English education

I have read some articles about English education in elementary schools in Japan on the Japan Times. Those were relatively old, but I have found an interesting survey result on this article, and I quote,  "A survey published by the ministry in 2005 found 71 percent of parents and guardians favored making English compulsory in elementary schools, while 54 percent of teachers were opposed." This survey was done in 2005, and can be too old, however, I believe this result depicts the reality well.
    It is now a common knowledge that learning English is important to have some kind of advantages in Japan's society. If someone has high TOEIC score, he or she might have more chance to get a well-paying job, which is considered as a good job.
    It seems that many Japanese people, especially parents of young children, may be obsessed by English education. The survey shows that 71 percent of parents or guardians want their children to learn English, in elementary schools. This might be because they had some difficulties with not being able to use the language. 
    Looking at the real situation, the one who has to teach English language at elementary school is mainly the homeroom teachers, who have not trained to teach it. Therefore  they are not confident, and also it can be too much of a work for them  because they teaches many subjects and also have to deal with pupils' parents and even with some 'monster parents'. They might have some help from ALT, but as the words indicate, Assistant Language Teachers are just to assist, so mainly the homeroom teacher have to make the lesson plans. For this reason, I assume that, as the survey result showed, teachers do not want to make English language compulsory.
    I do not know how teachers at elementary schools are coping with English lessons right now, but I hope the lessons are interesting for pupils. Otherwise it is nothing but a disaster, possibly making children to hate English language at an earlier age.


Thankfully, I did not receive proper English education at secondary schools so I did not hate it, but I must admit that since I have entered the university and been having to study English, I started to have less interest in it than before. However, by enjoying using English, especially in this class, I hope I will be able not to hate it. (?)

Something about education this week?

This week we wound up talking a lot about education, especially language education, and especially English language education, and maybe especially English language education in Japan. It's a big topic. Wikipedia has a whole category of articles about English language education, including one about English language education in Japan. Of course Wikipedia is controversial, and not always accurate, but it's a good place to start researching anything. I always tell students to use Wikipedia but don't cite it. Read the footnotes and track down the information as far as you can, to find out where they're getting it from. Don't forget to go back a few weeks later to see if the article has changed. I have some favorite Wikipedia articles that I like to follow as they change. But I do use Wikipedia, especially to start research, although I don't think I would put it into a footnote. I'll let you find other sites about learning English and link to them for us. I'd like to show you a video from YouTube about English as a second language: I hope you enjoy it! (^_^)

I have no favorite food; I eat meats, fish and vegetables.
I like cooking and eating. Recently, I have tried to cook various food; chili con carne, borshch, fried chicken and so on... I always enjoy cooking.
 However, I don't like mushrooms, konnyaku, bean-starch vermicelli (harusame in Japan), jellies and chocolates.

Economics

I used to sneak into classes which were related to business, while I was in New Zealand. It was the closest that I have got to economics, because I had interests in other subjects but not in them.  However, someone told me that if I am planning to work for a company in the future, it will be better to know about things related to business. Therefore, now I take an introductory economics class, and some business classes.

    However, I do not usually read any economic newspapers. I get information on economy by reading economic topics (?) on Yahoo! JAPAN, or by skimming through general newspapers such as The Japan Times, though I do not particularly try to pick up economic articles.

    The only Japanese economist that I know is the lecturer of my economics class.

    I do not know much about economics now but I am hoping to obtain some knowledge through taking the economics class. Right now, I can only tell that by restoring from the Great East Japan Earthquake, Japan's economy grew slightly.

Something about economics this week?

Somehow we went from ordering food to my discussing basic economics and why I think it should be a required subject. Economics at Japanese universities seems to be a very diverse subject, with Keynesians, Marxians, Ricardans and even supply-siders, although I can't say I've met anyone from the Austrian school here yet. This is an English class, though, not economics, although a little basic English vocabulary about economics probably wouldn't be a bad subject for you to learn. I studied economics when Paul Samuelson wrote the standard textbook in the US. Milton Friedman and John Kenneth Galbraith defined the right and left of US economics respectively, but they're both dead now, as is Paul Samuelson. Economics has moved on, and I was never really an expert, anyway, I just knew enough to follow stories and discuss it intelligently, or at least try to discuss it intelligently. Some of my favorite economists working today include Amartya Sen, a Nobel Prize winning development economist with some original and challenging ideas, and Paul Krugman, another Nobel Prize winner who writes for the New York Times. They are both controversial, but even if you don't agree with them you can't ignore their ideas, which are always interesting and thought provoking. I recommend you read something they wrote if you are interested in development economics or the problems of contemporary policy. Do you read any economists? How do you get information about the economy? Can you tell us about Japanese economists? I'd like you to link to some source(s) of economic information, but I don't know if you have any sources in English. The Wall Street Journal is sort of the 日本経済新聞 of the United States. Even people who don't read their editorials trust their information. AAMOF, I was just reading one of their articles before posting this to the blog. What can you find about economics on the Internet, preferably in English, and what can you tell us about it?

Self-introduction and Favorite Food

It's Rikako!
Finally I figured out how to post here...

Well, my name is Rikako Nakajima.
I do not care how you call me, so call me whatever you like.
I belong to Mr. Caprpenter's International Politics Seminar.
By the way, I am junior.

About my favorite food...
I really like sweets with drinks, like some chocolates with cups of coffee.
But recently I can not just eat sweets...maybe I got old.
So I also like salty food, not spicy, not hot.
I have cried by Thai food many times...
If it is not spicy or hot, I really like Chinese food
like Mabo-tofu, Mabo-egg plant, and Chinjaorosu
(I cound not find good English words for them...)

Roti Canai!

I have many favourite food. One of my favourite cuisines is Roti Canai. It is an Indian-influenced Malaysian (or Indonesian) crêpe-like food often served with curry. OMG! It looks so delicious in the picture! It contains quite a bit of ghee (butter) so it can be oily, but tastes soooo good. They way people make it is interesting as well. Check the youtube video! I like to have Roti Canai with beef curry and tea with milk called Teh Tarik.

I have tried hummus at some Turkish restaurants and I loved it! Hummus is pasted chickpeas mixed with tahini, lemon juice, garlic, and oil, originated Egypt (according to Wikipedia). I usually eat hummus with lamb shish, pita bread, and apple tea.

I have never tried Greek food so I would love to try it someday.

Next assignment: FOOD

Since I brought money to explain about other countries' systems of currency, and since we're going to use menus to order food with the money, I thought we should talk on the blog about what kinds of food we like and what we would like to try. One cuisine I miss a lot in Japan is Greek. There are plenty of French, Italian, Chinese, Indian and of course Japanese restaurants in Japan, but I can't think when I have ever seen a Greek restaurant. Does anyone know of a Greek restaurant in Japan? Greek food is very popular in the US, to the extent that it's a stereotype of Greek Americans that they own restaurants. There are plenty of other stereotypes, of course, but the Greek American diner has even been satirized on "Saturday Night Live." According to the New York Times:

Estimates are that there are well over 1,000 coffee shops and diners operated by Greek immigrants in the New York metropolitan area alone, and countless others up and down the East Coast.

