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Hi everyone,
Wow! Once again, I was very impressed with the presentations in last week's lesson. My NPO partner also really enjoyed your presentation. He thought everyone was very professional. For our lesson on January 11, I'll give you your presentation evaluations. We'll also have a small New Year's party, so please bring some snacks and drinks. Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Homework: 1. Blog Comment #10 Blog Comment #10: Answer ONE of these questions. If you presented, answer this question: How did you feel about your presentation? What were some things you did well? What were some things you had trouble with? If you did not present, answer this question: Which presentation did you like the best? Why?
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Hi everyone,
Wow! I was very impressed with the presentations in Thursday's lesson. You really did a fantastic job on your slide presentations, and made a lot of effort to convey your message clearly and confidently. For next week's presenters, remember these points:
In next week's class, we will continue with our presentations. We will hear from groups 4, 5 and 6. Homework: 1. Blog Comment #9 2. Presentation Preparation groups 4, 5 and 6) Blog Comment #9 Answer ONE of these questions. If you presented, answer this question: How did you feel about your presentation? What were some things you did well? What were some things you had trouble with? If you did not present, answer this question: Which presentation did you like the best? Why?
Hi everyone,
I can't believe we'll be having our presentations in next week's lesson! Body Language: In today's lesson, we looked at the dos and don'ts of body language for your presentation. We then looked at how to use body language when you present your visuals. Finally, we completed a eye contact activity with your group members. For your presentation next week, remember these points:
Homework:
No blog comment this week! Hi everyone, We'll be having our presentations in just two more weeks. I'm really looking forward to them. We did it! We finished our very last interactions this week. I hope this activity helped you to improve your listening skills, and also maintain your speaking skills. In next week's class, we will be back in our classroom in Building 17404. You will have some time to work with your groups, so remember to bring your presentation materials. Homework: 1. Presentation Preparation 2. Blog Comment #8 Blog Comment #8 1. What is your biggest worry about your presentation? 2. What can you do to ease this worry?
My Christmas Tree Hi everyone,
It's definitely getting colder. Make sure you bundle up so that you don't catch a cold. Interactions: In today's interactions, we learned expressions for checking understanding. For group leaders, make sure your check your group's understanding after each skills activity: Main Ideas: Did you have trouble with any sections of the video? Details: Were there any words you couldn’t catch? For group members, when you are watching the video, note down the time of parts that you didn't understand. After, ask your group leader for help.
Homework: 1. Interactions (last one!) 2. Listening Report #4 (last one!) 3. Blog Comment #7 4. slide presentation Blog Comment #7 We are coming to the end of our course - just four more lessons.
Hi everyone,
Christmas is just around the corner. Decorations and Christmas lights are up throughout Tokyo! I always love the Christmas season in Tokyo! Explaining Maps: At the beginning our our lesson, we continued with visual aids. We learned how to explain maps. When you explain a map, you need to: (1) Introduce and (2) Explain it. When you (1) Introduce a map, you can say: Here is a map of _____. When you (2) Explain a map, you can explain: a. its location b. its capital city c. major cities d. features Please see the handouts from class for the "map expressions. " Interactions Feedback: As usual, you're doing a great job with your interactions. I'm glad to see that you're paying more attention to your group during the skills activities. Many of you are very helpful towards your group members. As part of your feedback, we looked at examples of elision. This is when words join together to make one phrase when you speak quickly in English. Examples:
Homework: 1. Interactions 2. Listening Report #4 (due November 28) 3. slide presentation No blog comment this week! Hi everyone,
It was another busy class today since we focused on listening discussions and visual aids. Visual Aids: At the beginning our our lesson, we continued with visual aids. We learned how to explain a graph. Many of your will need to include graphs in your presentations, so you can use these steps to help you: 1. Introduce 2. Explain 3. Emphasize There are a variety of expressions you can use to explain your graphs, and these are in your handouts from class. We learned three expressions in our lesson: 1. This ___ graph shows _____. 2. The x-axis shows _____ and the y-axis shows _____. 3. The key point is that ____. Interactions Feedback: As usual, you're doing a great job with your interactions. I'm glad to see that you're giving clear instructions and managing your time effectively. For next week's interaction, remember these points: Speak loud enough
