後学期の期末作文/2nd semester final writing assignment

Hello and Happy New Year!

How are you? I hope you had a great New Year's break! In this blogpost, I'll tell you about our final writing assignment for the fall semester (後学期).

Project
You have three (3) choices about your final writing project. Choose one (1) of them:

1. Write about a real unique, interesting, or special experience (経験) that happened to you. 

In the 6th writing assignment (作文6), you wrote stories about imaginary (想像上の) experiences that were unique or strange. 

For this topic choice, write about a unique, interesting, or special experience you really had, like a school trip or a holiday. It can be about any time of your life - it could be when you were a child, or it could be from when you were in high school - or even something that happened to you this year. 

I am gathering writing on this topic into a book called Places and Traces.  

2. Write about a unique, interesting, or special song, album, movie, or TV show. 

For this topic choice, write about a unique, interesting, or special song, album, movie, or TV show that you like. It can be about any kind of music, movie or TV program. Write about something that means a lot to you. 

For music, I am gathering writing on this topic into a book called Words on Music, and for movies and TV shows, I am thinking of a new book to gather them into - one I don't have a title for yet! 

3. Write about a special person. 

For this topic choice, write about a person who is special in your life - it could be your mother or father, or brother or sister, but it could also be someone who has influenced (影響した) you - a teacher when you were in elementary school (小学校) , or junior high school, for example. It could also be a famous person, like a singer or actor, or a sportsperson. 

I am gathering writing on this topic into a book called The Small Book of Big People. 

How much to write
How much do you 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 books I talked about in class. 

I would like to see 3-4 paragraphs - and I would like to see you try to write the most that you can. Try to make your paragraphs longer - make each paragraph as long as you can. 

Deadline (締め切り)
Next week (1/18). Today, you can get to work on it in class, and keep working on it outside of class. 

Print it out and hand it in when you are finished. 

IMPORTANT NOTE
I want your file correctly formatted! Please see the handout I gave you about formatting your writing. Please check about formatting your Word file on your formatting handout.  

Good luck with this! I hope you can have fun with this, and enjoy writing!

Images: Top and bottom - personal photographs of public art in Nakano Ward, Tokyo. All rights reserved to the artists. 

後学期の期末作文/2nd semester final writing assignment

Hello and Happy New Year!

How are you? I hope you had a great New Year's break! In this blogpost, I'll tell you about our final writing assignment for the fall semester (後学期).

Project
You have two (2) choices about your final writing project. Choose one (1) of them:

1. Write about a real unique, interesting, or special experience (経験) that happened to you. 

In the 6th writing assignment (作文6), you wrote about imaginary (想像上の) unique, interesting, or special experiences. In this topic, write about a unique, interesting, or special experience you really had, like a school trip or a holiday. It can be about any time of your life - it could be when you were a child, or it could be from when you were in high school - or even something that happened to you this year. 

I am gathering writing on this topic into a book called Places and Traces.  

2. Write about a unique, interesting, or special song, album, movie, or TV show. 

In this topic, write about a unique, interesting, or special song, album, movie, or TV show. It can be about any kind of music, movie or TV program. Write about something that means a lot to you. 

For music, I am gathering writing on this topic into a book called Words on Music, and for movies and TV shows, I am thinking of a new book to gather them into - one I don't have a title for yet! 

How much to write
How much do you 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 books I talked about in class. 

I would like to see 3-4 paragraphs - and I would like to see you try to write the most that you can. Try to make your paragraphs longer - make each paragraph as long as you can. I will also look for topic sentences and concluding sentences too!

Deadline (締め切り)
Next week (1/20). Today, you can get to work on it in class, and keep working on it outside of class. 

Print it out and hand it in. I will look at it. After I have looked at it, I may ask you to send it to me as a file attachment (添付ファイル) to an email. 

IMPORTANT NOTE
I want your file correctly formatted! Please see the handout I gave you about formatting your writing. Please check about formatting your Word file here. 

Good luck with this! I hope you can have fun with this, and enjoy writing!

Images: "Iron bars, Shakujiikouen" (personal image)/Musician: "On The Stage" (courtesy of George Stojkovic)/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Our summers (Part 4)

Hello to all my students,

Here is Part 4 in our series of summer paragraphs! Let's look at these:

I went to Hakodate with my family for seven days. I went to Mt Hakodate and mother’s parents house and I ate Chinese noodles, a lot of seafood and melons. I saw the beautiful view and sea from Mt. Hakodate. Hakodate is a very beautiful city, so I liked it, and the view, very much.

After my trip, I started a part-time job at a drug store. It is a hard job, but I also really enjoyed it. Even with this work, I really enjoyed the summer vacation.

Okay! Now let's look at this one:

I went to an amusement park in Yamanashi with my friend. We went there by train. There were many roller coasters and everyone screamed when they rode on them. It was very fun! During the summer vacation, I also worked a part-time job in a bar. Many customers came and I had many chances to communicate with them. My place of work was very fun.

I returned to my family home and went shopping with them, and met my sister’s son for the first time. When I brought my hand close to him, he grasped my finger. He was very cute!

I watched a movie called Armageddon. It was a man’s story, who was an oilman. I was very moved by it, and I listened to its theme song many times. 

I also read many novels written by Mitsuki Tsujimura. I’m a big fan of her work. Her novels made me feel sad and painful, but they are interesting, so I can be absorbed by them. 

Check this one out too!

I had a part-time job during almost the whole summer vacation. I worked at McDonald's. From working so much, my skills have developed much better. I can do a lot of things much more than before, so it was a good experience.

Not all was work, however. I went to Tokyo Summerland too, even though I hate water that so many  people like to play in. It has an amusement park, however, so as a result I could enjoy the day, even being afraid of the water!

How about this one:

I went to Niigata with my friend by shinkansen. We got driver’s licenses there. We went to a driving school, studied driver’s education, and practiced driving everyday. We went to the beach after school and ate some nice dinners every night, mainly Japanese or Chinese food. some of the dishes we had were things like tenshinhan, tonkatsu, and hiyashityuka. We shared a room with both Japanese and Chinese students. One Chinese student we got to know was very smart. He could speak Chinese, Japanese and English fluently. Overall, it was a great trip and great summer. 

Great! Now here's this one:

I went to Yamanashi with my teammates for one week. We joined a training camp. It was very hard, tired and long, but full of precious, happy memories. We did many things there, and tried some new things. For example, I ate a camembert cheese parfait. It was delicious!! Near there, we could enjoy Mt. Fuji. It was beautiful and large. I enjoyed this summer vacation.

These sound like great summer memories!

I'll see you all after the university festival. If you participate in it, good luck. If you go there, have a great time!

See you later!