The most stereotypical Greek dish is probably Moussaka, but the word is derived from Arabic, and in fact the dish is found all over the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Greek is really just one variety of cuisine from that part of the world, and is similar to most of the others. There are many "falafel joints" in the United States that sell the same bean cakes in pita bread. Sometimes they are Greek, sometimes Lebanese or Egyptian, sometimes Israeli, but they all have basically the same food. I remember asking the waitress in a Greek restaurant one time what the "Greek Coffee" on the menu was. She leaned over and whispered "It's Turkish Coffee, but don't tell my boss I said that." Whenever I'm back in the States or passing through Europe I try to get to a Greek restaurant. I hope you try Greek food someday. They really know how to cook lamb deliciously. Here are some pictures of Greek food from the Internet:

 Hello!!

 I'm Kanae. I have been in Aomori since I was born. There are many good things in Aomori; the Nebuta Festival, beautiful cherry blossom and sea in the park, and stars in the sky.

 I belong to international society course and major in international politics. Now, I'm interested in relationships Taiwan and China. I believe in the improvement in their relations, but it's very difficult. I want to consider the solution some day!

 See you, next!

I am the Ryo!

Hi, everyone!
My name is Ryo. I'm in Humanities.
I take this class to improve my English. Especially, speaking skill.
My dream is to order a hamburger in the US like an American.
I've been dreaming about that since I was little.
For my cool dream, I'll do my best in this awesome class!!

One of my favorite hobbies is traveling.
Egypt was pretty fun because I did scuba diving.
When I dived in a sea at night, I felt as if I was in the space.

Also, I joined the Egyptian revolution in 2011.
I'll never forget what I experienced there.

Hello there!


I am Sasha, majoring in Natural Language Analysis in the Department of Occidental Culture at Hirosaki Univerisity. I was born and raised in Tsugaru area.


I love learning languages including programming languages, and looking at paradigms (inflection charts) and letters. I think they are neat and beautiful, however, I do not really like capital letters of the Latin alphabet.


Recently I am interested in Japanese language, and hoping to continue my study in that field and become a Japanese language geek.
I also like listening to music, singing, drawing, snowboarding etc.


In this class, I would love to practice English by discussing some topics or watching sitcoms, especially The Big Bang Theory. I am also interested in learning English idioms, sayings and proverbs. My recent favourite proverb is 'Jack of all trades, master of none'. It refers to someone who is a generalist but not a specialist. Probably, we can pick up several useful idioms, sayings or proverbs and introduce them to the others in the class.

Welcome to 2012 English class!

As you see this blog has seen no activity in several months. I took the opportunity to redesign it, and if you have some suggestions for further redesign please post them here so the rest of us can consider them. Please be sure to post a message here at least once a week. It's part of the class. For the first week let's just introduce ourselves. I'm John Philips, I'm a professor here. My wife is a professor at Akita University. We both research Africa. I'm a historian, she's a linguist. We met at UCLA where I was a graduate student and she was an exchange student from Tohoku University in Sendai. After we got married we spent a year in Nigeria together doing research. We raised two kids together and we only get to see each other on weekends. I play chess and watch movies and listen to music in my spare time. I mostly cook at home, especially Italian and Mexican food. My favorite music is American (all genres) but I also like European classical, Indian classical, African (traditional and modern) and even Tsugaru Shamisen. I don't get out to the bars as much as I'd like but I do own the Yoshida Brothers CD. I don't get out to local onsen much either, but I also like bathing in hot springs. Please introduce yourself here and tell us who you are, what you like, and how you'd like to practice English in this class. (^_^)

My feeling

Good evening

We finished our English class. I hope this class was effective in learning English for us.  For me, even though I can not speak very well and do not have large vocabulary, I tried to speak in the range of my level. I think my speaking ability developed compared with before. Before I was very shy when I speak in English. Because  i was always worried about grammatical errors and could not speak. During this class , I know that i did many grammatical mistakes. But I did not care and I could communicate you guys . For that reason I could develope my speaking ability and realized should not be ashamed. 
  And I would like to express my thanks to guys for taking this class. Because you guys' English level was good (especially Shino and Saya)  it was an encouragement and envy to me. 
At last, thank you very much teacher. Although it is true that I could not understand your speaking well and it was very fast for me(:p) , this class could be good practice. 
Thank you everyone.

My topic was Palmistry

Good evening.
I saw you guys' discussion topic and i will think about them.
But there is not only my topic. Although we finished it, i want to tell my topic was about palmistry for someone who was not last class.

see you tomorrow, our last English class

For the last lesson...

Good evening, how's going?
I understood you guys.
My topick is about a marriage.
When you get married, do you want to keep your job or quit?
Why?
It's the debate topic.
Let's think about it together.

Good night and see you guys tomorrow:)

Shino

report topic

hi! how are you?

first, im sorry about last week. i overslept...xo
tomorrow i absolutely get up early... sorry

by the way, i decided my report topic and i wanna you to consider about "Same sex marriage".
On july, i read the news that N.Y state received the low "Same sex marrige".
of course among you guys, may think that it is inadmissible... but why?
many problems may be happen about "Same sex marrige" and construction of society.
however only that, it is strange to arrest people who got married to same sex person.
what do you think about it?

sorry, i cant introduce about my topic.
see you next class!!

Aska

Hi, how are you doing?
I'm dying coz of exams...

By the way,I heard I have to make a topic to discuss, and give you guys some introduction first...
so I said I was gonna talk about a movie "twilight", but I've changed it.
My topic is about "only child".
I don't know if you guys have any sisters or brothers, but I'm only child.
I mean I don't have any sis or bro.
Generally, the image of only child is like lonly,pitier,selfish,non sociability....
There is no good image.
What do you think about it?
Do you wanna have one kid or more?
Is there no advantage for only child??

Let's talk about it on Tuesday.
See you soon.

Report topic

hi,
How was your test?
I did my best, but I wonder if my score is good;; Thursday morning, I have Chinese class test, so I'm very nervous...

By the way, about tomorrow's class, I'm going to talk about a pet. This is not difficult question, I think^^
If you have time, please think about a pet. If you have a pet, please tell me about him/she.

But, I'm writing a report now;; I wonder if I finish writing a report by English class>< I do my best!!

see you, tomorrow:)

Shino vol.2

I would like to talk about ａmarriage.
Would you like to get married or not?
why?
Would you like your partner to quit the job or not?

It'll be my turn tomorrow, right?
If you have time, please think about it.

cheers,

Hi, everyone.
Actually I'm not available on Thursday.
I already told Mr.Philips.
Sorry , I will do my report on the last class.
Good luck;)

Saya

p.s I may be gonna talk about a movie "Twilight".
Have you guys watched it ?
Even if not, no worry, I will try to explain the story!

Shino

hi guys, how are you?
I had a test in the morning.
I could't do very well do that it still makes me depressed.

