聖学院大学ECA (Speaking) I & II (All) & II (J) - 最後のポスト

Hello to all my ECA students,

Image "Girl Showing Thank You Board" courtesy of Stuart Miles/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

おつかれさまでした！How are you? This is a simple message to all of you - thank you for your hard work this term. I hope to see you again in April, and I hope we can have some classes together again. 

Please take care! Have a great holiday from Seigakuin and I'll see you in April!

聖学院大学ECA (Speaking) II (All) - 1/28 ズビーキングテストについて

Hello to all my Speaking II (All) students,

How are you? I'm very sorry this post is late. Here are some notes for you for the speaking test on Monday (1/28). 

This is the schedule of your speaking groups and what times you come in. 

For Unit 12, here are some notes for you to refresh yourselves with on describing appearances (外観の描写して): 

For ailments and remedies (疾患、治療), remember things like these:

A: I have a headache.    
B: You should take something.

A: I have a toothache. IIIB: 
B: You should see a dentist. 
  （など）

For Unit 13, here are some notes for you. We didn't have enough time to go over this in class, so they will be quick: 

A: Can you sing? 
B: Yes, I can. (I sing (very) well.)

A: Can you draw pictures? 
B: Yes, I can (a little). 

A: Can you play the piano? 
B: No I can't. (Well, I try. But I play badly.)

他の: What can your mother/father/brother/sister(など) do? 
Well, he/she can...

For Unit 14, click on the link here to refresh yourselves about the language we used for the topics we did there. 

Good luck in the test. See you Monday! 

聖学院大学ECA (Speaking) I (J) - 1/28 ズビーキングテストについて

Hello to all my Nichibun students,

Image "Girl Showing Thank You Board" courtesy of Stuart Miles/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

How are you? Thank you for today about what happened in our class! We will be in our regular room on Monday (1/28) for our test. 

Here is the list of all your groups and the times you come in:

Here are some things for you to remember about the topics for the test:

Textbook Unit 5 - personal care and appearance
Here is some useful language for you: 

文法：some/any/much/many/a lot of
Do you use much soap? Yes, I use a lot.
Do you use much shampoo? No, I don't use much. 
Do you wear much makeup? No, I don't wear any. 
Do you have any hats? Yes, I have some. 
How about your sister? Yes, she has many.

someone/no-one/anyone
There's someone out there. 
There's no-one here. 
Is there anyone in the class who has red hair? No, there's no-one. 

Textbook Unit 6 - food and health

文法：food passion language/politely saying no to food
I'm crazy about pasta.
I'm a big chocolate lover.
He's addicted to ice cream.
My sister loves bananas.
I can't stand natto. 

Coffee doesn't agree with me.
She's on a diet (so she can't eat ________). 
I'm avoiding sweets. 
I don't care for sushi. 
My mother's allergic to chocolate. 

used to/didn't use to + 動詞
I used to eat pancakes, but now I don't.
He used to like hamburgers, but now he doesn't care for them. 
They used to love fish, but now they can't stand it. 
I didn't use to like vegetables so much (but now I love them). 

I hope these words, questions and grammar will help you. Good luck! 

See you Monday!

聖学院大学ECA (Speaking) I (All) - 1/28 ズビーキングテストについて

Hello to all my Speaking I (All) students,

How are you? These are the notes we made today about the topics for the speaking test. Here are some useful questions and replies for the events and time topic:

Here are some useful questions and replies for the clothes and fashion topic:

I think we have an idea about how to talk about the activities, chores and schedules topic - but check this link here to refresh yourselves. 

See you next Monday!

KIFL WIT Discussion 1 - 1/30 open topics preparation (Part 3)

Hello to all my 1st and 2nd period Discussion students,

Good (SPECIAL NOTE: All students whose names appear gave their permission to have their names shown.) 

(SPECIAL NOTE: Any students whose names appear gave their permission to have their names shown.) 

I decided to upload a third post for all of you - showing you some examples of student presentations and the styles they did them in. The shot above is a really good example of a poster presentation from students of mine at a university I taught at this year. Very simple, but well done. 

Here are some more examples: 

Here are some more examples: 

Another example from the same university. The students' theme in this class was the same - they had to research on marriage customs in different countries and cultures. This was a really good presentation - and spoken about very well. 

Here's another: 

Here's another: 

This is an example from KIFL - a final presentation from the Senka program. This student's topic was about the election we had here in December, and he did it in PP. Here are two more of his PP slides:

Here are some more examples of poster presentations. They come from a friend of mine who's a professor at Chuo University, in the law faculty. Take a look at these:



His class theme was immigration (people from other countries moving to Japan or Japanese moving to other countries). 

