Writing English B: Writing assignment 6・作文6

Hello! 

How are you? Today I will introduce our 6th writing assignment (作文6) - taking the art and music from our 5th writing assignment (作文5) and now using it as a basis to write a short story to. 

I hope this will be fun and interesting for you!

Preparation & guidelines
If you remember our activity from the first semester about feelings and ideas to pictures, then you already know a way you can write about for this assignment. (If you would like a refresher on the activity about feelings and ideas to pictures to help you, go to this link here.) 

For this 6th assignment, you have a choice. You can write about:

• One (1) piece of artwork -or- 
• One (1) piece of music

You also have another choice. You can choose a piece of artwork of your own, or a piece of music of your own, that you search out. But if you want to write about art or music from the blogpost pages from assignment 5, that's okay - go to:

• The link for writing on artwork
• The link for writing on music

But you have the freedom to go and choose artwork or music of your own. The only rule I would have about writing on your own music that you have chosen is that it should be instrumental - no vocals or lyrics. But any kind of music (classical, old Japanese, jazz, rock, electronic, or EBM) is okay.  

For this assignment, you do not need to have a pair of artworks or pieces of music; you should only have one (1) artwork or one (1) piece of music. 

You do not need to analyze (分析して) the art or music; in fact, you do the opposite - you imagine a story or scenario to go with the art or music you choose, and write a short story to it, based on your feelings and what the artwork or music gives you the sense or ideas of. What does it suggest to you, or give you a mental picture of? Do you imagine characters, a situation, even animals or things in it? Do the characters have names? What are they doing and what is happening with them? What metaphors (隠喩) come to you from the art or music for your scenario? 

So this is pure creative writing. There are no rules - except the ones you make!

How much to write

I would like to see maybe 4-5 paragraphs' worth of writing, but do not limit yourself - write as much as you can, if you can, because as before, I will gather the best of your writing into the Every Picture Tells a Story and Words on Music books I have talked about before in class. So write to the best you can! 

Deadline (締め切り)

It will be December 18th (12/18), so you have two (2) weeks to work on this. As before, bring in a rough draft next week (12/11) to read aloud to your classmates - it does not have to be 100% finished, but bring along enough that you can then develop more in class. 

Special note: 
On 12/18, I will immediately give the information for the final writing assignment. So be ready to upload to Edmodo (or turn in) your work so you can then get started in class on the final assignment! 

Now here are the board notes for our classes on 12/4 & 11. First, here's the 12/4 notes:

Now here are the board notes for 12/11:

Good luck! See you next time!

Images: Top - screenshot taken from original artwork at http://musicapave.com/artes-visuais/desenhos-em-partituras/Board notes - personal photographs. All rights reserved.
I do not own the rights to the original artwork of the top image, or the website it was taken from. All rights reserved to the copyright holder(s). Uploaded for classroom purposes only.

Writing English B: Writing assignment 6・作文6

Hello! 

How are you? Today I will introduce our 6th writing assignment (作文6) - taking the art and music from our 5th writing assignment (作文5) and now using it as a basis to write a short story to. 

I hope this will be fun and interesting for you!

Preparation & guidelines
If you remember our activity from the first semester about feelings and ideas to pictures, then you already know a way you can write about for this assignment. (If you would like a refresher on the activity about feelings and ideas to pictures to help you, go to this link here.) 

For this 6th assignment, you have a choice. You can write about:

• One (1) piece of artwork -or- 
• One (1) piece of music

You also have another choice. You can choose a piece of artwork of your own, or a piece of music of your own, that you search out. But if you want to write about art or music from the blogpost pages from assignment 5, that's okay - go to:

• The link for writing on artwork
• The link for writing on music

But you have the freedom to go and choose artwork or music of your own. The only rule I would have about writing on your own music that you have chosen is that it should be instrumental - no vocals or lyrics. But any kind of music (classical, old Japanese, jazz, rock, electronic, or EBM) is okay.  

For this assignment, you do not need to have a pair of artworks or pieces of music; you should only have one (1) artwork or one (1) piece of music. 

