Sunday, July 5, 2020

Culture through English A: Most common names in Spain・スペインの一般的な名字

Hello!



How are you? Let's look today at names in Spanish!

The picture above shows the most common surnames in Spain. You can see that overall, the most common surname is Garcia

Activity/homework
There are some interesting points about naming in Spanish that are different from both English and Japanese. 

Watch this video about Spanish names. Watch it as many times as you want or need, then answer the questions below it in your notebooks.

(If you cannot see the video, go to this link, or go to YouTube and look for "Primer Nombres y Apellidos" at https://youtu.be/HUosdlR6Gy8)


1. What is the first name called in Spanish? 
2. What has had the biggest influence (影響) on names in Spanish in history? 
3. What is another influence on naming that is talked about in the video?     
4. What are last names (surnames) called in Spanish? 
5. How many surnames do Spanish people use? 
     *Which name comes first, and which name comes second? 
     *What is traditionally used to connect the two surnames?  
6. What does the ~ez at the end of some surnames (like Gonzalez, or Martinez), mean? 
7. What does the de mean in surnames?  
8. In the example of Pablo Picasso, which side of the family does “Picasso” come from – his father’s, or mother’s? 

I hope you find this interesting!


Image: By anonymous (No machine-readable author provided.) Alfanje~commonswiki assumed (based on copyright claims). - No machine-readable source provided. Own work assumed (based on copyright claims)., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1430242
Video uploaded from YouTube. I do not own the rights to the content. All rights reserved to the copyright holder(s). Uploaded for classroom purposes only. 

Culture through English A: Most common names in Vietnam・ベトナムの一般的な名字

Hello!




How are you? Today, let's look at Vietnamese names!


You might notice an important point - that Vietnamese surnames (名字match to kanji


Before the French came and colonized (植民した) Vietnam in the early 19th century, the Vietnamese language was written in Chinese hanzi - the Japanese version of which is kanji. Since then, however, the Vietnamese language is written in a version of romaji

In Vietnam, the most common surname is Nguyễn (阮「グエン」).  


Activity/homework

Watch this video about Vietnamese names. Watch it as many times as you want or need, and answer the questions below it in your notebooks. 

(If you cannot see the video here, go to this link, or go to YouTube and look for "Vietnamese Culture #2: Vietnamese Names" at https://youtu.be/dPeSxwvjiTc)




1. How many names do most Vietnamese people have?  
2. Where does the surname (family name) come in the naming order?
3. What percentage of the Vietnamese population uses Nguyễn as a family name?
4. What do women do with their own family names when they get married? 
    * What is one purpose of a woman’s family name when she gets married? 
5. What is the main purpose of a middle name in Vietnamese? 
    * What is another purpose of a middle name? 
6. Who usually decides the given names in Vietnamese culture? 
7. Where do given names come from in Vietnamese? 
8. What kinds of meanings do given names have in Vietnamese? 

I hope you find this interesting!


Image: By Hintha - Lê Trung Hoa (2005) Họ và tên người Việt Nam, Hà Nội, Việt Nam: NXB Khoa học Xã hội (Social Sciences Publishing House), CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21862789
Video uploaded from YouTube. I do not own the rights to the content. All rights reserved to the copyright holder(s). Uploaded for classroom use only. 

Wednesday, July 1, 2020

Culture through English A: Assignment 2・課題 2

Hello!



How are you? Today, I will introduce our 2nd assignment. Our topic will be about our family origins (素性and migration (移動patterns. 

Where did your parents - your mother and father - come from? How about your family history before your parents? Which parts of Japan did your grandparents, or their parents, come from? 

If you are from another country, which part, or parts, of the country did your family come from? If you have part of your origins in Japan and part in another country, which country was it and which side of your family - your mother's or father's - is the connection with the country on? 

Task & guidelines 
You have a choice for this assignment. You can:
  • Make a video of yourself giving a short, 5-minute Power Point, Key Note, or Google Slides presentation about the topic –or-
  • Write a short, 3-4 paragraph (段落) report about the topicon a Word document or handwritten on notebook pages, with clear pictures taken of the pages
To make this a little more interesting, imagine that you are going to tell a story, in pictures or a report, about your family's history and migration from one part of Japan (or elsewhere) to another - let's call it My Family's History as a Journey. 

Making this as a story might help you remember how to speak on details and make your speaking smoother and easier for you to remember and for others listening to your talk to follow. 

Now look at the picture above. I have shown this picture before, but here's a reminder. It's a small rough poster from a student who researched her family's migration history - the places where her parents came from and how they met. 

This is a good example of what you can do. I would like you to do some more research - which could include asking your parents and/or grandparents a little more - on your family's origins

On your presentation or report, have different sections about the following points:
  • Where your grandparents (or great-grandparents, if you can find out) came from and where they met
  • What the family names of the grandmothers (or great-grandmothers, if you can find out) were
  • Where your parents met and when they got married
  • When your parents moved to where they now live
About presentations:
If you make a Power Point show, I would like you to follow these guidelines: 
  • You have to have a title slide - then 5-7 slides with pictures and text on it - then a closing slide
  • It has to be colorful and interesting to look at
  • You have to video-record yourself giving the presentation - or if you can - do a narration to your slides where you talk out your presentation
If you choose to do a presentation, you can design it anyway you want. Have some maps - you can hand draw them or download from the internet and note them yourself on computer - and some pictures of the places where your family and some relatives (親族) came from and where they went. 

If you hand draw things, simple pictures are okay - but make your pictures colorful and interesting to look at. Please have the pictures and the writing be about the points above!

