Recently in Misc. Category

Tonight was our last class and we finished with a nice conversation. It was surprising how long we could talk about potatoes. I think you really improved your conversation skills since we started. I will keep you posted on what will be happening after summer vacation. I am sure we will bump into each other at JOY and other places.

Good luck with setting up a Bookcrossing zone.

It was interesting start of class today. Fumiko had several topics that she wanted to talk abou, but no one else was really interested in classical music. That happens sometimes and you need to be ready to change topics, which she did very quickly when she realized the topic wasn't going anywhere.

The next topic she introduced, Book Crossing, I had never heard of. This is a link to the main site. The system sounds rerally interesting and I will need to learn more about it. It reminded me of a similar thing I saw on tv about a small doll that people would hide around Japan and then post directions on how to find it on a internet bulletin board. I can't seem to find anything about it on the internet, but I will keep looking.

After that Yumiko brought up th question of family crests and she wanted know if we have them in the States. We do, but they are usually connected with our European roots. For example, this is the Campbell crest and other symbols. This is the Campbell tartan

These topics took up most of the class, but we also returned to the family register issue briefly. I guess I did forget to put a link to the translations of the family register last week, so here it is now. This site talks a lot about problems it can cause in divorce cases where there is a child custody issue.

Tonight we banned the topics of computers and the internet because we spent most of the last two classes talking about them. We started out talking about children's books illustrators and then moved on to Japanese-English words. From there we started to talk about the topic of the Japanese family register and the way marriages are registered in America. I shared a little bit about the troubles the system can cause for international marriages. We ended up with topics of how to relax and communication between husbands and wives. I think I skipped a few things, but this is still a pretty impressive list of things to cover in 75 minutes.

Kazue has some homework for next week because she needs to bring information about the bar she mentioned.

Another week without anyone doing a make up class. We started out again talking about computers, but switched topics so that Fumiko might enjoy the conversation more. We ended up talking about books for a long time, almost 25 minutes. There was a lull in the conversation and then we finished up talking about movies and translation. I can't remember who brought it up, but they mentioned a NHK program that talked about subject.

I came across this site and thought you might find it interesting. You may find it a useful and fun way to learn new vocabulary. It is for elementary school children in the USA, so you will think it is too fast at first. If you listen carefully, you will be able to pick out the key word that they are trying to teach. Let me know what you think by positing a comment.

I have start by saying congratulations. Tonight's conversation was the most natural one that we have had so far. I think the key was that we found a topic that we could all easily talk about. There was much more giving of information and less question and answer. Yumiko sent me an e-mail and the iPhone will be released in Japan on July 11. I wonder how big of deal it will be and if there will be lines in front of the Apple store in Sapporo.

I almost forgot. I have looked around and made a few changes in the commenting system that should allow your comments to be posted immediately and block any spam comments. Please try posting a comment and we will see what happens. If it works on my blog then I will set things up for Paul, Joe and Trish.

It was great to hear about Fumiko's trip to Kyushu. It sounded like she had a great time and she was very impressed with Aso. I would really like to do a tour of the island someday.

We had a another person doing a make up class today, but he arrived a little late. Before he arrived we talked a little bit about how to re-introduce a topic that you would like to talk about if it doesn't go very far the first time you bring it up. After that we ended up talking to our visitor about his job and food because he works in a supermarket.

One of things we need to work on next week is the transition between topics.

Here is a link to Sideways, the movie we talked about in class. I really liked it and I think most of you will like it too.

It was nice having Take and Yoko here tonight because Fumiko is on a trip to Kyushu. I am sure we will be getting a postcard before the next class. In the next class we can hear about her trip.

Update:
Sorry, Kazue about not asking you specifically to start the conversation with your topic. I know you tried to introduce it one time, but no one picked up on it. Yoko should have jumped in because she was expecting you to talk about why you want to become better at using English. Maybe we can continue with this topic next week and we can look at ways to handle this situation.

First, I want to say thank you to Yumiko for sending the card. I am looking forward to hearing more about your trip.

We had a guest tonight, so we ended up talking about a lot of different topics that I hadn't expected. I am not sure if he will come back next week or not, but if he does he will add an interesting point of view to the class.

I forgot to mention the surprise I got this weekend. A neighbor gave me a bunch of wood and you can see how much in the photos. I have my work cut out for me getting it cut up and split. The nice thing is I can take my time.

Hungry! Tonight we spent almost the whole class talking about food and I haven't eaten dinner yet. I wonder if you could hear my stomach rumbling? I wonder what Noriko has prepared for dinner?