You do not need to analyze (分析して) the art or music; in fact, you do the opposite - you imagine a story or scenario to go with the art or music you choose, and write a short story to it, based on your feelings and what the artwork or music gives you the sense or ideas of. What does it suggest to you, or give you a mental picture of? Do you imagine characters, a situation, even animals or things in it? Do the characters have names? What are they doing and what is happening with them? What metaphors (隠喩) come to you from the art or music for your scenario? 

So this is pure creative writing. There are no rules - except the ones you make!

How much to write

I would like to see maybe 4-5 paragraphs' worth of writing, but do not limit yourself - write as much as you can, if you can, because as before, I will gather the best of your writing into the Every Picture Tells a Story and Words on Music books I have talked about before in class. So write to the best you can! 

Deadline (締め切り)

It will be December 18th (12/18), so you have two (2) weeks to work on this. As before, bring in a rough draft next week (12/11) to read aloud to your classmates - it does not have to be 100% finished, but bring along enough that you can then develop more in class. 

Special note: 
On 12/18, I will immediately give the information for the final writing assignment. So be ready to upload to Edmodo (or turn in) your work so you can then get started in class on the final assignment! 

Now here are the board notes for our classes on 12/4 & 11. First, here's the 12/4 notes:

Now here are the board notes for 12/11:

Good luck! See you next time!

Images: Top - screenshot taken from original artwork at http://musicapave.com/artes-visuais/desenhos-em-partituras/Board notes - personal photographs. All rights reserved.
I do not own the rights to the original artwork of the top image, or the website it was taken from. All rights reserved to the copyright holder(s). Uploaded for classroom purposes only.

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

Words on Music (Part 2): your writing

Hello again!

How are you? Here is more of your great writing on music! Click on these links for the pieces of music here, here, here, and here. 

Here's the first piece of writing. What do you think of it? 

There was a man in somewhere. He was gentle and funny. One day, he went to one town. The town was fantastic and wonderful. And the man came across a woman. The woman is very beautiful. He fell in love, then he told to her. So they went to a café and they became friendly. But he loved her. When he came home, he thought “I have to say my mind to her.” And he said “I love you.” She was very surprised, but she said “Me too.” After nine months, they were married.

The woman lived 40 more years. He was very sad every day. The woman was very important person for him. He and she didn’t have a child. But they were very happy. So, he became alone.

One day, he had a dream. The dream was very happy. This was that they meet first. They were young and brilliant. He was crying and smiling during dreaming. When he waked up, he felt happiness. And he looked theirs album. All of pictures were full with happiness. He couldn’t stop tears. But he heard her voice “Sorry. But I want you to live a long time. Please, please.” Then he decided to live as much as possible. So after 10 years, he died silently and his face was very gentle and happy.

Wow! An incredible and moving ending. Here's another:

One day, there was a man of one. He is office worker in near big enterprise. He has worry and anxiety. He walking round the office, and he found the bar. There is the bar in near office. He went into the bar. The bar had a lot of people. For example, smoking man, woman drinking liquor, man to make a drink, and man playing the piano.

He sat in closer from the door, and he asked liquor. He heard the sound of the piano while drinking. He was moved by sound of the piano. His sound healed his heart. He was quiet listening to the worries and troubles. He went to this bar every day, and he heard the sound of the piano. He was overworked. So, he lost sight of own. But, he wanted to enjoy the life by his sound of the piano.

He has changed. He left the job, and he traveled. He went to a lot of country, and he met many people. He heard their experience. He lived for me until now. But, he is going to live for other people. He founded the company of volunteers, and he was success. He began to a new life by his sound of the piano.

Another incredible story! Let's read another:

A beautiful girl was in a beautiful place. There were a beautiful river, beautiful flowers, beautiful fruits, and a beautiful lake. It was the most wonderful and beautiful place in the world. However, there was nobody but her, and she had thought she had been all alone until she would be dead.

One day, a boy came into the place. He was an adventurer, so he had wanted to walk around the world. When he looked around the place, he was surprised. “What a beautiful view!” he said. As soon as the girl heard the voice, she ran to him, and they met each other for the first time. “What a beautiful girl.” he said. They looked at each other, and they fell in love. After that, they spent each loving day.

