特別ポスト: White Rooms and Secret Stories (Part 5)

Hello and Happy New Year!

How are you? Here is Part 5 of a collection of unique and strange stories I have been gathering up by students over time - I call this collection White Rooms and Secret Stories. I have gathered the best stories and am showing them here. 

Read these and tell me what you think. I have not shown any names of students. When you're finishes, go to the comments section and write some comments on the stories you think are the most interesting. 

Have fun with these! Here's the first one:

Dear my father

While the evening sun is shining brightly, the man proposed marriage to her. They looked up at the sky having no clouds floating. And then she answered, "Yes." They looked happy. They got up, they noticed that it is real things. The man pleasured, and he tells her. "I love you. Where do you go? You want to go anywhere. It is our first traveling called honeymoon!!"

Many months later, they hold a banquet. They are wearing a great white dress and suit. It is a very big one, and many relations celebrated with them. But they understand that married life is hard. So, they think "welcome to the tomb of life." The man and his wife still looked happy. They planned their future. At last the banquet, the woman throws a bouquet. Many women called. "Please give me!!" "No, give me!!" Finally, she throws the bouquet to a little girl. The girl is happy and she is smiling. may good luck come her way! 

One day, they sent me a letter. They went on their honeymoon. Where did they go? Australia, Hawaii, Guam, Italy, or Spain? They look happy now. Ah…, their letter enclosed a picture. There are three people. Man, woman, and baby! 

Then I noticed something else on the letter. "I want to spend a good time with your family." It was from your father in heaven. The letter had been on his tomb with sunflowers.  

Wow! A great and powerful story. Let's see more: 

The ghost story

One day, a couple held a wedding party in their house. They look like they were so happy. Everyone was congratulating them there. Friends and relatives were coming there and the groom's best friend was coming from abroad by the plane. They haven't met for three years. But he didn't attend their wedding because he has a tiger and it ran away to the neighbor's house. 

The bride's name is Kary. She is a perfect woman and is beautiful. The bridegroom's name is Jey, who is a womanizer. They were mystified how they got married. They thought he was reformed in his heart for her. He doesn't know what scary thing will happen to him. 

At the wedding party they planned a game where they did hide-and-seek in their house. It was Kary. She joined Jey and some kids come to the party. Kids were hiding behind the curtain. Bridegroom was hiding in the bathroom. She said, "ready or not, here I come!" On the way, they listened to something hit a voice in the bathroom. They thought about what happened, so they went to the bathroom. Then, the bathroom's door was suddenly hit. They were very surprised when they opened the door. There is a ghost woman. However, they can't see her so well. Jey's body was nowhere to be seen. She is in front of his girlfriend who killed him. The reason was he was a womanizer so she bears a grudge against him. Kary said, "hi sister." 

As a result, no-one knows what has become of him…

Ooh…now that's a scary story! Let's read another one: 

The way to meeting lovers

I am flying on an airplane, but it is too crowded. I wanted to get out of the airplane as soon as possible. But when I was on the airplane I could see the dark moon. Everyone felt that dark moon was beautiful and everyone was watching, and everyone in the airplane went to sleep while looking at the dark moon. 

I woke up from my sleep, and the morning sun came into sight. It has already been seven hours since I got on the airplane. I noticed that in the morning. So I began to eat breakfast and I began to sleep again till arrival to my destination. It will take another six hours to go to meet her by train. 

It was evening when I arrived there. When I looked at the sky with a lot of electric wires, I saw a very beautiful sunset. Then my girlfriend came to pick me up. Thanks to my lover's coming, my fatigue has gone away. We went to various places and had a happy time to have a meal and ride a Ferris wheel. It was the day I felt I wanted to stay more with my lover. 

A great, honest, heartfelt story! Let's see more:

Evening sun

The evening sun is about to go down. If the evening sun go down, the sky will become dark. It's like the end of a day. In the evening it is the time when work or school ends. Train's home rush begins. I finish doing the day's work. 

Seeing the sun, I feel relaxed and I look back on the day. But somehow I feel lonely when I see the sunset sky. If there is something unpleasant or something unlucky, I would like the day to pass sooner but if it is a day I had fun, I will feel lonely that they day will end soon. 

The time seems slower when there are disgusting things. I think that it will pass sooner as it is fun. But the flow of time is not slow or early. It depends on how people feel. I will be such a feeling from evening to night. 

After the day breaks, the sun will appear in the sky again. So a new day will begin. Then expose dazzling sun light and see the clear blue sky, I get a new feeling. I like the sky in the morning it makes me feel brighter this time only. I will be more lively for that time. 

