Culture through English 2B: Final presentation projects・後期プレゼンテーション

Hello!

How are you? Today, I will introduce our final presentation project (後期プレゼンテーションプロジェクト) - presenting about famous festivals (祭り) and celebrations around the world.

The picture above is of a unique festival held every year in the U.S. called Burning Man. It's held in the western desert, in Nevada, every summer. I won't tell you any more about it because you might want to research about it! Here's what we'll do:

Topics

This time we will have one (1) topic – festivals (祭り) and celebrations around the world.

Guidelines

Like before, you have a choice between making a poster presentation or Power Point show. But this time I will make some rules I want you to follow:

• You can still present in groups – but I want each member to show what their job is in the group (for example, the planning notes from the person who designed the visual material like a poster or the slides, plus separate notes from the person who looked for vocabulary and spellchecked, and so on). The other side of the sheet I have given you in class is for your planning and preparation.

• Because of this, every member of each group has to come to class every time.

• I would like these to be the best presentations you can put together – so because of this, we have to have a practice time, with coaching from me if your group needs it.

• Every group must have a different topic – no groups can have the same topic.

Schedule & deadline (締め切り)

Our presentation day will be on January 18th (1/18), so you have more than one (1) month to prepare them. Because I am giving you this project now, here is our schedule for the rest of our time together:

• 12/14 – introduction to the project; choosing group members; naming groups and choosing jobs in groups for preparation; coordinating ideas between groups on topics; beginning outside class research

• 12/21 – teacher check of group names and members, topic choices, research and coordination of topics between groups; check of jobs among group members; in-class research and preparation

• 1/11 – in-class research and preparation; presentation practice; final outside class research

• 1/18 – final presentations 

You must be there on the day to present! Please be ready. 

Good luck! I look forward to our presentation day on January 18th! See you next week!

Image: "Lightmatter burningman" by Aaron Logan. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lightmatter_burningman.jpg#/media/File:Lightmatter_burningman.jpg

Writing English 2B: 5th writing assignment・作文5

Hello!

How are you? Today I will introduce our 5th writing assignment (作文5) - writing an essay, with an outline to go with it.

I will introduce this writing assignment differently - this time, posting it here on the blog first. I will give all of you a handout about the assignment next week (12/14), with some other things that you will need to do for the assignment. 

Topics
You have two (2) choices on what to write about. Choose one (1) of them:

1. Write about yourself
While this may seem easy in one way because you know yourself – and in another way difficult, because you might feel that because you are young, you have not experienced much in life – this could be a good topic for you to do because you can touch on your family history, and the personalities of your family members, as well. 

Go into details! For example, not only things such as where you were born, but also where your parents met and when they got married. Of your parents, are you more like your mother, or your father? In addition, who do people say you look more like – your mother or your father? 

Do you have any brothers or sisters? If so, are you the youngest, or the oldest, or in the middle? Of your brothers and sisters, who do you get along with the best? Also, which one are you more like? 

Of course, please go into things such as hobbies and interests, and things you like to do, just as you did when you wrote your pre-teaching surveys back in April. But I would like you to go much deeper and longer than what you did before, with more detail. 

Important note:
Your outlines (あらすじ) that you did in class today (12/7) you could use to help you with your writing – if you want to do this topic!


2. Research and write about a historic place in Japan - or in another country

While this may seem like such a different topic that it is a little strange because of it, this might also be a good choice for you just because it is so different! 

For this one, choose a historic place somewhere in Japan or in another country. What happened there? Is there a monument or statue about what happened? Could it even be a park, or a UN World Heritage Site? What impact does the place have in Japanese history - or in the history of the country you chose? Even more importantly – what impact do you believe it has had in Japan – or the other country? 

For example, here is a picture of Mont St. Michel in France: 

 

As you might know, Mont St. Michel is a place that is an island at high tide and connected to the land at low tide. It is a famous sightseeing spot not only in France, but Europe as well. But even more – it is important in French history. Do you know what that might be? Find out if you're interested!

If you want – you can research and write about one of the places in the blogpost about historic places I showed you in class. 

While we have already done a little of this in the spring semester when we wrote about places, this time I would like you to go deeper and longer about a historic place, with more research and a few citations of sources of information the way you did on the 4th writing assignment. 