By the way, how many people are ganna make the reports?
Please let me know.

I hope everyone had a good time today!

Remember, you can listen to all different kinds of podcasts any time you want to listen to English for practice. I played some of my favorites today, but there are many more you can listen to at your leisure.

Don't forget there are plenty of movies you can watch in my office, too. Here's a trailer for one:

Good evening:D

first, sorry I was absent from before class(8/30) because I came back to Aomori from Osaka in the morning and I reached my home at 10:00. So I couldnt go to English class in time.

I read your comments...I wanna practece listening English too, but I wanna try to talk something in English.

However we dont have any time to prepare anyting...so...do you have any ideas?
if there are nothing to do next class, I wanna listen to English :)


Aska

More listening?

OK, you want more listening practice. Listening to podcasts is harder than listening to movies, since you can't watch. If you didn't know that before Thursday you should have learned it in the last class. The question is whether we try more of that or something else. Your comments welcome. :-)

tomorrow

Hi, everyone.
I would like to watch another movie tomorrow too.
Watching the movies is a good way to practice for reading, listening and vocab.
We chose some movies in our first class, and actually the simpsons and Chicago which we have already watched were my choices!
(maybe you guys also choose the simpsons)
So I would like to watch other movies which you guys chose.

And, I think we should do something after watching a movie...I mean, not just watching a movie...but I don't have any ideas ^^;
We should speak more...no?

thanks.

Tomorrow's Class

Hi,

Do you prepare for tests?
I have a lot of assignments;;
I cant do;;

Tomorrow's English class, what should we do?
Last week, we watched Russian movie, we practiced reading skill.
Tomorrow is writing or listening or speaking practice?

Shino, you wanna watch another movie, right?
I agree to you!! I'd like to watch a movie, especially English movie with English subtitles because I wanna practice reading and listening practice more!!

How about you, everyone?

tomorrow

hi guys, how are you?
id like to watch a movie which we've chosen several weeks ago.
i don't mind what kind of movie we are ganna have it.
how about you?

Have not seen you for a long time

Good morning. I haven't seen you guys and teacher for a long time. How was your first summer vocation. I hope it was wonderful.
First I need to apologize for being absent last week's English class. Because I was not in Japan. In my summer vocation, I went to Mongolia after 2 years. It is been a long time.  Last two years, there were lots of changes in Mongolia and I realized many things.
I wanted to come back here before beginning of university . But there was no ticket of 20 and so I bought only ticket of 24.  Therefore,  I could not get English class. I am so sorry.

I heard that you guys watched movie last class. But I do not know  what we do next class. I am glad if you answer this.






.

Here's the trailer

Sorry to add this after you've seen the film, but I hope it's interesting.

the movie

hi guys, good morning!

last time, the movie was so interesting, and easier to understand english than the simpsons!
derus is so smart, and has so much knowledges.
his skills are needed for living in that kind of environment.
i guess he means so much to the captain.
anyway i expect rest of the movie today.

see you soon

DERSU UZALA

Good evening, everyone!!

On Tuesday, we watched a movie "DERSU UZALA". This was Russian movie. Actors spoke Russian, so I couldn't understand what they said;; But English subtitles was on, this was easy to understand for me. I could understand the story of this movie.

DERSU UZALA helped soldiers and Captain of them. Yesterday's last scene, Captain told DERSU to come with them, but he refused. This scene means that he is proud of being a hunter, and he want to live in a place where his family died, I think. It was very interesting!!

In tomorrow's class, we will watch the rest of the movie, right?
I'm looking forward to it^^

thanks, see you tomorrow!!

Movie

Good evening, how is going everyone?

I enjoyed the movie yesterday.
It was interesting for me that listening to other languages because there's few chances to hear them except English.
I've seen a movie "Salt" before.
In that movie, Angelina Jolie was speaking Russian language.
I like it too.

I didn't understand some words in that movie but I've already got them by using dictionary.
I look forward to watching it again tomorrow.

See ya soon.

Hi everyone

I'm sorry that I hadn't been hare for a long time.
Last class on Tuesday, it was a good opportunity to know what the blues is.
In fact, it was the first time to think about it for me.

Why I'm here today is that I don't know what we are going to do tomorrow.
I think we would have writng test or something.
It is also last class just before the summer break.
If you want to do something else, please tell us.
Have a good night,

Shino

Here's now to add trailers

or anything from YouTube, really.

Press "share" then "embed" then copy to code. Then paste it in your message, like this:



From the most romantic movie ever made.

Recommend movie

Good morning guys

i want to share my favorite movies. These movies are ''Ugly Betty'' and ''One tree hill''.  It is very interesting and amazing. I saw all season and episode. ''Ugly Betty'' has 4season 85episode, '' One tree hill'' has 8 season and each season has 22episode. it takes much time if you see until the final season. But it is very interesting so recommend them.

And here is a site link, there are many movies in this site, of course included these two movies.
http://www.sidereel.com/

i tried to share trailers of these movies, but there is error - [URL contains illegal characters ]? i don't know
'One tree hill' trailer is  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Nk-Tp5ZSPs
'Ugly Betty' trailer is  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IFgj1A6uMU

Have a good time and enjoy your weekend and Monday, yeah we have no class on Monday

Tomorrow ...

Good evening everyone.

I decided my report topic and it's about "Uti and Soto".
When I was young, my mother usually said "Uti is uti, soto is soto."
Japanese like to gather with Japanese and they(we) are reluctant to make a group with Yosomono(others).

This way of thinking is good but it leads to many problems, I think.

Thanks:)

Report topic

Good evening

My report topic is ''Japanese respectful language(honorifics 敬語)''.
A half year ago, I took a survey from foreigner students about their surprised things when they came in Japan. Most of students answered that  there were many honorifics and  Japanese respectful language was tiresome. And i think that too.
So i decided to write this topic.

To Saya...

See!
In fact, I was not sure about that.
I forgot what we were ganna research on our report...lol
I'm sorry, now I got it.

Shino

I guees...

Hi guys, how was this weekend?
I did nothing special as usual lol

Shino, Y mean that y will introduce one of "Japanese traditional stuff",right?
Well, that's a nice idea, but actually I meant debate about both bad and good sides about Japanese culture.
Anyway, that's fine!

I'm gonna write a report about ''Honne to(and) Tatemae''...maybe...
if i can...

have a good night


saya

Shino

Good evening;)
How was your weeked?
I had no part-time job this weeked, I enjoyed a party with my friends at Mr. Sawada's home yesterday and I slept allday:-)

I'm going to tell about tea ceremony and Japanese dance on my report.
How about you guys?

Actually....

I said i cant attend the class next Tuesday, but I was wrong!!!
I can attend the class next Tuesday, but I have to be abcent on Tuesday, 19th July.
Sorry, so I should write a report about Japanese culture by next Tuesday,right??



Saya

Shino

Ok, sounds good Shunsuke.
In my opinion, I'd like to discuss "First impression".
What is the first impression, how important it is for you guys, sth like that:)

Thanx,

Shino

Hi!!

