Recently in Chikudai Category
Just in case anyone from this class stops by, I want you to know that the diaries are in some baskets on a table in front of Mr. Hill's office in the North Wing on the 3rd floor. (A whole string of prepositions.)
Another guest this week and Yumiko was back. We moved through a variety of topics and one of them was Tokyo. I have visited the city several times and recognize most of the major sections, but some of the places people mentioned tonight I had no idea.
Another topic that Yumiko brought up was the silence that occurs in conversation. I looked around on the web and found some summaries of academic papers, but nothing simple. I will keep looking to see what I can find.
The homework is to look over my blog and try to decide what some of my hobbies and interests are. Then post a comment telling me about one of your hobbies or interests.
Update:
You only need to post the comments once. It takes a little time for the comments to show up on the blog, so if you don't see it right away check back in an hour or so.
The homework is to look over my blog and try to decide what some of my hobbies and interests are. Then post a comment telling me about one of your hobbies or interests.
Just an announcement to everyone that you should use the enshuw folder for your homework. Make sure to put it in the correct folder and to use you student number as the title of the document. If you see any of your classmates tell them about this.
I was a little surprised that everybody was here today. With the Golden Week holidays coming I thought people might decide to take a long, long weekend.
At the beginning of class I pointed out the mistakes with the subject lines of the e-mails that you sent. For my e-mail filters to work correctly, I need you to use the correct subject line. It will make my life much easier.
We covered a lot of ground with the lesson today and the two grammar points were good review. Actually, those were the exact problems people had with their self-introductions. If you want to practice more about object pronouns and you can go here.
The homework for next week is to do 1 & 2 on page 20. Do it in the textbook and send a copy to me by e-mail. It needs to be in my e-mail box before 10:30 on May 15th
Remember that when you come to class to start up your computers right away and login. When you login into the CALL system use your first name in Romaji.
I showed you the example of how I want you to e-mail your homework, but you can donwload a copy mailsample.pdf and this is how I will correct the story you send.(mailsample1.pdf) Tell your classmates about this just in case they don't read this.
Oh, before I forget, you should also put the keyboard and mouse back under the computer when you finish the class.
Today we used one part of the CALL room system and there were a few glitches. I hope to get things figured out for next week. I am not sure if we will add any of the audio features yet. Remember that when you come to class to start up your computers right away and login. When you login into the CALL system use your first name in Romaji.
There was some confusion about how to send the homework. The easiest way will be to send it by e-mail as an attachment. I didn't show the example to you of how I want you to e-mail your homework, but you can donwload a copy mailsample.pdf and this is how I will correct the story you send.(mailsample1.pdf) Tell your classmates about this just in case they don't read this.
Oh, before I forget, you should also put the keyboard and mouse back under the computer when you finish the class.
I should have posted something last week about the textbook, but I forgot. Even though I didn't post anything most of the people in this class bought the book. I showed the example to you of how I want you to e-mail your homework, but if you want to see it again you can donwload a copy mailsample.pdf and this is (mailsample1.pdf) and example of how I will correct it.
The homework for next week is to do the reading on page 8 and then pick one of the examples from 2A on page 9 to write and article like the one in 2B. It should be 200 words. Use this e-mail address camps(at).joyworld.com because my Chikudai address isn't working too well yet.
Enjoy the holiday on Tuesday.
I thought this class was going to be my smallest, but I think it has turned out to be the largest. Remember to always sit in pairs and set as close to the front as possible. Also remember that when you come into the room to put your homework on the table at the front of the room.
There was a real mix of B5 and A4 paper, but this was the first class to have someone hand in a unique size that was larger than A4. Remember to put your name and student number in the top right hand corner of the paper. If you hand in more than one page, make sure to staple them together.
You had to write a description of what you thought my house looks like, so I will try to post a picture here when I get home tonight to give you a better idea about its appearance.
The homework for next week is to write a story about th e picture of the person sitting on the beach and to do pages 24 and 25.
Update: Here is a picture of my beautiful, large, fairly new, triangular, white wooden, American house.
The numbers for this dropped off just like in the Friday classes. I guess people found other classes that were at more convenient times. The smaller numbers will make this classes easier to teach and the homework more manageable
In his class almost all the students submitted their homework on the A4 paper, so we will see how the afternoon class does.
In this class, like the morning one, many people used B5 notebook paper for the homework. It is okay for this time, but make sure that you use A4 next time. Also make sure to write your name and student number in the upper right hand corner; not the bottom or left side. Also remember that the homework is due at the beginning of class and can not be handed in late.
This class ended up with a lot of space, so I guess people decided to take other classes instead. Hope you have a good weekend.
There was a little confusion because there were some people who wanted to take the class, but weren't signed up. I think we got things sorted out in the end.
The first class of the term always requires a lot of explanations and handing out of materials which takes away from the time we can spend on the textbook. We did a some of it and most of it was pretty basic. For homework you need to get the information you got from your partner and you need to write a self-introduction. Also do the Vocabulary Notebook on page 10.
I heard from the bookstore staff that many of you are going there to buy the B5 spiral notebook, but they don't carry them. If you want to buy one you can get them at the 100 yen store near Ito Yokado. I can ask the staff to buy some, but it may take awhile for them to arrive. You might be better off to walk down to the shopping center and get it.
Also I was asked many times if you had to write in the diary everyday. No, you don't have to do it everyday, but you should think of schedule that makes it easy to write 4 or 5 pages a week. Don't wait until the night before I collect them to start writing.
I was able to track down the key for the control panel during the lunch break, so I was able to follow the lesson plan. This class ended up being a little larger than I had first expected. When I left on Friday I think there were only 30 some people signed up, but we ended up with almost 60.
If you have any questions about the homework remember you can e-mail them to me or put a comment on the blog.
Well, things didn't go as well as I had hoped today because I didn't have the key for the control console. Hopefully, by next week everything will be sorted out.
Even without the key and all the high-tec toys we were able to cover most of the items I wanted to cover. There were some questions about the homework and I think I answered most of the questions by the end of the class.
This class didn't have a full 60 people, but we were close. I think the final number was closer to 56 or 57. We covered most of the preview unit and I think you have a feel for what you will need to do in the class. There are several things to do with the computers that I will have to show you how to do next week. It is very important that you bring the information about your school computer accounts with you to class next week.
Also the homework is to fill in the information in the Grammar Chart and to write a short story about the picture of the cat. Make sure to write it on A4 notebook paper and put your name and student # in the top right hand corner.
Oh, I forgot to mention in class, but if you find a mistake in the post and point it out in the comments you get 3 extra points.
We had 60 people today and a few people had to play junken to get the last seat. You seemed a little overwhelmed by all the things I threw at you today, but once you have the textbook I think it will be a little clearer. One thing I should have stressed is that the homework should be on a A4 looseleaf notebook paper.
Have a nice weekend and start writing in your diary.
Oh, I forgot to mention in class, but if you find a mistake in the post and point it out in the comments you get 3 extra points.
The class turned out to be smaller than I expected and now I wonder what the Thursday class is going to be like. With only ten people we will be able to do a lot of different things and spend a little more time on different parts.
We started with the reading about the history of mysteries and people were able to answer many of the questions. I was a little surprised that no one likes mysteries in this class. Hopefully, after we finish this class you will change your opinion. People didn't know many Japanese mystery writers. When I did a search on the internet this is what Wikikpedia has.
The homework for next class is to do the exercise on the handout that I gave you. You don't need to send it by e-mail just write the information in the space I provided.
As I said in class I want to say thank you for your comments and suggestions. I have already decided that I will change a few things next year when I teach this class based on what you had to say.
I haven't corrected the tests yet and will probably do them tomorrow. If you would like you name tags with your photos and grades just let me know by e-mail. and I can try to get them back to you.
Everyone did a good job in this class and I hope you will continue to study English. I look forward to having you in one of my classes in the future.
Well, the test is over and I will try to get it corrected so you can learn you grades as quickly as possible. I don't think there is anyone in this class in danger of failing. It has been a fun class and I hope to see some of you in future classes.
Today was the last class before the final, so we did some reviewing. In the different activities I had you talking to different people and talking about many different things. In the last activity I had to take part because we had an odd number of people. I wish I could have walked around and heard more about what you were talking about. I am sure many of your stories were very interesting.
The homework for next week is to send me an e-mail with your opinion about the class. What did you like? What didn't you like? What do you think I should change? I am sure all of you thought there wasn't enough homework. :)
Today was a review day for the final. I really moved people around and gave you new partners. This class had a bad case of the same seat syndrome and I know next year I am going to insist that people sit beside someone new each week. It was interesting to watch you interact with new people.
The homework for next week is to send me an e-mail with your opinion of the class. Please be honest because I am always looking for ways to improve my classes.
This fads that people talked about in the this class were similar to the ones the Monday class talked about. Yuuki was the only one to talk about Billy's BootCamp.
We worked with the future tense today, so people talked about their plans for the weekend and other things they might be doing in the future. I was surprised that no one thought they would be living in Obhiro 10 years from now.
The homework is to send me an e-mail telling me about your dream vacation.
There some interesting descriptions of fads. Some of the fads may not be one in the long run because they will become a regular part of our lives. I think mp3 players and electronic dictionaries are two good examples, unless they both become part of our cell phones.
The homework for next week is to send me an e-mail telling me about your dream vacation. You need to tell me where you are going, what you are going to do there, and what you are going to take. Also tell me why for all of those points.
As I mentioned at the beginning of class, people had trouble with count and non-count noun section of the quiz.
We talked about what images foreigners have of Japan. There were a lot of interesting answers, but what surprised me was how no one mentioned technology. When I used to do this exercise years ago it was mostly technology. In this class and Monday people mentioned anime, manga and food.
