A way to be polite when you speak English

It may help you to be polite when you speak English.
Please check it out.

http://dictionaryblog.cambridge.org/2014/04/30/would-you-mind-reading-this-please/

Information about TOEFL and TOEIC that may be useful for you:

Two of the most popular English-language proficiency tests in Japan can no longer be used to obtain student visas to Britain after a British TV program exposed fraud in the test-taking process.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/04/25/national/toeic-toefl-axed-route-u-k-visa/

Introduction of a guy you guys might not know yet

Hi, everyone.

I'm Tasuku Kimura.

I was born in Kanagawa but I moved to Aomori when I was a kid.

So I grew up in Aomori.

I think no one knows who I am because I haven't attended the class yet.

The reason why I haven't is because I'm not in Japan.

I have been studying abroad at the University of Maine for about a year and a month.

I extended the period of my studies so I have been able to stay here longer than the others.

Therefore, I'm going to join you guys halfway though the class after I've finished the spring semester at the University of Maine.  Through this class, I would love to improve my English skills, especially my accent.

A topic I would l like to introduce is why Japanese people are poor at speaking English.  

I have found an interesting article.  I had studied English for about 8 years in Japan before I came to the US.  Sounds really great, right?  However, I bet the improvement of my English skills while I was in Japan doesn't even compare to what I've learned in the US for 3 months.  

It seems there are some reasons why we are not really good at speaking English.  

Check out this awesome article below. It might help improve your English skills.

http://japaneseruleof7.com/why-are-japanese-so-bad-at-english-5-reasons/

Thank you for reading my blog,

Tasuku Kimura

Hello everyone.

Hello everyone, I'm Moe Sasaki.
I'm from Goshogawara so I always speak Tsugaruben! I'm a member of Yosakoi circle, "HIRODAI Enbujin" and practice hard three time in a week.
Honestly I'm not good at use computer and this is my first blog. That's why I'm little nervous, but I will try to write interesting blogs.

I recommend following two topocs.
The first is food culture around the world. For example, though many Japanese eat Osechi or Ozouni on New Year's Day, what do people in other country eat on the day? I want to know what people around the world eat on a special day!
Another is about pets. In Japan, many people have a dog, but more and more people part with their pets because masters get old. Even pet is a member of the family! People should keep them until the last moment, or if people cannot do so, should they  not have a pet?

The Hague Convention

Hello, everyone! Today, I would like to introduce myself and show one topic.

Self-introduction
I'm Ayaka Sueo. I was born in Sapporo, Hokkaido. Because of my father's job relocations, besides Sapporo, once I lived in Thiba, Yamanashi and Shizuoka. So, I used to go to Tokyo Disney Resort very often when I was a child. I love Disney. One of my future's dreams is going to all Disneyland in the whole world. Therefore, I want to improve my English skills, especially speaking in this class.

Issues of international marriage -The Hague Convention
Nowadays, many people have international marriages and divorces. When they divorce, what happened to their children? In many cases, one of the parents leaves from the other with taking their children. Then, children never see the half parent. To change this situatuon and rescue those children, the Hague convention was established.

To get more information, please access this link. www.japantimes.co.jp/tag/hague-convention/

What do you think about the Hague convention?

Daylight Saving Time (DST)

Hello, everyone! I'm Kazuki Watanabe. 

I was born in Hirosaki, but where I spent the longest time in my life is Koriyama in Fukushima prefecture. I have been to Korea and learned English and Korean language for a year. I would like to improve my English communication skills especially speaking and listening through this class. 

The topic which I recommend is about Daylight Saving Time (DST). It is because that I have heard about power shortage in Japan so many times after the earthquakes on March 11th, 2011 and I think there is a possibility that DST contribute saving electricity. please check the following articles out and think about it.

http://www.timeanddate.com/time/dst/

Thank you for reading my post.