Hi, how are you?

Shino, I think you are right. Tomorrow, we have to do discussion(debate??), maybe.
We had better decide a topic, but we have little time for preparing. So, an easy topic is good!!

For example, How about Communication??(what is good communication?, How to ice-breaking, How to communicate people who you meet first time...etc). But this is a little bit difficult topic...;;
Though I suggested, I don't reccomend...

So, do you have any other ideas?

Gd evening:)

Hi, how's going?
What are we ganna talk about tmr?
I mean we're going to have discussion tomorrow, right?
we have to decide the topic tonight...well, do I misunderstand?

I hope someone will reply for me;)

Shino

Hi, there^^

Hi guys, you had a good weekend, didn't you?


my opinion what we do after watching the Simpsons is debating about Japanese culture.
actually i just combined you guys' ideas...
coz we are gonna watch the Simpsons, the story is about visiting Japan.
we will know what foreigners think about Japan.
we will realize there are many both good and bad japanese culture or habits.
also,we may be able to get many opinions from Mr,Philips and Tsagaanaa:)

during the kind of debate, we should use new vocabs that we get them from the movie.
.....

that's my opinion:)


Saya

Good evening

Hi!
I forgot my password, I couldn't write article.
Now, I get new password. Be careful so as not to forget your password.

By the way... I think what we sould do next English class.
Watching Simpsons is good idea becouse we like Simpsons and animation can remind us easier what they do and what they say.
If we can't understand perfectly what they say, we can imagine them from scenes.
The result of watching and hearing , we can study vocabulary or idiom, I think.
I want to more increase my vocabulary...

And I think listening to news is good, Shunsuke. I wanna lisning to English, too.

Thanks:)

Aska

About Tomorrow's Class

Hi,

I don't have any ideas yet, but I think watching Simpsons is a good idea. I agree with Shino.
And, Tsagaanaa's idea(Talking about some topics) sounds good, but there is little time for preparing for the topic. So, if we do that, we should choose easy topic (introducing our hobbies, how was our weekend, ...etc).



...How about listening training??
That was done last class, but I don't think it was enough.
So, I want to do that again!!!!
If we do it, I'd like to listen to more News.

Do you have any ohter ideas????

Hi

Hi, how are you today?
Tsagaanaa, you had a good weekend!
That sounds really fun;)
I think I should spend my time outside more.

It's rainy, and I'm so cold today:(
I know some people get sick 'caz of the weather, and can't attend their classes.
Please take care of yourself, don't catch a cold;;

Well, I have thought of the next class, what we should do on Tuesday, but haven't come up with any ideas yet.
I think Tsagaanaa's idea is good:)

We'll watch the Simpsons first, and then talk about sth...
Well wait, if we do that, we should've decide the topic, and look over it, searching on the Internet or books to spread our knowledge out in advance.
Umm...oh, it maybe depends on the topic...:(

How about writing?
Mr. Philips said we've done well on the writing test on that day.

I also look forward to hearing from other people about the class.

Thanx,

Shino:)

New Monday

Good morning
How was your weekend ? (i believe it was awesome ;) )
For me, it was so fast  because Saturday was Wednesday class.
Yesterday, I went Totemachi to watch Yosakoi Tsugaru festival. This festival was very exciting and awesome. I really wanted dancing but i wore skirt lol ...so i couldn`t  - yeah it was my fault : ( (I should have worn trousers). By the way, last year I was member of Yosakoi circle (sakuru) Hirosaki university and i participated this festival.

Next, want to talk and discuss tomorrow English class
what shall we do ?
Is there anyone who wants to do someting tomorrow. We should decide it until today`s evening. But there is not any idea.
In my opining:
Let`s talk about what you want to know from others. Ex: what do you think about god? , Do you think we should speak in english like native speakers?, What do you think about refugees? 
It is not like debate, just know someones idea, but maybe depends on topic it will be like debate. Of course if you want to debate that time on that topic, Why not? :)  I think it is good for our speaking and listening.
So prepare your question and of course your idea.

how about it, what do you think? it is just my idea.
I`m looking forward your ideas.
I will check blog every hour.

Good Evening

Everyone wanna watch "Sympsons".
That's a good idea!!!

It is exciting!!!
So, I wanna change my opinion, too.
I'd like to watch "Sympsons"!!!!

I'm looking forward to tomorrow's class!!

Thank you.

Good evening

Hi!
It was hot, but now the wind is good. It's cool :D

By the way, I want to change my opinion, sorry.
Shimpsons!! I wanna watch it very much. I love Shimpsons family.

Why did they go to Japan...? It's so exciting to know what they did there from now!
Tsagaanaa, you'er right! Wonderful!!

Well... see you tomorrow's English class.

Aska

Good evening!

It's me, Shino.
I thought it's better if I write this here rather than writing Saya's.
I also know that movie which Saya's already mentioned.
I said I wanna have the another one, but I'd like to change my opinion.

"Simpsons in Japan", I wanna have this one.
As you know we didn't choose it, but why don't we try it this time?
I hope that'll be good for all you guys.

Thanx.
Shino:)

oops...

well,well...I know it's too late,but please let me introduce myself a little bit...


My name is Saya,and I am a native Tsugaru-ben speaker!!lol
However, usually,I try to hide my accecnt, so I believe nobody notices that I am from Hirosaki...lol

Um..I have nothing special to introduce about me...but I just love my cat, UK/US rock music, live, teddy bears,drinking,chatting, and English!

Let's go for drink before this term finishes if you guys like it...
but I'm not sure if I can ask you guys directly...///lol

Nice to meet you anyway, thanks.


Saya ;)

I finally got here...TT

Hi this is Saya, I finally got how to post my comments on here lol
I'm so sorry about it.

Anyway, I'd like to watch the Simpsoms that is a story when the Simpsons came to Japan.
It's chosen by nobody in our class, but I've been interested in it since professor Philips said about it!!
What do you guys think about it??



Saya ;)

I got it!

P.S.

Please click the title "What are we ganna watch?".
You'll go to the site which you can watch the related movies.
Thanx.

Shino

What are we ganna watch?

Hi, how was your weekend?
We'll decide the movie what we're going to watch next, right?

I'd like to have "Groundhog Day" on next Thursday.
I've attached the link which you can see the related videos.
(I've might been misunderstood, if so, I'm sorry for that. I'm not sure how I could attach the videos.)

I wanna tell you why I've chosen it but I'm so sleepy now;;
I'll do that sometime later before Thu.
Good night!

Shino

Trailer

Sorry i don't know how to add trailer.
But here is the trailer's URL
if you want to watch trailer, click here or copy and paste it.Sorry :(

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4iTjavIkbk

Tuesday lesson

Hi, everyone
On Tuesday, i want to watch "Constant gardener".
-----It tells the story of Justin Quayle, a British diplomat whose activist wife is murdered. Believing there is something behind the murder, he seeks to uncover the truth and finds an international conspiracy of corrupt bureaucracy and pharmaceutical money.The plot was based on a real life case in Kano, Nigeria. ------

It seems very interesting.

