東京理科大学 A英1: Interesting sports・面白いスポーツ

Hello!

How are you? Today, let's look at some interesting sports in some different countries. 

Activity/homework 
Watch these videos, and answer these questions in your notebooks. 

First - here's a video of a popular sport in Ireland called hurling. What do you think of it? It's a very fast sport - so watch it more than once! What other sport is hurling like? 

Now answer this question: What skills do you think you need for hurling? 

Next - here's a sport some of you may have heard of from Thailand - muay thai. What do you think of it? It's also fast - so watch the video more than once! What other sports is muay thai like? 

Now answer this question: What skills do you think you need for muay thai?

Finally - this is a sport I watched as a child in Australia - Australian rules football. What do you think of it? It's another fast sport - so watch it more than once! What other sports is Australian football like? 

Now answer this question: What skills do you think you need for Australian football? 

Have fun! See you next time!

Image: By Flickerd - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=63288605
Videos uploaded from YouTube. I do not own the rights to the videos. Uploaded for educational purposes only. All rights reserved to the copyright holder(s).

電気通信大学 AWE I: Describing places & showing preferences・場所・位置の描写、お好み

Hello! 

How are you? Today, let's look at how to describe places and show preferences (お好み) between them. 

Activity/homework
1. Look at these pictures. Choose 2-3 of the pictures and describe the places in them. You can also use the picture of the pink house at the top of the post. 

Describe these points - the locations (位置) you believe they are in (for example, the U.S., Africa, Southern Europe, and so on), the kinds of climate and weather you believe they have, the kinds of lives the people living there have (including what kinds of jobs you believe they might have, and so on), plus any other details you can imagine.  

2. Now - which kind of place would you like to live in, and why? 

1.

2. 

3. 

4. 

5.

6. 

Have fun! See you next week!

Images: Top - "Pink House, Perfume River, Hue, Vietnam, August 2015 Number 2" (personal photograph)/1. "Beautiful Sunset" (courtesy of Photokanok)/2. "New York Times" (courtesy of Antoine Henrich)/3. "Cotton Field" (courtesy of scottchan)/4. "Kinkakuji Temple, Kyoto, Japan" (courtesy of Worakit Sirijinda)/5."Old Timber Barn" (courtesy of Poulsen Photo)/6. "Traditional Village" (courtesy of Witthaya Phonsawat)/All attributed images except top image from FreeDigitalPhotos.net/All rights reserved on personal photograph 

ECA (英語基礎表現) II (P): 面白いスポーツ

Hello!

How are you? Today let's look at some different sports in different countries. 

First - here's a video of a popular sport in Ireland called hurling. What do you think of it? It's a very fast sport - so watch the video more than once! What other sports is hurling like?

Next - here's a sport some of you may have heard of from Thailand - muay thai. What do you think of it? It's also fast - so watch the video more than once! What other sports is muay thai like? 

Finally - this is a sport I watched as a child in Australia - Australian rules football. What do you think of it? It's another fast sport - so watch it more than once! What other sports is Australian football like?

Activity/homework 
Watch these videos, and answer these questions in your notebooks:

1. What equipment and skills do you think you need for hurling?
2. What equipment and skills do you think you need for muay thai?
3. What equipment and skills do you think you need for Australian rules football?

Have fun!

Image: By Hmlarson - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26330634/from Wikimedia Commons.

Videos uploaded from YouTube. I do not own the rights to the videos. Uploaded for educational purposes only. All rights reserved to the copyright holder(s).

ECA (Speaking) I (All): 面白いスポーツ

Hello!

How are you? Today let's look at some different sports in different countries. 

First - here's a video of a popular sport in Ireland called hurling. What do you think of it? It's a very fast sport - so watch the video more than once! What other sports is hurling like?

Next - here's a sport some of you may have heard of from Thailand - muay thai. What do you think of it? It's also fast - so watch the video more than once! What other sports is muay thai like? 

Finally - this is a sport I watched as a child in Australia - Australian rules football. What do you think of it? It's another fast sport - so watch it more than once! What other sports is Australian football like?

Activity 

Get together in a group or with a partner. One person choose one (1) video and watch it - then describe (描写して) to your groups' members or partner what is happening in it, how the sport is played, and so on. 