Great! Here's one more: 

Wonderful gift

A wedding was held in December 7th. After this, they started to live together in a new house like a castle. The time they arrived there was midnight but they were excited to live together in the house. So they walked around in the house as if they did an adventure. A few minutes later, they came in bathroom. Then, suddenly, they found someone push a hand to its door. They were surprised and became scared. They also shouted loudly and escaped from the bathroom. At that moment, they heard the woman tell them that she wanted to wait and hear her story and its door opened. They found there was a beautiful woman who was about 25 years old. They stopped to escape and decided to hear her story. They all went to the living room together and she started to tell them about herself. 

When she woke up, she was in the forest with a white tiger. Then she lost her memory and didn't know why she was in the forest. She also didn't know why the tiger took to her. But suddenly, the tiger started to run to somewhere. Then she thought the tiger only knew herself. So she chased the tiger but of course, she couldn't catch up. Then she found she lost herself. After she walked for an hour, she found the house and entered because no one was in. Then she met them.

She told them that she would stay only this night and leave next morning. On the other hand, they asked her what she would do after that. She answered she would look for the tiger. After considering for a few minutes, they decided to look for the tiger together and let her stay here until she found the tiger. She was glad and said "thank you" again and again with tears. 

However, no one found the tiger after a week, a month, and a year. As a result. they had lived with her for a long time, so they thought of her as if she was their child. Therefore, no one ever found the tiger. Perhaps she was the one who might be a gift from God. 

That was an incredible story! Some good writing here. 

This is Part 1 of this collection. Part 2 will be next. So check it out! 

Images: Top - personal photograph/tiger -"White Bengal Tiger Face" (courtesy of anankkml)/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

All rights reserved on personal photograph.

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. 

作文6/6th writing assignment

Hello!

How are you? Today we'll do our 6th writing assignment all in one class - writing a story about a strange, unique, and/or interesting experience.

Now - you remember our pictures from last week. You had to choose at the beginning two (2) of the pictures, and then write a few sentences about them in your notebooks.

Then you had to select four (4) more of the pictures, and add more to your story in 2-3 paragraphs in your notebooks. Here are the pictures again:

Task
Now - all you have to do for our 6th writing assignment is to finish up the writing you did last week. Try to go for 3-4 paragraphs if you can, now typed up on a Word document.

I will look for these things in your stories:

• imagination (想像、考え)
• creativity (創造力)
• cause-and-effect (原因結果) words to connect your ideas like as a result, consequently, or therefore
• correct formatting on your Word document

This will be a little like a writing test, so use your time well! But please also remember that you have done a lot of the work for this story already - all you have to do is make it better and a little longer, and finish it up.

These stories will go into a collection called White Rooms and Secret Stories - so write to the best you can!

So good luck again! Please have fun with these stories!

Images: Top - screenshot of Frank Zappa Hot Rats album cover/Door - "Empty Wall With Closed Door" (courtesy of master isolated images)/Train yard - "Silhouette Of Wires And Cables" (courtesy of papaija2008)/Sunset - "Beautiful Sunset" (courtesy of Photokanok)/Curtains - "Curtain Black With Texture" (courtesy of antpkr)/Wedding - "The Exit" (courtesy of Elwood W. McKay III)/Hand silhouettes - "Silhouette Of Man Asking For Help" (courtesy of foto76)/Plane - "Take Off At Sunset" (courtesy of Time Beach)/Woman - "Asian Model Woman" (courtesy of posterize)/Tiger - "White Bengal Tiger Face" (courtesy of anankkml)/all photos from FreeDigitalPhotos.net except for Frank Zappa album cover screenshot - all rights reserved to The Zappa Family Trust. No copyright infringement intended. Screenshot of album cover uploaded for illustrative and educational purposes only. 

面白い経験を書いて/writing about interesting experiences

Hello!

How are you? Today let's look at how to write about interesting, strange or unique experiences (面白い、不思議、ユニークな経験)! 

Activity
Look at these pictures. Can you make the beginning of an interesting, strange or unique story with these pictures? You can choose 1-2 of the pictures. 

Good luck! Have fun!

Photo credits: Top photo - "Sunset Holiday" (courtesy of imagerymajestic)/Roofs - "Hiyama Tatsuno Hyogo Prefecture" (courtesy of 663highland)/ 

Images: Top - "Empty Wall With Closed Door" (courtesy of master isolated images)/train yard - "Silhouette Of Wires And Cables" (courtesy of papaija2008)/sunset - "Beautiful Sunset" (courtesy of Photokanok)/curtains - "Curtain Black With Texture" (courtesy of antpkr)/wedding - "The Exit" (courtesy of Elwood W. McKay III)/hand silhouettes - "Silhouette Of Man Asking For Help" (courtesy of foto76)/plane - "Take Off At Sunset" (courtesy of Time Beach)/woman - "Asian Model Woman" (courtesy of posterize)/tiger - "White Bengal Tiger Face" (courtesy of anankkml)/all photos from FreeDigitalPhotos.net. 