The homework for next week is to do the reading and send me an e-mail explaining a recent Japanese fad.
I reviewed count nouns and non-count nouns at the beginning of class today because that part of the quiz seemed to give everyone the most trouble last week.
The lesson today looked at the differences between countries and at what age it is okay to start dong different things. People got to share their ideas about typical foods, clothes, music, sports and names in Japan.
The homework for next week is to do the reading exercise and then send me an e-mail describing a recent Japanese fad.
I was surprised that most of your stories were true. I expected it to be about 50-50 of true to made up stores.
I misjudged the number of copies for the quiz. There are usually 2 or 3 people absent between the two sections, so I always print fewer than the actual number of students. This time no one was absent in either class.
It was interesting that in this class more people agreed with Julie's opinion than her father's. In the Monday class it was the exact opposite.
The homework for next is to send me an e-mail with your summer vacation plans.
A few people were sneezing and coughing with summer colds today. I hope I don't catch one!
We talked about school subjects and the ones people like and don't like. We also did the listening exercise. I was surprised how many people agreed with Julie's father's opinion. In the speaking exercise you had to walk and talk today. This room is a little small for this kind of thing, but I think people got the idea how difficult it can be.
The grammar point we looked at was the future tense, so the homework is to send me an e-mail about your plans for summer vacation.
This class also had some very interesting posters. Some were easy to guess, but others were almost impossible. Compared to the Monday class, this class had a lot strange things to talk about.
I asked this class about the mujina story and no one knew about it. You can read about it here.
The homework for next week is to send me a story about something that happened to you. It can be something that is true or something that you have made up.
There were a lot of interesting posters today, but there were a few that I couldn't understand. We did the listening exercise and when I mentioned the story about a mujina, no one seemed to understand what I was talking about. About 10 or 12 years ago it was story used for the junior high school English recitation contest in Obihiro. I was a judge so I heard the story hundreds of times over a two or three-year period.
The homework for next week is to send me a story about something that happened to you. It can be true or something you make up. I will have to try to guess which it is. Be careful and make sure to use the past tense form of the verbs.
The pacing was off today because several people wanted to leave early so they could see the pigs slaughtered. The people who left early have to send me an e-mail telling me about what they felt. The other people just have to make an A4 sign showing things you can or can't do, but you can't put any words on it. Remember you shouldn't show it to any of your classmates before class. The last part of the homework is to write about 5 Japanese customs and why people do them. Send this one by e-mail.
The room was pretty hot, but later a breeze started coming in and made it a little more bearable. Hopefully, it won't get too hot later in the summer.
I haven't had a chance to look over all the e-mail yet, but people seemed to have some trouble using the pattern. Look over my corrections carefully when you get them back.
In today's class we talked about rules and customs. We listened to Julie talking to her homestay mother and found out there were somethings that she should do and shouldn't do.
The homework for next week is to make an A4-sized poster with a warning sign of some kind. Also send me an e-mail with 5 Japanese customs and the reasons why you do them.
This week's homework is to help me plan a class barbecue and picnic. Read about my plan and tell me if you think there is too much, too many, enough or not enough of a particular item.
This class is smaller (24) than the Monday class and has more women than men. I think we can get by with 15 hamburgers, 10 hot dogs (with matching number of buns). For toppings I think we will need one bottle each of ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise and BBQ sauce. It think we will need 5 tomatoes 5 onions 3 heads of lettuce and two jars of pickles. Potato salad is a very popular dish at picnics in America, but so is macaroni salad. I think I will make 3 large bowls of macaroni salad. We will need chips so I think I will buy 6 big bags of corn chips and 6 bags of potato chips. Of course, we will need salsa, so I will buy 3 jars. For dessert I think watermelon and melon would be best. I will get two large watermelons and 4 yubari melons.
In this class I think there are only three people who are 20 years old, so we will only need two six packs of beer and one bottle of wine. For soft drinks I will by 6 liters of oolong tea, 2 liters of CC Lemon and 2 liters of Pepsi.
English Haiku
Toshiaki
He and I feel good
Rays of the sun run between trees
The no name place exists.
I must apologize for not getting your homework back to you sooner. My plan is to be caught up with everything this evening.
Now for this week's homework. I said for the end of term class party I would post a shopping list and I want you tell tell me if there will be enough, not enough, too much or too many of the items. Look at the grammar exercise we did at the end of the class for an example. Here is the list.
We have 38 students in the class and the split between men and women is about 50-50. I want to this to be an American style barbecue/picnic so we won't have yakiniku.
I think we will need 38 hamburgers and 25 hot dogs plus the same number of buns. For toppings we will need 10 tomatoes, 5 onions, 3 jars of dill pickles, plus one bottle each of mayonnaise, ketchup, BBQ sauce and mustard. We will need an assortment of chips so I think I will get 5 bags of potato chips and 5 bags corn chips. To go with the chips we will need 3 jars of salsa and I will make big bowl of guacamole. It will take 6 avocados, 2 red onions and two cartons of plain yogurt. We will also need potato salad, but to make it takes too much time, so I will buy it from a supermarket. I think we will need 4 liters. I think we will also need deviled eggs. I will need two dozen eggs and a jar of real mayonnaise. Finally, we will need some dessert. I think I will make homemade vanilla ice cream with strawberry topping. We will need 1 liter of milk, 4 cartons of real cream, a bag of sugar, some vanilla essence, 3 eggs and a bag of rock salt. For the strawberries we will need 10 boxes.
I almost forgot that we will need some drinks. In this class there aren't very many people who are 20, so we won't need much beer. I think two six packs should be enough. For soft drinks I think 1 case of oolong tea, 1 case of cola and 1 case of green tea will be enough.
Update: I will be posting some of your classmates English haiku.
Yuki
Walking in the pasture
I watch many sheep are sleeping
Then, I fall asleep.
Junko
Under the blue sky
Spreading out green and yellow
It has come at last
Daichi
As for a greeting
Eye contact and smile are key
And as in your life.
We looked at New York City, talked about places people would to visit and learned about several different cities around the U.S. I was a little surprised that so few people have traveled overseas. There seemed to be a lot more in last year's class. I was also a little surprised how little you knew about New York.
I am looking forward to reading your English haiku.
In talking about people's images of New York I was surprised that no one mentioned Matsui and the Yankees. Also no one in this class has been to New York. In the info gap exercise there were also a lot of foods people had never heard of. I am not sure if you can get any of them in Obihiro. There was a restaurant in Obihiro that had t-bone steaks and bbq ribs, but I think it went out of business.
The homework for next week is to send me an English haiku by e-mail.
Sorry, I haven't gotten back all of the e-mails yet, but I hope to get them all done tomorrow. I should be able to get this weeks back sooner because I don't have the Thursday class this week. We went over the listening activities and did the information gap today. In preparing for the conversation there were the questions about what you have been up to recently. I was a little surprised that no one had selected "yes" to the "Are you dating someone new?" question. Maybe everyone is too busy.
The homework for next week is to send an e-mail describing what people are doing in the picture we used for the information gap exercise.
I learned why Shosuke missed the quiz last week. He said he broke his nose playing rugby and was in the hospital.
People did a very good job with the homework this time and you descriptions gave me a very good image of the places where you live. Some of them seem really small while others have quite a bit of space. The only people who seemed to have roommates were the people living in the dorms.
The homework for next week is to send me an e-mail telling me what everyone is doing in the picture on page 41.
We had our first quiz today. I checked them after class and some people didn't seem to understand how to do numbers 1 and 2. In number 1 you needed to list 5 important points to remember when introducing yourself. You need to smile, make eye contact, give your name and so on. For number 2 you were supposed to compare your personality with a friend's or family member. For example, "I am quite, but my wife is talkative."
Today's lesson was about prepositions of location. The homework for next week is to e-mail me a description of your room. Use as many of the prepositions as you can.
We had our first quiz today a people did a pretty good job. I will hand them back next week and we will talk about a few of the problems. I think everyone got their homework in on time this week, but few people waited to the very last minute. Remember to look at my changes and try not to make the same mistakes the next time. I have noticed that few people have done that.
The homework for next is to send a description of your rooms telling me where different things are located.
You did pretty well today. I noticed that almost everyone has the textbook, but there were still a couple of people who didn't have one. I think there should be enough in the bookstore, so go check.
We talked about adverbs of frequency today and for the homework you need to send me an e-mail telling me about your schedule. Use all the adverbs we used in class and make sure that you write them in a paragraph format.
In the listening exercise Asuka caught my mistake and had the confidence to correct me. That was great and I am glad that she decided to do it. As I said in class, "Even a monkey sometimes falls out of a tree."
Update: I have gotten some of the homework from the Thursday class and people are just telling me their schedules, but they aren't using the adverbs of frequency from the book. Make sure to use as many of these adverbs as possible.
A couple people were absent today because of sporting events. I forgot to mention in class that we will be having a quiz at the beginning of class next week. It will cover Units 1-3. It will only take 15 minutes.
We started work on adverbs of frequency and if you want more practice you can go here.
The homework for next week is to send me an e-mail telling about your life at Chikduai. Use as many of the adverbs of frequency words as possible .
Update: I am not sure if any checks this blog much, but just in case you do and you haven't sent your homework, make sure to use as many adverbs as possible. Tell you classmates to.
Everyone was back from the break rested and ready to go. Some people went home over the break and others had club activities. I am behind on correcting the homework, but I will try to get it back to you by the end of the week.
The homework for next week is to send me e-mail telling what Tokachi products you would send to friends and relatives. Try to think of 5 different things if you can.