When they had their first kiss, an accident happened. Actually, she had a secret. If she would kiss someone, the one would be dead. They had never known the secret, so they kissed each other. Soon, he fell down right there, and she was into a panic. “What’s happened!” she screamed, but his eyes kept closing. She became all alone again.  

Now that was great! Let's see one more! 

When I came to I was in the silent forest. I don't know what brought me here. The big and tall trees surround me and they don't allow me to see the sky. I started walking to find the other creatures, but nothing was found by me. 

I wandered in the forest, but I don’t know how long I wandered. I felt I may get tired, so I decided to take a break. When I sat down on the ground, I heard any sound. I tried to find where the sound come from. It was a bird. It flied around me as if he invite me to somewhere. Therefore, I followed him. I think I walked so long distance, but I didn’t get tired. He brought me to the small space where is not surrounded by the trees.

When I came to I was in noisy station where I used to use to go to the university. I was surrounded by a lot of people. They were interested in nothing except themselves and they continued their walking. Then, I understood there are no change between the silent forest and the noisy station.

Another interesting story! Click on the page link to read more:

Words on Music (Part 1): your writing

Hello to all of you!

How are you? I know the university is finished until April, but I wanted to upload some more of your great writing on the music I played for you in class. 

First, here are the selections of music I played for you. Here is The Bad Plus, with "Big Eater":

Next, is Weather Report with "Teen Town":

After that, we have Jeff Beck's "The Final Peace": 

Finally, here is Jason Moran and "Gentle Shifts South":

After the page break, let's read your great writing about these different pieces of music! Can you guess which writing is about which music? Take your guess!

Words on Music (Part 4): Frank Zappa - "Little Umbrellas"

Hello to my students,

Image "Colorful Puppets On A Market Stall In Kathmandu, Nepal" courtesy of think4photop/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Here is the last post - Part 4 - of our collection Words on Music. This is what you wrote to the Frank Zappa piece you heard in class - "Little Umbrellas." 

Here is the video for the song:

Video uploaded from YouTube. I do not own the rights to this video. No copyright infringement intended. 

It is uploaded strictly for classroom use.

Here are your thoughts and feelings on this music:

I imagine many a place with many adrenaline and laughs in the air. Many lights, many people, many feelings, many dramas on the stage and many hopes and dreams delivered for children and teenagers! But also for adults, it breaks the common sense that adults do not have dreams because they lived long time to give up their dreams for "real life." In this place, those type of people can learn that dreams are also real! This place is a circus.

This is strange music and a fun mood. I image cats are dancing at open space. Cats stand with two legs. Cats are talking, eating and something drink, and they look human. Today is the cat's dance party!

The mood of the music is weird and the music makes me lazy. It expresses depression, for example, when I go to the university in the morning, I don’t want to go to there because of sleepiness.

At first this goes slowly but one the way was bitter sound. I am good to listen to sound of this type. It is in a restaurant or tearoom. Especially, tearoom is a good place to listen. I think the story is that some people are a dancing at a party. This party is the anniversary party of something. Everyone burst with fun. But this party is coming to an end.

This is such a mature kind of dance. It is fun for pleasure. I think that anyone begins to dance to it. Because many people likes to fun or dance to music.  Of course I will dance. Anyone can feel fun that your body adjusts to this music, and begins to move to it naturally.

This piece of music is most bright, but at the same time, it may be mysterious. This gap may create a unique atmosphere. I think this atmosphere cannot be imitated. How mysterious this makes it! 

I see a snake charmer appearing. Here, it is India. He handles his snake on the street as he sits cross-legged.

Another great collection of some great reactions to this music!

To see more, click on here for Part 1. Click here for Part 2. Click here for Part 3. 

Good luck on your final writing projects! I hope Words on Music can help you in writing your final projects. 

Words on Music (Part 3): Miles Davis - "Portia"

Hello to all my students,

Image "Statue The Face" courtesy of sritangphoto/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Here is Part 3 of our collection, Words on Music. This is what you wrote to the third piece of music you heard in class - Miles Davis' "Portia." Here is the music:

Video uploaded from YouTube. I do not own the rights to this video. No copyright infringement intended. 

It is uploaded strictly for classroom use.

I have edited a few of these a little, but not much. Read and enjoy!