How about you guys, what movie do you want to watch on Tuesday?

Self introduction

Hello everyone
Finally I joined this blog.
Thank you teacher for sending me URL again.

Before introduce myself, I want to sorry for my
late self-introduction.
My name is Lkhagvadorj Tsagaansanaa. it's
very difficult to say and remember.
So you can call me Tsagaanaa.
It is my nickname.
Some people who heard of my name say that your
name was Sakana, right? (in Japanese it means fish).
Oh my god, my name is not fish.
Actually, my name is very beautiful, it means pure
mind and heart.
My father gave this name, thank you dad I love my
name.

I am from Mongolia. 2 years ago i came here, it is my
first foreign country.
My major in the university is international
politics, and student of Carpenter's seminar.
I am very interested
in guitar. So i bought one. but it is very difficult to learn.
I
am looking for someone who can teach me how to play guitar(for free
:P).
If one of you knows someone, please introduce to me

Lastly
, i hope my English skill will be good, so i will do my best.
Thank
all of you, let's do our best

Dream Prognosticator

Good evening everyone!
I was looking for the sites which you can look for the dream prognosticator, but I havn't found out them yet!
I'm sorry:(
If you're interested in it, I'll tell you the books which you'd probably understand them more.

・西郷信綱『古代人の夢』(平凡社選書、1972年)
・江口孝夫『夢で見る日本人』(文春新書、2001年)
・酒井紀美『夢語り・夢解きの中世』(朝日選書、2001年)
・酒井紀美『夢から探る中世』(角川選書、2005年)
・西郷弘『吉夢の献』(『国学院雑誌』67,7、1966年7月)

I'll let you know if I could find something on the Internet!

Hi everyone in English AⅢ class!

Hi, how's going there?
Are you guys making the report for tmr?
What are they?
I mean, can you tell me what kind of things you guys writing?
Thanx, see y soon!

Shino

Ready for the end of "Chicago"?

Here's the trailer:

How do you think it will end?

While you're thinking about that, consider the influence of Bob Fosse, native of Chicago, in writing the book the play is based on, not to mention inspiring the choreography. Choreography is listed as "miscellaneous crew" in the Internet Movie Database. That's probably unfair not only to Fosse, but to the whole genre of dance films. Before working in movies he was one of the most important choreographers on Broadway. His influence on American popular dance on both stage and screen is incalculable.

Notice the opening number in "Chicago"? "All that Jazz"? That's also the title of an earlier film written, directed, and (of course) choreographed by Bob Fosse. Many critics insisted it was autobiographical, but Fosse totally denied it. Was he just in denial? Woody Allen always said the same thing about his films to critics who made the same judgements. Judge for yourselves if you want to see another dance movie with even more Bob Fosse influence.

How did you like the Simpsons?

I get asked to show that movie in class a lot. It's one of my favorites, too. You can learn a lot of useful English from it, too, including current slang and even sometimes more technical vocabulary. It has even contributed some words to English, such as "Doh!" and "Meh." Well, maybe that's not so important for your vocabulary, but I know you learned some words watching it. Here's the Wikipedia article about the Simpsons.

Here's a clip from the TV show:

Hello!

Hi,My name is Asuka Watanabe. I'm from Kuroishi city in Aomori prefecture.It's near Hirakawa city. Kuroishi is famous for Kuroishi Yosare,Kokeshi and Hot spring resort. When you are free,please come to Kuroishi. I'll show you around the city by car.I love driving!

I'm a member of professor Carpenter Seminar,too.I'm interested in Spanish culture and Caribbean world. I want to increase knowlege about Spain and find the most interesting topic for me. And I want to improve my Spanish. I have studied it for three years. However Europian language is more difficult than English. I'm not good at studying English, but I like English when I study Spanish. Well...studying Spanish is fun and fresh for me. Spanish pronunciation is same as Japanese. If you have an interest in Spanish, vamos a estudiar Espannol conmigo!

In Hirosaki University, I'm a member of Sakura volunrteer club. I like to come in contact with people and to play with children.This weekend, I'm going to join in children's sport festival to help management.

Nice to meet you:D

Self Introduction!!

Hello, everyone!!
My name is Shunsuke Saito. I'm from Hirosaki, Aomori Prefecture.
I belong to Professor Carpenter's seminar,and study International Politics. Now, I'm interested in FTA(Free Trade Agreement) of Asia. So, I'm studying it and looking for books about FTA. If you know good books about it, please tell me!!
My favorite thing is Bowling. I'm a bowler. I have played bowling for five years. Bowling is very interesting and exciting for me!! I love bowling!! If you want to take a good score,I'll teach you!!
Nice to meet you!!!!!!

Welcome to class!

Welcome to another English class. Feel free to communicate together on this blog. It also has useful links for learning English. There will be occasional assignments here, too, for you to give reports and provide links, graphics and even videos that will be useful for understanding what you've been doing in class.

English teaching in Japan

I know there was a recent issue of The Japan Times with an interesting article about English teaching in Japan and the planned changes, with input from people who had a variety of opinions. I can't find it searching their website, though, but they always have a lot of articles about teaching English in Japan, so I thought I'd post snippets and links so you could check some of them out and maybe we could discuss one or more of them next week.

"Why do English teachers have to be native speakers?" covers foreign English teachers who themselves learned the language.

While Indian teachers have gradually gained acceptance, instructors from the Philippines are now working toward the same goal. Like many Indians, the majority of Filipinos begin learning English at the age of 3, and most school subjects are taught in English.

At RareJob.com, a new online English tutoring service offering lessons via Skype, the Internet-phone and video-communication service, all of the teachers are Filipino students or graduates of the University of the Philippines in Manilla. Although RareJob's instructors are first screened and then required to complete a training program, CEO Tomohisa Kato admits that many students are skeptical at first.

"Japanese have a kind of prejudice against Filipinos, but once they started our service, they found that they are very good at English, welcoming and professional," Kato explains.

I did see one questionable remark in the article, though.

language testing is dominated by American exams such the TOEIC test

I don't believe the listening test for TOEIC uses only native speaking accents, and I'm almost sure the TOEFL test doesn't. I couldn't find listening practice on the Internet, but in looking for it I found a good set of tips for TOEIC. I hope they are useful for you.

"Shame over poor English level lies with education ministry" is part of a series of columns where people get to talk back to the bureaucrats. It was written by a Japanese who teaches English. He places the blame on the Education Ministry as a whole, but fails to take into account divisions within the Education Ministry.

You may argue, "But the ministry of education hires thousands of native English speakers to teach English communication to the kids." This may be true, but because of the all-important entrance exams, which stress grammar and reading, even if there were time for communicative practice, the students and parents want teachers to focus on what is going to be on the next exam because it will determine the child's future school and most likely the child's future career.

The weight given to the entrance exams — and the system of clearly dividing schools into separate academic levels and allowing little room for a student to change his/her school/eventual career path — have created an out-of-touch bureaucracy and a cultural attitude of hopelessness.