About reports:
If you choose to write a report, you can also include pictures with it on a Word document - or take some pictures to go with your report. Please also have your report be about the points above!

Deadline (締め切り
Please upload your presentation files or written documents/pictures to Manaba no later than 23:59 on July 8th (7/8).

Please name your display file(s) or written document like this (here is an example): 


t_suzuki_cteA_assignment_2

("cteA" means Culture through English A)


Please remember again that if you don’t have a computer but want to write a report, you can write clearly by hand on notebook paper, take a clear picture with your smartphone of the notebook page(s), and upload the picture file to Manaba. Please name the file the same way as above for a presentation file or Word document.

Good luck with this! I look forward to our presentation day!

Image: Personal photograph of student poster. All rights reserved on content to the student.

Freshman English Reading A: Greetings gestures・挨拶のジェスチャー

Hello!



How are you? Today, let's look at greetings (挨拶) in a different way - gestures for greetings

Look at the picture above. It shows some different greetings that people say in different languages. But how do people show what they feel when they meet people for the first time? 

Activity
Look at these pictures below. They show different gestures for greetings in different cultures. Look at these and talk about what people in which cultures would do when greeting people. 

例:This first one is easy! This is what people in Japan would do.


Now try these! What countries or cultures would people make these greetings gestures in? Quiz each other on these!








Have fun guessing with these! See you next time!

Images: Top - By Epson291 at English Wikipedia - Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6047519/Bow – screenshot taken from https://thetruejapan.com/useful-phrases-for-meeting-people-in-japan/Cheek kiss - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2913072/US-Secretary-State-John-Kerry-visits-Paris-terror-attacks.html/Thai wai - by my wife, permission granted for publication under a free license (PD) - Photo taken by Bualong Sebulke, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1523095/Namaste - by Saptarshi Biswas - Oberoi Employees_Rishi (23), CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7308021/Handshake - By Angélica Martínez - Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education, Mexico City, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26395042/Hug - By Tyler McCulloch - I'm so happy man. Uploaded by Skeezix1000, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9650816/Maori hongi - screenshot taken from original photograph on http://www.whitewolfpack.com/2013/08/maori-elders-explain-meaning-of-hongi.html
All rights reserved on original hongi image to the copyright holder(s). I do not own the rights to the image. Uploaded for classroom purposes only/Board notes - personal photograph. All rights reserved on personal photograph.

Monday, June 29, 2020

Writing English A: Writing assignment 2・作文 2

Hello! 



How are you? Here is our second writing assignment (作文2) – writing opinions on news and issues (時事問題) topics.

Theme & topics
You have a lot of freedom with topic choices for this writing assignment. Choose any news item, or an issue in society – in Japan or another country – that you have an opinion about.  

But if you have trouble thinking of a topichere are some choices for youLook at these and choose one (1):
  • The aging population (老齢人口) of Japan and what older people need for their support
  • Social media and its problems (for example, fake news, or selling of people’s personal data by Facebook or other social media sites)
  • Issues and/or things that need improvement for student life at Daito Bunka
  • Voting rights (投票権for 18-year-olds in Japanese elections (選挙)
For an extra challengehere are two topics that are even deeper, but also even more timely and important. I will give extra points to students who try for writing about these topicsYou have already seen a separate supporting blogpost for one of these topics
  • Refugee issues (難民の問題) and what refugees need for immigration (移住) to Japan
  • The responses of the Japanese government to the COVID-19 virus
I am gathering writing on these topics into a book called Voices & Ideas - this is a book about student opinion writing on news topics and social issues. The best of your writing on this topic could go into this book, so write to the best you can! 

How much to write
I would like to see at least 3-4 paragraphs' worth of writing - however, I would really 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 Voices & Ideas book. 

Deadline (締め切り)
There will be two (2) deadlines – July 7th (7/7) for rough draft (下書き), and July 14th (7/14) for the final version

So, please send me your rough draft for review and individual comments by 
7/7, and then, a final version by 7/14

Before that time, if you need any advice or guidance, message me anytime.

Good luck! I look forward to reading your great writing on news and issues topics!


Image: Screenshot taken from https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/01/20/national/media-national/japanese-read-news-online-newspapers-first-time-survey-finds/#.XIdp9xhh3q1
I do not own the rights to the original photograph. All rights reserved on original photograph to the copyright holder(s). Uploaded for classroom purposes only.

Tuesday, June 23, 2020

Writing English A: Hikikomori and social adjustment・特別ポスト「引きこもりと社会適応」

Hello!



How are you? Here is a post for any of you who might be interested in social issues - as an example, about hikikomori

Activity/homework

This is a video of a TED Talk in Japanese of a mother who had an adult hikikomori son. This might give you also some more background, this time from someone directly a part of this issue, about hikikomori and what they need to re-enter society. 

Watch it as many times as you need. There are no questions - but note down your reaction. What do you think of it? 



Good luck with this! See you next class!


Image: By Hiroh Satoh from Japan - HIKIKOMORI night, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=28635776/Video uploaded from YouTube. I do not own the rights to the video or content. All rights reserved to the copyright holder(s). Uploaded for educational purposes.

Culture through English・Freshman English Reading A: Presentation design tips for Power Point・パワーポイントデサインチップス

Hello!



How are you? Here are some presentation design tips for Power Point. This can also apply to displays on Keynote and Google Slides as well.

Now here's a model Power Point show. The screenshot at the top of this post is the first slide of this example show. The information in the slides are things that I believe make for good Power Point design tips. Look at these and I hope they can help you!







Once again - I hope these tips can help you. 



Good luck! I hope this helps you.

Images: Screenshots of personal Power Point slideshow. All rights reserved.