電気通信大学 AWE II: Narratives in pictures・絵の語り物

Hello!

How are you? Today, let's look at how art can tell stories. 

Let's look at the two very different paintings above. 

The one at the top is called Young Girl Reading, and is by the 19th-century French artist Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot. The painting below it is called La Femme aux Phlox (Woman with Phlox) by Albert Gleizes, an early 20th-century French artist. 

Corot's painting is an example of a style called realism (写実主義). It tried to show everyday life the way it was lived by everyday people almost in a documentary style. But Gleizes' painting is very different - it is an example of a style called cubism (キュービズム). It tried to show people, objects, and nature from different angles and directions all at once - for example, showing a 3-D object like a table at every possible angle on a flat, 2-D surface. 

The most famous realist artist was Gustave Courbet, and the most famous cubist artist was Pablo Picasso.   

Activity/pre-class preparation

Let's look at these paintings above. Which one do you like? What impression (感想) does each one make on you? What kind of feeling do you get from each one? What do you see in the figures, places, and situations in each painting? Make a few notes for yourself about each one. 

Most importantly - what kind of story do you imagine each painter is trying to tell about their subjects in the pictures? Talk about what you think with your classmates!

Write 2-3 paragraphs about which one you like better, and why! Bring in next week on 12/8!

Have fun with these! See you next time! 

Images: Top - Young Girl Reading by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot - National Gallery of Art, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11497975/La Femme aux Phlox (Woman with Phlox) by Albert Gleizes - http://armory.nyhistory.org/woman-with-phlox/PD-US, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40048817/Both images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

電気通信大学 AWE II: Gustave Courbet・ギュスターヴ・クールベ

Hello!

How are you? Today I have given you a handout - a reading about the 19th-century French artist Gustave Courbet. This is his picture above.

This painting is one of his greatest works, The Stone-Breakers. It was first exhibited in 1850 in Paris, and it caused shock and outrage over its unsentimental depiction of peasant life.

This is another of the paintings he exhibited that year and that also caused a deep and negative reaction - A Burial At Ornans:

Activity
Read the handout with your classmates and look at the paintings as you read. Both of these paintings are mentioned in the handout as key to understanding Courbet and his work. You can click on the images to make them larger. 

What do you think of these paintings? He supported workers' rights and allied himself with social causes. Do you believe that he was able to effectively tell the kind of story he wanted in them? 

I hope you find these interesting. 

See you next time! 

Images: Top - By ナダール - The photo can be found at http://www.stellaweb.ch/nadar/pg/courbet.htm. The portrait was taken by Nadar. Spots in the image have been retouched., パブリック・ドメイン, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=51505/The Stone-Breakers - By Gustave Courbet - The Yorck Project: 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei. DVD-ROM, 2002. ISBN 3936122202. Distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=149656/

A Burial At Ornans - By Gustave Courbet - Google Art Project: Home - pic Maximum resolution., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20250332

電気通信大学 ASE II: Refugees & places・難民と場所

Hello!

How are you? Today let's look at refugees (難民) and the places they come from - and where they may go.

Activity
Look at the following four pictures. What are they doing? Where are they going? Where might they be coming from? 

One thing they all have in common is that they can't live in the places they come from any more. What are some reasons why they have to leave where they come from? Moreover, what might be they feeling about leaving?

Most importantly - what's your opinion of their situations? Make some notes in your notebooks about them.

See you next time!

Images: Top - By © MONUSCO/Sylvain Liechti, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32470185/Boy - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Asylbewerber_-_15.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Asylbewerber_-_15.jpg/Man with passport and children - by Alemaugil - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2956803/Boat - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Refugees_on_a_boat.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Refugees_on_a_boat.jpg/People on grounds - "Evstafiev Travnik refugees" http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Evstafiev-travnik-refugees.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Evstafiev-travnik-refugees.jpg
All images from Wikimedia Commons. 

東京理科大学 A英3: 5th writing assignment supplemental notes & pictures・作文5の附記、イメージ

Hello! 

How are you? Here are some supporting pictures you can use to help you with ideas for your writing in  the 4th writing assignment (作文4). 

Remember that you are writing about a cause-and-effect situation. Could any of these pictures help you to imagine (思い描いて) some kind of cause-and-effect situation? 

