Email formatting, writing notes and homework/メールフォーマット、ノート、課題

Hello students,

How are you? This will be a quick post. As I said at the end of class today, I promised I would post the board notes about emailing, plus the homework. 

So please look at the picture at the top, and the pictures after with these board notes. I hope they will refresh you and help you with email writing. 

Please remember the right spacing, the capital letters (大文字) at the beginning of the first word of sentences, and spell checking - checking the right spelling of words. 

Good luck! Please don't forget today's homework - send me an email. In it, ask me any kind of question you want! 

See you next class!

Writing about music homework/音楽についてことの課題

Hello to all my students,

How are you? Thank you for your hard work today in class. 

I want to post the pictures of my board notes for all of you. I know many of you took your own pictures of the board notes, but I will post them here too. 

These notes are also important because this will be the biggest piece of writing you will do. It really is a writing project - so look at these:

Please look at these anytime - and don't forget your homework for next week. 

See you next class!

Writing about music/音楽についてことを書いて(Part 1)

Hello to all my students,

Image "New York Times" courtesy of Antoine Henrich/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

How are you? Do you remember the four pieces of music I played for you in class before the university festival? we'll do something more with them today!

First step
Right now, I would like you to go through your paragraphs about those pieces of music. Choose two (2) of those pieces you wrote. Open up a new Word file, and type them. 

Second step
Now please listen to the first two pieces of music again - and this time to click on some videos of the first two artists whose pieces of music I played. I also have information links you can click on about these artists. 

Would these video images, and reading about these musicians, change your ideas about what you wrote? 

First - below is a link about the first piece of music you heard - Jacques Loussier and his version of J.S. Bach's "Siciliano in G Minor."  

Click here (ここにクリックしてください) for a video clip of Jacques Loussier and this Bach piece I played for you in class. 

If you want to know more about Jacques Loussier, click here (ここもクリックしてください）for a Wikipedia article (in Japanese) about him. 

Next - here is the second piece of music you heard - Ronny Jordan and his song "After Hours." 

Click here (ここにクリックしてください) for a video clip of Ronny Jordan playing the music I played for you in class. 

If you want to know more about Ronny Jordan, click here also (ここもクリックしてください) for a Wikipedia article (in Japanese) about him. 

What do you think of these musicians? Does seeing the artists' pictures or some image connected to the music, or reading about them on Wikipedia, change your own images of the music? 

Hope you enjoyed listening to them again. 

See you next time!

Writing about music/音楽についてことを書いて (Part 2)

Hello to all my students,

Image photographed from DVD cover for purposes of subject illustration. No copyright infringement intended. 
I do not own the rights to this image.

How are you? Here is Part 2 about the pieces of music I had played in class for you before the university festival. 


Click on this link to see a video (ここにくりっくしてください) about the third piece of music I played for you - Miles Davis' "Portia." 

If you want to know more about Miles Davis, click here (ここもクリックしてください) to read a Wikipedia article (in Japanese) about him. 

Now click here (ここにくりっくしてください) to see a video clip of the fourth piece of music  I played for you - Frank Zappa's "Little Umbrellas."  

If you want to know more about Frank Zappa, click here (ここもクリックしてください) to read a Wikipedia article (in Japanese) about him. 

Does seeing images to the music, or reading more about the artists, change your feelings or images about them? 

See you next time!

Comparison & contrast/比較対照

Hello to all my students, 

Image "Landscape Collage" courtesy of Gualberto107/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

How are you? I'm glad to be back with you after the university festival. Today, let's look at comparison and contrast (比較対照) between different places. 

Look at these pictures. Which kind of place would you like to live in? 

1.

2. 

3. 

4. 

5.

6. 

Where would you like to live? Which place would you not like to live in? 

Have fun!

Image credits: 1. "Beautiful Sunset" (courtesy of Photokanok) 2. "New York Times" (courtesy of Antoine Henrich) 3. "Cotton Field" (courtesy of scottchan) 4. "Old Timber Barn" (courtesy of Poulsen Photo) 5. "Colorful Palace of Pena Landscape View in Sintra, Portugal (courtesy of artur84) 6. "Traditional Village" (courtesy of Witthaya Phonsawat)/All images from FreeDigitalPhotos.net 

A quick message before the university festival

Hello to all my students,

Image "Japanese Maple Leaves" courtesy of Aduldej/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

This is a quick message to all my students. 

If you are in the university festival, good luck and hope it's a good time for you. If you are not in the festival but are going to see it, please enjoy it. If you're not going to the festival but are taking a short break, hope you can relax and enjoy yourselves. 

See you after the festival!

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!