Writing English 2B: Writing assignment 5・作文5

Hello!

How are you? Today I will show you our fifth writing assignment (作文5) – writing about pieces of music, or works of art.

Topic

Choose any two (2) works of art, or any two (2) pieces of music, from this blog – or find two works of art or two pieces of music of your own – to compare and contrast (比較対照する) in a short essay.

Important note: 
If you search out music on your own, any kind is acceptable – but make it an instrumental piece of music, with no vocals. This is because words add another dynamic that may make this more difficult for you.

Wikimedia Commons is a good source to find reproductions of works of art that are downloadable for free. Of course, YouTube is the best place to find video files of music.

As you have seen in class, think about evaluating the qualities and characteristics of a painting, sculpture, photograph, or musical piece along these lines:

• The dynamics of space, color, shape, figures, action for an artwork or of sound for a piece of music

• The particular mood or feeling the composition of the artwork or the piece of music gives you an impression of

• The kind of scenario you imagine from the artwork or piece of music – is there a story that somehow comes to your mind when viewing and remembering the artwork or listening to the piece of music?

Bring together in the end a comparison and contrast about the strengths – or weaknesses – of the artwork or pieces of music. It is perfectly okay to criticize a work of art or piece of music – so long as you can show a strong sense of reasoning for why you feel the way you do about it.

How much to write


As I have shown before, I would like to see around 4-5 paragraphs. (Make the paragraphs at least a little longer!) But if you can write even a little more – go for it!

Deadline (締め切り)

The deadline will be December 12th (12/12), so you have two (2) weeks to do this. I want you to bring in a first draft (下書き) on 12/5 in your notebooks in pencil. Then - I will show you how to go over your work to improve your drafts, and then you can improve your work and hand in on 12/12. 

Important note!
Please remember that there is no class on 11/28!

Good luck with this! I hope you can have fun with this, and enjoy writing about music or art.

See you next time!

Image: By Pablo Picasso - The Art Institute of Chicago and jacquelinemhadel.com, PD-US, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31832131

Writing English 2B: Comparison & contrast with art・美術の比較対照

Hello!

How are you? Today let's look at a different basis for comparison and contrast - with works of art.  

Take a look at the paintings above. The one on the left (左) is Jean Baptiste-Camille Corot's Girl with Mandolin and the one on the right (右) is Juan Gris' Woman with Mandolin (after Corot). 

Corot painted his work in the mid-19th century, while Gris painted his in the early 20th century. It is a unique comparison to see a later artist paint a study as a comparison with an older artist. 

Activity/homework

Look at these works of art below. As you did with the pieces of music from the blogpost before, here you can choose two (2) of these works of art to compare and contrast (比較対照して). 

As we did with the pieces of music, think of what kind of scenarios you see, or get a feeling of, with these works of art? What do you imagine? What comes to your mind as you see these works? 

Between the two works of art you chose, which one do you like better, or feel is more delicate or strong, or has greater nuance? Here are some works of art:

Edgar Degas, Dancers


Pacific U.S. Native American/Canadian First Nations totem pole

Edvard Munch, The Dance of Life


Katsushika Hokusai, Rainstorm Beneath the Summit (山下白雨)

Antoni Gaudi, Sagrada Familia

Shen Zhou, Poet on a Mountain

I hope these give you something more, and new, to write about. 

See you next week! Take care!

Images: Top - screenshot of Jean Baptiste-Camille Corot's Girl with Mandolin and Juan Gris' Woman with Mandolin (after Corot) (La femme à la mandoline, d'après Corot) - taken from Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot - Saint Louis Art Museum, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40710376 and Juan Gris - [1], Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40490704/Dancers - by Edgar Degas - the-athenaeum.org [1], Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5744729/First Nations totem pole - by Jerzy Strzelecki - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons. wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3112590/Dance of Life - by Edvard Munch - http://samling.nasjonalmuseet.no/no/object/NG.M.00941 Nasjonalmuseet/Høstland, Børre, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=37709496/Rainstorm Beneath the Summit - by Katsushika Hokusai - http://visipix.com/index.htm, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=313227/Sagrada Familia - by No machine-readable author provided. Marb~commonswiki assumed (based on copyright claims). - No machine-readable source provided. Own work assumed (based on copyright claims)., CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=463848/Poet on a Mountain - by Shen Zhou - Public Domain, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10996734
All rights reserved on all reproductions of the images. I do not own the rights to these images or reproductions. All images uploaded for classroom purposes only.

Culture through English 2B: Fall semester mid-term presentations・後期中間 プレゼンテーション

Hello!

How are you? Here is the topic, deadline, and guidelines for our fall semester mid-term presentations (後期中間 プレゼンテーション).

While I have given all of you the handout about this assignment, I am posting about it here also as another way to help remind all of you about what you can do.

Topic

In this topic, research about an educational system in another country.

You can choose any country. While I showed you the videos on the blogpost about education in Finland, India, and South Korea, these are only examples. You should find other videos and readings on educational systems in other countries. Please do not do the educational systems of any of these countries! 

You can choose any level of education to bring more focus to your presentation – elementary, junior high school and high school, or university.

Deadline (締め切り)

Our presentation day will be on December 5th (12/5), so you have three (3) weeks to prepare them.

Important note:
I know I had said that we would do these presentations on November 28th (11/28). But I overlooked the special event that all students would do on that day - there will be no classes. So - let's do these on 12/5 instead! My apologies for my mistake on the dates. 

Guidelines

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

Remember the notes I showed you in class today about your sources of information. Please do not use Wikipedia (either in Japanese or English). 

Special note:
One new thing about these presentations is that you will also develop an outline (あらすじ), which I showed you some points on. You will use this to speak from - not scripted notes.

Good luck! I look forward to our presentation day!

See you next time!

Image: By Gunnar Creutz, Falbygdens museum - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=28211895