Then when you're finished - the group members or partner watch(es) the same video and check if the person's description (描写) is right! Give points to the person for the best description. 

Have fun!

Image: By Hmlarson - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26330634/from Wikimedia Commons.

Videos uploaded from YouTube. I do not own the rights to the videos. Uploaded for educational purposes only. All rights reserved to the copyright holder(s).

ECA (英語基礎表現) II (Super A): ホテル

Hello!

How are you? Let's think about and write some notes on hotels! 

Warmup/activity
Which hotel would you like to stay in? Let's look at some pictures of different hotels.

This is the first one - the Marina Bay Sands Hotel in Singapore:

1. 

What do you think of this hotel? 

Now this one is very different - an English village house made into a country hotel: 

2.

What do you think of it? 

How about this one - a motel on the beach:

3. 

What do you think of this place? 

What about this one? It's a tropical resort in Thailand:

4. 

Would you like to stay here? 

Now - think about all these different hotels and places. Which one would you like to stay in? Write two (2) sentences about the hotel you like. Give some reasons using because. 

例えば：
I want to stay in hotel #2 because it is very quiet, and looks comfortable and peaceful. I think I can get some good rest in this hotel. 

Have fun!
Photo credits: 1. "Marina Bay Sands Hotel in Singapore" courtesy of posterize/2. "Typical English Village House" courtesy of Stuart Miles/3. "Motel 

Images: Top - personal photograph/1. "Marina Bay Sands Hotel in Singapore" (courtesy of posterize)/2. "Typical English Village House" (courtesy of Stuart Miles)/3. "Motel on the Beach" (courtesy of Aleksandr Kutsayev)/4. Image "Tropical Resort in Thailand" (courtesy of nuchylee)/all images except top photo from FreeDigitalPhotos.net/all rights reserved on personal photograph.

ECA (Culture) B: 性別と文化 「タイの結婚式」

Hello!

How are you? Today I would like to show you a video on marriage customs (各国結婚の風儀、文化). We will look at marriage customs in Thailand.

Marriage customs are a point in studying and understanding gender and culture.

This video is long (13 分!), but it has interesting points about a Thai wedding.

Activity/homework
Please watch and take notes about this wedding ceremony (結婚式). How is the man dressed? How about the woman? What are some things they do? How about the guests? What are they wearing?

Make notes in your notebooks about these and other points. You can make notes in English or Japanese. Bring these notes to the next class.

I hope you find this video and topic interesting.

See you next time!

Image: "Blessed Water At Thai Wedding" (courtesy of bigjom)/FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

Video uploaded from YouTube. Uploaded strictly for classroom use. I do not own the rights to the video. All rights reserved to the copyright holder(s).

ECA (英語基礎表現) II (Super A): hotels

Hello!

How are you? Let's think about, and write some notes, on hotels! 

Warmup/activity
What kind of hotel would you like to stay in? Let's look at some pictures of different hotels.

1. This is the first one - the Marina Bay Sands Hotel in Singapore:

1. 

What do you think of this hotel? 

2. This one is very different - an English village house made into a country hotel: 

2.

What do you think of it? 

3. How about this one - a motel on the beach:

3. 

What do you think of this place? 

4. What about this one? It's a tropical resort in Thailand:

4. 

Would you like to stay here? 

Now - think about all these different hotels and places. Which one would you like to stay in? Write two (2) sentences about the hotel you like. Give some reasons using because. 

例えば：
I want to stay in hotel #2 because it is very quiet, and looks comfortable and peaceful. I think I can get good rest in this hotel. 

Have fun!
Photo credits: 1. "Marina Bay Sands Hotel in Singapore" courtesy of posterize/2. "Typical English Village House" courtesy of Stuart Miles/3. "Motel 

Images: Top - "Hotel Room" (courtesy of Evgeni Diner)/1. "Marina Bay Sands Hotel in Singapore" (courtesy of posterize)/2. "Typical English Village House" (courtesy of Stuart Miles)/3. "Motel on the Beach" (courtesy of Aleksandr Kutsayev)/4. Image "Tropical Resort in Thailand" (courtesy of nuchylee)/All images from FreeDigitalPhotos.net

週1・2・3 特別ポスト - ECA (英語基礎表現) I (Super A): answers to your pre-teaching survey questions

Hello to my Super A students!

