津田塾大学オペン・スクール時事英語でディスカッションII・2/27 - societal roles, relationships & changes

Hello to my discussion students,

Image "The Exit" courtesy of Elwood W. McKay III/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

How are you? Thank you again for the lively discussion on the themes we've had so far!

Here are some things on what might be a quite wide topic - societal roles, relationships, and change. I had to search around for what might be the most interesting things to upload here, and while there is so much out there that we could build a whole course around this theme, I had to choose what I could. 

I also had to decide - do I stick with Japan, or cover topics related to this abroad as well? That was also a hard thing to decide, but having found the things I did from a number of places I decided to upload the best and most interesting. 

So here is our homework for discussion on the blog, and that may also perhaps give you some ideas on your final presentation topics. 

So first up is a short clip from Fox News in the U.S. about the effect Facebook may be having on marriage in the U.S.:

Here's a very different one on Muslim women and social change - a photo essay clip with some incredible images. While it will appear small on the screen shot below, it is quite moving and consists of the narrator's own photography:

Here's a longer, but equally-dynamic TED talk from a Vietnamese-New Zealander university student on social norms and social change:

These videos uploaded from YouTube. I do not own the rights to these videos. They are strictly for classroom use.

Watch each of these as many times as you like or need. Post comments to this blogpost about these, or send to my email address if you have trouble posting comments directly. 

Take care! See you next week!

KIFL WIT Discussion I - final post

Hello to my 1st and 2nd period discussion students,

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

おつかれさまでした！This is a simple message to all of you - thank you for your hard work this term. While I will not be with any of you who are continuing at KIFL in April, good luck with your studies and hope your classes are happy and rewarding ones. 

For those of you who are graduating - good luck to you in what you will be moving on to. 

Please take care! If you're on Facebook - friend me!

KIFL WIT Discussion I (1st & 2nd periods) - notes about 2/27 discussion final

Hello to all my discussion students,

Image "Teenage student discussing" courtesy of Ambro/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image "Teenage student discussing" courtesy of Ambro/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

How are you? Here are some notes about next week's discussion final exam (for 2/27).

When we get together, we will speak on a discussion topic for 10-12 minutes (10 minutes is best, but if you want to go on a little longer it's okay).

For topics, you can:r topics, you can:
1. Do a topic we have already done in the textbook and expand on it, or
2. Bring in your own topic that you can speak about 

We will get together in groups and/or pairs to do this - you can choose your group members or partners in advance, or do so when we get to the classroom.  

What I will look for:
Starting, moving on, and finishing a discussion all within your time. 

Many of you know how to start and even move on within a discussion topic, but finishing a topic sometimes still may be hard. Simply stopping talking is not finishing a topic. So to conclude a topic, here is what you can do:

Give a signal when the time is coming up to conclude the topic. Here are some examples:

Well, I'll finish by saying...
Let's finish/conclude by saying...
Let me finish (what I have to say) by saying...
I'll wrap up by saying...
Let's wrap up. Let's say that...
(Maybe) what we can say (about this) is...

There are other expressions to finish up a discussion, but these are some useful ones. 

So good luck! See you next week!

津田塾大学オペン・スクール時事英語でディスカッションII・2/20 - about employment: IQ test

Hello to all my discussion students,

Image "Business Meeting" courtesy of luigi diamanti/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image "Business Meeting" courtesy of luigi diamanti/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

How are you? This post is some follow-up homework to our lesson today. Watch it at home or wherever you can access a computer. It's fairly long and you can skip some of it, but it was still the best I could find after searching for some time. I was looking for something interesting that would fit tonight's theme, and this seemed to be the most unique I had come across. 

This is something some of you may be familiar with - though to be frank I'm not sure. It's an IQ test the American narrator of the video says is given in Japanese companies to new recruits. Never having worked for a Japanese employer in a business setting I have no way to know if this is really true - but I found this to be interesting and thought I should share it here.

