Culture through English・Writing English・Freshman English Reading B: My summer

Hello! 

How are you? Welcome back to classes for our new semester! 

How was your summer? Did you do anything fun, interesting, or exciting? I'll tell you about my summer! 

I had a friend of mine from the U.S. come to visit me here for two weeks. It was his first time in Japan and he was excited to see and do things. He loves Japanese food and wanted to do two special things - first, ride the Mario Kart in Tokyo, and second, go hiking along the Kumano Kodou in Wakayama prefecture. 

The picture at the top is of the Hongu Taisha - one of the three great shrines that make the Kumano Kodou a World Heritage site (世界自然遺産). So we went!

First, here he is in the Mario Kart:

Here's me in my kart:

Here is the group we were a part of, riding past Tokyo Tower. (I'm all the way near the end!) This was a lot of fun!

Now here was our trip along the Kumano Kodou. We took so many pictures - here are just a few of the places along the way:

These are a lot of pictures - more than I usually upload on these blogposts! 

So how was your summer? Let's talk about our summers with each other!

I'm glad to see all of you again. See you next time!

Images: Personal photographs. All rights reserved.

Freshman Reading 1B: Fall semester final presentations・後期期末 プレゼンテーション

Hello!

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

Look at the picture above. It's of me in front of a statue of Ho Chi Minh in Hue, Vietnam in 2016. The place was the high school he graduated from when he was young. This is an example of one of the topics you could review - about travel in another country.

Topics

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

• How to travel in another country cheaply
• A person you admire (such as a parent or other family member, a teacher, or a famous person such as a singer, actor, writer, or a historical figure)
• A cultural tradition or unique cultural heritage site in another country 

Guidelines

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

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 January 16th (1/16), so you have three (3) weeks to work on these.

Next week (12/19), 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 1/16! 

Good luck! I look forward to our presentation day!

See you next time!

Image: Personal photograph. All rights reserved.