Ask for repetition
Homework: 1. Interactions (see schedule) 2. Blog Comment #6 3. Listening Report #3 4. Start your slide presentation Blog Question #6:
Hi everyone,
I hope you enjoyed the Halloween interactions yesterday. I was going through Shibuya station last night and I couldn't believe how many people were in costumes! Presentation Visuals: In the first part of our lesson, we spent time on learning about different types of visual aids and how to make powerpoint slides. Type of Visuals: When you prepare your slides for your presentation, you can use a variety of visuals, such as: 1. horizontal and/or vertical bar graphs 2. pie graphs 3. tables 4. illustrations / photographs 5. maps 6. diagrams 7. tables Listening Interactions: Everyone did a great job in the pre- and post discussions. Leaders are getting better at managing their time. Some of you had a little trouble with giving instructions. When you give instructions, use the infinitive form of the verb. Here are some common expressions you can use during your interactions. a. Repeat after me. (for pronunciation practice) b. Please listen to the video now. c. Put the sentences in the correct order. d. Fill-in-the-blanks. Homework: 1. Interactions preparation (see schedule) 2. Listening Report #3 (due: November 14) 3. Presentation Outline (due: November 4 by 6:00pm) No blog comment this week! Hi everyone! I can't believe October is almost over! Presentation Structure & Expressions At the beginning of our lesson, we review presentation structure and expressions from last semester. We also looked at a model outline to help you organize your information for your outlines. You can find these handouts at the end of today's summary. Don't forget to start your presentation research. Your group will have to submit an outline by Friday, November 1. Halloween Interactions: For next week's interactions, group leaders will have to choose a Halloween theme. You can choose from this list of movie trailers. After you choose your movie trailer, please email me to let me know your topic. Corpse Bride It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown The Conjuring The Shining Ghost Busters The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Six Sense Psycho Homework: 1. Interactions (see schedule) 2. Listening Report #2 (due October 31) 3. Blog Comment #5 4. Presentation Outline (due November 1) Blog Comment #5: Which do you find more difficult: our video discussions (this semester) or our newspaper article discussions (last semester)? Why? *Write 8-10 sentences. *Use capitalization, punctuation & spelling correctly. *Submit by Wednesday, October 30 by 6:00pm. 
Hi everyone, Finally! The sun is out! I hope it'll stay this way all weekend! Presentation Outlines: At the start of the lesson, I pointed out the presentation outlines in the Presentation section of the website. For the next two weeks, you'll have to start your group research and complete the outline. The outline is due on Friday, November 1 by email before 12noon. Interactions: The feedback from today's interactions is attached at the end of this entry. These are the comments I typed on the screen during our lesson. For next week's leaders, please include these pointers into your interactions. Many of you made comments on last week blog that the videos are challenging because of the speed. Don't panic! Your listening will improve during the semester. You do NOT need to understand everything. The most important point is to understand the main ideas. Homework: 1. Listening Interactions preparation (see schedule) 2. Listening Report #2 (due Oct. 31) 3. Blog Post #4 Blog Question #4: What is your presentation topic? Why did your group choose this topic? *Write 8-10 sentences. *Use capitalization, punctuation & spelling correctly. *Submit by Wednesday, October 23 by 6:00pm.
Hi everyone, Can you smell the ginko nuts (銀杏) on campus? They were really stinky this morning! Interactions: We had our first round of listening interactions. I was really impressed that ALL of you remembered many of our discussion skills from last semester, such as using showing interest and making eye contact. The feedback from today's interactions is attached at the end of this entry. These are the comments I typed on the screen during our lesson. For next week's leaders, please include these pointers into your interactions. Presentation Guidelines: In the last part of our lesson, you received the guidelines for your presentations in December. For this semester, you will prepare a 20-minute slide presentation with your group on the activities of an NPO/NGO. Homework: 1. Listening Interactions preparation (see schedule) 2. Listening Report #1 3. Blog Post #3 4. Presentation Topic (make a list of 3-4 topics) Blog Question #3: Tell me about your experience in your first Listening Interactions in today's class. For example, if you were the group leader, what did you do well? what were some difficulties? etc. If you were a group member, what did you think of the activities? What were some difficulties? etc. *Write 8-10 sentences. *Use capitalization, punctuation & spelling correctly. *Submit by Wednesday, October 16 by 6:00pm.