Have a nice Golden Week and remember we have two weeks off.

We got off to a quick start tonight because we had already decided on the topic, but we did need to work on starting the conversation. We stayed on the topic of TV for quite awhile, but then made a natural transition to a short talk about the difference between American English and British English. Yumiko brought us back to the topic of TV by remembering that I said last week that I had some strong opinions about Japanese TV. She wanted to know what they were, so I told the class.

We didn't think of any topics for next week, but I think from Kazue's last comment it will probably end up being about food.

Update:
I had the marmalade this morning for breakfast. I was really good. Thank you Fumiko.

Tonight with the Let's Chat class the first topic was a little more difficult that you expected, but we did have a chance to practice a few different things. In the discussion about litter the "broken window theory" came up, which even surprised me. We did lighten things up towards the end with our talk about flower viewing parties. Maybe we will have to have one for the class when they finally hit Obihiro, if they don't bloom during Golden Week.

The topic next week is TV (programs and commercials).

I made this Christmas Cornflake Wreath last year for one of the classes and decided to the post the picture again as a test of the software. If you would like to know how to make this wreath just ask me or buy my wife's book. It is really easy and very delcious.

On Thursdays I don't have a morning class and this month no Chikudai class because of summer vacation, so I decided to play the plumber. We have one toilet that has been making a lot of noise when the tank fills up after flushing. I know the problem, but to fix it I have to turn off the water for the whole house because there is no shut off valve on the toilet. I decided that today I would put a shut off valve, so I can do repairs on it without shutting off the water for the whole house everytime. I bought the parts that I thought I would need last week and looked up the steps on the internet.

When I was ready I turned off the water for the house and took the pipe off, cut it in two and discovered the pipe sizes were different. Now I had to go back to the store and try to find the right size. They didn't have the right size so I needed to find a pro shop that had a larger assortment. To do that I contacted the contractor who built our house and he got me set up. At first they couldn't find the parts I needed, but after some searching they did come up with them. When I got home it didn't take long to get the valve installed, but it leaks where the pipe connects to the toilet because the seal is worn out. I could at least turn on the water for the house and I bought a new seal before coming to JOY today. I will install it tonight. Hopefully, it will be a good fit and the leak will stop. If it doesn't I will need to do some thinking. I still need to try to fix the noise problem, but that will need to wait until this weekend.

Update: The new seal did the trick and everything is back together. I think I may have even solved the noise problem for now, but I will order some spare parts just in case. The next step is to do the other toilet on the weekend.

Did you see the lunar eclipse tonight? I saw it earlier and might be able to see it more on my way home.

When you come to JOY this week you will see some flowers on the tables they are from Yumiko (Step 4C). They really make Bucky Hall look like spring even though the weather hasn't been very spring like.

I wonder if Zenta (Step 5) and Mayuko (Step 2) will be coming to Japan before JOY's Christmas party. If they get back in time maybe they will be able to join us and we can here about their stay in the States.

The tickets for the Christmas party are selling well, but there are still some left. If you haven't gotten yours yet try to buy one next week.

I think I have solved the problem with my layout and now making changes in the future will be much easier. I hope you like this simpler and cleaner look.

This week has been a busy one. We have had three nights of events and I have been trying to get some things done with the blogs. I want to make it easier for the teachers to set up photo galleries so they can share photos with you. When I get things up and running I will post photos from English cooking. This year the food was fantastic and just looking at the photos will make you hungry. You can get the recipes at the counter if you want them.

Today was our last class and most difficult topic. We never really got into a flow with this conversation. Each person was mostly talking about their own point, but not relating it very strongly to what the previous person had said or to the overall topic.

After class we enjoyed a treat made by Yumiko. She didn't have a name for it, but it was based on a German recipe. It was really good and you could do many different things with it.

Today's topic was reading. We bounced around and it took awhile (45 minutes) before we settled on a stream. In the discussion I mentioned graphic novels. You can read more about them here. Next week our topic will be friendship. Remember to think of a "set up" sentence for this topic.

Only Tokue and Miguri tonight. I hope the other people didn't think the class had finished. Remember I had to cancel one class a few weeks ago and tonight was the make up class.

Tonight's topic was hobbies and we covered several. The transition between the different hobbies was very smooth and we ended up talking about using cell phones to take photos. It was off our main topic in a way, but we arrived at this point very naturally.

I am not sure, but we may have a few classes like this next semester, but I won't know until April sometime.