This video uploaded from YouTube. I do not own the rights to this video. It is strictly for classroom use.

This video uploaded from YouTube. I do not own the rights to this video. It is strictly for classroom use.

If in fact this is true and even if it isn't - or is, but is not as you see it here - a few questions for you: 

1. Do you believe this kind of test has any merit? If so, how - and if not, why not?
2. If you have taken a test similar to this, how well did you do? 
3. Should there be tests such as these in companies? Why or why not? 
4. Does this kind of test call on thinking skills that are actually used in day-to-day work? 

*Update - I overlooked posting the rules of this test! My apologies. The rules come from the YouTube post I got this from (I will leave them in the original font and point size so you can see clearly): 

Mother can't be alone with either of the sons without the father present (Shaken baby syndrome).
Father can't be alone with either of the daughters without the mother present (Incest/pedophilia).
The thief can't be with any of the family members without the police present (Snatching your people up).
Only the mother, father, and police can operate the raft.
Only two people can be on the raft at once.

Watch, and post some comments about it to this blog post - or send to me at my email address (washizoraATgmailDOTcom) anytime between now and next Tuesday if you have difficulty uploading. I'll be interested to know what you think. 

See you next week!

KIFL WIT Discussion I (1st & 2nd periods) - 2/20 - talking about movies & TV

Hello to all my discussion students,

Image "Girls Watching Tv And Eating Fruit" courtesy of marin/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

How are you today? Today here's a post for both classes about movies and TV. 

What kinds of movies or TV shows do you like? Here are a couple of clips of movies and TV shows I have watched over the years. This first clip is the trailer for a recent movie called Argo, with Ben Affleck. 

Preview uploaded from YouTube. I do not own the rights to this video or the motion picture it came from. This is strictly for classroom use.

Preview uploaded from YouTube. I do not own the rights to this video or the motion picture it came from. This is strictly for classroom use.

Where does the story take place? What is Ben Affleck's role? Why do you think he goes to the places he goes to - the one in the U.S., then the one in the other country? Why do you think the people in the other country are trapped? What do you think will happen to them if they don't get out? 

This next one is a TV show I watched when I was younger called The Prisoner.  

Preview uploaded from YouTube. I do not own the rights to this video or the television series it came from. This is strictly for classroom use.

Preview uploaded from YouTube. I do not own the rights to this video or the television series it came from. This is strictly for classroom use.

From the opening sequence, when do you think this show was made? Where does this show take place? Why do you think they are after the main character? Why is he taken to the place they have taken him? What kind of a place is it? 

What are your favorite movies or TV shows? Let's do some textbook work - then let's talk about your favorite movies or TV shows!

Have fun!

津田塾大学オペン・スクール時事英語でディスカッションII・2/13 - about education

Hello to all my discussion students,

How are you? I have three short BBC videos for you about education in three different countries - Finland, India, and South Korea.

Let's watch one of the videos in class - as a class, you choose which one. Let's answer these questions after we watch:


1. Do you recognize anything of your educational experiences in any of these?
2. Which one of these is most like your experience?
3. Which one is the least like your experience?
4. If you could combine features of these experiences into a single system, which parts would you take from each country?

Here are the videos. This first one is about education in Finland:

This next one below is about India.

This last one is about South Korea.

All videos from the BBC uploaded from YouTube. I do not own the rights to these videos. They are strictly for classroom use. 

Homework
Watch the other two videos we did not see in class and make some notes about your impressions. Look at the questions above again. Post your impressions as comments to this blogpost. I'll be interested to read what you have to say and will value it greatly.

See you next week!

KIFL WIT Discussion I (2nd period) - 2/13 - talking about shopping

Hello to all my 2nd period discussion students,

Image "Shop" courtesy of Dino De Luca/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

How are you today? Today we'll talk about shopping. I have a video and activity for you connected with shopping. It's about two Japanese tourists in Frankfurt, Germany, at a flea market. 