We are getting into a rhythm and people are getting to know each other. In looking over the e-mail homework that you have sent and I have returned you may have noticed that I have been adding articles. To practice a little more go here. The homework for Golden Week is to send me and e-mail telling me about what you do during the break. I know that Chikudai has the tradition of the older members of a club taking the new members on a trip somewhere around Hokkaido. There should be a lot to write about. Remember to write in paragraph style, not just unconnected sentences.
Most everyone sent their e-mail, but some people put too much information in the subject line. All you need is Mon 1:00 and nothing else. Most people had the textbook, but their were still some who haven't gotten theirs yet. Remember the textbook is required for this class and you need to have it by next class. Those who didn't have one today can see how much trouble it causes for your classmates.
We went over introducing ourselves and then introducing other people. The handshake still needs some work for some people. We also worked on describing people and the textbook introduced some useful adjectives.
The homework is to write about 5 people who are important to you. Also find the English names for the Golden Week holidays and tell me what you do. All these should be sent to me by e-mail.
Update: In going over the homework and the nameplates I discovered that I don't have a student number for Hirotsugu. If you read this Hirotsugu or someone else in the class does please tell him to e-mail me his student number.
It looks like we lost a few people, so the size of the class is much better. Some people still hadn't gotten their Chikudai accounts yet and didn't have their own computers so they couldn't send the homework. You have 2nd chance, but you still need to send this week's homework on time.
I hope more people will come to blog and look around. It seems no one visited last week.
The class was a little larger than I thought it was going to be. Last year I only had one large section. This year both sections are around 30 people. Watching people today it seems everyone is interested in trying to use English. If you keep that attitude throughout the class you will make some progress.
I have already gotten some homework, but there seems to misunderstanding about what to put in the subject line. You only need to put Mon 1:00 nothing else. You should put your name and student number in body of the message.
We practiced handshakes at the beginning of class and if you want to learn a little more go here.
The class wasn't as large as I thought it was going to be. Last year when I had my class in this room I had over thirty people. I think you understood how to do introductions and we talked about handshakes. This video will show you some dos and don'ts about shaking hands. The English is a little too difficult for you, but you can understand a lot from just watching it.
Don't forget to buy your textbook for next week and to send me the e-mail with information on the three people that you talked to. Also don't forget to bring back your nameplate with a photo attached.
Things did go as smoothly as I had hoped today. When I arrived at the university I discovered that I had left my masters of the handouts I wanted to make copies of in my office. I then had to track down a printer to print out my files. Once everything got done then I could set up for class.
People had a chance to rethink who the thief and who the police officer were. I won't say more now just in case someone from the Thursday class stops by, but I will say most people were wrong.
For the Thursday class we will have our first class on January 25 and not the 18th.
The Thursday class was evenly split on who was the thief and who was the police officer. At the end only a couple of people didn't change their minds about who the thief was. I guess we will have to wait until after the break to find out.
Don't put your homework off for too long otherwise you will forget some of the important points.
In reading the e-mails people have sent there seems there was a misunderstanding about the word costume. I wanted you write about the type of costume you might wear to a masquerade party.
Both classes had a lot of people who wanted to witches. I guess it has to do with the popularity of Harry Potter. No homework for next week, but I am thinking of some good ideas for winter vacation. I will tell you what it is next week.
It seems everyone was able to download the crossword puzzle without any trouble last week. Sorry about the white on black design. It must have used up a lot of ink if you were printing at home.
With Episode 9 we did a little bit with describing clothing. People had a hard describing my shirt. The best way to describe would be a blue plaid. I am looking forward to reading about your costume ideas.
Some of the conversations you wrote for Lt. Washington and the Interpol agent were pretty good. In looking over the Barcelona tours everyone wanted to visit the Gaudi buildings and many of wanted to see a bullfight. In your planning all of you forgot to take in account the siesta time. This could cause you some trouble because some places may be closed.
I will get the crossword puzzle up as soon as possible, so keep checking back.
Here is the puzzle. Download file
We will be back to our regular pattern next week because tomorrow is a national holiday. People sent the information about Marseilles. I mentioned that it was the gateway to Provence and many people who arrive on a tour ship would do a tour of Provence.
The homework for next week is to plan a tour of Barcelona and write a conversation between Lt. Washington and the Interpol agent.
Today's reading was difficult, but I meant it to be. I was pretty sure no one knew what a pawnbroker was. There was really not much of way to guess at the meaning from the text. The meaning was not that important to the overall understanding of the article. Also not many people were familiar with eBay either, but in the States and the rest of the world it is bigger than Yahoo Auction.
For homework next week send me information about Marseilles. Follow the instructions on the sheet.
In the Thursday class you had to summarize the first six episodes. You did a pretty good job, but there a couple of points that you had wrong. There was a lot of information that you had to catch in today's episode, so it was more difficult than some we have had.
It seems at least one student reads my blog. Haruna knew that I came to Chikudai by mistake last week. We went over Episode 5 and at the end people made their predictions about who they thought the thief/killer and the police officer was. The homework is to let me know the reasons why you picked those people.
The Thursday's class were different. There was no clear choice about who was the thief and who was the police officer.
Opps! I went out to Chikudai for class today, but I was in for a surprise. There were no Wednesday classes because of the a schedule change. This Friday there aren't any classes because of the school festival, so they moved Friday's classes to today. I thought it was a little strange that no one had shown up 10 minutes before class because there are usually two or three people who come very early. When it was 1:00 and there was no one, I checked my schedule and saw that there were no classes. I guess I will see you next week.
I got the day right this time and all of you showed up for the Thursday class. Now that the Thursday class is ahead I will have to wait to post details about the story on Wednesday, so that I don't give too much away. I probably shouldn't worry so much because I am not really sure if anyone in the class ever reads these posts anyway.
Enjoy the school festival.
The final class list has arrived and in the Wednesday class we will have 25 people and 8 on Thursday. In both classes the Italian vacation homes seemed to be the most popular. After Italy it was France and then England. Recently, Ireland has become popular with Europeans, but by far I think France is the most popular for Americans.
Don't forget to give as much detail as you can when describing yourself and your friend.
This is the third week of classes so everyone needs to make a final decision about taking or dropping this class. I guess I will have a final class list next week. One point I forgot to mention about the e-mails you send is to make sure you put your name (in Romaji) and class number in it. I also forgot to stress that you need to mark your attendance on your name plate every week.
In both classes people came up with some good information on Mediterranean cruises. In the other homework about the type of cruise ship you would like to be on, most people wrote that they would prefer the medium sized ones. The main reason seemed to be that you would get more personalized service and could get to know the other passengers.
The homework for next week is to write the conversation of Robert introducing Agatha to Lucy and Frank. Look at the tips on the handout I gave you. Also remember to e-mail information about vacation homes in Europe.
We are still taking care of some of the paperwork chores, but by the end of the next class everything should be set. I am already getting some of the homework from today's class, but there seems to be a misunderstanding. I would like you to find out about actual Mediterranean cruises. Go on the web and see what kind are available. Remember to send the url of the site where you find the information in the e-mail. Also in the e-mail subject line use Wed LR. Make sure not to put a period after Wed and there is no space between L and R.
In both classes people talked about the Star of Africa and in Wednesday's class several people researched about the Hope Diamond. The Star of Africa is part of the British Crown Jewels and I asked both classes if you knew about the Japanese Imperial family jewels. I found this and this, but not much else. Look around and see what you can find.
I didn't stress the address for the blog today in class, so I doubt anyone will be reading today. I am going to the post for this class a little differently this time. Instead of making posts for Wednesday and Thursday separately, I am going to make one post and combine information for both sections. I may make an basic post on each day, but they make make changes on Friday. This way I can give information that won't give the Thursday class an advantage. Check back here on Friday for more information.
Today was the final and I hope it wasn't too difficult. A few people said the listening sections were hard. I will try to get them all corrected and the grades handed in by Thursday next week.
I hope everyone has a good summer vacation. From the e-mails I got last week it seems most of you are going to get your driver's licenses during the break. I will have to drive carefully when October rolls around.
Today was our last regular class and next week is the final. Almost everyone is okay and has nothing to worry about, but doesn't mean you shouldn't study for the test. The last homework is to send me an e-mail with your summer vacation plans. It should be 150 words.
There were some interesting reasons why people decided to come to Chikudai. Shio had a little trouble coming up the English word to explain her decision, but after class I think we came up with the correct expression. The best explanation would probably be she came to Chikudai on a whim.
The quiz was a little difficult because so many questions had to do with people who died long before you were born. James Dean used to be really big in Japan. I am sure your parents and grandparents know who he is. I thought people would know Indira Gandhi, but I was wrong.
The final test is coming soon, so try to use this weekend to study.
It was such a hot and beautiful day today that I expected many of you to skip class, but there was only one person absent today! As I said in class Chikudai students are amazing! We did Unit 10 and talked about different school subjects and the classes that you are taking this year. Many of you said several of your courses were boring. What makes a class boring for you? Do you ever tell the professor or lecturer that the class isn't interesting?
The homework for next week is to send me an e-mail telling me about how you spend the Ocean Day holiday weekend. The essay has to be 150 words.
We reviewed several things today before the quiz. In the question and answer activity there was a lot of interesting ones. You also did a good job describing the different items. The homework for next week is to send me an e-mail with five words from Units 7-9 that you really want to remember. Write another way to say the same thing or describe how to use the item.
In my walk around the room while you were taking the quiz I noticed that people seemed to be struggling and many of you didn't have a chance to finish the quiz. I guess this one may have been a little too difficult. If you found it too difficult you may want to put in some extra time studying for the final test.
The homework for next week is to do #2 on page 74. Remember to e-mail me the answers. I forgot to write that on the board, so tell any classmates that you see.