I forgot to wish everyone a happy St. Patrick's Day. On this day you're supposed to wear something green, but I forgot. My family is Scot-Irish

Also what do you think of the new look? Is it easier to read? If you like the old one better let me know and I will switch back.

Our topic today was lifestyles. We came up with some good set up sentences and then moved on to the topic. It took awhile to get rolling, but the conversation had some very natural points. We eventually ended up talking about volunteerism. The transition to this topic was very natural and I don't think you even noticed it happening.

I noticed today that the conversation goes more smoothly when you stop looking to me for grammar correction. When you focused on responding to the people in the group things went much better.The minute you worried about grammar and looked to me the conversation broke down.

Next week we will be talking about books. Remember to look up the vocabulary you think you might need.

Our topic today was health and at the beginning of class we tried to narrow done the topic a little bit. We also talked a little bit about how to steer the conversation in a direction you want it to go. Today people still hesitated to jump in with their ideas or agreement. There was just a lot of head nodding and "ungh" "ungh" going on. We will work more on this next week.

Next week's topic will be about "lifestyles", so check the internet for ideas and vocabulary. Also think up what would be a good setup sentence.

Could you do what the authors of this book did? They didn't buy anything but essentials for one year! It sounds like an interesting project, but difficult.

Only three people today. Today's topic was movies, but we spent a lot of time on conversation strategies. We talked how to set up a conversation. We also continued practicing having a conversation without asking questions. We did discover the times when it is important or necessary to ask questions.

After class we had a good Girl's Day lunch.

Tonight only Kazue and Meguri. We did things a little differently and it really worked. Just like in the Friday class I didn't allow you to ask questions and we had a much more natural conversation. I think there is also an issue of space. Today we sat much closer together, so next class we will experiment with reducing the space between students.

Remember next week we won't be having class. Our next class will be March 15 and our last class will be the the 22nd. I almost forgot that the topic for the next class will be health.

This looks like and interesting site, but I haven't done much more than play with these maps.

create your own visited country map

These are countries I have visited and spent at least a day.

create your own personalized map of the USA
or check out ourCalifornia travel guide

I have been to all of these States, but a couple of them, like Wisconsin and Missouri, I was very young and don't really remember much about them. I have spent at least one night in them, but I have also driven through several of them many times.

create your own personalized map of Canada

My visits to Canada were mainly going to and from Alaska or to visit relatives in Saskatchewan. I have only been in northern British Columbia, even though I went to college in Tacoma, Washington I never went to Vancouver. It isn't that far from the border, but it was one of those things I was always going to do, but never got around to. In eastern Canada I only went to Niagara Falls, Toronto and then drove back to Detroit.

We talked about food today and I didn't allow you to ask each other questions today. It was hard, but people did a pretty good job. I think you saw the point I was trying to make that you rely on questions too much. You need to focus on giving information without being asked a question.

Michiko called after she got home with the name of the opera singer I was looking for. His name is Okamoto Tomotaka. Part of my problem was I was searching for a tenor, but he is a soprano.

Next week we will be talking about movies and the Academy Awards.

Things went much better and there were parts of the class that were much more natural. I pointed out a few more ways that you can participate in the conversation besides just asking questions. Remember that only asking questions isn't conversation. Next week we will talk about movies, so you might want to go to this site and this one.

We talked abut the Olympics tonight. Of course, everyone is disappointed that Japan hasn't won any medals yet, however, things are looking good for the women's curling team. We talked about curling, but Kazue wasn't sure about the rules. To lean more about this sport go here. I have noticed curling getting good press in the States, too. It used to be routinely called a boring sport, kind of like watching grass grow. I think people are starting understand the strategy involved. If we are lucky Obihiro might be getting an indoor curling rink soon and then you can give it a try.

On the chat front, I noticed another point that might be blocking the flow of the conversation. It seems there isn't enough follow through on one topic. Someone will bring up a point and then the next person will often jump to another idea that is only slightly related. I will talk a little more about his at the beginning of class next week.

I had a meeting in Sapporo this morning so I had to take the 6:40 train. The arrival time is good because you get there at 9:35 so you have time for cup of coffee before you start anything. Today my meeting was at 10:00 and the train arrived a little late, so I had to rush straight to the meeting.

It was a typical meeting. The first 40 minutes someone from the Hokkaido government summarized the documents. Then the rest of the time we went over the comments we submitted. We have never had a discussion and in many ways the whole thing is a waste of time and money.

