Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Writing English 1A: Writing assignment 1・作文1

Hello!



How are you? Today I will introduce our first writing assignment (作文1) - writing about your memories (思い出こと).

While I have given all of you the handout about this assignment, I am posting it here to help remind you about what you can write about. 

I am gathering writing on this topic into two books - one book called Places & Traces - about student writing on special places and other things that people remember. If your writing is about special places in your past (過去), then your writing could go into this book. 

The other book is called The Small Book of Big People. It’s about student writing about the special people of their lives. If your writing is about special people in your past (過去), then your writing could go into this book. 

The best of your writing on this topic could be published (出版した), so write to the best you can! 

How much to write
I would like you to write as much as you can, because your work may go into both this blog and in the Places & Traces and Small Book of Big People books. 

I would like to see maybe 2-3 paragraphs' worth of writing. 

Deadline (締め切り)
It will be May 24th (5/24), so I want you to bring in a first draft (下書き) next week (来週) in your notebooks in pencil. I will then review your work, and you can change things about the draft as you need to. Then you can write to the finish and turn in your work at the end of class on 5/26. 

Task

What are your special memories? What things do you remember about your places, families, or friends that were special to you? 

You can use these pictures to help you write. As you look at them, what memories do you have of the same places and situations? 







Good luck! See you next time!

Images: Top - Unattributed photograph from the internet/Carp streamers - By 663highland, CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=39795378/School entrance ceremony - unattributed photograph from the internet/Classroom - unattributed photograph from the internet/Shichi-Go-San ceremony - By Bergmann at Japanese Wikipedia, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=23308176/ Chitose ame - By katorisi - Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3070089
Unattributed photographs uploaded for educational purposes only. I do not own the rights to these images. All rights reserved to the copyright holders.

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Writing English 2A: Identities・正体

Hello! 



How are you? Today, let's look at some pictures of famous people. Do you know who they are? 

The picture at the top is Malala Yousafzai. I'm sure all of you know who she is - a Nobel Prize-winning peace activist from Pakistan. What other things do you know about her? 

Activity/homework
Now how about these people? Do you know who they are? If you do - what do you know about them? Talk about these with your classmates and make some notes about them!







Talk with your classmates about these people. Who are they? What do they do? What do you - or your classmates - know about them? 

See you next time!

Images: Top - screenshot courtesy of Pinterest/Justin Bieber- screenshot courtesy of Pop Sugar/Yukio Mishima - screenshot courtesy of Goodreads/Park Geun-hye - screenshot courtesy of DNA India/Bob Dylan - screenshot courtesy of AllMusic/Haruko Obokata - screenshot courtesy of Alchetron/Theresa May - screenshot courtesy of the Spectator UK's blog
All rights reserved to the copyright holders. Images uploaded for educational purposes only.

Writing English 1A: A trip to Hokkaido・北海道の旅行

Hello!



How are you? I will tell you about a great memory (思い出こと) - a summer trip to Hokkaido I made in the summer of 2012 with my wife and her family. 



First, we went to Sapporo. 


We walked around Sapporo. This was me in front of the old Sapporo City Hall (元札幌市役所).


We went to Hokkaido University. This was me. This is the famous statue that says "Boys be ambitious" (ボイズ・ビ・アンビシャス). 


We took the train to Otaru. The man with the hat and backpack is my father-in-law (義理のお父さん). We walked around many places in Otaru!  



We ate a lot of great food in Otaru. We drank some great beer in Otaru. This was a big glass!

Then we went back to Sapporo and walked around more. We got very hot and we sat down. We were tired, but happy!

Activity/homework
Can you think of a memory (思い出こと) that is special to you? For example, a high school trip, or a family vacation? Who were you with on your trip? What did your mother or a sister (or brother) do on the family vacation? Think about things like these - then let's free write about a memory! 

Have fun!


Images: Personal photographs. All rights reserved.

Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Culture through English 2A: Occupations・職業

Hello!



How are you? Today let's look at occupations (職業). Do you know the occupation shown above? 

It's a doctor. Maybe that was easy! But how about these other occupations? 

Activity/homework
Let's look at these other occupations. Do you know what they are? 


1.

2. 

3. 

4. 

5.

6.

7.

Have fun! See you next time!