So as you can see, you have a lot of freedom as to what you can do. You only have 6-8 minutes, but you can be creative and interesting with your time and I would like to see you take some chances with these. 

So start preparing! Email me at washizoraATgmailDOTcom if you have any questions. 

Good luck - and see you next week!

KIFL WIT Discussion 1 - 1/30 open topics preparation (Part 2)

Hello to all my 1st and 2nd period Discussion students,

Image "Conference Room" courtesy of Pixomar/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

How are you doing? I hope you are doing well and will be ready for next week's open class presentations. In this special post, I have some useful expressions that you can use when speaking in your talk. 

Please read this! This will help you in your preparation.

SOME USEFUL EXPRESSIONS

Using these expressions is called signposting - using words and phrases that signal to the audience how you introduce your subject, how you go to the next part of your talk, and so on. 

1. Introducing your subject

Thank you for your time today. I'd like to begin by...

First of all, I'll...

Starting with this point, I'll...

I'll begin with...

2. Ordering points or parts

First(ly)...second(ly)...third(ly)...last(ly)...

First...then...next...after that...finally...

To begin with...later...to finish up...

3. Finishing one point and starting a new point 

We've looked at...(now) let's turn to...

And that's this point...now I'd like to show you...

From here let's look at...

4. Giving examples

For example...

To give you an example...

A good example is...

5. Concluding your talk
I'd like to finish by saying...thank you for listening today.

Let me finish by saying...thank you for your time today.

To sum up...and that's all. Thank you for listening.

You don't have to use every one of these expressions! But for each part of your talk, you should use at least one of these expressions as you go along.

Here is my email address - washizoraATgmailDOTcom. Email me if you need any help or if you have any questions.

Good luck! See you next week!

KIFL WIT Discussion 1 - 1/30 open topics preparation (Part 1)

Hello to all my 1st and 2nd period Discussion students,

Image "Presentation Word" courtesy of Stuart Miles/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

How are you? I'm very sorry I had a cold and was not energetic today, but I will be much better next week. 

As I said today, I would write a blog post about guidelines for your open class presentations for next week (1/30). Here are some points for you to think about.

GUIDELINES
1. Choose a pair partner or form a group (no more than 3 members!). 
1st period - you can do individual talks if you like.
2nd period - make pairs or groups.

2. Choose a topic (with your pair partner or group members). 
Make it something you can talk about with energy.
Make sure you are doing a different topic from your classmates!

3. Prepare a 6-8 minute topic that involves pictures and/or video.
You don't have to prepare Power Point - you can make a poster!

Special notes: If you don't want to do PP or a poster but want to use video or pictures from the Internet, you can use the display in the room and run pictures or video from the Internet through your Smartphones through to the display with a cable (you have to bring your own cable!).

Also - I also don't teach PP - so if you want to do PP but don't know how - then do not do it. Do another kind of presentation. 

This is a Part 1 post. I have more information for you in Part 2 - so look for it next! But look at this blog post as many times as you want or need to refresh yourselves!

Tell the students who were absent today about next week - and about this blogpost! 

KIFL WIT Discussion 1 (2nd period) - 1/23 talking about fashion

Hello to my 2nd period discussion students,

How are you? This is a re-post, with a little change, of what I posted last week for the 1st period students - they did this topic already. But this was one they enjoyed. So look at the picture of the suit above. What do you think of it? 

Now look at these different clothes and styles. What do you think of them? Let's talk about these. After you finish looking at these different images, select which one(s) you like the best, and why.

you like the best, and why.

1. 

2. 

3.

4. 

5.

6.

Now - what kinds of fashions have you seen lately are you interested in? What colors or 

What kinds of fashions have you seen lately are you interested in? What colors or materials do you know are "in" right now? Let's do the textbook unit on fashion - then let's talk about some fashion styles!

How are you? Look at the picture of the suit above. What do you think of it?