作文5/5th writing assignment

Hello!

How are you? Here is a short post reminding all of you about our 5th writing assignment (作文5) - writing about your piece of music. 

You have already written what you have about each piece of music I played for you in class, and that you heard again from my blogpost. 

Task 

Edit and if you need to, add some more to your writing about the piece of music you chose. Please remember that it must be 2-4 paragraphs long - the longer the better - with characters and a scenario. 3-4 paragraphs is even better!

Then, on a separate document, write a short comparison (比較) between the piece of music you chose and another of the pieces of music you heard. Here, you can write about the music itself - what you thought of the sounds, the tempo, even a little about the artists themselves. 

Which was the most interesting? Which was the strangest? Which gave you the most unique impression (感想)?  

Please remember: For your story, build on it and make it as imaginative as you can. Listen to the music you selected again if you have to or want to.

If you want to listen to the pieces of music I played for you, go to this link with the video files here.

I will look for the paragraphs to be typewritten in 12-point size, with correct formatting. Please look at my handout on correct formatting and style!

Good luck - and enjoy finishing up your stories and comparing which pieces of music you liked or thought were the most interesting! Have fun with them! 

See you next time!

Image: "Gondolier's Sonata" (courtesy of sattva)/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

音楽について/about music

Hello!

How are you? Today I will show you again the four pieces of music I played for you in class last time before the festival break. Listen to these as many times as you want or need.

We are going to think about what we wrote to this music - and select one piece of music you particularly liked and add more to your writing about it!

Here is the first one - Erik Satie's "Ragtime Parade":

Here's the second one - "Dog Trot," by Moondog:

Here is the third one: Frank Zappa's "Little Umbrellas":

Now here is the last one - "Green Onions," by Booker T. & the MGs:

What did you think of these pieces of music? 

Activity/homework

Now look at your writing about this music from the first time you heard each one last week. Choose one (1) piece of music you felt was the most interesting to you and add another paragraph about it. Write more about the characters and scenario you had about it, and make it into a little story. 

Have fun with this! I'll look forward to seeing what you wrote about the music you chose to write more about.

See you next time!

Image: personal photograph. All rights reserved.
Videos uploaded from YouTube. I do not own the rights to the videos or the musical compositions. Uploaded for educational purposes only. No copyright infringement intended. All rights reserved to the copyright owner(s). 

作文4/4th writing assignment

Hello!

How are you? Today, I will show you our 4th writing assignment (作文4): how to make excuses (詫び) and apologies (申し訳). Our scenario will be about problems in a hotel.

First, this is a sample letter of apology with a difference - some excuses in it. Some of these excuses are unbelievable! You can see this on the handout I have given you - but I will post it here as well:

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am the general manager of our hotel. It has come to my attention that you have had a terrible experience at our hotel. Please accept my apologies for your experience.

I have no excuses for our poor performance, but I would like to explain our situation. First, because our front desk manager’s mother has been very sick recently, it has affected his work. In addition, we have had other problems recently with some of our old staff members and we have had to hire and train some new staff. They are still new to their jobs, so they are not as good as we hoped they would be.

In our restaurant, our head chef's cat recently died. He is not married and has no children, so this has been a difficult time for him because his cat was 17 years old. He loved his cat very much, so it has been very hard for him. To make things worse, two of our best waitresses have difficulties in standing for a long time because they have leg and foot problems. One of our vans drove over their feet when they were getting some things out of the back of the van to bring into the restaurant. So, they are getting treatment at the hospital for their problems, but it will be difficult for them for some time.

I cannot show how deeply sorry I am for the bad time you had at our hotel. So please allow me to offer you a free stay at our hotel in the future, when you would like, because we feel terrible for your bad experience. We are working hard to correct our problems and will make a much better experience for you.

Sincerely,

David T. Bunka

General Manager

Takasaka Hotel and Resort

Scenario
What I would like you to do is to write a letter of apology, with excuses, about a person's terrible stay at a hotel. Imagine that you are the general manager of the hotel and that you have heard about a person's bad experience at your hotel. 

Make some of your excuses a little unreal - for example, a staff member's dog just died, or the taxi service has changed, or there is a new chef in the hotel restaurant who is strange, or something like that. 

Write 2-3 paragraphs with an opening ("Dear Sir/Madam") and a closing ("Sincerely," and your name). 

Have fun with this! 

See you next time!

Image: personal photograph. All rights reserved.