After the meeting I went to the Snow Festival and walked around. Then I had lunch and spent the rest of the time window shopping. I also relaxed at Starbucks before my train.

The day wasn't a total loss because I was able to get a test written and went over the draft of a student's paper. I also watched a few episodes of 24 until my battery died. Watching a DVD really makes the train trip go by more quickly.

We talked about TV tonight and Meguri discovered a problem. How do you have a conversation when you don't know much about the topic. Meguri doesn't have a TV in her room and she doesn't watch much TV. She gets most of her news and information off the internet or through magazines. I guess the only way to participate in a conversation when this occurs is to ask more questions to get information from other people.

The flow was a little better tonight, but I noticed that people are spending a lot of timing processing what they hear before they speak or add something. You need to try to speed that step up. You need to get faster at adding, "Me, too." or "Oh, really." and so on.

We talked about cooking tonight, but we didn't really get into the rhythm of a conversation like we did with music last week. I am not sure why. Do you have any ideas? Maybe we can talk about some of the points next week.

Next week we will talk about TV which should be a little easier

One may way home tonight I saw a rabbit for the first time since we have lived here. It was pure white and I would have missed it if it hadn't moved. Are rabbits making a comeback?

I asked for your help before, but this time it is a little different. I think you may be able to read JOY's Japanese blogs on your cell phone if you use YahooMobile or GoogleMobile. To do this though you need to first sign up and become a member. There are a lot of good things you can do with these services, so you might want to look at them closely. Once you sign up you will need to link to "syndicate this site" for the RSS feed. It sounds complicated, but once your read the directions it isn't so hard. If you have time and you like to use your cell phone to access the web give it a try and let me know what happens.

We talked about winter time activities and at first everyone thought of outdoor sports, but after talking some more we came up with many other activities that we do mainly in the winter and indoors. After class we were able to enjoy Fumiko's delicious banana cake.

Today is Friday the 13th. Have you had any bad luck. So far everything has been okay, but this afternoon I slid part way into an intersection because of the icy roads. Luckily, no one was coming.

Today the temperature was about -10 all day and it is supposed to be even colder tonight. The title of the this post is a common greeting people use on very cold days in the northern part of North America. I am not sure why they use it and I am not really sure how you should reply. Mostly the other person will make some comment about the cold weather.

The pieces to mystery are starting to come together. Today at the beginning of class you were able to make your final guesses about who was who. Neither of you had any strong evidence for your choices, but they were more based on your intuition.

There were some interesting costume ideas. I surprised how expensive the costume rentals were.

Some very imaginative endings for the story, but all of them had the motive being financial gain. Only my ending involved love. There some surprising developments in this episode, do if you want to rewrite your ending go right ahead.

In today's episode they mention Piper and Cessna. If you want find out about those two planes go here and here.

People found out a lot about sky diving lessons in Japan. It is more expensive than thought it would be. Yumiko was the only person interested in it and Fumiko has no desire because she is afraid of heights.

In today's episode the words expect and anticipate came up. When following these links take a look at the usage note on the anticipate page.

I checked the weather forecast and it doesn't look like we will need toscoop snow this weekend. I checked with the other teachers and none of them had ever heard it used as the name of a shovel, but they do use it as a verb and for small utensil used in cooking or serving ice cream. I never give up and I did find this, so I guess I am correct, too.

No homework for the next class which will be on Friday at 7:15 in Room A102.

A few technical problems today. It turns out the CD was bad. I tried playing in several different machines and tried cleaning it. After all that it still skipped. We may need to use the cassettee tape again next week.

Today was the last chance to change your prediction about who the theif and who the police officer is? We will soon know who guessed correctly.

Kazue and Yumiko thought they had the mystery solved before we listened to episode 5. Kazue thought the motive was for love and Yumiko thought it was for money. The homework for next week is to make your predictions. Remember you need to be prepared to defend your idea. Why do you think this?

Both of you had some good plans for your day in Barcelona. In today's episode we got some more clues, but it seemed to confuse you more than help you. You both changed your minds about who you thought the thief was.

I hope you enjoy the crossword puzzle.

We went over homework and both of you found some information on Marseille. The homework for next week is to plan a day in Barcelona. If Lisa stops by and sees this I hope that she will post some ideas in the comments.

Both Sayuri and Hiromi found some useful information about Interpol, but I noticed that they found the information in Japanese. You can see the same information here in English.

There were some different guesses on who the detective and who the thief/killer is, but we will just have to wait and see.