I often hear other teachers say, "Those people in the ministry have no idea what it's like in the public sector or how to solve problems in state schools because they all went to the best private schools in Japan." This fundamental problem means that the ministry of education lacks understanding of what the public wants students to be taught, as well as how to teach students effectively.

All this may be true, but to blame the secondary education section of the Ministry for the insistence by the tertiary education section that all universities must write their own entrance exams seems to me to be displaced. The Center Test does, after all, include a listening section, although it is unfortunately only in US Network Standard English.

University EFL hiring: garbage in, garbage out focuses on the hiring of unqualified teachers at the university level. I applaud the author's concern that university teachers have some training and credentials, but I wonder if the problem is limited to English.

How does one become a EFL instructor at a Japanese university? In my experience many Japanese university administrators cannot speak English and view the whole hiring process as just too much trouble. Consequently, most instructors are hired because they are acquainted with an instructor who is working at a particular university.

The cronyism (i.e., favoritism shown to friends and associates) demonstrated at most universities in Japan almost certainly reduces intellectual debate and hampers institutional growth, thus guaranteeing a lower general standard of English education for students.

Basically, as long as the person "looks" the part, they can become a university English instructor in Japan. Background checks are almost never carried out. In the past, foreign "professors" have been found not to even have undergraduate degrees. In addition to some instructors having no master's degree, which is a prerequisite for having a university teaching job in the West, some instructors have masters that are not language- or teaching- related. Such people are, nevertheless, teaching language courses or are teaching classes unrelated to their masters (e.g., MBAs teaching conversation and writing classes).

This was responded to in a letter More to EFL hiring than 'garbage in, garbage out'

It might be worth noting that Amanda Ripley, in her piece in The Atlantic on primary and secondary education in the U.S., points out that education degrees do not necessarily produce good teaching in American schools. I wouldn't be surprised if the same were true with regard to Japanese universities.

While Tharn is right that some of us teachers are unqualified impostors who got through the door too quickly or easily, he's wrong when he says that the "calculation is a simple one" or that teachers with degrees unrelated to ESL, literature or education are garbage.

While it is true that Japan has a very shoddy higher education system with its fair share of shoddy teachers, the perspectives of people from many disciplines, not the least of which is the study of business, can prove effective in the classroom.

Another article from the same series is "Look overseas to address Japan's lag in English ability"

Japan seems to be the only country in the world where high school English-language textbooks are full of the native language of the learners. Japanese language in high school textbooks is used for various explanations and also for giving commands and instructions for what the students are required to do in a given section. Never has this author encountered a Japanese high school textbook where the learners are given a command or instruction in English. In comparison, high school English textbooks from other non-English countries such as China, France, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia contain absolutely no Chinese, French, Urdu or Arabic, respectively, and give all commands and instructions in English alone.

As a result of the use of such methods and tools, Japanese high school students are not accustomed to hearing English or to being given commands in English to do specific tasks.

In other words, Japan is perhaps the only country still using grammar translation methods to teach a living language.

Finally, a little time for Japan Times columnist Gregory Clark, not because I agree with his ideas or even think he knows what he's taking about (although even a broken clock is right twice a day, and I wouldn't disagree with everything he says here) but because he does seem to be very influential.

It's back to school in Japan, and back to the perennial questions:

• How to find enough teachers able properly to handle English-language classes in primary schools? (Answer: nearly impossible.)

• How to improve foreign-language education generally? (Cut back on high school teaching and concentrate intensive advanced teaching on those who really want it — at university level.)

Some background on Mr. Clark's university and its foreign language instruction is available at the Chronicle of Higher Education, a newspaper from the United States which covers university education around the world. They also have some articles that refer to the university, but you couldn't read them without subscribing to the magazine. Sorry.

update July 6, 2010

We were talking about this topic in class and I mentioned my own contribution to the debate. I wrote an article for the Japan Times, to which they gave the headline "Lay off the linguistics to address English lag", in which I argued that the tendency of Japanese linguistics to argue over transformational grammar, combined with the insistence of the Ministry that English teachers be trained in Linguistics, was in part responsible for the poor standard of English instruction and ability in Japan. I suppose it's worth adding to the discussion.

English Teaching in Japan

I made a report on English teaching in Japan.
They are three references I used.


English taught in English
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/ed20090112a1.html

Test and Score Data Summary for TOEFL Internet-based and Paper-based Tests: 2009 Test Data
http://www.ets.org/Media/Research/pdf/test_score_data_summary_2009.pdf

アジア諸国における英語教育の取組み　英語非公用語国を中心として　
http://www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/shingi/chukyo/chukyo3/015/siryo/04052601/004.pdf

Food Crisis

My presentation was about Japanese Food Self-Sufficiency.

I used following materials for my presentation.

The cost of food: Facts and figures

Self-sufficiency rate of major grain products in Japan, Korea and Taiwan

Statistical Handbook of Japan - Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries

Also, this is interesting article about "Green Lanterns" which may promote people to eat food grown in Japan!

Japanese Pubs and Restaurants Display Green Lanterns to Promote Local Produce

or you can just google "green lanterns japan" and you will find it!

Thank you.

About The Darjeeling Limited

When I watched the movie, I couldn't understand more than half of it.
Thorough seeing Wikipedia or some website, the story is clear to me.
I want to watch the movie again.

I could not understand a word in this movie.
What does "T.B.D." mean?
I suppose Peter or Jack says the word when the train was lost and three brothers went up the hill.

The Darjeeling Limited

This movie is fascinating and a bit weird for me. I didn't catch up with the natural speed conversations in this movie sometimes, but I like it.

I have some questions about this film.
First, there are time lags on the way(before their father's funeral, and after it, I think) I didn't understand around there. And around that part, why did Peter try to move his father's car?

Second, What is the peacock's feather for? and what is the ceremony when they are using that feather, such as dancing and putting small stones?

Third, when the train clerk lady came to the brother's room to give them tea, why did she put red dots on their foreheads?

Finally, Why is the endind theme song "Aux Champs Elysees"?? I did not get the meaning at all...

That's it. I also wonder what did Bill Marley appear first, that was funny though.

I will look for this film in TSUTAYA later :) I'd like you to answer for my questions.

After watching the movie" The Darjjiling Limited"

When I watched this movie, I had lots of fun. However, I couldn't get joking in the movie too.

The parts I was interested in was that 3 guys were brothers. First I didn't think like that, because they were so different. Then I have a question about oldest brother. His face was full of scars. What happen on him? He said something about it in the movie, but I couldn't catch well. Another question, their mother was a munk and 3 guys wanted to see her so much. At the end, they could meet with her. She even didn't know about her husband who died. Also she dissapeared in early morning to run away from them....? Anyway, I'm comfused when I think about their mother. She is kind of strange character in that movie.

I just have these question now. If I find questions more, I'll write down here.

I hope someone answer these questions. Thanks for reading!