Sorry I forgot to post something.
We practiced telling stories and reacting to news that we hear. To do this well it takes good listening skills. This ability is what improves the fastest if you live overseas for awhile. I have been fooled into thinking someone's ability is higher than it really is because they can respond so quickly. I only discovered after talking to them a little longer that they really couldn't speak that well.
The homework for next week is to send me a story telling me about something special that happened to you. Make sure to give me details.
People did a great job with the nationalities and foods. Of the list of food some people hadn't eaten any of them while others had tried 3 or 4. For the picnic plans there several unrealistic ones, but some others the amount and variety of food was perfect.
We talked about rules and cultural differences in today's lesson. People had a harder time coming up with Chikudai rules than the Thursday class. Nobody mentioned about rules against plagiarism What happens to someone at Chikudai if they are caught?
The homework for next week is to send me 5 Japanese customs and why you do or don't do those things.
I was very surprised on how well you did with the nationalities and foods for each country. Were there any foods that you really want to try? There was a misunderstanding about the second part of the homework. Many people didn't make a list of the items that they wanted to buy. If you have questions about the homework don't hesitate to e-mail me or post a comment here.
The homework for next week is to send me 5 Japanese customs and why do people do them. If you want help, you should watch Mr. Baseball. There are several funny scenes that have to do with Japanese customs.
Luckily, in this class no one was hungry today so we didn't have any growling stomaches as we talked about all those delicious foods. I was a little surprised that so few of you had eaten some of the dishes we looked at in the vocabulary exercise. I think in doing the homework you will find many more interesting dishes.
Remember when you send the list of foods you plan to have at the class picnic make sure you put down the how much or how many of the items you are going to need.
Everyone seemed to enjoy not having homework last week. Only one person took advantage of the extra points. We started talking about food and nationalities. Part one of the homework should give you some internet searching practice. If you were absent today and want to get the worksheet you can download it here or ask to make a copy of your classmates. The other part of the homework is to plan a class picnic for 45 people. Think of all the food and drinks you might need. Send me an e-mail with our plans and also bring a copy to class.
We practiced using quantifiers and for more practice you can here.
Today was a review day. We practiced several items from the three units we just covered. People did a good job guessing what the person was doing. The most difficult action was the Yosakoi dance.
I hope the quiz wasn't too easy. I haven't corrected them yet, but I will give them back to you next week. There is no homework for next week.
Update: If you want extra points answer the 8 questions on page 49 and e-mail them to me.
As a couple people pointed out I forgot to give homework today. If you want extra points send me the answers to the 8 questions on page 49. Also check back here later if you want to see pictures of my office.
Last week we didn't have class because it was the anniversary of Chikuda's founding. I asked how old Chikudai is and no one knew. To learn more about your university you can go here.
Today's information gap was about different cities in different parts of the USA. One of the cities mentioned was Memphis. You will be hearing more abut this city at the end of the month because I understand that Prime Minister Koizumi is supposed to visit there with President Bush. You might be familiar with it if you like John Grisham books because he sets many of his stories there.
I am surprised how punctual people in this class are. In last year's classes I had several people who always arrived just before the deadline. I must admit I prefer everyone to be on time.
People had a chance to talk about there apartments and use the prepositions we studied last week. You could mainly use the information that you had put in the email. Speaking of the email, many of you used the word contribute in the information that you sent me about the bazaar. The word you should have used is donate.
The homework for next week is to read the postcard on page 42 and send me an email telling me about what you are doing at the place you are visiting. Use your imagination.
Everyone seems to healthy now. Today was the first class in several weeks that everyone showed up. Take care of yourselves, especially with the dorm festival coming up.
We reviewed prepositions at the beginning of the class and then started Unit 5. We talked about new things that people are doing and we did several listening exercises. In the practice conversation Shigehiro used the phrase, Mind your own business that we learned last week. That got him extra points today.
I gave back the quiz and people were a little surprised that they got the first part wrong. Remember read the directions carefully.
Next week there is no class so I probably should have given you more homework, but I am sure you will put a little more time in the the exercise on page 42.
We had our first quiz today, but I haven't had a chance to look them over yet. I will probably spend all day Friday correcting Wednesday and Thursday classes. We worked on prepositions of location and if you want to practice more you can go here.
The homework for next week is to send me a description of your room or apartment. Use at least five prepositions. Also find out what information you can on the Chikudai Bazar that is coming up. I mentioned the musical Guys and Dolls that will be held on Saturday, May 27th. It is going to be at the Otufuke Culture Hall and the doors open at 4:30 and the show begins at 5:00. I couldn't find out where the tickets are being sold, but you could call the Culture Hall or the Obihiro International Relations Section to find out.
A few people were absent because of handball games and others are sick. I got most of the homework before Thursday, but some e-mails were still coming in in the morning. When I got back to the office I got several more. Remember you have to have them to me before 1:00 on Thursday. If they arrive at 2:30 you are out of luck. Don't procrastinate!
We went over adverbs of frequency and if you want more practice go here. The homework for next week is to send me five sentences with information from your partner. Use the adverbs of frequency we practiced in class. If you were absent, then you should interview a friend or classmate and send the information about them.
A question for you. There was something the newspaper yesterday (according to my wife) about a charity bazaar at Chikudai or being sponsored by Chikudai. Could find out more information for me and post it in the comments or tell me in class next week.
At the beginning of class we shared information about our GW. Some people did a some interesting things, others stayed around Obihiro and some even studied! In today's lesson we talked about adverbs of frequency. If you want to practice some more go here.
The homework for next week is to send me sentences using the adverbs of frequency we studied, but using the information you learned from your partner.
The final class list is out and it looks like we will have 46 people in this class. It is a large number, but if you keep performing the way you have it will go smoothly. I forgot to mention in class, but someone left their textbook last week. The person's older brother's name is Kesuke and her older sister's name is Shiho. If it is your textbook, send me an e-mail.
As I mentioned in class be careful with your spelling and make sure you read over your homework before you send it to me. Enjoy your Golden Week holiday and I will see you on the 11th. Remember to keep checking the bookstore for the textbooks.
At the beginning of class we talked about friends and relatives and then we started Unit 2. In Unit 2 there was a picture of a shirt from Hawaii and there was the question about what it was called. From a quick search on the internet it looks like Hawaiian shirt or Aloha shirt is fine. The word souvenir also came up. Check the meaning here.
The homework for next class is to send me an e-mail telling me about what you did during the holidays. Also find out why Green Day is Green Day.
I haven't counted the number of students we had today, but it seems like there were fewer people. The room got way too hot, so I know many of you felt sleepy. This is a common problem with most of the Chikudai rooms, they are too hot or too cold and seldom just right.
We didn't get as far as I had hoped today because not enough people had books. I hope the bookstore gets in more books early next week. Remember to send me the homework by e-mail and be sure to only put Chikudai Thurs and nothing else in the subject line. If you do this it will make it much easier to reply to you.
Two new students joined us yesterday, so welcome Mika and Takeshi. I spoke with Takeshi after class and he said he spent 8 months in Australia last year. He said he learned a lot of English during that time. If you study hard in this class the next few months you to will learn a lot of English.
We started with the textbook today and did the listening exercises. We also the info gap. People did a good job not speaking Japanese. The homework for next week is to write 5 sentences comparing yourself to someone you know. It can be a family member, friend or co-worker. Send the sentences to me by e-mail. Remember to put Chikduai Wed in the subject line, nothing else.
I have to admit I was a little surprised by the number today. I was expecting at the most 20 people. Having 49 people in a class is challenging, but I think we will do okay if you really try to speak English. If you would like a smaller class you can come to the Wednesday class.
In looking over the information you gave me I was surprised how few of you have been overseas. In the classes I taught last year many more students had been to a foreign country. Hopefully, after taking this class you will have a chance to travel during one of the breaks.
The homework is to send me an e-mail with a self-introduction and I have already received a few. To read this site on your cell phone you can use this address:http://winksite.com/joyworld/mobile.
Have a nice weekend and enjoy Easter
I would like to welcome my Chikudai students to the blog. I hope that you come and look at the site very often. It looks like we will have a small class, so we will be able to do a lot of interesting and fun things. I hope you will try to speak English for the full 90 minutes. Don't forget to send me an e-mail with your self-introduction and to buy the textbook before next class.
I mentioned that if you want to read the blog from you cell phone you can. If you look at the bottom of the column on the right you will find a Q-code with the site address. I mentioned in class about Easter, so if you want read more go here.
I enjoyed answering your questions today. You had many that were the same, but each person had one or two that no one else asked. I will start grading your tests tomorrow, but I don't think anyone has to worry too much.
Good luck with the rest of your finals and Yasushi the best of luck in your job that starts in April.
Today was the last class and you had a chance to read some of your classmates' papers. I haven't had time to look over your comments yet, but I probably have will have an opportunity this evening. If things go well I should be able to have your papers back to you next week.
Good luck with your finals and I will see you around campus in April.
We went over Unit 7 that we had skipped earlier. The main theme was family relationships. There was some talk about blended families and no one in the class knew of any among their friends or relatives. This link is to information for kids in a blended family. I looked to around to see if I could find any numbers for Japan, but I didn't have any luck. If you have the time, see what you can find out.
Next week is the final so enjoy your studies.
Part of today's homework is to come and read the blog. I wonder how many people will do it. In the unit we looked at the topic was high tech and low tech. There were a lot different items and there were several that people never use. I thought the most interesting question was, "What four of the items would be the most difficult to live without? If I had to answer that question I would say computer, stove, internet, and phone.
The homework for next week to do the Reader's Forum on page 65.
