Culture through English A: Spring final assignment・前期末課題

Hello!

How are you? Here are the topics, deadline, and guidelines for our spring semester final presentations. 

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 
• How a foreign person can become a citizen of Japan or how a person can become a citizen of another country you choose and research about (for example, how a foreign immigrant to the U.S. can become a U.S. citizen)

Task & guidelines 

You have a choice for this assignment. Because this is the final assignment, I will ask for a little more than on assignments 1 and 2. You can:

• Make a video of yourself giving a 5-7 minute Power Point, Key Note, or Google Slides presentation –or-
• Write a longer 5-7 paragraph (段落) research report, on a Word document or handwritten on notebook pages, with clear pictures taken of the pages 

About family names

For the first theme choice, be sure to show:

• The ranking of the family name in Japan or another country (for example, how common is the name) and number of people in Japan or another country with this name
• Any changes in the kanji of the family name, or the spelling of the name in a different language, over time
• In the case of Japanese family names, any differences in kanji within the same family name (for example, the difference between 渡辺 and 渡邉) and reasons for this difference
• In the case of a foreign family name, any possible differences in spelling of the name within  the country (or other countries that have the same language - for example, German language family names in Austria or Switzerland)
• The different parts of Japan or another country that the family name has migrated to and the parts of Japan or another country that the name is most often found in 

For the second theme 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 a refugee, ethnic group or community of your own. But you can choose one (1) of these if you like:

• The Travelers (Ireland)
• Vietnamese refugee boat people from the Vietnam War
• 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 (New York City, U.S)
• The Lumbees (east central coast of the U.S.)
• Cajun (Acadian) people of Louisiana (the U.S.)
• Cham people (Cambodia)

For the third theme choice, make sure to research points such as: 

• Possibilities and issues of dual citizenship rights (二重国籍の権利) 
• Obligations of military service (徴兵制度) 
• Any possibility of double taxation (課税) between the person’s new country and old country 
• any other interesting or unique points that you may find about citizenship rights and responsibilities 

About presentations

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

• You have to have a title slide - then a summary slide - then after that 5-7 slides with pictures and text on it - then finally a closing slide
• It has to be colorful and interesting to look at
• You have to video-record yourself giving the presentation - or if you can - do a narration to your slides where you talk out your presentation
• As with our other assignments, you are free to design the presentation display any way you want to.

About reports

If you choose to write a report, as we have done on the other assignments, you can also include pictures with it on a Word document - or take some pictures to go with your report. 

Deadline

Please upload your presentation files or written documents/pictures to Manaba no later than 23:59 on August 5th (8/5). However, I can take your files or documents up to 23:59 on August 8th (8/8). 

Please name your display file(s) or written document like this (here is an example): 

t_suzuki_cteA_final_assignment

("cteA" means Culture through English A)

If you have to upload more than one file, add the extra files with the same name, but with a letter after “final_assignment.” For example:

t_suzuki_cteA_final_assignment_a  (this shows that it is an extra file)

Please remember again that if you don’t have a computer but want to write a report, you can write clearly by hand on notebook paper, take a clear picture with your smartphone of the notebook page(s), and upload the picture file to Manaba. Please name the file the same way as above for a presentation file or Word document. 

I cannot take any more files after 23:59 on August 8th (8/8).

Good luck! 

Image: Top - by Angie from Sawara, Chiba-ken, Japan - Flickr, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=639426/Screenshot taken from photograph originally uploaded to the Daily Mail website - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-3437455/Not-passport-equals-travel-documents-come-different colors-countries-choose-them.html. I do not own the rights to the original image. All rights reserved to the copyright holder(s). Uploaded for classroom use only.