Hello, my name is Kyoauke Machida

 Hello, my name is Kyosuke Machida. In this term I take Advanced English class, then startd use the blogger! I have to post a disucussing topic here, but first of all, I introduce my self.
 I was born in Aomori and have lived here for 20 years. Since junior high school student, I have played basketball. My hobby is playing basketball and reading "Manga" ! I work at Izakaya "Za Watami". So please come to there when you wanna drink !

 Next I post a topic about English education in japan. Students are worried about making mistakes in English. Who is responsible for instilliing in students this fear of making mistakes? teacher? students? system of how to teach english? I'm going to post a link of this topic. This news says that this problem is a teacher's fault. is it really only teacher's responsibility?

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2014/01/10/our-lives/teachers-must-nurture-critical-thinking-confidence-in-english-for-a-shot-at-2020-goals/#.U1C8GqyKDcs

Reliability of information on the internet

Hi everyone!
I'm Enkhbat Enkhbaatar. I have taken this class before but didn't post anything on this blog. So, I decided to retake the course and will try to be more active and vigorous this time. Some of you might know me quite well. Anyways, let me introduce myself here. I am Mongolian citizen and came to japan in 2011 as a regular student. I was born and raised in Moscow because my parents were studying in Russia for long time. I was able to speak and understand in Russian language fluently but since my parents returned to Ulanbaatar I had almost no chance to communicate in Russian, so now I only understand in  Russian. As you know, I am in Professor Philip's seminar and researching about Cuban Missile Crisis. When I asked you about the Crisis, none of you even heard of it. So, please check this out.     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_missile_crisis or you can watch the movie here 'The thirteen days'. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEL45ffs2x4.

Today, during the class, I recommended topic about the purpose of education but it seemed to me quite broad topic, so how about discussing reliability of information on the internet which I found it very interesting. Here is one article which explains how to judge the reliability of information on internet. http://www.mhhe.com/mayfieldpub/webtutor/judging.htm.
Looking forward to reading your posts. Thank you!

ICJ orderd halt whaling

In March 31, ICJ ordered to Japan  halt whaling in Antarctic.
ICJ judged the scientific investigation can't justify whaling.
And this judgment affect Japanese Pacific Whaling.

I agree with research whaling. Because the research discover the effect of environment change for ecosystem.
The whale which by-product of the research whaling in Antarctic is about 20% of domestic traffic. And it's used with out being wasted.

URL is here
http://news.yahoo.com/japan-considers-curtailing-whale-hunt-further-media-061319796.html;_ylt=AwrSyCSOuE9TvSUAd.fQtDMD

http://news.yahoo.com/world-court-rules-japans-whaling-not-scientific-ends-095413929.html

11H2088 Takuya Horikawa

Slang?

There are some words that have been used in Chicago but its doesn't appear in my eng-eng dictionary..

1.lavalier
2.veg (it does exist but I don't think thats the real meaning, it said the meaning is vegetable)
3.nerts
4.girder( it does exist in the dictionary but I don't think that was what they try to say in the movie)
5.onyx(same as above)

About the movie "Ｃｈｉｃａｇｏ"

In the latter half of this movie, after Roxy was judged innocent, one woman shot one man and then she was arrested in front of the courthouse.

It was the sudden incident to me, therefore I do not understand why she killed him.

Is there anyone who knows the reason?

About the dance party in the movie `Little Women`.

As I was watching the movie `Little Women` in the class, I noticed few soldiers were in the dance party with other gentlemen and ladies. I thought that only high-society people could attend that kind of dance party, but the soldiers were not even a commissioned officer, they were sergeant and corporal according to their chevron on sleeve. So now, my question is that were anyone allowed to join that kind of party or not.