Hi everyone,
It's only the second class of the semester, but we were busy as usual! Listening Reports: We reviewed the guidelines for your Listening Reports. You will have to choose a video / audio file from one of the websites listed in the "Listening Reports" section and complete a short report. You can either write or type your report. You can find the worksheet templates in the "Listening Reports" section as well. Listening Interactions: We also reviewed the guidelines for your Listening Interactions, and I modeled a Listening Interactions for you with the "Batman Begins" video. Remember that you have to choose a theme for your interaction: psychology or media. These interactions are similar to our group discussions last semester, but you will be using video rather than a news article. Remember to go to Room 218 for next week's lesson. We'll need to use the computers for you to play your videos. Remember to also bring a pair of earphones. I'm sure you don't want to borrow mine! Don't forget that you'll have to make copies for your group members! You'll need 6-8 copies since you'll present your interaction twice and will have 3-4 members in your group. Homework: 1. Listening Interactions preparation (see schedule) 2. Blog Post #2 3. Listening Report #1 (due October 17) Blog Question #2: Why is it important to have homework in our English language course every week? *Write 8-10 sentences. *Use capitalization, punctuation & spelling correctly. *Submit by Wednesday, October 9 by 6:00pm. Hi everyone,
It was really great to see everyone yesterday. Once again, I'm looking forward to our lessons together. Syllabus and Schedule: We had a short "welcome back" activity and you got to catch up with your classmates. We then went looked at the syllabus and our course schedule. This semester, we will continue with discussion, but we will be using video for our discussions. Using video will help you focus on both your speaking and listening skills. Opinion Giving Review: We also had a short review activity of opinion giving expressions. In our Listening Interactions (=listening discussions), we'll still be using all of the discussion skills we learnt last semester. Homework:
Blog Question #1: Tell me about your summer vacation. * Write 8-10 sentences. * Use capital letters, punctuation and spelling correctly. * Submit by Wednesday, October 2 by 6:00pm. Hi everyone! I hope you all had a great summer! Here is all the information you'll need for the fall semester for our course. Please download, print and bring these to class this Wednesday. In the file, you will find: a. Fall Syllabus b. Fall Schedule c. How to Write a Formal Email d. Blog Posting Guidelines e. Interactions Schedule (our listening discussions) It'll be an exciting first day, so I hope to see everyone bright and early at 9am! See you Thursday!