How are you? Here I will try to answer your questions from your pre-teaching surveys.

One student asked me what Japanese food I liked. Well, I like many Japanese dishes, but my favorite one might be unagi. I love unagi! I love the richness of the sauce for it, and the softness of the meat. But it's expensive, and high in calories, so I don't eat it so much. Once in a while, however, I like to have it!

The same student also asked me what surprised me about Japanese culture and customs the first time I came here. Well, I think it might have been how people take any chance they can to take their shoes off. I knew that people took their shoes off at home, but I didn't know that people also sometimes took their shoes off in restaurants. That surprised me! In the U.S., you don't do this, and anybody who did take their shoes off, even under the table, would get very strange looks from people.

This student also asked me this question: "If you got much money you can't use out, what would you use (it for)?" That's an interesting question I didn't expect! I guess what the student means is what I would do if I didn't have enough money to go out somewhere. (I hope that's what this person means!)

Hmm…I think that if I didn't have enough money to go somewhere, but maybe had a little to spend on something, I would rent a DVD of a movie I really like, cook a nice meal, then watch the movie at home.

Another student asked me if I had been to China. I am sorry to say that I have not been to China, though I now know some people from there and would be interested in going. This student also asked if I had been to Thailand, because I had a picture from there on my welcome blogpost.

Well, I am also sorry to say that I have not been to Thailand. The picture on my welcome post was from the Internet. One time, I looked around on the Internet for pictures of different greetings (挨拶) from different cultures, and I found the one from Thailand. I thought it was a great picture, very charming, of Thai people greeting each other in the typical wai, which is common in Thailand. I wish I had taken this picture!

One other student also asked me if I liked Japan, and what kind of place here I liked, and didn't like. Well, I have lived here now for 17 years, so it's home to me anymore! As far as places I like here, I have to say that Tokyo has always been a world in itself here. It has so many parts to it that are unique, and that I can explore with imagination.

As far as other parts of Japan I like, I have to say I also like the Karuizawa area in summer. It's very comfortable and relaxing. I also like the coastal and beach towns along the JR Yokosuka line going down to Kamakura, like Zushi and Hayama. I feel that I'm really on the Pacific Ocean in those places, and I like being near the coast. I come from Idaho in the U.S., and it's landlocked, with no ocean. So I love being near big water!

For places I don't like…well, I find Omiya to be mostly uninteresting. I like Urawa so much better, because it has more character to it. I also have to say that I don't like Tsukuba in Ibaraki so much, because I lived there for six years and it was kind of boring. Whenever I had a chance, I would go to Kashiwa in Chiba, or Tokyo. Kashiwa is a nice small city I moved to and lived in for three years after I got married and left Tsukuba.

One more student asked me how old I was, and where I was from. Well, I was born in California in the U.S. in 1962, so I am now 52 years old. (I just had my birthday on April 8th!) I lived in Australia for nine years, from when I was almost three years sold until I was almost 12 years old, then we moved back to the U.S., to Idaho, in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S. I went to junior high school and high school, then later university, in Idaho.

Finally, one more student asked me if I was a Christian. Well, I am not a church-going one, so I'm afraid I'm not one to ask about the Bible. But here at Seigakuin, there are many people who are very knowledgable about the Bible, and whom students can ask many rich and interesting questions to.

That's all for now! Please keep your questions coming! At any time, please feel free to post comments and questions.

See you in class!

週7・8 - ECA (英語基礎表現) II (Super A): 比較対照

Hello to all my students, 

Image "Sydney Opera House At Night" courtesy of Susie B/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

How are you? Today, let's look at comparison and contrast (比較対照) between different places. 

Look at these pictures. Which kind of place would you like to live in? 

1.

2. 

3. 

4. 

5.

6. 

Where would you like to live? Which place would you not like to live in? 

Have fun!

