Culture through English 2A: Mid-term presentation displays

Hello!

How are you? I'm uploading this later than what I wanted, but I have finally done so! Here are some selected displays from your mid-term presentations! 

Take a look at these displays, and be proud of your work, and your classmates' work! All of you did a good job on the speaking, and organization of your ideas, on these projects. Good job and a great effort from all of you! 

So here are some more great displays!

I hope you can enjoy these! See you next time!

Images: Personal photographs of student work. All rights reserved to the students for their content.

Writing English 2A: Spring semester final writing assignment・前期期末作文

Hello!

How are you? Here is the spring semester final writing assignment - writing a final paper based on your thesis statement and outline from writing assignment 3.

This assignment will be important because it will go directly from our writing assignment 3 (作文 3), so it is important that you do this one based on your topic in writing assignment 3.

Topics/themes

There is no set topic or theme with this assignment – but whatever topic you wrote an outline and thesis statement about in your writing assignment 3, there is one rule you have to follow: You have to write about the same topic for your final writing assignment. So as I have said before, the outline and thesis statement for this third assignment will be preparation for your final writing assignment. 

I said this on the handout and blogpost for writing assignment 3, but I will say it here again as a special rule: You can choose to write about something from the themes (テーマ) of writing assignment 1 or 2, but you cannot write about the same topic you wrote about before - you have to choose something different. For example, you have to write about a different person than what you wrote about before, or a different topic in the 1st or 2nd assignment themes.

Deadline (締め切り)

It will be July 18th (7/18), so I want you to bring in a first draft (下書き) of the thesis statement and outline next week (来週) in your notebooks in pencil. I will then review your work, and you can change things about the thesis statement and outline as you need to. Then you can write to the finish and turn it in on 7/18. 

While I can give you some in-class time to write, you will have to work on your writing outside of class to make it the best piece of writing you have ever made!

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

Image: Personal photograph. All rights reserved. 

Reading English 1A: Spring semester final presentations・前期期末プレゼンテーション

Hello!

How are you! Today here is the post about our final presentations. 

While I have already given all of you the handout about the final presentations, I will post it here as well as another way to help remind you about what you can do for this project.

Look at the picture above. It's an example of one of the topics you can present about from our reading on "A City Without Oil." The picture is a model of an energy-efficient house - a house where all the power used comes from renewable energy sources. (In Japanese, energy efficiency is エネルギー効率). 

Here are all the topics, deadline, and guidelines for our spring semester mid-term presentations.

Topics

You have a choice of topics to present on. Choose one (1) of these: 

• Greetings customs and gestures from another country
• Designs of houses for energy efficiency
• A Nasreddin story 

Guidelines

For this presentation, you can design a small poster or make a Power Point show. 

If you design a poster, I would like you to follow these guidelines:

• It has to be on A3 size paper
• You have to have 4-5 pictures on it (hand-drawn or photos, or a mix)
• It has to be colorful and interesting to look at 

If you make a Power Point show, I would like you to follow these guidelines: 

• You have to have a title slide - then 5-7 slides with pictures and text on it - then a closing slide
• It has to be colorful and interesting to look at
• Bring your own computer! 

Deadline (締め切り）

We will do these presentations on July 18th (7/18), so you have three (3) weeks to work on these.

Next week (7/4), please have a topic idea to show me and we will make some time to do some work in class on the presentations. I would like to see your work and give you some advice on what you can do to make the best presentations you can. Please be ready on 7/18! 

Good luck! I look forward to our presentation day!

Image: By Destination8infinity - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21656061

Culture through English 2A: Supplemental post about refugees・難民についてポスト

Hello!

How are you? Here is a special post to go with our 2nd short presentation - about refugees (難民) and what they need for immigration (移住). 

Support & preparation (準備)
If you choose to present on this topic, here is some support for you. 

The picture at the top is of a refugee boy in a refugee center in Germany. While he may be smiling, refugees have many problems, and many things they need. Watch this video below. 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.

Good luck! Take care!

Image: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Asylbewerber_-_15.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Asylbewerber_-_15.jpg
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).

Writing English 2A: Writing assignment 3・作文3

Hello!

How are you? Today I will introduce our third writing assignment (作文3) - writing an outline with a thesis statement on a topic. 

This assignment will be especially important because it will connect directly to our final writing assignment (期末作文), so it is important that you do this one. 

Topics/themes
There is no set topic or theme with this assignment. You are free to choose any topic you like. But usually, deeper topics that have a number of points about them make better topics to outline. 