Hi everyone,
We sure did have a busy 90 minutes in Thursday's lesson. I'm sure you're all relieved that our presentations are finally over. I was very impressed the quality of your research, as well as how you were able to present your topics clearly and concisely. I'll have your presentation grades in next week's class. Nobody has anything to worry about since every group passed! Next Week's Lesson: We will have our last lesson for the semester next week. As usual, we'll have speed discussion, but we'll also have a few more speaking activities. We'll also have some time for a small party, so you can bring snacks and drinks. Homework:
Blog Question #10: (last one) Which presentation did you like the best? Why? *Write 8-10 sentences. *Use capitalization, punctuation & spelling correctly. *Submit by Wednesday, July 10 by 6:00pm. Hi everyone,
In today's lesson, we reviewed gestures and eye contact; and learned about voice inflection. You'll need to use these skills for your presentations next week. Voice Inflection: In order to prepare you for your presentations, we spent some time on learning about and practicing voice inflection. This is when we change our voice in order to emphasize certain words/expressions in our presentation. There are three different types of inflection: 1. stress 2. stretch 3. pause When you use voice inflections, these types of words are usually inflected: 1. numbers 2. verbs 3. adjectives / adverbs 4. comparison nouns 5. negative words Lateness: For next week's presentations, absolutely no excuses are acceptable to be late for our presentations! Please respect your classmates efforts and my course rules. Students who come late will receive a 5% point deduction from their group's presentation. Homework:
NO blog comment this week! Hi everyone,
I can't believe we have only three more lessons left before the summer break. This also means we have just two more weeks until our group presentations. Discussions: Overall, everyone has shown a lot of improvement in their discussions. Group leaders are directly asking for opinions and all group members participated in the discussions actively. However, there are times when interactions are only between the group leader and each group members. In our discussions, there also needs to be interactions between group members. In order to encourage interaction between group members, group leaders can ask these questions:
In next week's class, we'll spend about 45 minutes on activities to prepare you for your presentations (e.g. gestures review, eye contact, and voice inflection). For the last part of class, you'll have time to work with your presentation groups to make final preparations. Homework:
Blog Question #9: Tell me about your presentation progress. What have you had to do to prepare for your presentation? What challenges have you had? What are some of your worries about your presentation? *Write 8-10 sentences. *Use capitalization, punctuation & spelling correctly. *Submit by Wednesday, June 26 by 6:00pm. Hi everyone,
We have only a little more than a month before our last class. I have been very impressed with the progress you have made in your English speaking skills. However, I am concerned about the number of absences and lateness. Lateness: When we started our lesson today, there were only SIX students who came on time. Everyone else was late! This is absolutely not acceptable. When you arrive late, you interrupt my teaching and I often have to move students to different groups after I have already arranged the seating. This is disrespectful towards me and your classmates. Also, if you are a discussion leader, and you arrive late for your discussion, you will not be able to do it. It is an extreme inconvenience for your classmates to change seating and groups once you arrive after the start of discussions! From next week, students who arrive late will lose 1% from their final grade. Discussions: In today's discussions, group leaders did a great job at presenting their summaries. You used gestures and eye contact, and checked understanding. However, it is ok to have some interaction with your group during your summaries. If group members would like to interrupt during the summary, you can use these expressions:
Homework:
NO BLOG POSTING THIS WEEK! Hi everyone! I hope you're enjoying the weather this week. It's beautiful. I hope the rain stays away for a while! Group Presentations: For most of today's lesson, we went through the guidelines for your group presentations. You were assigned a group and chose your presentation topic. We then completed activities about how to organization your presentation (structure and expressions) and how to prepare your outline You won't have a lot of time in class to prepare for your presentations, so make sure you arrange time with your group outside of class to plan and prepare your presentation. Discussions: Since we spent most our our lesson on learning how to organize our presentations, we only have enough time for one round of discussions. However, I'm quite impressed with how much everyone has improved this semester, especially with conversational style. Keep up the good work! For next week's discussions, remember these points:
Homework:
Blog Question #8: What is your presentation topic? Why did you choose this person? *Write 8-10 sentences. *Use capitalization, punctuation & spelling correctly. *Submit by Wednesday, June 12 by 6:00pm.
Hi everyone,
We're half way through our course! Gestures: In today's lesson, we learned about gestures. Gestures help support our verbal message and also keep the listener interested in our message. There are four types of gestures you can use: 1. number / sequence 2. emphasis / focus 3. location / illustration 4. compare / contrast Presentations In next week's lesson, we're going to start preparing for our presentations. In this lesson, you will be assigned a group and your group will choose your topic. We will also learn about presentation structure. If you miss this class, you will be responsible to get the information from your group about the lesson in the following lesson. Homework: 1. Discussion Preparation 2. Blog Post #7 Blog Question #7: Review the feedback on your discussion worksheet. What three points do you need to improve for your discussions? (If you were absent this week and didn't get your graded worksheet [or you lost your worksheet], you won't be able to answer this question.)