Image credits: 1. "Beautiful Sunset" (courtesy of Photokanok) 2. "New York Times" (courtesy of Antoine Henrich) 3. "Cotton Field" (courtesy of scottchan) 4. "Old Timber Barn" (courtesy of Poulsen Photo) 5. "Colorful Palace of Pena Landscape View in Sintra, Portugal (courtesy of artur84) 6. "Traditional Village" (courtesy of Witthaya Phonsawat)/All images from FreeDigitalPhotos.net 

週6 - ECA (Survival English): 中間プレゼンテーションについて (Part 2)

Hello to all my students, 

How are you? The picture above is of me giving a presentation at a conference (研究会) back in May. I was nervous - but I also had a lot of fun! 

This is another post about your mid-term presentations (中間プレゼンテーション). You will do these in the 8th week (週8). I will show you some more examples of poster presentations, with a little more information.  

Guidelines (指導基準)
特別: We'll do our presentations in class in our 8th week, so this will be like an exam - so it's important to work with classmates you like! 

Let's do poster presentations. This is what you need:

1) Your group will need one (1) A1-size sheet of poster paper. You can get this paper from a store that sells pens, paper and notebooks. One sheet costs 105-120 yen.　

2) Make the pictures big, to A4 size. Have 3-4 of these pictures on your posters.

Your layout should look like this: 

Your title goes at the top, with your names under the title. 

If you click here (ここにクリックしてください), you can see the examples of poster presentations I showed you in October. But here are some more examples of presentation posters: 

Look at these. Make the pictures on the posters bigger. 

準備しましょう！Have fun!

週5 - ECA (Survival English): 海外のホテル

Hello Survival English students,

Image "Hotel Room" courtesy of Evgeni Diner/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

How are you? Let's talk about hotels! 

Activity
What kind of hotel would you like to stay in? Let's look at some pictures of different hotels.

1. This is the first one - the Marina Bay Sands Hotel in Singapore:

1. 

What do you think of this hotel? 

2. This one is very different - an English village house made into a country hotel: 

2.

What do you think of it? 

3. How about this one - a motel on the beach:

3. 

What do you think of this place? 

4. What about this one? It's a tropical resort in Thailand:

4. 

Would you like to stay here? 

Activity
Talk about all these different hotels and places! Which ones would you like to stay in? Which one(s) do you recommend to your classmates? 

Homework
Find 2-3 pictures of a hotel in another part of Japan or in another country. Bring the pictures to the next class and show them. Talk about why you would like to stay at this hotel. Find out how much a room costs per night, what kinds of things there are at this hotel (swimming pool(s), restaurants, gym and so on), and what sightseeing (観光)   spots there are in the area of the hotel.

Have fun!
Photo credits: 1. "Marina Bay Sands Hotel in Singapore" courtesy of posterize/2. "Typical English Village House" courtesy of Stuart Miles/3. "Motel 

Other photo credits: 1. "Marina Bay Sands Hotel in Singapore" (courtesy of posterize)/2. "Typical English Village House" (courtesy of Stuart Miles)/3. "Motel on the Beach" (courtesy of Aleksandr Kutsayev)/4. Image "Tropical Resort in Thailand" (courtesy of nuchylee)/All images from FreeDigitalPhotos.net

芝浦工業大学英語総合1B - final presentations poster shots (Part 2)

Hello to all my Eigo Sogo students,
Hello to all my Eigo Sogo students,

おつかれさまでした once again!
おつかれさまでした once again! Here's another post on your poster presentations from today (1/15). (Special note: All students whose names are on the poster shots gave their permission to me to show their names.) 

Let's take a look at some more of these, like the one above, and this one:
today (1/15). Let's take a look at some more of these.

Here's another one: 
Here's another one - a one-person poster: 
Here's another one: 

Check this out - they covered two separate sheets of plotter paper for their presentation!
Check this out - they had two separate sheets of plotter paper for their presentation!
Check this out - they covered two separate sheets of plotter paper for their presentation!

Here's one more:

Here's one more:

Here's one more:

Really great job from all of you. I was impressed with those who spoke very well and used the points of language from my last post for all of you. Many of you went from one point to another in your talk very well.

I will miss having you as students, as I am leaving Shibaura after this week to start a new full-time job at Seigakuin University in April. So good luck to all of you in your Shibaura life and careers after university. 

And goodbye to all of yoImage "Girl Showing Thank You Board" courtesy of Stuart Miles/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

And goodbye to all of you. Take care - and good luck!