People were looking pretty tired today. Several people said they went to bed very late last night and the people who didn't show up I assume were working on other classes or overslept. We went over the unit on redundancy and looked at the importance of using pronouns and synonyms. For next week read the unit on word selection. Don't worry about doing the exercises because we will go over them in class.
If you want me to look at your paper make sure you get it sent to me soon. Remember to give a descriptive name, not just paper.
The we talked about landmarks and famous places today. Mami said she was interested in seeing the Great Wall of China and Tala said if she visited her hometown they could go see it. The listening exercise was about London and it turns out that Yasushi had spent a month there when he was 17.
The homework for next week is to do the reading exercise and write 11 sentences using the words from the book.
We are getting down to the end of the semester and the deadline for your papers is fast approaching. The material we covered today is very important and will make writing your paper much easier. Also look over the appendix and study how to do footnotes. Remember that you will will need at least four or five sources for your papers.
If you have trouble getting e-mail to me post a comment here and I will make some changes to my spam filters to let your mail through.
Everyone made it back from vacation okay. Tala said her break was boring and Yoshihide was busy at his part-time job. Takeshi is from Niggata and he said there was over two meters of snow in his area.
We talked about using simple past and past continuous for talking about injuries. If you would like to practice you can go here
The homework for next week is to read article and answer the questions on page 71. E-mail the answers to me.
A few people were absent today. I guess they decided to have a little longer vacation. Still waiting for your first drafts. You will need to do a lot of rewriting, so the sooner you get started the better. Remember you are going to need have some supporting information. The next unit in the textbook goes into some detail about this.
The homework is to the linking word clinic and I would recommend going back over the earlier clinics.
Well, we went over the homework and then talked about using MS Word. I hope that some of the features that I showed you will come in handy in writing your paper and in the future when you have to produce something in Word. As I said in class I don't really like the newest versions of Word and think that version 5.1 had basically everything a persons needs in a word processor.
At the end of class we had some time leftover so we talked a little bit about Christmas and New Years. I forgot to mention in class, but if any of you don't have any plans and would like to come to the JOY Christmas party on Thursday night at 7:00 there are still some tickets (1,500 yen) available. JOY parties are a lot of fun and you will have a chance to meet some people from the JICA Center. They don't speak any Japanese, so you will have to use your English.
Don't forget the homework for winter vacation and if you haven't sent me the first draft of your paper you should do it before you leave. I want to look them over during winter vacation.
We had the quiz today, but I haven't had a chance to look at them yet to see how you did. We went over the homework and practiced the questions again. We talked about job interviews and practiced asking and answering some typical interview questions. We also practiced stalling for time.
Read the resume and answer the questions (e-mail me the answers) and then write your own resume. For some help writing your resume go here
We worked on Chapter 5 which focuses on unity in the body of the paper. We looked over the different ways to tie paragraphs together. I also introduced the word synonym, which was a new one for many of you. I also told you about how to use a thesarus and there is an online one here.
The homework for next week is 5.4, 5.6, and parts A & B in the linking word clinic. Also I would like a paper copy of your first draft and later you can e-mail me a version. Next time in class I will be demonstrating some of the writing tools that come with MS Word. If you have a notebook computer with Word on it please bring it to class.
We continued talking about movies and did the review unit. The game went a little longer than I had planned, so we will do the quiz next week. Also next we will skip Unit 7 and go to Unit 8.
Will anyone go to the movies this weekend?
A few people have been out with a cold. Miki missed again this week. I hope she feels better next week. I gave you you a chance to work on your introductions today and then you had a chance to talk about them in Japanese with your classmates. I hope that you it helped get some new ideas and work on any problems that you were having.
As said in class you should try to keep your sentences simple at first and in the later drafts you can make things more complex. To find the terms used in the field that you are writing about you should check the internet. This will give you some good examples of the way certain terms are used. If you need help finding sites just let me know and I will try to help you out.
The homework for next week is to to exercises 5.1, 5.2 and 5.3. We will check them at the beginning of class. It was decided today to have class on Jan. 18th. Also the deadline for the first draft of your paper is the 21st of December.
The new unit was about movies and I think you learned some useful words that you can use when you are talking about movies. I was surprised how rarely some of you go to the movies. I used to be that way too until Obihiro got the new movie theater. Now I go about once a month.
The homework for next week is to read about movie reviews on page 37 and don #6 on page 38.
I thought we were going to have a very small number at first today, but people trickled in. Only Yasunori and Miki were absent today. We worked on introductions and people had to write a self-introduction but come up with a unique way of doing. It gave them a lot of trouble.
The homework for next week is to write and introduction for your paper using the form given in exercise 4.2. For those of you who haven't sent your thesis statement or outline yet remember to do that, too. With your outline you need to tell me what type of outline you are using. Also read about connecting words at the end of the chapter.
We moved to a smaller and warmer room today. The room we were in probably is warm when the sun is shinning in, but after the sun goes around to the other side of the building it cools off really quickly. I think we will probably continue to use this classroom.
There is a lot of homework for next week and most of it you will need to send to me by e-mail.
1. Read and answer the questions on page 31. E-mail me the answers.
2. Use the ten words in 3C on page 30 to write comparative sentences. E-mail me the answers.
3. Describe a commercial like exercise 5B. Use the transition words we learned.
Also have a good holiday on the 23rd.
We continued talking about outlines and people had a chance to practice making one. We also talked about organizational types. The one that gave people the most trouble was spatial. We also looked at the outlining features in MS Word and AppleWorks. The homework for next class (11/30) is:
1. send me your thesis statement for your final paper if you haven't done it already.
2. Write an outline for the paper. Write what organizational style you will use. (p.34) Deadline 11/28 (Mon.) evening.
3. read pages 39-45 (stop at ex.4.1)
4. Read this article that talks about the importance of English for Japanese researchers and academics. Then post a comment to the blog with your opinion.
Update:
I forgot put in what SUV stands for (a question from Takahiro). It means sports utility vehicle.
Saki was absent today because she had a stomachache. We went over the homework and you took the quiz. After that we moved on to the new unit. We talked about getting dressed up, being overdressed or underdressed and in or out of style. We also practiced disagreeing politely.
All of the descriptions of the dishes that people sent sounded very good. Maybe we can have a potluck sometime. The homework for next week is to do the reading in Unit 4.
We moved on to talking about outlines and as I mentioned at the beginning of class there was a misunderstanding about last week's homework. The information about Culture Day was for extra credit and the real homework was to send your thesis statement. Remember to do it next week.
We went over formal outlines and I mentioned you could use the outlining feature in MS Word, which I don't like it very much because it is too complicated. This link will take you a directory of outliners. I don't really know anything about them except for the ones I mentioned in class. With a list this long you can see that English speakers think outliners are important. Itaru and I were talking after class because he had made a comment at the end of class that one of the drawbacks of using outlines was that they took too much time. What I pointed out to him after class was that if you make a good outline you already have most of your notes for any presentation you might make on the topic in the future. In this way you will actually be saving time.
Here is a link to the idea about PowerPoint and the Iraq War. It was originally in the New York Times, but is now in the archives and you can only see it if you pay for it.
This bonus link is a surprise. Click on it and find some new information.
Well, we have a set class list now and we have two more students. Yasushi and Tara joined us today. Tara is an exchange student from China and she just arrived in Obihiro last week. She is still trying to find her way around campus so I am sure she would like your help.
We talked about food and the different ways to prepare different dishes, We practiced using the present passive form. We had a chance to practice it in the information gap.
The homework for next week is to send me information about your favorite food. Use the information for the exercise we did. Also do the reading and answer the questions.
We continued talking about writing a thesis statement today. At the end of class you had a chance to write one. I had a chance to look over everyone's, but they still need some work. Remember to send it to me by e-mail this week. It may take several exchanges before we get one that is just right.
I am putting in some links that might help you with the writing.
It looks like we are only going to have four people in this class, so I guess I will try to find a smaller room.
We talked about sports and you interviewed each other about this topic. During the conversation Masahiro and Mami discovered that they both like basketball. The homework for next time is to pick one of the topics from 7A and write points that are for the position and those that are against it.
We will start Unit 3 next time and have a short quiz the last part of the class.
I solved the e-mail problem. It turns out that my mailbox was full so no new messages were being accepted. I upped the quota and mail started pouring in. I need to figure out why it filled up so quickly, but my guess is that the spam has been hitting my account pretty hard. I will try to look at your homework tomorrow and get it back to you before the weekend.
We had two new people join us today and if Keisuke comes back next we will have a class of six. I hope we have an even number because it makes doing pair work much easier. We continued talking about names and you need to send me an e-mail explaining the kanji in your names. Also read the article about how names are given in different countries around the world. What would your name be in those countries?
In the listening exercise there was something about a strange Detroit hockey tradition. You can read more about it here.
I think the textbook is issue is cleared up, but you should probably check at the co-op everyday. When the book arrives you should read Unit 1 and take a look at Unit 2. Walking around the room today and looking a people's brainstorming sheets I think people were getting the hang of it. I think the brainstorming about Tokachi autumn really helped. As I said in class the first three units are very important because if you do these steps correctly the paper writing is much easier.
Next week we will look at writing a thesis statement.
A very small class! I had gotten myself mentally prepared for a class of 30 or 40, so when I walked in and there were only 4 people I was a little shocked. I guess there is still time for people to move around, so there is a chance that we may get a few more people.
Sorry about the textbook mix up. They have been ordered and you should be able to get them next week. Remember to send me an e-mail telling about the three-day weekend.
A good number of students today. People seemed a little nervous, but it won't take too long for you to feel comfortable to speak in English. Sorry about the mix up on the textbook. I think it may have gotten ordered today, so with some luck it will be here by next week. I will get the from you need to do next week's homework uploaded tomorrow. Please check back.
