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.

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!

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

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

おつかれさまでした！How are you feeling? You did a great job today in your poster 
おつかれさまでした！How are you feeling? You did a great job today in your poster presentations and I'm very proud of you all. Take a look at this poster above!

So I would like to upload some shots of your posters here, to show anyone who sees these what you are capable of doing. (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 this one:
Let's take a look at this one:

Good job there! Check this one out: 
Good job there! Check this one out: 
Good job there! Check this one out: 

Good job there! Check this one out: 
And these ones too: 
Good job there! Check this one out: 

Let me upload some more on a follow-up post! Good job to you all!

Let me upload some more on a follow-up post! Good job to you all!
Let me upload some more on a follow-up post! Good job to you all! See you on the next post right after this!

芝浦工業大学Writing 1B – final proposal essay formatting & marking

Hello to all my Writing 1B students,

How are you? While I had said the post for you before would be my last one, I decided to make one last post for all of you. This post is very simple - it's about how you should format your writing on your final proposal essay, and how I will mark it.

FORMATTING
Look at this picture carefully. It shows you how I would like you to format your essays:

So first, write your name in romaji on top, with your student number on the next line. Drop down two spaces, then put the title of your essay in the center (do not put it in bold - put it in regular!). Drop down one space, then start your first paragraph. 

Drop down one space after you finish your first paragraph, then start your second paragraph. 

MARKING
Here's a picture guide of how I will mark your final essays, and what the markings mean: 

I will write positive comments on your essays! Please don't worry. But I will make notes on what you could be better on. 

Here's a link to the blog post you saw today about writing a proposal. 

I will look forward to reading and marking your papers. Send them to me by file attachment in an email.

Good luck! See you next week. We will fill out the survey (アンケート) in our last class!

芝浦工業大学Writing 1B 1/11 – expressing an opinion & writing a proposal final essay (Part 2)

Hello to all my Writing 1B students,

Image "Back To School Text On Back Head" courtesy of koratmember/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Happy New Year! How are you after the holidays? I hope you could have a good time and relax.  

Let's look at how to write a proposal (企画書)! This is important - the end of our class is very close - so look at this blogpost as many times as you want or need.

STEPS
1. We have looked at how to write an outline, with supposting reasons. Now how can we make a proposal to act on our opinions? Here's our example of a topic sentence, with supporting reasons (and signal words), from our class on 12/21:

Vending machines at Shibaura should serve fruit and other healthy snacks. I will give some reasons for this opinion.

To begin with, fruit and healthy snacks give students and teachers more energy because they are made of natural sugars that the body can take in more easily. In addition, they make people less tired and this helps them to keep going longer through the day. They are also often low in fat and calories, because doctors often recommend fruit, for example, to people who are trying to lose weight. Finally, they are often cheaper than chocolate and soda and easier to throw away in the garbage because they are often not in wrappers or containers.

How can we propose an action to do something about this? Let's go to the next step!

2. Write some ideas about some actions the university can take. For example:

Shibaura can search out contractors that supply fruit and healthy snacks.

Shibaura can search out contractors that supply fruit and healthy snacks.

The university can put posters around the campus about healthy eating habits.

The university can put posters in the buildings and around the campus promoting healthy eating habits.

A club could be started that promotes healthy snacks. It could have a display during the school festival with fruit-based snacks and healthy desserts.

haihabits and has a stand or display during the festival with fruit-based snacks and
The school could let students who buy healthy snacks from vending machines show proof that they bought these snacks. It could give them discounts in the campus co-op.

3. Now use signal words, plus add a few more supporting reasons, and put these action ideas into paragraph form. These two paragraphs - the topic sentence paragraph with supporting reasons plus the actions paragraph showing what you think Shibaura should do - put together, will make your proposal essay. 

If you want to refresh yourselves again on how to write an outline, click on the link here to the blogpost about outlines and supporting reasons from December 21st!

I will not tell you what to do from here. It is now up to you to build up your ideas! Once again - look at this blogpost as many times as you want or need!

See you next week in our last class! Work hard on your final essays - and good luck!

芝浦工業大学英語総合1B - final presentations about love & marriage in other countries & cultures for 1/15 - useful presentation expressions

Hello to all my Eigo Sogo students,

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

How are you doing with your presentation preparation? I hope you are doing well and will be ready for next week's final presentations. In this new post, I have some useful expressions that you can use when speaking in your poster presentation talk. 