Hi everyone,
I was a little surprised that six students were missing from today's lesson. Please remember that attendance and participation are part of your grade. The more classes you miss, the lower your grade. Discussions: Once again, good work with your discussions in today's class. There's ben a big improvement in the explanation of your summaries and participation in your discussions. In today's class, you got feedback on these discussion strategies: 1. Follow-up Questions When someone makes a comment, you should ask follow-up questions. These questions ask for more information about the speaker's comment. For example: A: I went to Cebu for the Golden Week vacation. B: Sounds great. What did you do there? 2. Transitions Between the different sections of your discussion, you should use "transitional sentences" to connect these sections smoothly. You can use this expressions: a. Let's move onto my...
Homework: 1. Discussion Preparation 2. Blog Post #6 Blog Question #6: Do you think you have enough speaking time in our lessons? Why or why not?
Hi everyone,
What another busy class! I can't believe we're already half way through May! Discussions: Good work with your discussions in today's class. There's ben a big improvement in the explanation of your summaries and participation in your discussions. In today's class, you got feedback on these discussion strategies: 1. Showing Interest When you are listening, you need to show the speaker that you are paying attention. To show interest, you can use these expressions: a. Uh-huh b. Yeah. c. I see. 2. Encourage Comments In your discussions, you need to encourage your group members to ask questions about and/or give comments on the opinion's of other group members. You can use these expressions to increase participation: a. Do you have anything to add to (Natsumi)'s opinion? b. Any questions for (Natsumi)? Homework: 1. Discussion Preparation 2. Blog Post #5 Blog Question #5: What is your pet peeve?
Hi everyone, We had a really busy class today! I hope everyone enjoyed the Golden Week vacation. I went to Cebu in the Philippines. It was my second time, and I really loved it! If you would like to see photos, you can "friend" me on Facebook to see them. Discussions: Before our discussions, we reviewed Conversational Style. As you know, English conversational style is very different from the Japanese one. During a discussion, you can "jump in" at any time to ask a question or to make a comment. You don't have to wait to be invited to speak during a discussion. The handout from class is attached in a file at the end of this summary. For next week's discussions, remember these points:
Homework: 1. Discussion Preparation 2. Blog Post #4 Blog Question #4: FOR GROUP MEMBERS: Give yourself a score out of ten for your participation in today's group discussions. Why do you think you deserve this score? Give reasons and/or examples to support your answer. Example: In today's class, I would give myself a score of 8/10 for my participation. First of all, I asked my group leader when I didn't understand vocabulary. For example, I asked the group leader to tell me the meaning of "gun control" and "amendment." Second, I gave examples about Japan's gun control in the discussion. However, I didn't always make eye contact with all my group members, so this is something I need to improve next week. FOR GROUP LEADERS: Give yourself a score out of ten for your performance as a group leader. Why do you think you deserve this score? Give reasons and/or examples to support your answer. Example: In today's class, I was the group leader. I would give myself a score of 8.5/10 for my performance. First of all, I checked my group's understanding about 4 times during my summary. Also, I encouraged all my group members to participate. I asked them directly for their opinions and asked them to make comments the opinions of other group members. However, I forgot to do a pronunciation practice for my vocabulary, so I need to do this for my next discussion.
If you're interested in modern art, there is a wonderful exhibition called "All You Need is Love" at the Mori Art Museum in Roppongi Hills. The exhibition is by Yayoi Kusama, who is respected world-wide for her creative "dot" designs. It's a very rare chance to see her work, especially since she displays most of her work overseas.  Hi everyone,
We were very busy in today's class with our first round of discussions! Group Discussions: You did a good job with your discussions in today's class. Most of used opinion giving expressions and involved all of your group members. Great work! However, remember these points to improve your discussions next week:
Quiz #1: I returned your quizzes at the end of class. Most of you did really well. For our next quiz, make sure you review expressions for opinion giving and expressions for leading a discussion. Homework: 1. Discussion preparation (see schedule) 2. Blog posting #3 3. Study for Quiz #2 Enjoy your Golden Week! We don't have classes on May 2. Remember to come back to class on May 9. Blog Question #3: Agree or disagree with the following statement: I think the Japanese government should build more nuclear power stations.
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