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Showing posts with label 英語基礎表現 I (Super A). Show all posts
Showing posts with label 英語基礎表現 I (Super A). Show all posts

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

ECA (英語基礎表現) I (Super A): 春期末作文

Hello!



How are you? Today I'll introduce our final writing assignment (期末作文).

You have a choice between two (2) topics. 

Write about a special person in your life or imagination who has inspired you, or 

Write about a special, real place you have been to - or a real place you wish to go to

This assignment is very important not only because it is our last one for this semester, but also because we are gathering your writing up for two collections.

One collection is called The Small Book of Big People. This is a collection about people who have made a difference in our lives - people in our family, or friends we have (had), or even famous people who have had a big impact in our lives.

The other collection is called Places & Traces. This is a collection about places that have special meaning to you, or your families. 

For example, the picture above is of my father. The child with him is me, when I was less than three years old. He is my "big person"! 

So how about you? 

About the writing
For whichever your choice is, you will write a 2-3-paragraph short piece. Write your final draft on Word. Write to the best you can - your writing can be uploaded to this site for people to see and read!

So take care! Have fun!  

Image: Personal photograph. All rights reserved.

Thursday, July 7, 2016

ECA (英語基礎表現) I (Super A): 作文3

Hello! 



How are you? Today I will show you our third writing assignmentexpressing an opinion on a timely topic or issue. You can do this on something you feel about to your classmates.  

Homework & guidelines
1. We will do this assignment in a unique way. 

For homework for next week (7/14)each student will think of some topic ideas for another student to write about. 

例えば:
Hanna thinks of some topics - Haruka has to write about one of those topics to Hanna.
Haruka thinks of some topics - Hanna has to write about one of those topics to Haruka.

We will do this with every student in the class pairing with another student, and thinking of some topic for each other to write about. 

2. In class next week (7/14) - all students will bring in their topics. Then each student will choose one of the topics another student gives him or her. Then in class, all students will write on those topics and be writers - and readers - of other students' opinions about those topics. 

Important note: All groups will also peer review their partner groups' writing!  

Themes and topics 
What themes can you choose from? What topics within them can you write about? What can you write about? Anything is okay! 

For example, the picture above is of a refugee boy in an asylum center in Germany - so one theme you could write about is on the issues of Middle Eastern refugees in Europe or elsewhere. Here are some other ideas - but you can think of other ideas of your own: 

  • News or political topics (Britain's vote to leave the EU, the future of Japan, etc.)
  • Things that can be improved about Seigakuin (classes, buildings, lunches, programs, etc.)
  • Social issues (ethnic minorities in Japan, LGBTQ people, hikikomori, etc.) 
  • The latest fashions and what you think are good - or bad
  • The latest music and what you think is good - or bad

Another important note: I will collect the best of this writing into a blog collection to be published - so write to the best you can! 

So good luck! See you next time!


Wednesday, June 22, 2016

ECA (英語基礎表現) I (Super A): 難民

Hello!



How are you? Today I would like to introduce a new topic about people in difficult situations - such as refugees (難民).

Look at the picture above. What is happening? Where do you think the people are going? Why are they on the boat and why are they leaving where they came from? Talk about this with your classmates. Make some notes about it.

Activity
Now do the same with these two following pictures. Who are the people in the pictures? What are they doing? Where are they going? Where might they be coming from? What are they feeling? What's your opinion of their situations? Make some notes in your notebooks about them.



See you next time!

Images: Top - By Alemaugil - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2956803/Boy - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Asylbewerber_-_15.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Asylbewerber_-_15.jpg/Boat - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Refugees_on_a_boat.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Refugees_on_a_boat.jpg
All images from Wikimedia Commons. I do not own the rights to these images. Uploaded for educational purposes only.

Wednesday, June 8, 2016

ECA (英語基礎表現) I (Super A): 作文2

Hello!



How are you? Today I will show you our 2nd writing assignment (作文2) - writing about people and places!

Your task - choose one (1) picture and write one (1) paragraph about it. I will look for three (3) things in your writing:
  • an interesting topic sentence
  • connecting sentences with and or but, or and with but
  • interesting stories (面白い話し) about the people and the places 
If you want to refresh yourself about how to use connecting sentences with and or but - click here for my blogpost about how to use these words! 

For example - look at the picture of the person at the top. What's your impression (感想)? What kind of life does this person have? What kind of place is this person in? What feeling do you get about the place? 

Think about questions like these! You can choose that top picture, or one of the next four pictures: 






I hope these are interesting for you. 