Here is the link to the pdf file you will need to do the homework Download file
We finished up the textbook today and the final e-mail homework is to tell me if you want to be famous or not. If you want to be famous tell me what you want to be famous for. Also do the Infozone section. You will see in the Infozone you will see the Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, but no one in the other classes new who she was. If you want to know who she is go here.
See you next week.
Sleepy, Sleepy, Sleepy! Everyone was sleepy today! Many people said they didn't go to sleep until 3:00 am this morning. Remember to be sharp you need your sleep. When I did my undergraduate work I also pulled a lot of all nighters because I didn't use my time well. In graduate school, I was older and wiser, I treated school as a job. I worked from 9-5 with a one-hour lunch break and a couple of short coffee breaks. I never had to stay up very late and only occasionally had to "put in overtime". That was usually before tests or when I was finishing up some papers. I rarely had to study on the weekends using my time this way. Give it a try and see if it helps you.
A lot of gaps in the homework today. Remember for next to make sure that you answer the questions before class! A lot people got the joke in the listening exercise today. I think that Ben is going to be in a lot of trouble when Sophie finds out he really doesn't know anything about Jane Austen.
The homework for next week is to do the Infozone and send me an e-mail telling me if you would like to be famous or not. If you answer "yes" tell me what you would like to be famous for.
Everyone was sleepy today! I guess you have been putting off working on your papers, so now you have to pull all nighters. I also met many of you in the office side of the buildings, but this is the first time I have ever seen you there. Is there some reason why you have to visit professors?
We talked talked about famous people and you had more trouble than I thought you would thinking for people. Later you interviewed your partner with a series of eight questions. The homework for next week is to do the Infozone and send me an e-mail telling me if you would like to be famous or not. Make sure to give reasons supporting your opinion.
Remember also to study for the test you should look at the language focus section of each unit.
We had the quiz today and I think most people did a good job from my quick look over them. I will post more later after I have a chance to correct them.
No romantics at Chikudai! When I asked if any of the men considered themselves one no one raised their hand and when I asked the women I got the same response.
We talked about people's travel preferences and we discovered that there were some different ideas about what traveling light and roughing it meant.
The homework for next week is Infozone and send me an e-mail telling me about your most interesting travel experience.
This class wasn't very well prepared for the homework. Only a few people had written out their answers. This class needs a little more stress. In this class people almost everyone answered hardly ever to the signs of stress questions. This is one easy going group!
The homework for next week is to send me an e-mail telling about a stressful time in your life. Make sure it isn't about the entrance exam time. Also do the Infozone and write out your answers to the questions this week!
Everyone seemed really tired this morning. I thought with the nice weather after so many cold and rainy days that everyone would be hyper. At first only one person sat in the safe zone, but after I said I had a lot of questions to ask today it filled up quickly.
We talked about stress and how to release stress. This could be a stressful time for you because it getting to be the end of the term. In American universities students are especially stressed out because they have so many papers to write and tests to study for. In my undergrad days we had a had a prep week the week before finals when professors couldn't have any tests or papers due. It was a week where we could focus on writing and studying.
People's answer to the questions about signs of stress should that many people in the class were stressed out. This is a good article about stress and how to handle it. I know recommending reading it may just add to your stress, but take a look.
The homework for next week is to send me an e-mail telling me about a stressful time in your life and how you handled it. Please pick something besides entrance exam time.
None of the classes could really visualize how much 300,000,000 yen really is. Most people's ideas for using the money would only use a small portion of it. It was interesting that more people in this class had plans to use the money to make more money! The classes on Wednesday had more people who said they would do something for their parents.
We talked a little bit about dating and what was important in finding a partner. In this class 99% said having the same interests was very important. The one thing I found surprising was how many of the women said having the same level of education as very important. The men didn't seem to think that it was very important at all.
The homework for next week is to tell me about how you are the same or different from your best friend. Also read theInfozone and answer the questions. Remember next week there will be a quiz for Units 7-9.
At the beginning of class I said I was a little homesick because this weather reminded me of my hometown. If you want to learn about Seward go here.
This class was full of energy as usual, but there was more Japanese spoken than usual, too! Next week we need to see if we can channel that energy into English production. After class day today and last week several people were going to make ice cream. If you want to read about ice cream machines follow this link.
There were five people in this class who said they would rather stay in a nice hotel than rough it. If you want to read about my roughing it story read the post before this one. It will be a good example of how much you should write for your homework. Also remember to read the Infozone and answer the questions.
What did you think of the quiz today? Was it too easy or too difficult?
We talked about travel today and people shared their most interesting travel experience with their partner. I am looking forward to reading your e-mails. In this class most people would rather rough it than stay in a nice hotel. I will share with you a story about roughing it on a camping trip with my wife in Alaska.
When my wife and I were newlyweds we were living in Alaska while I worked to save money for graduate school. I had been working really hard for several months and finally got some time off between fishing seasons. Seeing how we were in Alaska I felt it was important to show my wife Denali National Park and Mt. McKinley. We didn't have much money so we decided to camp on our trip.
My parents let me borrow their pick up and from my younger brother I borrowed a topper (a cover for the back of the pick up). I then built a raised bed and set it up for basic camping. It is a long drive from my parents house in Seward to the park, so we decided to take it slow and stop halfway there. The first night (but it doesn't get dark) we camped in a nice campground, but didn't get much sleep because there weren't very good curtains on the windows of the topper and it was still very bright. Also the campground where we stopped was a popular fishing spot, so there were people coming and going all night. It was very noisy. The one consolation was that we were already able to see Mt. McKinley which is very rare because it is usually surrounded by clouds.
The next morning we got up early and made our way to the park. You have to make reservation to camp in the park and our reservation wasn't until next day, so we camped at a commercial campground on the outside of the park. We looked around the park headquarters and made plans to ride the shuttle bus the next day. Again the weather was beautiful and we could see the mountain all day. We were hoping that the weather would hold and we would be able to see the mountain the next day, too.
We move to our campsite in the park and caught the shuttle bus. We saw all kinds of wildlife on ride to and from the Eileson Visitors Center. The bus driver kept telling how lucky we were to be able to have so many days of beautiful weather. He said that normally they only get about 7 days a summer when you can see the mountain without clouds, we had already had three. The shuttle bus dropped us off at our campground late in the afternoon and we started getting ready for dinner.
As we were getting ready we discovered why this campground had so many spots available, the mosquitoes were terrible! I have a picture of my wife trying to eat dinner with her head all covered with the hood of sweatshirt and a bandana over her face. To eat she would lift the bottom of the bandana and put the food in her mouth and then quickly put the bandana down again to keep from getting a mouthful of the bugs. Again there was a wonderful event to make up for it. A few meters from where we were sitting having dinner a cow moose and her calf slowly walked into campground and started eating. We were very quite and watched them for quite awhile until they moved on.
This was our third night and we hadn't taken a shower. We had been covering ourselves with bug spray to keep the mosquitoes away and cooking over a campfire. My wife was beginning to get uncomfortable, but we still had another two days ahead! When we left the next day we took a very dusty gravel road for a whole day which meant everything in the back of the pick up was covered with dust. My wife began to demand we find a place to take a shower. The guide book we had didn't list any campgrounds with showers so we decided to head back to Anchorage and get a hotel. It was summer so most of the hotels were booked up so we had to search and search for a place to stay. We finally found a place, but it cost a fortune, but the shower felt fantastic. Since then my wife hasn't been very interested in roughing it.
Most everyone had a good time at the dorm festival, but there were a few people who had club activities that weekend, so they didn't take part. Several people said that the yakatori sold by the curling club was especially good. Maybe next year I will stop by and see all of the excitement.
The e-mails people sent about Chikudai all mentioned nature and animals, but there was some trouble trying to explain what is taught at this university and what departments there are. Look at the university's English website to see how to explain things in English.
This class was evenly split between spenders and savers. There were only a few people who guessed correctly that I was a saver and not a spender. I mentioned that there were a lot of old sayings about money. Here is a list and another one.
The homework for next week is to send me an e-mail telling me what you would do if you won the super jumbo lottery. Also read and answer the questions in the Infozone.
Everyone was tired and sleepy today! Maybe everyone should wait to eat lunch after class because being hungry might keep you more alert. I learned that Misato is a singer in a band that played at the festival. Saori said it was the best part of the festival.
This class had similar answers to the morning class, but said that their parents had different interests and don't do many things together. We will do the two-minute interviews next week and it will be a little like speed dating that I mentioned.
Don't forget to study for the quiz and do the homework. Read the Infozone and answer the questions. Also e-mail me the Write About It section. Remember don't focus on how you are different from friend, also how you are alike.
It sounds like everyone had a good time at the school festival. I guess I should have stopped by on Saturday to see it for myself.
We started talking about what was important in finding a partner and this class pretty much everyone agreed having similar interests and taste in movies and music were the most important. The things that people thought were the least important were very different. When I asked people how many of their parents shared the same interests many people raised their hands or shook their heads yes.
At then end of class I mentioned speed dating. Next week we will do something like it using 2 minute interviews.
We will also have a quiz next week. If you want to prepare look over the review unit.
I wish we could have kept the doors open today because it would have given us a cross breeze, but it would have been to disruptive for the class next door. I wonder with all the remodeling they are doing if they will put in air conditioning?
This class was a little better at describing the university, but like the morning class you focused on the nature and the animals. No one mentioned world renowned professors or cutting edge technology. This class did know how much tuition was.
I mentioned there were a lot idioms about money and here is a list of some of them. Take a look and see if there are any similar ones in Japanese.
The homework is to do the Infozone. Send me the Write About It by e-mail.