The Darjeeling Limited

I'm sure everyone must have a lot of questions about The Darjeeling Limited. I myself wondered what "gaslighting" meant and had to look it up. What new vocabulary did you get from this film? What words (and scenes) do you still not understand? What else do you want to know about the film, the actors, the soundtrack, or anything else related to it? Looking it up on the Internet Movie Database I learned that it did open in Japan in March 2008, but since "I'm not There" didn't get north of Sendai it may not have opened anywhere near Hirosaki. There is, however, an official Japanese site for the movie.

By the way, at least according to Wikipedia, there is no such train as The Darjeeling Limited, which really doesn't surprise me.

The Situation of Women in Japan

This is the article for the case of Japan. Data is kind of old, though...

causes of gender wage gap

This is from the Census Bureau:

Previous studies of the gender wage gap show that wages are generally lower for men and women in occupations that have a higher percentage of female workers (Bayard et al. 2003; Boraas and Rodgers 2003; Roksa 2005).

This analysis shows that the same holds true for work hours. Although sex is a significant predictor of work hours, both men and women work shorter hours in occupations with a higher percentage of female workers even after controlling for the effect of sex, showing an interaction between work hours, occupation, and percent female.

In other words, much of the gender wage gap is a result of men and women working different occupations, at least in the US.

Makeup class?

No, that's not a class in makeup, it means we have to make up some more classes we will miss.

Please add comments here about when you are free and when you would like to have the makeup classes. Maybe in the evenings?

a new information for discussion

I found this PDF file to discuss gender wage gap again.

This file uploaded in March 2010 so I think we can treat this information as nowadays situation.

http://www.iwpr.org/pdf/C350.pdf

Ayumi

Articles for discussion

I think there are some problems at women's perticipation to the society in Turkey, for instance, women's employment, gender gap in employment rates, and gender wage gaps, after I read the brief which Mifuru put on. And I found articles that I think it's related to these problems.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6903021.stm

http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=174285

These are not statistics but I think it might help us to know what's going on in Turkey now.

Ayumi

Documents for our dicussion

According to the information that mifuru found, more than 70% of women are in paid employment in the Nordic countries.
I found some documents about women's specific situation in their countries.
They are produced under the support of European Commission within the framework of the Socrates.
http://www.women-employment.lt/situation.htm

These are information for our discussion.

I found information for our discussion.
I don't think this is enough, but this helps us to understand the fact about women's payment.

When you click URL below this, you can see information.

http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/23/31/44720649.pdf

This is "Gender Brief" prepared by the OECD social Policy Division.

I hope it will be useful.

After watching "The Color Purple"

Movie, " The Color Purple" impressed me so much. After watching this, I could know how was the women's position at that time. I thought Celie's life was not good because she was treated as like a slave. In contrast, her sister Nettie was in the good position. For example, Nettie could go to school and have good education. Also, she couldn't have to have children with her father who was not her real father in fact. I mean Nettie had lots of difficulties in her life of course. However, comparing to Celie, Nettie could have better life than Celie. Well, I don't know what kind of life is the best. That depends on you.

Moreover, I was interested in Shug, who was singer in this movie. She is so powerful, sexy, and outgoing. But she had also many tough things in her life.

In sum, this movie lets me think about women's position and women's independence like Celie. I want to see this movie again, then I can understand more deeply!

Mifuru.

statistics on women and men

This is the link to women's wages relative to men's of the United Nation Statistics Division.

about the color purple

This film made me think about discrimination against women. I was shocked to see how cruelly women had been treated in those days.Celie was like a slave for Albert.
Compared with the case of Celie, the situation of Sofia was just the opposite. As women had been fighting against men in her family, they hadn't been treated as Celie. I thought it was so complicated society.

In addition, I became interested in Afro-American English. I noticed that there were the use of "ain't" and the deletion of the auxiliary verb like " What you doing?". To see this film, I came to want to know more about Afro-American English.

questions to the movie

I have some questions to the movie.

#1: Does the sign Celie made when she got away from Albert's house have a special meaning?

#2: Why were Celie's son and daughter with Netti? (How did Netti find them?)

#3: What was Albert trying to do with the letter of immigration stuff? In the last scene, I saw the guy with the horse, and I am sure he was Albert, but why didn't he do anything? (he just thought he couldn't break the sisters apart anymore?)

comment - First, this movie was so moving and interesting. I could see the situation of women living at that time. It was a really difficult time for women to live. Especially, Celie was apart from Netti, her loving sister, so I can imagine her agony. When a man said, "The dead has risen.", I felt the time has come for Celie and everything changed. Celie also could rise from the dead, I thought.

yuya

questions about the color purple

Thank you for putting on nice picture and the author's interview, Mr. Philips.



We watched this movie until the part that Shug came back from her tour to Albert's place.

So far, I have some parts I did not understand in the movie.



First, I did not really get the first part around when Celie was giving birth to her baby. After that, a guy (her father?) took her girl away. Why did he do that? Was he going to give the baby to other people? Also was she raped by her father? If so, that's too horrible...



Second, Conversation between Celie's father and Albert at a scene which Celie's father visited Albert was difficult for me. I just could not understand what they were talking about.



Third, Nettie could read but Celie could not. I think that's why Nettie went to school. so why Celie could not go to school?



Questions about the color purple is that's all so far.


I'm looking forward you to explaining about my questions!

Ayumi

So, how's the movie so far?

If you've seen the first half or so of The Color Purple you should have some questions. It's a complex, long movie that deals with a lot of difficult and controversial themes. I hope you didn't just pick it because it was the only Spielberg movie I brought. You should at least have questions about some of the dialogue you may have had trouble understanding.

By the way, I notice that the Internet Movie Database (IMDB.com) recommends that if you like this film you'll probably also like "Gone with the Wind", that classic of Japanese culture. (^_~)

Next class - watching a movie

On May 6th and 11th(over the two classes), we will watch the movie called "The Color Purple".

According to IMDb(Internet Movie Database), this movie is about the life and trials of a young African American Woman.

It might be hard to catch what they say, so we will put English subtitles.

Also, it might be good if you look up some information about this movie beforehand on the Internet!

In addition to that, we should decide which topic we will discuss or debate, so you may give a boost to the blog by commenting someone's article and so on!!!

By the way, Enjoy your golden week!!

The topic for discussion/debate

Hi, this is Sayako.

The following URL is the article that I have found for discussion.
The title is "English language education in Japan" from About.com.
It says that there are some reasons that Japanese sudents are unable to speak or to comprehend English even they have learned it for at least 6 years.

So, I would like to discuss what kind of things are required for English language education especially in public school in Japan.
This would be the key to solving the problems which English language education is facing with.

http://japanese.about.com/od/japanesecultur1/a/070100.htm

By the way, sorry for late posting.
See you later.

Hi guys!

Hi :) This is Ayumi Sato. I know it's too late to introduce myself on this blog... but, let me do that.
I'm a junior in faculty of humanity, international society course, Oceania seminer student. I want to improve my English skills with having fun with you all. Nice to meet you =)

I also want to put my article which I introduced you in the last class.
http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/org/JLC/articles/HiraganaTimes-222-16to17.pdf

As professor Philips said in class, this article doesn't talk about japanese who get international married in the other countries with foreigner spouses. so we can discuss about that people with that article, I think.