Special note:
Whatever topic you choose to write an outline and thesis statement about about, however, there is one rule you have to follow: You have to write about the same topic for your final writing assignment. So the outline and thesis statement for this third assignment will be preparation for your final writing assignment. 

If you cannot think of a topic to make an outline and thesis statement, then write a final writing assignment about, here are some ideas: You can make an outline and thesis statement, and write a final assignment, about one of the writing assignments we have done before. 

Now here is one special rule: You cannot write about the same topic you wrote about before - you have to choose something different. For example, you have to write about a different person than what you wrote about before, or a different topic within the 2nd assignment theme.

NEW NOTES: Here are the board notes for today's (6/20) class: 

THIS IS IMPORTANT! Look at the key to writing strong thesis statements:

Now here is a refresher about what we have done before: 

Writing assignment 1 (作文1)
These were our topic choices:  

• Writing about a famous person including points on what they look like, how they dress, what     they are known to you for or are famous for, and what else is unique or interesting about them
• Writing about a place including where it is, what is special about it, what special things there are, and how to get there

Writing assignment 2 (作文2)
These were the idea choices for different topics within this theme:  

•          The aging population (老齢人口) of Japan and what older people need for their support  
•       Social media and its problems 
•       Issues and/or things that need improvement for student life at Daito Bunka
•       Possible problems and/or issues connected with the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics 
•       Voting rights (投票権) for 18-year-olds in Japanese elections (選挙) 
•       Refugee issues (難民の問題) and what refugees need for immigration (移住) to Japan 
•       Hikikomori and their problems of social adjustment (社会適応) in Japanese society

Deadline (締め切り)
It will be July 4th (7/4), so I want you to bring in a first draft (下書き) of the thesis statement and outline next week (来週) in your notebooks in pencil. I will then review your work, and you can change things about the thesis statement and outline as you need to. Then you can write to the finish and turn it in on 7/4. 

While I am reviewing your work, you can go ahead and begin writing a first draft of the final writing assignment itself - the body (中心) of your topic and theme in class.

Good luck! I look forward to reading your great thesis statements and outlines! 

Image: Personal photograph. All rights reserved.

Culture through English 2A: Short presentation 2・ショートプレゼンテーション2

Hello!

How are you? Today here is the information about our second short presentations. While I have given all of you the handout about the presentations, I am also posting about it here as another way to help remind you about what you can present about. 

Topic

Our topic will be about immigrant communities, or refugee issues (難民の問題) and what they need for immigration (移住).  

There are immigrant communities in Japan as well as immigrant and refugee communities in other countries. Here are some examples of communities, refugee issues, or other things connected to these topics you could present about:

• Chinese in Japan (for example, as in the Motomachi Chukagai)
• Koreans in Japan
• Japanese-Brazilians in Japan
• Japanese emigration to the U.S., Canada, Brazil, or other countries
• Refugee immigration and resettlement in Japan 
• How permanent foreign residents in Japan can become Japanese citizens
• Refugee problems in other countries
• African-Caribbean immigrants to Britain
• Turkish immigrants in Germany

Guidelines

I would like you to design a small poster on A3-size paper. It can be titled with the name of the immigrant community you are presenting about, or some other title like that. 

We will present in small groups to each other for around 5-6 minutes, with a Q&A from the classmates we will present to. 

Deadline (締め切り)

We will do these presentations two (2) weeks from today on July 4th (7/4).

We will do some presentation practice in class before the real presentations. These presentations will be the only things we will do on July 4th.  

Good luck! I look forward to hearing your great presentations on these topics!

Image: By MMKK2 - Own work, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=46977800

Culture through English 2A: Immigration & naturalization・移住と帰化

Hello!

How are you? Today let's look more at immigration (移住), with a connected topic about naturalization (帰化) - the process of becoming a citizen of another country. 

What makes people not only want to leave their country to start a new life in another country, but to become a citizen of it? In addition, how easy – or difficult – is it to become a citizen of one country or another? In the case of Japan, how can a foreign-born person become a Japanese citizen? 

Watch the video below. It's in English, but you can turn on Japanese subtitles if you need them.  It's about an American who became a naturalized Japanese citizen. 

Watch the video as many times as you want or need. As you watch, make some notes about anything interesting or surprising to you. 

What do you think of it? 

I hope you find this interesting. See you next time!

Image: Screenshot taken from photograph originally on http://wonderfulengineering.com/passport-can-get-almost-anywhere-without-visa/
Video uploaded from YouTube.
All rights reserved to the copyright holder(s). I do not own the rights to the original photograph or the video or its content. Uploaded for classroom use only.