How much to write


As I show at the top, I would like to see around 1 to 1 1/2 pages. (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)

It will be December 21st (12/21), so I want you to bring in an outline next week (12/14) in your notebooks in pencil. From there, please follow the important points I will show you in my handout on 12/14! 

Then – do your rough draft (下書き) writing in class. Then type your writing on a Word document to turn in class on 12/21. 


Good luck with this! I hope you can have fun with this, and enjoy trying out writing an essay about yourself or a historic place.

See you next time!

Image: By Underground pictures - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=44907843/Mont St. Michel - by Diliff - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15845315

Culture through English 2B: Fall semester 1st short presentations・後期ショートプレゼンテーション

Hello!

How are you? Today I will post about our first (1st) short presentations of the fall semester - researching and presenting on the food culture of a country.

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

Here are the board notes from today's class of your groups:

Things to think about 

Find pictures and information on a food culture of a country of your choosing with a partner or small group. What are some unique dishes of the country? Especially – what are some breakfast dishes? What do people eat for lunch? What are some main dishes for dinner? How about sweets or desserts, or drinks (alcoholic or non-alcoholic)?

Deadline (締め切り)

Our presentation day will be in two (2) weeks on November 23rd (11/23). But next week (11/16), I will ask for what countries you have chosen and what information you have already found.

IMPORTANT NOTE

Do not choose the food of countries that a lot of people already know about! So – do not choose all Italian food, or Chinese food, or even Korean food, as many of you already know about it. 

But – it is okay to choose food of a particular area or region – for example, the food of the mountain regions of northern Italy, or Taiwanese food, or food from the Southern states of the U.S. (for example, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Texas, etc). Places like these will have food that is unique to their areas, and is different from other parts of their countries.

Guidelines

You have a choice between doing a poster presentation or Power Point show - but please remember that if you want to use Power Point, you have to bring your own computer! 

Good luck! I look forward to our presentation day on November 23rd! 

Images: Top - "Presentation word" (courtesy of Stuart Miles)/FreeDigitalPhotos.net/Board notes - personal photographs. All rights reserved on personal photographs.

Writing English 1B: 4th writing assignment・作文4

Hello!

How are you? The picture above is of Quoc Hoc high school in Hue, Vietnam. This is one of the most high-level high schools in Vietnam, and the statue outside the main building is of Ho Chi Minh, who, as a teenager, went to this school under his real name, Nguyen Tat Thanh. 

I show this picture as a way to illustrate our fourth (4th) writing assignment - comparing and contrasting educational systems between Japan and another country.

While I have given all of you the handout about the assignment, I will post about it here as another way to remind all of you on what you can write about. 

Topic

In this topic, compare and contrast similarities and differences in educational systems between Japan and another country.

Choices within the topic

While the topic is fixed, you can choose any country to compare and contrast with Japan. While I showed you the videos on the blogpost about education in Finland, India, and South Korea, you do not have to limit yourself on education in those countries - in fact, I encourage you to find other videos and readings on educational systems in other countries. 

You can choose any level of education as your point of comparison and contrast – elementary, junior high school and high school, and university. (Please remember to compare and contrast the same levels of education – for example, elementary school in Japan with elementary school in Germany, or high school in Japan with high school in Russia).

In addition, you can choose the organizational style you make your comparison and contrast with – a block method, or point-by-point method. (Just remember – if you want to show more how two things contrast, the block method is better. If you want to show how two things compare, then the point-by-point method is better).

How much to write

I would like you to write around 3-4 paragraphs' worth of writing – though I would also like to see you write with as many points of comparison and contrast as you can. This might make your paper longer – say, 4-5 paragraphs’ worth, or maybe even a little longer – but for a topic like this, the longer, the better.  

Deadline (締め切り)

It will be November 1st (11/1). Bring in a first draft (下書き) next week on October 25th, in your notebooks in pencil – with an article about an educational system in a country you want to compare with the same level of education in Japan. I will then go around and talk to as many of you as I can to review your work, and you can change things about the draft as you need to, then type up your final version on a Word document and turn in your work on November 1st. 

I will show you the format for what I want the typed final version to look like on November 1st.

Good luck with this! We will begin to write a little more deeply, this time with final versions typed up. 

I look forward to reading your great writing on this topic! See you next week!

Image: Personal photograph. All rights reserved.