The other part of the homework last week was a crossword puzzle using the vocabulary from the story. If you want to do more, go here. The site has a whole range from easy to difficult and they are for English learners.

Everyone thought tonight's episode was difficult. There were a lot more questions to answer compared to the first two episodes. This episode gave us some more information and there is one more piece in the puzzle.

The homework for next week is find out how much costs to own and operate a small plane in Japan.

We are getting more and more clues in the mystery. I think in the next couple of episodes you will need to guess who you think the thief is and who is the police officer. Here is a link to the podcast I mentioned in class.

As some of you know my parents were here for about two weeks (they left yesterday). During their stay they were often asked how many times they had been to Japan or when was the first time they visited Japan. Well, to give you an idea when they first came to Japan I will share this story with you.

We had eaten dinner at revolving sushi place and my father wanted to pay. He said that they were trying to get rid of the yen that they had been accumulating over the years. Well, when he pulled the bills from his pocket there was a 500 yen bill, a 1,000 yen bill with a picture of Ito Hirobumi on it and many of the old coins. He didn't understand why the young woman at the cash register had such a puzzled look on her face. She was young enough to never have seen that old money. We used it as an excuse not to let him pay, so he ended up giving it to Kai.

This time they were going to try to use up all the yen before they left Japan.

For the homework last week Sayuri found information on a vacation home in Portugal and Hiromi looked at one in Tuscany, Italy. The one the Sayuri found sound like a good deal.

I have been seeing these more and more recently and I wonder how many of you use them. If you use them do you think they are useful? Can you think of a way JOY might use them? I think they might be good for advertisements or newsletters. Let me know what you think in class or in the comments.

We listened to Episode 3 today and learned more about the characters. The homework for last week was to find out about cruises and both Sayuri and Hiromi researched an around the world cruise that visits my hometown. I have never been on a cruise, but I would like to experience one someday. Maybe I will wait for retirement.

Next week the homework is to find out about European vacation homes.

Tonight we listened to the first episode and people seemed to think it was difficult. I must apologize for the mistakes in the handout and the difficulty of using lines instead of numbers and letters. I won't do that again.

This story takes place in Colorado and near the city of Colorado Springs. Colorado is a beautiful state and we will have a chance to learn a little bit about it during this class.

At the beginning of class I mentioned the book and movie Affliction (the movie) and the the book.

For the homework Hiromi brought the information on the Cullinan Diamond which is part of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom. Sayuri brought information about a Topkapi Palace Museum. She visited the museum several years ago, but didn't have much of an interest in jewels or jewelry, so doesn't remember if she saw it or not.

Today our story moved to Venice. We met a few more characters and learned a little bit about them. The homework for next week is to find about cruises.

We had the first listening 3 class today. We only have two students, but I would like more. If you are in Step 3 or Step 4 and want to work on your listening skills, this class is perfect for you. It is a fun class and I am sure you will learn a lot, so please join us if you time on Friday mornings.

The move to my new office got me in a cleaning mode, so I decide to get rid of our old Macs that we are no longer using. This is a Mac stack. Almost all of them work so if you would like to have an old Mac I can give it to you for free.

If you haven't signed up for English Cooking you can still come tonight. We will be meeting at the International Relations Center at 7:00. Don't forget that tomorrow we will be having the English Flea Market. It looks like we will have a number of things to sell, so please stop by and see if you can find a bargain. While you are here pick up your ticket for the party on Thursday. It starts at 7:00 and is only ¥1,000.

We just got the list of people from the JICA Center who will be joining us and it is going to be a very diverse group. There will be people from Papua New Guinea, Zambia, Morocco, Ethiopia, Peru, Vanuatu, Egypt and Moldova.

This is an excellent chance to come and learn about these countries and also teach them about Japan. If you are planning on coming and haven't bought a ticket yet please call JOY and let us know.

If you are looking for a better way to take notes in class you should read this article.

It is that time of year again. Tomoko (a teacher at the children's school) is taking orders for ohagi. They are really good and if you would like to order them you can pick up an order form at JOY or call 23-3689.

I spent the morning helping Braden switch his Canadian driver's license to a Japanese one. Thing went very smoothly and the staff at the counter were very friendly. I was a little worried before we went because when I called to check the hours the man on the phone was very gruff and impolite. It did take two hours to get everything completed, but we didn't have any major problems.