Images: Top – Doctor Starting A Surgery (courtesy of David Castillo Dominici)/1. Lawyer - untitled screenshot courtesy of the Daily Mail online/2. Secretary - untitled screenshot (courtesy of stockimages)/3. Architects discussing with plan (courtesy of adamr)/4. Engineer - untitled screenshot (courtesy of stockimages)/5. Untitled screenshot courtesy of Asia Green Buildings/6. Dentist - At the Dentist (courtesy of khunaspix)/7. Untitled screenshot courtesy of Birmingham Mail
Top, 3, 4, 6 - from FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Writing English 2A: Writing about a topic・話題を書く

Hello!



How are you? Today I will show you some pictures about topics. Let's look at them! 

The picture above is an example of a topic about holidays. There are many different kinds of holidays, but this is just one example. What holiday is shown in this picture? 

Activity
Look at the picture above, and these other pictures below. Choose one (1) and freewrite a paragraph about it. What ideas do you get from the picture? What feelings do you have about it? Any of your ideas are okay. Let's try it!

Friends


My country


Dancing


Cars


Have fun with these! Have a great Golden Week!

Images: Top - By bahniuk, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=56569999/Students - personal photograph/Mount Fuji - By Swollib - Self-photographedTransferred from English Wikipedia; en:Image:Mountfujijapan.JPG, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1101030/Dancer - By Jean-Pierre Dalbéra from Paris, France - Danseur de Hip Hop sur l'Alexander Platz (Berlin), CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24673568/Car - By Shenry - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17779136
All rights reserved on personal photograph. 

Thursday, April 13, 2017

Welcome to the class! Writing English 2A & Culture through English 2A

Hello!



How are you? Today I would like to welcome you to my two Thursdays classes - Writing English 2A and Culture through English 2A. 

Here are some screenshots of a slideshow to present to you a little about me - and about our classes! Some of these are questions for you - other things are important points for you to know. 


Some of you might already know me from Writing English 1A (or 2A from last year) - so - do you remember where I come from in the U.S.? 


Take some guesses about these questions!


Now here are some important points for all of you.


That's right! I don't like tests! I don't like writing them - and you don't like taking them! That's okay!


That's also right! Writing and presentations are the things we'll do in the Thursday classes.




This is very important! I'm not looking for "perfect English" - only for what you have as people in the quality and character of your ideas and feelings!



I'm only joking!


This says a lot. I will be very happy to have all of you in these classes. 

So see you next week! Take care!

Images: Screenshots of unattributed images from the internet. I do not own the rights to these images. All rights reserved to the copyright holders of these images. Uploaded for educational and illustrative purposes only.

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Welcome to my blog! A little about me・このブログにようこそ!私について

Hello!


How are you? Welcome to my blog, the Daito Learning Pages! On it I will post videos, pictures and other things for you for our classes. You can write comments here too. We can have fun in these classes!
classes! 私についてる
ブログにようこそ!ブログが授業のためにヴィデオ、写真、画像やアップする。どちでも英語とか日本語コメントの書くができる。楽しいクラスしましょう!


Now - I will show you a little bit about myself. The picture above is my "hello" to all of you. The picture looks a little strange. It's not me - it's an image from a CD cover. But I like the image and the colors!

少し私に教えて。この写真は皆の挨拶。ちょっと変だけど、私じゃない!イメージはCDケースを取った。デーザインといろは大好き!

Now here are some more pictures, with questions for all of you. Can you guess some answers? 










後でね!See you in class!


Images: Top and bottom photos - screenshots of Frank Zappa Hot Rats album cover. All rights reserved to The Zappa Family Trust. No copyright infringement intended. Original image altered and uploaded for entertainment and educational purposes only. 
2nd, 5th, 7th, and 8th photographs - screenshots of personal images. All rights reserved.
3rd photograph - "Autumn in Boise" by Lordchadwick79 - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Autumn_in_Boise.jpg#/media/File:Autumn_in_Boise.jpg
4th photograph – downtown Perth/6th photograph -  Passport visa stamps/Dreamstime Stock Images
Blue background designs - Blue Bokek (courtesy of panuruangjan)/Pink background designs – Abstract Flowers (courtesy of rakratchada torsap)/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net