This will be my last post for all of you - so please read this!

SOME USEFUL EXPRESSIONS

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

1. Introducing your subject

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

TMFirst of all, I'll...

TMStarting with this point, I'll...

TMI'll begin (today) with...

2. Ordering points or parts

TMFirst(ly)...second(ly)...third(ly)...last(ly)...

TMFirst...then...next...after that...finally...

TMTo start/begin with...later...to finish up...in the end...

3. Finishing one point or part and starting a new point or part

TMWe've looked at...let me (now) turn to...

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

TMFrom here, let's (now) look at...

4. Giving examples

TMFor example...

TMTo give you an example...

TMA good example (of this) is...

5. Concluding (finishing) your talk

TMI'd like to finish (up) by saying...and thank you for listening today.

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

TMTo 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 the expressions above as you go along in your talk.

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!

芝浦工業大学英語総合1B - final presentations about love & marriage in other countries & cultures for 1/15 - Part 2 repost

Hello to all my Eigo Sogo students (again!),

How are you? This is another repost from December for you, with a few changes. Look at the picture above. It is the schedule of what we have left for this semester.

REMEMBER: You will have to make your posters with your group members outside of class and have them ready for the final poster presentations on January 15th!

This is the kind of paper you should get and how big it should be:

This next picture is how you should lay out your poster:

You should have the title in large dark letters on the top, with the names of your group members below it, in smaller letters.

Check this blogpost as many times as you want or need! If you have any questions - email me at: washizora AT gmail DOT com

See you on January 15th!

芝浦工業大学英語総合1B - final presentations about love & marriage in other countries & cultures for 1/15 - Part 1 repost

Hello to all my Eigo Sogo students,

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

This is a repost from December as a reminder to all of you about some more guidelines about presenting, plus some important information for you. This is important - so please read the whole post. 

Take a look at this post as many times as you want or need this week, whenever you have a chance, as a way to get yourselves ready for the final poster presentations day on January 15th. 

Now let me show you some more guidelines. 

SOME MORE GUIDELINES
Here are some board notes from another class I taught at a college last year. In that class, the students also did final poster presentations. These notes are some important points for you to remember.

1. Look at the picture above. Putting key words and phrases on index or note cards, in order, can help you to remember the most important points of your talk. 

2. Now look at this picture above. It's not only important to know words, but how to say them. 

2. It's not only important to know words, but how to say them. 

*You also have to fact-check information. You don't have to know everything - but you have to show responsibility for what you know, and what you don't know! 

3. In this picture above, this last point is really important. It's hard to research in Japanese and then present in English - and research in English and present in Japanese. So - research in the language you will present in. For this class, since you'll present in English...which language do you think it would be better to research in?

*Now - refresh yourselves about some more important points on preparing presentations at this link from the blogpost from December 11th.

ONE MORE IMPORTANT NOTE AND REMINDER!
All of you in your groups must be self-directed and finish these posters on your own. You must have them finished, and be ready to present, on January 15th!

Please check this post, and the next one after it, and take a look at them as many times as you want or need. 

See you on final poster presentations day - January 15th!

芝浦工業大学英語総合1B - final presentations about love & marriage in other countries & cultures for 1/15 (Part 2)

Hello to all my Eigo Sogo students (again!),

How are you? I decided to make one more quick post for all of you today before we go on our holiday. Look at the picture above. It has the schedule of what we have left for this semester, both today and after the holiday.

REMEMBER: Shibaura starts again on January 7th, so you will have to make your posters with your group members outside of class and have them ready for the final poster presentations on January 15th!

Now look at this next picture about what kind of paper you should get and how big it should be:

Now look at this next picture. It shows how you should lay out your poster:

You should have the title in large dark letters on the top, with the names of your group members below it, in smaller letters.

Click to see the Part 1 post I showed you this morning here.

ANOTHER NOTE: As I said before, I will repost the Part 1 post on January 7th, plus upload a new post then. I will also repost this post on January 7th. I will give you as much support as you need outside of class!

Check this blogpost as many times as you want or need!

I will make no new blogposts between today and January 7th, so have a happy holiday and a great New Year!