For example - look at the picture above. What kind of place is this? The building itself feels like the name on the sign - it also is an old building. But imagine further - who comes to this place, and what happens here? 

So look at these pictures below. Choose one (1) and imagine some kind of cause-and-effect situation. 

I hope these pictures can help you with your writing by giving you ideas and feelings. Good luck! 

See you next class!

Images: Top - personal photograph/Wedding - "The Exit" (courtesy of Elwood W. McKay III)/Glass on carpet - "Spilled Glass Of Wine On A Carpet" (courtesy of Mister GC)/Woman in car - "Asian Woman Have A Headache" (courtesy of tiverylucky)/People on river - personal photograph/Wedding, glass, and woman photographs from FreeDigitalPhotos.net/All rights reserved on personal photographs.

東京理科大学 A英3: Writing assignment 5・作文5

Hello!

How are you? Today I will introduce our 5th writing assignment (作文5) - writing about a cause-and-effect (原因結果) situation involving people. While I have given all of you the handouts abut the assignment, I will post it here as another way to remind all of you about what you can do. 

Topic

Write a story – imaginary (想像上のストーリー) or real – about a cause-and effect (原因結果) situation with people or things.  

How much to write

I would like you to write as much as you can, so around 4-5 paragraphs' worth of writing. 

Deadline (締め切り)

This is a unique assignment, because we will do this completely in class today!

Guidelines

You will see two stories that go with the handout I have given you in class. They are based on stories involving cause-and-effect from other students. I would like you to read these stories. They can give you ideas on how you can imagine cause-and-effect situations. 

Important note:

To help you with ideas, the next blogpost after this one has some pictures of people and situations that might give you ideas of cause-and-effect situations. Look at them and you can use them to help you with your writing.

Then write out a first draft (下書き) today in your notebooks in pencil. Write to your own pace – but if you finish first, look around for anyone else who is also finished. Get together with that person and read your writing to that person, then let the person read his or her story to you.

If you can, give a little advice to the person about his or her writing. Let the person also suggest some things to you too. You can then change things about the draft as you need to, then write to the finish in class and turn in your work. 

I will then select what I see to be the best writing and ask those of you I select to then type up your writing to hand in to me. I will then publish (出版する) the best stories! I will tell you about a different deadline then. 


Good luck with this! I hope you can have fun with this way of doing a writing assignment. 

I look forward to reading your great writing on this topic! 

See you next time!

Image: Personal photograph. All rights reserved. 

電気通信大学 AWE II: Citing, quoting, & referencing in academic writing・書き、作文の引用と参照

Hello!

How are you? As promised, here are the slides for the presentation today on citing, quoting, and referencing in academic writing. 

The slide above is the title slide. Now here are the rest of the slides. Look at these to refresh yourselves on this important point of academic writing: 

I hope these can help you. Good luck - and take care. See you in two weeks!

If you go to the student festival - have a good time!

Images: Screenshots of personal Power Point slideshow. All rights reserved. 

電気通信大学 AWE II: Supplemental notes (Part 2) - topic sentences・附記「話題文書」

Hello!

How are you? Here is a quick post about topic sentences. These are important for setting up from the beginning what you are writing about, and showing the reader what your topic is. 

Topic sentences

Good written compositions should have a topic sentence that tells a reader about the main idea of a paragraph-level composition. Good topic sentences have a strong, clear topic that has focus to it.

Weak (弱い): High school in Japan is three years, but in Australia it is six years.

Strong: High school in Japan contrasts with high school in Australia where the former (Japan) is three years in length, while the latter (Australia) is six years in length and combines junior and senior levels of secondary education.

They also have an opinion or idea about the topic.

Weak: High school in Germany is different from high school in Japan.

Strong: German high schools offer a level of rigor (厳重なレベル) that may be tougher overall than that of Japan, but may lack in the social orientation that Japan is strong for.

Note

Good topic sentences should not be too broad (that is, too much to write about). For example:

Weak: Elementary schools in Japan and China have interesting points.

Strong: Elementary school in Japan have features that stimulate children’s imaginations, while Chinese elementary schools are geared towards children’s first steps in socialization.

I hope these examples can help you in your writing. Good luck! 

Image: Personal photograph. All rights reserved.