Clothes photo credits: Top image - "Business Suit" (courtesy of Suat Eman) 1. "Handsome Young Businessman" (courtesy of imagerymajestic) 2. "Beautiful Young Woman" (courtesy of posterize) 3. "Woman In Black Shirt And Jeans Skirt" (courtesy of marin) 4. "Young Handsome Man" (courtesy of marin) 5. "Fashion Model In Spring" (courtesy of posterize) 6. "Enjoy On Sunny Day In Park" (courtesy of Photokanok)

Clothes pictures from FreeDigitalPhotos.net

KIFL WIT Discussion 1 (1st period) - 1/23 talking about culture

Hello to all my 1st period Discussion students,

 

How are you? Today we'll look at culture as our topic. Look at the different greetings from different languages below. 

jó napot     xin chào     مَرْحَبً 
merhaba     guten tag   
merhaba     guten tag
 merhaba     guten tag

hyvää huomenta  dzien'dobry

hyvää huomenta            dzien' dobry

Which countries or languages do you think these greetings come from? Take some guesses! Then we'll look at the unit on culture in our textbook.

聖学院大学ECA (Speaking) I (All) 1/21 - cleaning - about the iRobot

Hello to all my Speaking I (All) students,
Hello to all my Speaking I (All) students,

Image "Maid Cleaning With Vacuum Cleaner" courtesy of stockimages/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

How are you? Today here's a video for you below about the iRobot - a machine that cleans your floors for you. This is a demonstration video - it shows you how it works and what you can do with it. 

Watch this - and tell me what you think of it. I'll also ask, and you answer, some questions about it!

芝浦工業大学Writing 1B – final post for you

Hello to all my Writing 1B students,

Image "Girl Showing Thank You Board" courtesy of Stuart Miles/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

How are you? This is my last post for all of you. I would like to remind you to finish up and send me your final proposal essays. I will still mark them and send them back to you for your future use. If you will become engineers in the future, you will do a lot of writing and being able to write in English will be a great strength for you. 

I don't know how good a teacher I was for you, but thank you for being my students and I hope you learned something from this class! I will teach writing more at my other university jobs and I hope that I will be a better and better teacher for writing in the future. 

If you need a refresher on how to format your writing, click on this link here. 

I am leaving Shibaura for Seigakuin University in April. So good luck to you in your Shibaura life and future careers! I wish each one of you the best.

聖学院大学ECA (Speaking) II (All) - re-post on "going to do" activity from Speaking I (All)

Hello to all my Speaking II (All) students,

Image "Schedule In An Organizer" courtesy of Stuart Miles/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

How are you? This is the re-post of the activity we did today (1/17) in our class. What order (順番) do you think these people are going to do these things? 
this routine of different people should go in? 
Look at these pictures and re-fresh yourselves on what you think is the right order! When you're finished, then write your own sentences in your notebooks about your order with the grammar we practiced today! Remember - this is your homework for next Monday (1/21)!
today!

例：She's going to wake up at 6. 

例：(他：She's going to wake up early in the morning.) 

などなど・・・

A.

B.

C.

D.

E.  

F.

G.

H. 

I.

Have fun with this!

A-I photo credits: A. "Business Meeting" (courtesy of Ambro) B. "Adorable Couple Watching TV" (courtesy of imagerymajestic) C. "Woman Asleep" (courtesy of Danilo Rizzuti) D. "A Cheeseburger Isolated" (courtesy of Grant Cochrane) E. "Businessman Running With Briefcase" (courtesy of imagerymajestic) F. "Drive" (courtesy of graur razvan ionut) G. "Drinking Coffee" (courtesy of Ambro) H. "Preparing For Dinner" (courtesy of imagerymajestic) I. "Bedroom" (courtesy of winnond)

All pictures from FreeDigitalPhotos.net

聖学院大学ECA (Speaking) I (All) 1/17 - routines activity

Hello to all my Speaking I (All) students,

Image "Schedule In An Organizer" courtesy of Stuart Miles/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

How are you? Today let's do an activity with routines. What order (順番) do you think this routine of different people should go in? 
this routine of different people should go in? 
Look at these pictures and try to work out the right order! When you're finished, then try to talk about this routine - "First, this person..." and so on.
person..." and so on.

A.

B.

C.

D.

E. 

F.

G.

H. 

I.

Have fun with this!

Photo credits: A. "Business Meeting" (courtesy of Ambro) B. "Adorable Couple Watching TV" (courtesy of imagerymajestic) C. "Woman Asleep" (courtesy of Danilo Rizzuti) D. "A Cheeseburger Isolated" (courtesy of Grant Cochrane) E. "Businessman Running With Briefcase" (courtesy of imagerymajestic) F. "Drive" (courtesy of graur razvan ionut) G. "Drinking Coffee" (courtesy of Ambro) H. "Preparing For Dinner" (courtesy of imagerymajestic) I. "Bedroom" (courtesy of winnond)

All pictures from FreeDigitalPhotos.net