芝浦工業大学英語総合1B - final presentations about love & marriage in other countries & cultures for 1/15 (Part 1)

Hello to all my Eigo Sogo students,

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

I know you are looking forward to a holiday break from Shibaura and I do not expect you to work on these projects over the holiday. But here I will post for you some more guidelines about presenting, plus some important information for you. This is important - so please read the whole post. 

Take a look at this post as many times as you want or need, whenever you have a chance, over the holiday. I'll remind you of all this when Shibaura starts again in the first week of January. 

SPECIAL NOTE ABOUT CLASSES IN JANUARY
Some of you showed me that in January, there would be Tuesday classes on January 5th (Saturday). I checked on that - there will be no Eigo Sogo classes on January 5th, or even on January 8th (Tuesday). January 8th is a day off at Shibaura. So - the next time we will meet will be the final poster presentations day - January 15th. 

Now let me show you some more guidelines. 

SOME MORE GUIDELINES
Here are some board notes from another class I taught at a college this year. In that class, the students also did final poster presentations. These notes are some important points for you to remember.

1. Look at the picture above. Putting key words and phrases on index or note cards, in order, can help you to remember the most important points of your talk. 

2. Now look at this picture above. It's not only important to know words, but how to say them. 

2. It's not only important to know words, but how to say them. 

*You also have to fact-check information. You don't have to know everything - but you have to show responsibility for what you know, and what you don't know! 

3. In this picture above, this last point is really important. It's hard to research in Japanese and then present in English - and research in English and present in Japanese. So - research in the language you will present in. For this class, since you'll present in English...which language do you think it would be better to research in?

*Now - refresh yourselves about some more important points on preparing presentations at this link from the blogpost on December 11th.

ONE MORE IMPORTANT NOTE AND REMINDER!
When Shibaura starts again on January 7th (Monday), we will not have Eigo Sogo classes on January 8th (Tuesday). So - all of you in your groups must be self-directed and finish these posters on your own. You must have them finished, and be ready to present, on January 15th!

I will re-post today's blogpost, plus make a new post with some more information, when Shibaura starts back in the first week of January. Please check for both posts and take a look at them as many times as you want or need. 

Have a great holiday and a refreshing break from Shibaura. See you on final poster presentations day - January 15th!

芝浦工業大学Writing 1B 12/21 – expressing an opinion & writing a proposal final essay: outlines and supporting reasons

Hello all Writing 1B students,

Image "Notes" courtesy of healingdream/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

How are you? Here, I'll show you a step-by-step guide as to how you can develop your final essay.

STEPS
1. Make an outline (あらすじ). Here's a good example:

ToTopic sentence: Vending machines at Shibaura should serve fruit and other healthy snacks.

RcReasons: Fruit and healthy snacks give students and teachers more energy.
RcReasons: They make people feel less tired.
RcReasons: They are often low in fat and calories.
RcReasons: They are often cheaper than chocolate or soda.

2. Develop your reasons by adding more information, with signal words. For example:

To begin with, fruit and healthy snacks give students and teachers more energy because they are made of natural sugars that the body can take in more easily.

In addition, they make people less tired and this helps them to keep going longer through the day.

They are also often low in fat and calories, because doctors often recommend fruit, for example, to people who are trying to lose weight.

Finally, they are often cheaper than chocolate and soda and easier to throw away in the garbage because they are often not in wrappers or containers.

3. Put these reasons with supporting information into paragraph form. For example:

To begin with, fruit and healthy snacks give students and teachers more energy because they are made of natural sugars that the body can take in more easily. In addition, they make people less tired and this helps them to keep going longer through the day. They are also often low in fat and calories, because doctors often recommend fruit, for example, to people who are trying to lose weight. Finally, they are often cheaper than chocolate and soda and easier to throw away in the garbage because they are often not in wrappers or containers.

From here, you can now start developing your proposals (企画書) in January!

Check this blogpost out as many times as you want or need to refresh yourselves on this writing! See you in 2013! Have a great holiday!

芝浦工業大学Writing 1B 12/21 – expressing an opinion & writing a proposal (Part 2)

Hello to all my Writing 1B students!