Here's an activity for all of you!

First - watch the video with the sound turned off. How many items can you see in the video, and can you name them? In groups or pairs - or even by yourselves - who can name the most number of items you see? Let's try it!

Next - watch the video with the sound turned on. Now - how many items can you remember and say the names of? Have fun!

Uploaded from YouTube. I do not own the rights to this video. This is strictly for classroom use.

KIFL WIT Discussion I (1st period) - 2/13 - talking about jobs

Hello to all my 1st period discussion students,

Image "Businessman Running With Briefcase" courtesy of imagerymajestic/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

How are you? Today, we'll talk about jobs. What kinds of jobs are you interested in and if you have been looking for a job, what kind of luck have you had?

Let's talk about the kinds of jobs you've had, or have now, with a little textbook work. 

Let's also look at the preview below for a movie you might know - Catch Me if You Can. It was a Steven Spielberg movie with Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks and was based on a true story. Have you seen this movie? Let's watch the preview. We'll do an activity about it after! Let's have fun!

Preview uploaded from YouTube. I do not own the rights to this video or the motion picture it came from. This is strictly for classroom use. 

KIFL WIT Discussion I (1st period) - 2/6 - some open class short presentation images

Hello to all my 1st period discussion students (and anyone else who reads this!),

How are you? Today we had a period of short open class presentations on topics of
How are you? Yesterday we had a period of short open class presentations on topics of student choice. Above is one of the pictures of Tomoe Haga's talk on alcoholic drinks in various countries and areas. Good job Tomoe!

I am posting these to show what students like yourselves are capable of doing, and as a "thank-you" to all of you for your effort - especially in the terrible weather we had yesterday morning that made coming to KIFL difficult for many students. 
that made coming to KIFL difficult for many students. 

This next shot above is of Mana Inoue's talk on American-style diners. Very good - and it
This next shot above is of Mana Inoue's talk on American-style diners. Very good - and it makes me hungry! Here's another shot:
makes me hungry! Here's another shot:

Below is Shiori Nonaka's poster on Valentine's day customs in various countries and
Below is Shiori Nonaka's poster on Valentine's day customs in various countries and areas. Good job Shiori!
areas. Good job Shiori!

 

Finally - while I wasn't able to get any shots of it as it was Internet-based - thank you to
Finally - while I wasn't able to get any shots of it as it was Internet-based - thank you to Natsuki Sakurai for her talk on Japanese-influenced American animation. It was very entertaining!

Good job to all of you! See you next class! 
Good job to all of you! See you next class!

Cheers!

Cheers!

津田塾大学オペン・スクール時事英語でディスカッションII・2/6 welcome post

Hello to all my discussion students,

 

How are you? Welcome to my blog! On it I will post videos, pictures and other things for you to help you with your classroom discussion and add further to our topics and how we think about them. 

Look for what I post each week that will relate to what we do in our class. I will also post for you as support to your final presentations.

You can post comments here anytime, especially if you have a Gmail or any Google account, or if you use TypePad. 

I look forward to working with you in our class. Thank you for joining in! Feel free to browse around on the PC version of this blog anytime you like, or to check out the mobile version anytime you like as well. 

See you in class next week - and see you on this forum anytime!

KIFL WIT Discussion I (2nd period) - 2/6 - talking about jobs

Hello to all my 2nd period discussion students,

Image "Business Coaching Concept" courtesy of David Castillo Dominici/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

How are you? Today, we'll talk about jobs. What kinds of jobs are you interested in and what kind of luck have you had in looking for a job?

Let's talk about the kinds of jobs you've had, or have now, with a little textbook work. 

Let's also look at the preview below for a movie you might know - Catch Me if You Can. It was a Steven Spielberg movie with Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks and was based on a true story. Let's watch the preview. Have you seen this movie? We'll do an activity about it after!

Preview uploaded from YouTube. I do not own the rights to this video or the motion picture it came from. This is strictly for classroom use.