That's it! I hope you will like my article:)

The topic for discussion

I'm sorry to be late.
I found this article from THE JAPAN TIMES.
It sais that women's earnings are still lower than men's one.
Especially in Japan, despite laws regulating fair pay and gender equality, social progress is still so slow.

I want to discuss what we or japan should do to make gender equality in Japan.

The topic I found for discussion

This is the article I found for discussion.
The title is "Indonesian group calls for flexibility in Japan nursing exam".
It says that the number of foreigners who could pass this year's nursing exam in Japan was only 3 among 254.
Through this, I want to discuss the need for foreign nurses, because nursing shortage is one of the serious problems in Japan.

http://www.japantoday.com/category/lifestyle/view/indonesian-group-calls-for-flexibility-in-japan-nursing-exam

possible discussion topic

This is the article that I found on the Internet!
Although it is kind of long, please take a look at it.


http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/28/what-will-globalization-do-to-languages-a-freakonomics-quorum/

Hi, this is Yuya!

I am sorry for my late self-introduction!
My name is Yuya! I am 21 years old. My major in the university is international politics.
I am from Hokkaido and living in Hirosaki now.
My favorite food is cheese and natto sushi roll. Especially, after drinking is the best time to eat these things! Unfortunately, my girlfriend from Germany does not like natto.....
My hobbies are watching movies and listening to music.
Talking of music, I love the artist called Monkey Majik! In March, I went to their concert which was their 10th anniversary! It was just awesome!
What I want to do during this year is to travel through Europe, practice the guitar and snowboarding!
I have been to Maine in the United States for studying English for one year. It was really important for me and I could improve my English skills. Moreover, the life in Maine has changed my personality in some ways. I finally realized that language can have an effect on our personality and mind.
What did I actually talk about?! Sorry, self-introduction!!
But I think that is enough for it. If you have any questions, please ask me!
I will keep working on my English as I have been so far.
Thank you!

Hello, this is daiki

Nice to see you here! My name is Daiki Takemura.
Late though it is, I want to introduce myself.

I was born in Hirosaki, and have lived here ever since. I am a senior in the faculty of humanity, and major in Enlish linguistics. I study it, because I want to be a high school teacher of English.

My hobbies are listening to music, driving and playing chess. Though I knew how to play chess half a year ago, I am hooked on it now and play it almost every day. Today I had a game of it with my freind, and lost! I want to be a good player someday...

As I don't have much opportunity to communicate with someone in English, I'm glad to join this class. Thanks for reading.

The topic I found for discussion.

Hi, everyone. I want to put an airticle which I found for discussion of our class.

The title is "Obama seeks court nominee who backs women's right."
This says The president of U.S.A, Barack Obama looks for nominee who backs women's rights.
Thorough this, I want to discuss about the equality between men and women which relates to women's position in our society, the differences in the employment and so on.

I put the article below this, so please click and read it.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100422/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama_supreme_court


Then, if you have a thinking after reading, please put some comments and we can discuss about this more deeply!!

It seems everyone likes music

At least so far, that is. And since this is after two weeks of class, if you haven't introduced yourself on the blog you have only yourself to blame. So I think I will try to teach about the Blues after all. I hope you enjoy it. When we get to it, that is. We have plenty of other things to do before that.

It was an interesting collection of topics people brought to class to discuss. Several of them are related to each other, but others are completely different. Please don't forget to post a message and links about your topic on the blog so we can discuss them over the weekend. Then on Tuesday we can know what we will talk about next.

I'm looking forward to it.

Hi, This is Natsumi

Hi,everyone!
My name is Natsumi Tamoto.I'm from Hokkaido. So I have lived in hirosaki for two years. I'm in junior and belong to the international society course.
I like music. I like listening to music.And I also like playing the musical instruments.I played the percussion when I was in a high school wind orchestra, and now I'm in the steel band.
Do you know a steel pan?
It is a percussion instrument made in Trinidad and Tobago.It is made of oil drums.It is so beautiful sound that you wouldn't expect to be produced from oil drums.

Actually, I've never gone overseas.And I want to study abroad. My English skills are low levels so I want to improve them at this class. I hope I will have a good time with you.
Thank you for reading :)

Hi, this is Sayako

Hi there, I am Sayako.
Nice to see you guys here.

Now, let me introduce myself.
I'm from Yamagata which is famous for many kinds of fruit especially cherry and pear called 'La france'.
I'm a senior and now I'm studying English linguistics. This is still a bit hard subject for me to learn (even I have learned it for at least 3 years), so I think I have to read much more books to write my graduation thesis.
I'm a person like 'musicholic'. I like any kind of things about music such as listening to, singing, and also playing it with musical instruments. I almost always listen to music when I'm alone even at home instead of watching TV, and often go to a karaoke with my friends. In addition, as I can play the saxophone and the violin, I belong to the orchestra club in the university. Music makes me very fun! I love it!!


Well, hope this introduction will help you know about me.
See you guys again next time!

Hi, Everyone!!

Nice to see you here! My name is Mifuru Fujita.
Now, I'll introduce myself.

I had already written here, my name is Mifuru.
Mifuru means Beautiful Rain in japanese Kanji. The reason why my parents named me like that is it was rainy day when I was born. So simple, but I thank my parents to give me special name. Then, I'm in junior in Hirosaki University and I'm belonging to The Faculty of Humanities. My major is Western culture such as American Literature, culture, and so on. I want to read lots of kind of literature.

My hobby is listening to music, singing songs, reading books, wandering, sleeping and so on. I love listening music. Japanese popular music, American popular music and Japanese Anime Songs. My favorite singer is Avril Lavigne. Her songs impressed me so much. I also like reading books. It takes really long time to read one book but I like it, because books give me a lot of information which I don't know. My favorite writer is Haruki Murakami. Anyway, I think I have to practice to read book faster. If you know how to read them faster, please teach me...

Maybe you can't understand me all by only this introduce, so let's talk together!!
Thanks for reading this!!

Welcome to class and self introduction

Hello, students!

Welcome to the class blog! This week you should write a self introduction in English. Don't forget, this can be read by anyone on the Internet, so be careful what you say! You never know who's watching.

You can read more about me at my website, but since I expect you to write about your selves here I guess it's only fair I do the same.

As I mentioned in class I was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan and moved around a lot all my life. I got a Ph.D. in history at UCLA, where I met a Japanese exchange student also studying Africa. We moved to Japan where we had two children and teach in neighboring universities. I like playing chess, reading, watching movies and listening to music, especially American music, but also African music, European and Indian classical music, and other genres.

In this university I teach American Studies and African Studies, especially history, but I can teach many other things as well.

This class is about writing English, so let's do our best to practice writing English as much as we can!

I look forward to reading everyone else's self introduction.

The undergraduate library at UCLA:

You can see more of my photos on my website, or on facebook.