Image "Business People In Discussion" courtesy of Ambro/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

SPECIAL NOTE: Thank you to anyone who came to the makeup lesson (補講) last Saturday (12/15). I know many of you were busy and could not come, but for those who did - thank you so much!

Today, I will repost what part of the lesson from last Friday (12/14). I know we did not get so far last week, so let's do this in today's class. For this lesson, we don't really need our textbooks.

LESSON
Expressing your own opinion about something - look at this topic idea:

Expressing your own opinion about something - look at this topic idea:

Something that could be improved at this campus of Shibaura.  

Something that could be improved at this campus of Shibaura. 

Now what do you think of things at Shibaura - such as the student activities and clubs, classes, professors, food and drink services, or other things you can think of? Could anything be better here? What would you do or suggest to change things?

Begin writing some ideas, because we will now start a short paper about them. In the paper, you will make a proposal to change what you think should be changed on campus.
here.ere. Share your ideas with others in the class.
ACTIVITY
Share your ideas with others in the class! Write an email to a classmate - cc me - and share your ideas with him. He can do the same - he can share his ideas with you too.

Make an outline (あらすじ) about what you think could be made better here at this campus. Type them up on the Word document you've saved. We'll go over them in January - and I will show you how to develop your ideas into a small, short paper.
January - and I will show you how to develop your ideas into a small, short paper.

See you in 2013! Happy New Year - and I hope you have a safe and relaxing holiday!

芝浦工業大学英語総合1B - final presentation preparation about love & marriage in other countries & cultures

Hello to all my Eigo Sogo students, 

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

How are you? My apologies once again on getting the dates wrong on the schedule! We will meet next week (12/25) - and then not again until January 15th (1/15)!!

We have done homework on this topic of love and marriage, and have begun researching it. Now we'll go to the final part - turning our research into final presentations about marriage customs in the countries and cultures you have researched.

These presentations will be different for two reasons: 
1) As I've mentioned before, each group will make a poster presentation about the countrys' or cultures' marriage customs they chose. 
2) The presentations will be like our final exam, so there will be no final paper test in this class. We'll present these in class on our final exam day of January 15th (1/15), so this will be like our final exam.

SOME GUIDELINES
Each group will need one (1) A1-size sheet of plotter paper (プロッター用紙). As you may know, you can get this paper from the campus co-op - one sheet costs 150 yen.　

While I know many of you have been researching already, and have gathered some interesting pictures, make the pictures big - make them A4 size - or print them out again at A4 size. Have 2-3 of these pictures on your plotter paper sheets.

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



These posters come from a series of poster presentations my Chuo friend's students did in his global issues class. Their theme was immigration - both of people from other countries moving to Japan or Japanese moving to other countries. Here's another:

  

Take a look at these in detail. Make the pictures of the posters larger.
Take a look at these in detail. Make the pictures of the posters larger. This may give all of you ideas about how you can design your final presentation posters. I have a few other examples of poster presentations I can show you too.

See you in class on final presentation day - January 15th! 

芝浦工業大学英語総合1B 授業日付の間違いました

Hello all my Eigo Sogo students,

How are you? My apologies to all of you - I'm very sorry. Next week (12/15) we will be having classes!!

I made a mistake in the schedule. So here's our real schedule - 12/25 is our final class. 1/15 is our final poster presentation day.

I'm very sorry about this mistake. So - see you next week!

____m (_  _) m____

Thank you!

芝浦工業大学英語総合1B 12/18 - love & marriage focus: Cretan mantinades

Hello to all my Eigo Sogo students,

Image "Ancient Ruins In Delphi" courtesy of thephotoholic/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

How are you today? The picture above is of an ancient Greek ruin. Today we'll look more at the wedding customs of one of the Greek islands, Crete, and their tradition of the mantinades - the love songs of Crete.

Check out this video below of a modern mantinade. It's a little long, so listen to it for only around two minutes or so:

What do you think? Let's do a quiz about the mantinades in class - but it'll be a different kind of quiz. It'll be in the form of a board game. Let's play it and generate answers to the questions on it!

芝浦工業大学Writing 1B 12/15 補講 4限時間の間違いました

Hello to all my Writing 1B students,

How are you? I made a mistake today in class. The time for the makeup class (補講) tomorrow (Saturday) is from 2:40-4:10.

I'm very sorry about this! It's my mistake. Hope to see you then!