I imagine the night. In noon, the song will not hear. This may create an adult atmosphere. I felt melancholy music. I imagined that a man walks in the dark town and drinks liquor in a bar.

I sense imminent danger.  I am fearful. The image it is may show some fierce animals attacking in the jungle.

This is like dangerous music. There is a man who is an adventurer. He takes a ship and goes to an uninhabited island. He crosses the Atlantic Ocean alone. He feels lonely but likes adventure. So he is exciting this. Whenever he is in trouble, he believes in god. Later he reaches the island.

One person goes shopping in town. The shop was opened. It was in a quiet corner of town. He came into the shop. It is general shop. There are many miscellaneous goods. All of things are so good. I like them. He thought that this shop is so wonderful.

There is a girl who goes on an adventure. She is going to be in a very good mood, but she heard a strange noise. She was lonely. Just then, the figure of grandfather emerged in front of a girl, and he introduced his house near here. This house were five dwarfs, they welcome to her. For example, they played the music, and cooking. But, after a short time, she missed his mother, and she was cried. It can’t be helped, they gave her a night, and she was escaped by them next day.

An explorer searches for a treasure. A treasure sleeps in the grave. He devotes his life to it. He fined a clue of treasure. He went to Egypt. Then he solves cipher of treasure. He fined treasure at last. It is beautiful nature. There are many animal and fruit. And many animals are an endangered species. Though the treasure was not treasures, he feels very much.

Words on Music (Part 2)：Ronny Jordan - "After Hours"

Hello to all my students,

How are you? As promised, here's Part 2 of our collection Words on Music. Here you will see some selections of what you wrote about the second piece of music you heard in class - Ronny Jordan's "After Hours." Here is the video for it:

Video uploaded from YouTube. I do not own the rights to this video. No copyright infringement intended. 

It is uploaded strictly for classroom use.

Like before, I have edited these as little as possible. Check these out!

This piece of music is a dumped-man story. Someone is drinking wine in the dark room of the top floor of the high-quality apartment. He has been unlucky in love that day. He is idly looking out of the window. He sinks down.

This music's strong image is a holiday morning. I woke up in bright natural light, and I thinking I hope today is a good day too! I will cook a breakfast, and I will be getting ready. When I am ready, I will eat breakfast. After, I go out with my friends! I will go shopping, lunch, and play the karaoke! I am looking for this time.

I feel nostalgia. When I close my eyes, I imagine urban, mystic night, moon, modern and so on. I cannot explain well, this is good anyway. For example, you listen it as you walk in a urban night. If the moon is in a night sky, it is better.


I imagine a dog running. In holiday, the dog runs away and finds the town where he has not visited yet. The town makes him happy and surprised because he had no idea about human except his master. There are lots of living, love, dream, hope and freedom. 

This has a negative image. The boy was very fat. When he was walking, he stuck in a hole. He was fat so he didn’t get out of a hole. He was writhing in pain.  Many people assisted him but he did not get out. He reflected on what he had done for the day. He decided that go on a diet.

A season is summer. The sky in the west was aglow with the setting sun. I go to beach and see the setting sun. It’s so beautiful. But it will cease to this place, after soon, Moon will exist this place. People will return home by that time. So this beach will become lonely place.

In cafeteria, a lot of people are talking each people. One of the group look like interest talking. Their talked about new movie. But, this cafeteria does not play music. Talk sound heard like this music, because everyone looks like fun. This cafeteria is very big. The roof is very high. Desks and chairs are colorful. For example, yellow, green, pink, orange, purple, blue, white, red etc. Has a lot of light. Lights form is separate.

I imagine a man who is traveling without an object. He traveled some countries and walking a desert a few days. After he got away from a desert, he arrived at the town and found a bar. This bar is so old and there are few people. This music was played in this bar. I felt mysterious from this music, but it maybe agreeable for him.

There is the one bar. Many kinds of guests go that bar every night. This bar has many stories. For example two guests named, five people who play the instruments start the band. That bar gives many guests the opportunities of their life. Tonight, many guests will gather in that bar.

Some very interesting feelings on these! All different, and all unique. 

To check out Part 1 of Words on Music, click on this link here.

More to come in the next post - Part 3!