation or Power Point show. I will make blogposts about guidelines for posters and Power Point shows.  

Good luck! I look forward to our presentation day!

Image: Screenshot of student Power Point display slide. All rights reserved on original material to the student. 

Writing English 1A: Origins of cats & dogs・猫と犬の起源

Hello!

How are you? Today I have two short videos for you that I hope you find interesting - one is about the origins (起源) of cats, and the other is about the origins of dogs. 

Both videos show where these animals came from and how they became domesticated (馴れた).  

Activity/homework

Watch these short videos. Watch each one as many times as you want or need. The first is about where cats came from and how they spread around the world. The second is about dogs, and where they came from and how they also spread around the world. 

There are no questions about the videos that you have to report to the class. They are to give you some background about where cats and dogs came from, how they both first came into contact with humans. From there, the videos show how humans found them to be useful, and also to be good as pets. 

But - make notes about the videos, because if you do any writing about cats or dogs, the information you'll see in the videos may be very useful for you!

First video - about cats:

Second video - about dogs: 

Hope these are very interesting for you!

See you next time!

Image: Personal photograph. All rights reserved. 

Videos uploaded from YouTube. I do not own the rights to the videos or the content within them. All rights reserved to the copyright holder(s). Uploaded for educational purposes. 

Culture through English 2A: Alhambra・アルハンブラ

Hello!

How are you? Today I have a short video for you about Alhambra (アルハンブラ宮展) in Spain.  

Do you know this place? How about the picture above? Let's find out more about Alhambra!

Activity/homework
Watch the video below. It's short, and you can turn on Japanese subtitles (字幕) if you need them. But try to challenge this in English! Watch the video more than one time. 

Now answer these questions after you watch the video. I have also put these on the question sheet I have given you. 

Questions

1. What is the main attraction (名所) at Alhambra? 

2. Where do you enter the palace complex (位置)? 

3. What’s the name of the courtyard (中庭 ) of the palace? 

4. Why is it called by this name? 

5. What other famous building in the world has the same kind of reflection (影) in the water? 

6. In the Palace of the Lions, what do the designs on the ceiling look like?

7. Why did the sultan create the Generalife Gardens?  

8. What is another feature of the Generalife Gardens?  

9. When was the old citadel (城郭) at Alhambra built?  
10. What can you see from the citadel? 

Take care! See you next class!

Image: By Fernando Martín - Own work, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17075

Video uploaded from YouTube. All rights reserved to the copyright holder(s). I do not own the rights to the video. Uploaded for educational purposes only. 

Culture through English 2A: Famous places & sites・有名な場所、遺跡

Hello!

How are you? Let's look at some pictures of unique places. Look at this picture above of the Taj Mahal in Agra, India. What comes to your mind when you see it? What do you think of? 

Activity 

Look at these pictures of unique and famous places - including the Taj Mahal at the top, and the other places below. Talk about them with your classmates. Which places would you like to see in real life? 

Hermitage Museum, Russia

Angkor Wat, Cambodia

Alhambra, Spain

Niagara Falls, Canada & the U.S.

Chichen Itza, Mexico

Have fun talking about these! 

Homework
Now find out more about one of these places - choose the one you are most interested in. Make these notes: 

• Short history about the place
• Any special or famous events or incidents (事件) that happened there
• The most unique thing about the place (such as a building, room, artwork, or special objects)
• How to get there from Japan (which airlines fly from Japan to the closest international airport near the place and how long it takes to get there from Narita or Haneda)

Take care! See you next time!

Images: Top - By http://www.flickr.com/photos/pnglife/ - http://www.flickr.com/photos/pnglife/3062610663/in/set-72157606377261510/, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6664125/Hermitage - By Dezidor - Own work (own photo), CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4085546/Angkor Wat - CC BY-SA 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=600690/Alhambra - By Jebulon - Own work, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=52005558/Niagara Falls - CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30616/Chichen Itza - By Daniel Schwen - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7647000/All images from Wikimedia Commons

Writing English 2A: Writing assignment 2・作文2

Hello!

How are you? Let me show you our 2nd writing assignment - your opinions about refugees (難民) and what they need for immigration (移住).

I am gathering writing on his topic into a book called Leaving Home, Going Home - this is a book about student writing on refugee issues. 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 Leaving Home, Going Home book.

I would like to see maybe 3-4 paragraphs' worth of writing.

Deadline (締め切り)
It will be June 22nd (6/22), so I want you to bring in a first draft (下書き) next week (来週) in your notebooks in pencil. Then you can write to the finish and turn in your work on 6/22.

Preparation (準備)
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.

Task 
Now look at your notes and write 3-4 paragraphs about what you think of refugees and their needs, especially in coming to Japan.

If you believe that refugees should not come to Japan, give your reasons why.

To be honest, this is a deeper topic than what some of you have done before - so I hope this is interesting for you.

Good luck! I look forward to reading your great writing about these issues.

Take care!

Image: By Mikhail Esteves from Bangalore, India - Mae La Refugee Camp, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2720844
Video uploaded from YouTube. I do not own the rights to the video. Uploaded strictly for educational purposes only. All rights reserved to the
copyright holder(s).

Culture through English 2A: Hotels ・ホテル

Hello!

How are you? Let's think about, and write some notes, on hotels! 

Activity/homework
What kind of hotel would you like to stay in? Let's look at some pictures of different hotels.

This is the first one - the Marina Bay Sands Hotel in Singapore:

1. 

What do you think of this hotel? 

Now this one is very different - an English village house made into a country hotel: 

2.

What do you think of it? 

How about this one - a motel on the beach:

3. 

What do you think of this place? 

What about this one? It's a tropical resort in Thailand:

4. 

Would you like to stay here? 

Now - think about all these different hotels and places. Which one would you like to stay in? Write two (2) sentences about the hotel you like. Give some reasons using because. 

例えば：
I want to stay in hotel #2 because it is very quiet, and looks comfortable and peaceful. I think I can get some good rest in this hotel. 

Have fun!

Images: Top - personal photograph/1. "Marina Bay Sands Hotel in Singapore" (courtesy of posterize)/2. "Typical English Village House" (courtesy of Stuart Miles)/3. "Motel on the Beach" (courtesy of Aleksandr Kutsayev)/4. Image "Tropical Resort in Thailand" (courtesy of nuchylee)/all images except top photo from FreeDigitalPhotos.net/all rights reserved on personal photograph.