It was hot in the room today, but no one went to sleep. We went over the homework and people gave their descriptions of Chikudai. They way some people talked about the university it almost sounded like they were talking about a zoo. No one got my joke about "Moo U.", but that is what many ag schools in the US are called. To learn how to talk about the school in English you should look at the university's website.
The new unit we started was about money and shopping. Very few people had credit cards and very few people had part-time jobs. I was surprised that no one in the class new how much tuition was for this school. Part of the homework is to find that information and how much room and board is for the dorms.
The other part of the homework is to do the InfoZone. Send the Write About It section to me in an e-mail.
I have gone over all of your quizes and there were three common mistakes. In Part 2 where you had to unscramble the sentences 99% of you missed numbers 2 and 3. The correct answer for number 2 was, "Would you rather be a vet or an accountant?", but most people put, "Would you be rather a vet or an accountant?" For number 3 the correct answer was, "How important is interesting work to you?". The answers to this one were all over the place, but very few people got it correct. The other problem was in Part 3 where had to complete the conversation. Many people forgot to put "the" before the superlatives. For example "the most athletic" or "the funniest person".
I really liked some of the answers in Part 4. People did a good job explaining why they thought they were a Type A or Type B person.
We worked on Unit 7, but before we started we went over the homework. Surprisingly, you didn't do a good job guessing my blood type or my position in my family. A few people guessed that I was the middle child, but most people thought my blood type was O. The morning class did a much better job.
I mentioned that Chikudai would be called an Ag School in the States. There are many famous Ag Schools in the States and most of them are
I hope that the quiz wasn't too easy today. We went over unit 7 and talked about education. One word that came up in the afternoon class was elective. This is used for the classes you are allowed to choose freely, but there are usually classes that you are required to take.
We talked about owning a car and if you should buy one or not. It seems like everyone would like to have one, but most people don't even have a driver's license yet. Let me tell you it is expensive to own a car.
The homework is to send me an e-mail explaining what type of school Chikduai is. Also do the InfoZone.
A few people were absent because of a baseball tournament. We talked about people's dream jobs and there were a lot people who want to be farmers. It is hard to become one if your family doesn't already own. One possibility is to marry one.
The new unit was about family and using superlatives. It is pretty basic and something you studied in junior high, but something that easy to make a mistake with. The homework for next week is to send me an e-mail about the most interesting person in your family. Also do the Infozone.
Update: In all three classes there were very few people who had worked a part-time job. For example, in today's class there were only 5 or 6 people out of 40 had worked a part-time job in high school. In America it would probably be the opposite, only 5 or 6 wouldn't have had a part-time job.
In the new unit we talked about personality traits and I mentioned that there were a lot of tests on the internet. Go to this site and take the test. It isn't very difficult and its free. I don't know why you snickered when I said I was shy, but the morning class did, too. I guess I don't act shy in front of the class.
The homework for next week is to do the InfoZone. Also send me an e-mail telling me about the most interesting person in your family.
Don't forget that we will have a quiz next week on Units 4-6.
It was interesting reading about people's dream jobs. Of course, being Chikudai students many of you wanted jobs that involve animals or farms. There were a few people who want to be teachers and others who want to be government officials. There were some unique jobs that I had never heard of before.
In the new unit we talked about personality traits and I mentioned that there were a lot of tests on the internet. Go to this site and take the test. It isn't very difficult and its free.
The homework for next week is to do the InfoZone. Also send me an e-mail telling me about the most interesting person in your family.
This class too put down high salary as extremely or very important for their future jobs. I wonder which one of you will be the first millionaire?
We went over comparatives and people needed to practice a little to get the words to come easily. We will be doing more with them next week. The homework for next week is to send me an e-mail about your dream job. Give me as many details as possible. Also read the InfoZone and answer the questions like your normally do.
It was interesting that in many of the e-mails that this class and the morning class sent me about rude cell phone behavior the people that were rude were middle-aged. It seems middle-aged people are really rude people according to you. Just so you know, I don't use my cell phone on the train, bus or in restaurants.
We talked about jobs and in this class most people want to have high paying ones. Remember the old saying that money can't buy you happiness. If you want to read about how to find the right job for you read these tips.
The homework for next week is to send me e-mail telling me about your dream job. Also read the InfoZone and answer the questions.
I was expecting a few more people to be absent today with the beautiful weather. As it was only four people were absent.
We talked about how people use the internet at the beginning of class today. I am still surprised how little people use the internet. I have become very dependent on it for information and it makes living in Japan so much easier than it used to be.
We moved on to the unit on jobs and people talked about points that were important to them. Many people thought having a high salary was extremely important, but only a few people thought it was somewhat important.
Here some tips about looking for jobs and deciding what is important to you.
The homework is to send me an e-mail telling me about your dream job. Remember give me details. Also read the InfoZone.
There were a lot of people in this class who hadn't finished their homework. Remember that doing the homework is preparation for a communication activity. If you don't do it before class you are causing trouble for your partner.
In the cartoon people spotted the many famous landmarks, but I mentioned that it looks like Las Vegas, Nevada. We also looked at the top ten countries for foreign visitors, but Japan is 33rd.
And yet for the rest of the world, Japan remains a no-go zone, languishing 33rd in terms of international tourist arrivals. Even within Asia, Japan ranks only eighth.
You can read the whole article here.
The homework for next week is to read the InforZone and then answer the questions in the Read About It section and then look over the questions in the Talk About It section. Think about how you would answer the questions, but you don't need to write anything. Finally, send me an e-mail telling about the worst cell phone behavior you have ever seen.
I mentioned this in class, but I couldn't remember the date. Well, on June 17th at 7:00 to 8:15 at JOY English Academy there is going to a slide and talk show about Eco Tourism in Australia. If you would like to go to Australia someday you might get some good information. Also it might be informative for those of you studying environmental science.
We had our first quiz today and I don't think it was too difficult. I haven't had a chance to look at them yet, so I am not sure how your did. After I correct them I will put up information on how you did.
The homework for next week is to do the Inforzone. This week there were a lot of people who hadn't read or answered the questions. Remember that if you don't do the homework you will probably be causing your partner trouble.
I mentioned this in the afternoon class, but I forgot to do it in this one. Last week's homework was to write a plan for your dream trip and many people wrote that they would like to go to Australia someday. Well, on June 17th at 7:00 to 8:15 at JOY English Academy there is going to a slide and talk show about Eco Tourism in Australia. If you would like to go to Australia someday you might get some good information. Also it might be informative for those of you studying environmental science.
We had our first quiz today and I don't think it was too difficult. I haven't had a chance to look at them yet, so I am not sure how your did. After I correct them I will put up information on how you did.
The homework for next week is to do the Inforzone. This week there were a lot of people who hadn't read or answered the questions. Remember that if you don't do the homework you will probably be causing your partner trouble.
This class did a really good job of moving around, but there are still a few people who don't seem comfortable sitting by someone they don't know. Take a chance next week and you may make a new friend,
I tried to find out why some of the students are wearing a special kind of Jacket. I learned that is for one of the dorm festivals, but then they couldn't explain why they are wearing one and other people in the dorm aren't. I am supposed to get an e-mail with an explanation this week. If you know you can also post a comment.
The day trip activity generated a few ideas, but the problem for some people is that they don't have a car. Not having in a car in Tokachi can be a real problem, but if you are lucky a friend might have one. Somebody recommended finding a girlfriend who had a car.
The homework for next week is to read the InfoZone and answer the questions in Read About It and think about the questions in Talk About It (you will discuss them with a partner in class next week) and then do the Write About It. You have a choice this time. You can send me an e-mail telling about a vacation you plan to go on or you can make an English travel pamphlet. The key point for each choice is give as many details as possible. Use your imagination!
It was freezing in the classrooms today. I guess when you turn off the boilers for the year you don't want to start them up again for just a few days.
A smaller class today because a number of people were gone for a handball tournament. Hopefully, they will check here for the homework for next week.
We went over last weeks homework and most people had done it, but I did notice a few blank pages. I did get e-mails from most of you, but there were some missing. It seems no one had a discussion with a classmate about the questions in the Talk About It section.
We talked about vacations and place that would be good for a day trip. I was surprised how many people said Hakodate! Hakodate looks close on the map, but it is much too far for a day trip if you are going to drive. There are now flights to Hakodate, but they are expensive for just one day.
The homework for next week is to read the InfoZone and answer the questions in Read About It and think about the questions in Talk About It (you will discuss them with a partner in class next week) and then do the Write About It. You have a choice this time. You can send me an e-mail telling about a vacation you plan to go on or you can make an English travel pamphlet. The key point for each choice is give as many details as possible. Use your imagination!
The computer jinx continues. Once again I got back to office on Wednesday after Chukudai and I had a computer problem waiting for me! What is it about Wednesday and computer trouble? Hopefully, it won't take me too long to fix the problem this time.
A few people were absent today because they have a handball tournament in Sapporo. I am sure they will all check here to see about the homework for next week.
We did the listening exercise that we didn't do last week, but no one laughed when Meg said she was calling to check on the homework. In the other two classes everyone thought it was funny. After that we moved on to talking about vacations. People thought it was funny that I said you need to start planning your summer vacation, but for some popular places it probably already too late to get tickets. I know that my wife started planning our trip to Viet Nam last summer just after Golden Week and we still had difficulty in getting tickets.
The homework for next week is to read the InfoZone and answer the questions in Read About It and think about the questions in Talk About It (you will discuss them with a partner in class next week) and then do the Write About It. You have a choice this time. You can send me an e-mail telling about a vacation you plan to go on or you can make an English travel pamphlet. The key point for each choice is give as many details as possible. Use your imagination!
