東京理科大学 A英3: Final writing assignment support post (Part 3)・期末作文のサポート(Part 3)

Hello!

How are you? Here is a third support post for any students who are interested in doing opinion writing for the final writing assignment (期末作文). 

You can take your ideas from the news - either from TV, or the internet, or newspapers or magazines - and you can base your topics on anything - politics (政治), society (社会), sports, movies, music, and so on. 

Task preparation

When writing your opinion, follow these guidelines:

First, show the issue or problem and where you first saw it or heard about it - on TV, the internet, radio, in the newspaper, and so on.   

After that, show what impact the issue or problem has or is having in Japan - with a certain type of people (for example, older people, or university students, or workers, or children, and so on), or in a certain area (the Tohoku, Okinawa, the Kanto, and so forth), or in a certain field or industry (companies, shops, schools, universities or other parts of the economy). Try to find out and show details (詳細) where you can. 

Finally, bring in your opinion of the issue or problem - what do you think of it, and what solution (解答、答え) would you propose for it - if you feel you can propose a solution or answer to the problem or issue? 

You do not have to do a big or heavy topic if you don't want to! Here are some ideas for you if you can't think of any on your own. Choose one (1) of these: 

• Voting (投票権) age - in Japan, it is 20. Should it be lowered to 18 years of age, as it is in many countries? 
• Tattoos - in Japan there is a big taboo (禁物) against them. But do you think they are really a big problem? 
• Smartphone access and use among children - this has become a big issue lately. Is it okay for children to get access and use smartphones, or should there be an age restriction (制限)? 
• Foreign immigration (移住) to Japan - this has also been a big question lately. Should Japan allow some numbers of immigrants (移民) to come in to help increase the numbers of workers?   

Good luck! I hope these ideas can give you something to write on if you can't think of what to do for our final assignment.

Take care! I look forward to reading your great writing on this task.

See you next week!

Image: By Louis Moeller - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30508393

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・3/13 - second round final presentations

Hello to all my discussion students,

By 鄭 若曾 [Public domain, Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons 

How are you? My apologies for the lateness of this final post to all of you. The shots I sent from my Smartphone on Wednesday night somehow did not get processed by the server, so I did not receive them. 

I tried again yesterday and got only a couple of the photos I took. Unfortunately, none of the shots of Chie's presentation have still arrived. So as to not keep things delayed any further, I decided to post this anyway, with some things and comments of my own added. Again, I'm sorry for the delay and hope that you catch this post.

Here I will show a few of the images that did come in from the second round of your great presentations from our final class. 

The image at the top of the post is from a 16th century Chinese map of the Ryukyu Kingdom to illustrate Rumi's presentation on the Senkaku Islands dispute. Here is a little more from her presentation:

My apologies for this picture not being shot perfectly - I took this from her handout! Here's another: 

Good job to you, Rumi, for this! I don't see how easily this dispute will get resolved, though for the sake of peace and security I hope some kind of agreement on both sides will be reached. 

Similarly, Chiharu gave an excellent presentation on certified products for consumer goods. Here's another image:

That our everyday shopping can make a difference is wise, indeed! I think a lot of people have known about these labels for awhile, but I think many still don't know that major commercial producers and vendors are getting on board with this initiative. I certainly didn't know that Meiji and the other big confectioners are now putting these labels on their products. It's a major breakthrough for those who have pushed for these labels to be on these everyday products to convince the big companies to put them on there.

Here are my comments on Chie's presentation on Japanese students and the recent trends on their rates of study abroad (again, my apologies for not receiving the shots I took form the server to show here):

As I mentioned in the last class, while commentators may feel younger people are turning inward, I still think the greater factor is economic. The money for studying abroad is not there the way it used to be, and coupled with what I feel is an inflexibility on the part of employers that results in pressure on university students to rush into the job market in advance of the jobs actually being there and before they know what they really want to do in terms of a career path, we have a situation where the kind of growth in young people that is often made possible by exposure to foreign cultures is bypassed. I feel this forces young people to lower their horizons and look inward, and it's not a situation I think is healthy for Japan in the long run when Chinese and Korean students are making their way abroad and returning as changed people for the better from their experiences. 

Overall, I thank all of you for making this short course a rewarding one for me as a teacher. I hope I could create an atmosphere for all of you where, if you came away with  something worthwhile and encouraging for any further desire or need for an enhanced ability to discuss and present in English, then I will feel I have done my job. 

Thank you so much, and good luck in any future career plans or paths you have. 

おつかれさまでした！Take care!

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・3/6 - first round final presentations

Hello to all my discussion students, 

Peter Pantzer & Sven Saaler: Japanische Impressionen eines Kaiserlichen Gesandten. Karl von Eisendecher im Japan der Meiji-Zeit. München 2007. [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

How are you today? To begin with, thank you for the first round of presentations from last night. I was very excited to see what you could do and will give my reactions here. 

I've found, and posted a picture above, of Sir Ernest Satow as a way of illustrating Tsuyoshi's presentation last night. Very interesting and illuminating. 

My remarks about Oliver Cromwell may not be accurate, however; here's the to the Japanese Wikipedia article on Cromwell: http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/オリヴァー・クロムウェル (for some reason, it will not let me do an embedded link with this URL, so I have pasted the URL here). But I still believe Ernest Satow's stance on the constitutional and diplomatic questions of the shogun's status as a head of government and state of Japan may have been informed by his own country's history, and experience, with Oliver Cromwell. 

Here are the selected shots of Haruka and Makoto's presentations on same sex marriage. Again, very illuminating and courageous for tackling what is an uncomfortable subject for a number of people:

For the both of you (and really, for anybody in the class), here's a link to a fascinating debate that took place this week in my home state. On it is both the excerpt of the debate, and the full debate, between a gay Catholic blogger/journalist and a Christian minister on the question of civil unions for same-sex couples in American society. It is lively and incredible. 

When you get a chance, I recommend either of you to watch the full debate (only when you get the chance - it's long!). 

I'll look forward to seeing the second round of presentations next week. Take care!

See you then!

KIFL Global Studies - final presentation preparation for 12/5 presenters

Hello to all my Senka students,

Image "Woman in Kitchen With Laptop" courtesy of ambro/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

How are you? I have some links and other things for those of you who are presenting on 12/5. Do not rely completely on these - they're resources that you should supplement with research of your own. But I hope these can help you.

Daisuke - here's a Japan Times editorial piece about the dangers of raising the consumption tax. Check this out as well - it's an analysis of the Diet vote to raise the consumption tax. Somewhat in-depth, but is a good analysis of the political value of the decision by the government. 

Saori - check this blogpost about the numbers of Japanese living abroad and a comparison with Westerners living in Japan, and possible reasons why. A little dated, but good nonetheless. Also take a look at this - another blogpost about the challenges Japanese face when relocating abroad. Also a little old, but still relevant.

Miki - this article is a few years old, but has a list of Japan’s main trading partners. Here's also an easy-to-ready article about why nations trade with each other. Also check this out - it's a PDF with charts about future sea trade routes and partnerships.

Yoshi - take a look at this article from the Japan Times about the secrecy around the execution of those on death row in Japan. Also take a look at this, from the Asia-Pacific Human Rights Information Center on the political response to the recent review of the death penalty in Japan. This is their website. 

Eisuke - here is a speech at Hiroshima University about the present situation and future possibilities of education in Japan. And go to this American blogpost about the relationship in Japan between education and democracy for the future.

I have tested all these links from here and they worked at the time I wrote this blogpost!

Good luck on these, and again I hope they help you.

See you next week!