With the upgrade of the software it is going to be easier to change the look of my blog. As you have noticed I have already changed the color several times. You will also notice that there isn't a calendar anymore. Do you want a calendar? Did you use it to find old posts? What other things would you like to have?

As many of you know I have a sweettooth, so I have been wanting to try to the ice cream at Dippin' Dots that opened not too far from JOY. Well, today I had a chance. It is okay, but it is a different kind of ice cream experience. I will have to go back and do more research in the coming weeks. I will keep you posted.

It was a beautiful day and the weather forecast couldn't have been more wrong. Here is a to an article about the Alaska State Fair and my vegetable garden has a lot of catching up to do to produce vegetables that size.

I changed cars today, so I had to go through a lot of paperwork. There is one piece of paperwork that always amazes me when changing cars and that is the proof of parking. I mean I am just replacing one car with another, so why do I need to do all the paperwork again?

People's guesses for the ending of the story were pretty close, but no one got what was in the suitcase. Next week the homework is to make an outline of a mystery story that you would like to make into a radio drama. Remember you don't need to give a lot of detail, just the main idea.

Your guesses about the confrontation between Anna and Liza were pretty close. We talked about the your under arrest and I mentioned the Miranada Rights. I don't believe Japanese police have a similar requirement, but if they do please let me know.

Next I am looking forward to hearing your ideas for the ending episode for the radio drama Flight from Brazil.

Fumiko again thank you for the cookies. They were really delicious and made good dunking cookies. Yumiko didn't believe me when I mentioned the Molasses Flood in Boston, but both Kazue and Fumiko had remembered reading about it when researching the Beantown homework.

People did a great job with the character lists and I was surprised at the detail you had. I introduced the word good samaritan. If you want to read the bible story go here, but you will need to scroll down a ways before it begins.

The homework for next week is to write the dialogue for when the real Liza Lupino confronts Anna. What do you think is going to happen?

Everyone got a taste of molasses and Fumiko has volunteered to make molasses cookies. We get a taste test next week.

Everyone thought trying to understand hardboilded detective English was hard. If you want to try to listen to it you can listen to these old radio shows here and here.

Next week the homework is to make a character list for all the characters that we have been introduced to so far. Try to remember as much as you can about each one.

If you haven't seen the picnic tablet that Chris made come a little early and bring your dinner. You have a picnic at JOY. On a night like tonight it would be perfect!

Sorry, that I didn't post anything earlier. This linkwill take you to the special dictionary I was telling you about. At this site you can read some samples of hard boiled detective stories. The other link should help with words you don't know.

This article is about a new trend in Japanese news announcers.

Update: Sorry the link wasn't correct.

It was a beautiful day, so this morning I worked in the yard, weeded around my wild roses and enjoyed the morning. At JOY today I gave the teachers a demonstration on how to use iCal, but then they wanted to be able to share calendars. I hadn't set up the server to do that, so I spent the afternoon and evening trying. I finally got it to work a few minutes ago. On Monday I will show everyone how to publish and subscribe to calendars. I hope to have a JOY's calendar up on the website sometime soon, so you can easily see what events we will be having.

Kazue brought some very nice maps of Boston and they came in very handy for figuring out where Anna and Polly went after they ran away from the Park Hotel. We watched the video and learned a little more about Quincy Market.

The homework for next week is find out why Boston is called Beantown.

This article is about Akihabara and the people who hang out there. Take a look at it and see if you think it is accurate.

Everyone did a good job looking at the sites around the hotel. We looked at the video and saw Public Garden, Faneuil Hall and Newberry St.. We will watch a little bit more about Faneuil Hall next week.

Remember the homework for next week is to write a summary of what has happened so far in episodes 1-3.

We worked on Episode 2 and talked about the location of Boston and why it was a compact city. I forgot to mention at the end of class to look carefully at site of the Plaza Park Hotel. If you can find it on the map look at the areas around the hotel. Are there any sightseeing places or historical buildings? Also remember to think of what Anna and Polly should do next.

I came across this article about Fumiko Nakajo, a tanka poet who was from Obihiro, when I was searching for something else. Of course, I had never heard of her, but it sounds like she is very famous. The article is a little difficult, but take a look if you have the time.

I think the listening class got off to a good start. We went over the two different kinds of listening strategies that will be the focus of the class.

We listened to the first episode after going over the vocabulary. We listened to it several times and we will listen a few more times again next week. The homework next week is to study maps of Boston and read about the city. The more knowledge of the city you have the better. I wonder if this is the same Park Hotel they mention at the end of episode 1.

Here is an interesting article from the