Good turn out for this class, too. People did a very good job of pairing up with new people, but there are a few people that have SPS. They have been sitting next to the same person for the last three classes. If that is you, then next week sit beside someone else.
Next week several people will be absent because they have a handball tournament in Sapporo. If you have to miss a class then you can try to do a make up class on Wednesday afternoon at 1:00. It is a small class and the lesson is the same one that we do on Thursday.
Today's lesson was about TV and the different kinds of programs. This class, like the morning class on Wednesday, only 4 or 5 people don't have a TV. We talked a little bit about soap operas and if you want to learn more go here. The very popular Beverly Hills 90210 would be classified as a soap opera.
The homework for next week is to do the read InfoZone three times, but the first two times don't use your dictionary. Then answer the questions in Read About It, then find a classmate and do the Tallk About It section (in Englsih), finally survey 5 people about their favorite types of TV programs (in Japanese okay) and then e-mail what you found out. Look at the example in part B. For the people who have to go to Sapporo for the handball tournament you can do the Talk About It part and the interview members of the handball club for the Write About It section.
Everyone was here today and people did a pretty good job of sitting beside someone new. In this class most people had a good GW. When I first started getting e-mail about people's GW I was surprised how many people went somewhere with their clubs, but later I learned that this is a Chikudai tradition. Is this the same at other schools? I forgot to mention in class, but it came up in the 10:30 class. In American English we don't have the strong concept of senpai and kohai, so we you say, "I went to the zoo with my senior." and American might not understand what you mean. It would better to say I went to the zoo with some older members of the club.
Today's lesson was about TV and the different kinds of programs. Everyone has a TV in this class which surprised me a little. When I was a student I don't think I had a TV until my senior year. We talked a little bit about soap operas and if you want to learn more go here. If you look down towards the bottom of the page on the left you will see a list of the most popular ones. Almost all of them were on when I was a child. A couple of them started when I was in high school. The very popular Beverly Hills 90210 would be classified as a soap opera.
The homework for next week is to read InfoZone three times, but the first two times don't use your dictionary. Then answer the questions in Read About It, then find a classmate and do the Tallk About It section (in Englsih), finally survey 5 people about their favorite types of TV programs (in Japanese okay) and then e-mail what you found out. Look at the example in part B.
It seems Wednesday is my computer trouble day. Again this week when I got back to the office there was a teacher who couldn't use e-mail or get on the net. I messed around with her computer for a long time and never got it to work. I discovered later that I just need to turn on and off the cable modem. Next time it will be much easier.
Sorry, I was late today, but as I said at the beginning of class I had to drop of funeral condolence money before coming to class. We had a good number of students today. We have 41 people registered for the class and we had 39 show up today.
I enjoyed reading about your GW and then hearing a few more details today as I walked around the room. Remember to ask your partner as many questions as you can. If they say, "I went shopping.", but don't give any more information ask them where they went, what they bought, who they went with. Question, question, question!
Today's lesson was about TV and the different kinds of programs. Almost everyone has a TV in this class. I was surprised how many people wrote that they never watch the news. We talked a little bit about soap operas and if you want to learn more go here. If you look down towards the bottom of the page on the left you will see a list of the most popular ones. Almost all of them were on when I was a child. A couple of them started when I was in high school. The very popular Beverly Hills 90210 would be classified as a soap opera.
The homework for next week is to do the read InfoZone three times, but the first two times don't use your dictionary. Then answer the questions in Read About It, then find a classmate and do the Tallk About It section (in Englsih), finally survey 5 people about their favorite types of TV programs (in Japanese okay) and then e-mail what you found out. Look at the example in part B.
Now that this is the 3rd class of the semester the class list is set and I can finalize the database that I am creating for this class. About 40% of this class has sent me their photograph. If you haven't sent it yet try to do it before the end of Golden Week.
We went over several points today and people seemed to put them into practice. I am glad people realized the thing that bothers me the most is speaking Japanese in class. I hope that you will try to find some language partners to practice with outside of class.
The homework for next week is to send me an e-mail telling me what you did during the holidays. Noriko if you tell me in the e-mail I will keep the secret!
This class being smaller makes it much easier for everyone to learn everyone's name, but it also makes it much more susceptible to SPS. Remember next time make sure to try to sit beside someone you haven't sat next to before. We will be sharing information, so it is more interesting to meet many different people. If you want to stay in the safe zone you can still move around.
The homework for next week is to send me an e-mail about your Golden Week holiday. Be as specific as possible. Remember you will be talking about what you did in the past, so you past tense verbs!
Sorry, it has taken me so long to post about today's class, but when I got back to the office I had several computer problems to take care of. The problems always seem to come in threes. One teacher couldn't connect to the internet, I and another teacher couldn't print. All three problems seemed to solve themselves.
Today's class went well and I am really enjoying everyone's enthusiasm. Your energy gives me energy. As I said most people are putting Wed. 10:30 in the subject line of the their e-mails and it is a big help. If you haven't sent me your picture yet please do it before the next class. I hope to have everyone's name memorized by the 5th class. The pictures really help.
The homework for next class is to e-mail me about your Golden Week. What did you do? Where did you go? Who did you go with? Did you have a good time? As much information as you can. If you send "nothing special" be prepared for a lot of questions.
Today I greeted you with, "Welcome to spring time in Hokkaido.", which reminded me of the songWhen it's spring time in Alaska it's 40 below." by Jonny Horton.
We went through the activity of trying to remember everyone's name in your row. This class did a much better job than the other two classes. I still need to work on remembering everyone, so that is why I asked you to send me a picture in your next e-mail. It only needs to be a picture of your face.
The homework for next week is to read the Infozone three times (the first two with no dictionary) and the write the answers to the questions in the Read About It, then read and think about the questions in Talk About It and then write and e-mail your learning strategy from the Write About It part B.
As I mentioned in class some of the homework assignments are going be hard to do on your cell phones, so you should check with the computer center if you don't have your own computer. Also remember when you send me e-mail make sure to put Thurs. in the subject line.
Have a good weekend.
This class is really the perfect size. It is too bad the other two classes couldn't be this number. Even though this class is smaller the amount of Japanese spoken is much higher. Next week try to get through class without speaking any Japanese.
We went over the homework and people introduced themselves to new people. Remember next week to sit beside someone new. We don't want you to catch the SSS disease.
I forgot to tell this class to send me a photograph of yourself by e-mail. One that you take with your cell phone is fine. It only needs to be a picture of your face.
The class was a little smaller today, so maybe a few people decided that they didn't want to take the class. A smaller class will make it much easier to do some of the things I want to do. Most people did the homework, but had a hard time remembering who they talked to. I hope the activity where you had to say everyone's name will help you remember your classmates.
I forgot to say that I wanted you to send the Write about it section of the homework to me by e-mail. Please pass this message on to your classmates Some of the homework e-mail assignments will be difficult to do using your cell phone. If you don't your own computer you should check on using one at the computer center. Also don't forget to send me your photograph by e-mail.
People did a good job in staying in English and the energy level was very high. Have any of you found a language partner yet?
I forgot to tell you when you send your e-mail to me make sure you put your class day and time in the Subject line. If you do that I will be able to create a filter which will automatically put it in the correct mailbox. This will save me a lot of moving things around.
It looks like there aren't going to be enough seats in this class, so hopefully, a few people will come to the Wednesday afternoon class. Remember you can bring in extra seats, so you should think about coming to the afternoon class on Wednesday or I will see if there is a larger classroom.
Everyone seems excited to speak English which will make this class fun and interesting. I have a question that I forgot to put on the paper I gave you. How many of you had an AET from the JET program in your high school or junior high school? If you did how many times did you meet with them? You can tell me your answers in the e-mail you send me.
Remember to buy the textbook, make a list of the people you talked to and send me an e-mail.
Well, the number of students in this class is just about right. With this number we will be able to move around and talk with a lot of different people. This class, like the morning class, has very few people who have been overseas or taken the TOEIC test. Another thing that surprised me is how many students don't have a computer. In the States having your own personal computer is almost a requirement for university. Also schools have a wireless internet system where you can connect to the internet anywhere on campus with out a cable. We will be using the internet in this class so you will need to find out how to use the computer center if you don't have your own.
I am looking forward to learning about you and your hometowns. We have people from so many different places, so it will fun to hear about the different customs from different areas in Japan. In the e-mail that you send me as homework, tell me about the most famous thing from your hometown.
The other homework is to make a list of the people you talked to and what you learned about them. Also remember to buy the textbook for next week.
Welcome 10:30 students. I had a very good time in class today and to be honest I was expecting the class to be more difficult than it was. You all seem very interested in learning English and if you can keep this level of enthusiasm you will make a lot of progress this semester. The number of students was a little larger than I expected, but if you remember the signal to be quite things will go well.
I was a little surprised how few of you have been overseas. I thought the number would be closer to 60%, but it was probably closer to 20%. Study hard in this class and then plan a summer vacation trip to an English speaking country. I am happy to see such a diverse group of students. We have people from many different prefectures and with many different majors. I think you will enjoy getting to know your classmates using English. I have a real challenge ahead to try to remember everyone's name. Another surprise is how few of you have taken the TOIEC test. You can take it in Obihiro and the next one is coming up in June. You should think about challenging it in June and then take it again after this course and see how much your English has improved.
The homework for next week is to make a list of the people you talked to and the information you learned. Also remember to send me an e-mail. A think I forgot to mention is that you should buy the textbook before the next class. One last reminded, try to find some friends who you can speak English with outside of class. The more you speak the better you will become.
Explore the site and make sure to read the blog by the president of our company. He always writes interesting essays and the JOY News blog will let you know about English events that you can participate in at JOY.
Update: The deadline for TOEIC registration is next week and the test is at the end of May.
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