Free audiobooks and eBook

Hey guys, I just found something cool!!

http://www.booksshouldbefree.com/

From this website, you could download free audiobooks and eBooks
There are many kind of book you can find here.. Check it out.. :)

HOW TO IMPROVE OUR ENGLISH SKILLS

Could everyone share what did you do to improve your english skills? I got problem especially in listening and writing skills..
1.  I watch same movie for many times so that I could catch up what they were saying, but it seems like doesn't work for me..
2. I'm started to learn back english grammar, but I don't have idea from where and what the best way I could start..
3. What is the best way to improve our english pronunciation? I thought by listening english music and sing it is the best way, however, my english pronunciation never get better.. Do someone got some advice or idea to share to improve this skill?

YOUR FAVOURITE MOVIES

I just wonder what kind of movie that was very famous during your childhood time, of course english movie. For example in Malaysia, the famous movie at that time (1998-2002)

1. Baby Day Out
2. Harry Potter
3. James Bond
4. Home Alone
5. Zorro

In our country, there are no dubbing for english movie but subtitle are provided..(in Malay language of course)

So, what about Japan... I just wonder why all english movie in Japan were dubbed since they wish to improve their english. So,everyone could learn english by watching the movie.
What do you think?

question about Blues Brothers 2

Hi! Did you spend good weekend? I had a part time-job this weekend and had lots of

assignment. So I couldn't enjoy weekend.

After watching the movie all, I still have some questions.

1 Who is the lady? I could understand she tald brothers about her family, but I couldn't understand her connection with brothers.

2 Finally the brothers were arrested by police. But I couldn't understand why their band members were also arrested?

It was so fun movie. And if I have an opportunity,I want to watch another version.

American humor in the movies

I would object to this review's apparent assumption that American humor is monolithic, when in fact it is wildly diverse, from highbrow of various sorts (Steve Allen and Woody Allen should never be confused, just for example) to vulgar slapstick of various sorts. Charles Chaplin seemed to combine all levels in his comedy, but then he was an expatriate Briton who never became an American. He just worked in Hollywood. And the article did note how American humor has changed over time, although ignoring how diverse it remains at any given time.

But I have to recommend this article if only for the following observation:

Yodo-san, as he was affectionately known throughout the Japanese film industry, could as easily tell you why John Belushi was so scintillating in “The Blues Brothers” as weep over the line about life being like a box of chocolates in “Forrest Gump.” He was a living, breathing incarnation of IMDb.com long before the Internet.

I didn't know which was your favorite scene and/or song in the movie, and I had so many myself. Maybe I'll just put this one on the blog for you to enjoy, and you can tell us what else you liked about the movie. If you liked it.



Oh, heck. Why don't I include my favorite song, the only actual 12-bar blues in the film?

Question and comment for BLUES BROTHERS

Hi!I'm Sachiyo.
Did you enjoy today's English class movie BLUES BROTHERS? I really enjoyed it. I have some questions and comment about it.

Questions
1 Who is the lady tried to kill Jake and Elwood? Why she have to kill them?
2 At the car chase, why the brothers dicided to crash into the shopping mall?Why Elwood is good at driving a car?
3 At their first concert, why there is the wire netting in foront of the performer? Is it popular in U.S? Why did the audience throw bottles?

I have many favorite characters, Matt's wife, sister, Ray and of course brothers.
I want to see it all as soon as possible. But actually I couldn't understand jorkes in it. Why don't we have a class about how to understand American jokes? It is probably interesting!

The history of English in 10 minutes

I came across an informative YouTube video about the history of English that I hope you enjoy:

Questions about Psycho

Questions about Psycho

Good evening everyone. I’m Sachiyo. Did you enjoy today’s English class movie Psycho? Actually I couldn’t understand the contents of it. So I ask you 5 questions about it.
1 Who is the man appeared at the first scene? And how is he related with the woman?
2 Why did she steal money?
3 Why did she run away with that money?

4 Why did police man chase her?

5 Why did the motel owner feel affection for her?

The movie was so difficult for me to understand and listen what they talked about. So I couldn’t take any note and get new vocabularies. Next time how about to watch it with English subtitles?

Sachiyo TANDO