面白い話しを待ってます!See you next time!

Images: Top and man in street photos - personal photographs/Beach - "Arromanches" by Bulo78 - Own work. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0, via Wikimedia Commons/Couple - Woodstock couple by Burk Uzzle/image reproduced from file courtesy of Laurence Miller Gallery/laurencemillergallery.com/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 except Woodstock couple from Wikimedia Commons. All rights reserved. I do not own the rights to these images. All images uploaded for educational purposes only.

ECA (英語基礎表現) I (Super A): andとbutの使う

Hello!



How are you? Today we'll look at how to use and or but in sentences. 

How to use and 
We use and to connect short sentences when we have two or more of the same, similar, or continuing (続いて) conditions. 

例えば:The mountains are high. They are cold. 
             The mountains are high and cold. 

例えば:Many people in the past had hard lives. They had little money. 
例えば:Many people in the past had hard lives and little money.  
例えば:
How to use but
We use but to connect short sentences when we have two or more different, or contrasting (対比的) conditions.  

例えば:August days in Tokyo are so hot. The nighttimes can be much nicer. 
             August days in Tokyo are so hot, but the nighttimes can be much nicer.

例えば:I really want to go snowboarding this winter with my friends. I have no money.
例えば:I really want to go snowboarding this winter with my friends, but I have no money.

How to use and with but
We can use and with but in longer sentences where we have a gathering of same or similar conditions with a different or contrasting condition, or conditions. 

例えば:My university life is new. It is busy. I am making a lot of friends. 
例えば:My university life is new and busy, but I am making a lot of friends. 

例えば:The river is cold. It is deep when the winter snow melts. It is perfect for fishing. 
例えば:The river is cold and deep when the winter snow melts, but is perfect for fishing. 

Activity
Work with a partner or a group. Use and or but, or and with but, in the following sentences:

1. I went on a date. I had a great time. 

2. My class schedule is so busy. I have homework in every class. 

3. I try hard to do my math homework. I fall asleep every time.

4. He enjoyed his piece of chocolate cake. He felt sick later.

5. Yoshiyuki likes surfing in summer. He goes to the Shonan area whenever he can.

6. Misaki doesn’t like math. So does Haruka. They both enjoy English.

7. Yuko is taking a writing class. Her friend Mina is one of her classmates. The teacher makes them sit at separate desks in the classroom.

8. He was tired. He went to bed early. She stayed up late. She was sleepy in the morning. 

Have fun! 

Image: Personal photograph. All rights reserved.

Wednesday, June 1, 2016

ECA (英語基礎表現) I (Super A): 人物、場所を描写している

Hello!



How are you? Today, let's look at how to describe people in places

Look at the picture above. What words or ideas come to your mind when you see this picture? What do you see? What do you imagine it could sound like? How about smells? What feeling do you get about the people in this picture? 

Activity
With this picture, make a list of words or a list of ideas about it. 

Homework
Now take your word or idea list and write a short paragraph about it, using the words or ideas you wrote in your list. 

Have fun!  See you next week!


Image: By Steven Gerner - Flickr: Holi / Festival of Colors 2013, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29394145

Thursday, May 26, 2016

ECA (英語基礎表現) I (Super A): 場所を描写している

Hello!



How are you? Let's do some writing about places

Look at this picture of the ocean. 
What comes to your mind with it? What do you think of? How do you feel? What images do you get about the ocean? 

Homework
Look at these picturesLook at these pictures of places - the ocean at the top, and the other places below. 

Choose three (3) of these places, and write one (1) short paragraph about each place you chose. (You can choose the ocean picture as one of your places to write about.) 

What comes to your mind when you see these places? What do you think of? How do you feel? What images do you get? 

Write these short paragraphs in your notebooks. 




Mountain



Rainforest


Shrine


Greek ruins 
See you next time!

Images: Top - By Tiago Fioreze - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6111892/Mountain - personal photograph/Rainforest - By Makemake at the German language Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=63465/Shrine gate - personal photograph/Ruins - "Ancient Ruins In Delphi" (courtesy of thephotoholic)/FreeDigitalPhotos.net
All rights reserved on personal photographs. 

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

ECA (英語基礎表現) I (Super A): 作文1

Hello!


How are you? Today let's begin our first writing assignment (作文1) - writing about a gift

You have four (4) choices for writing about this assignment. You could write about:
  • the best gift you ever got
  • the worst gift you ever got
  • a gift you got for someone that became very special to that person
  • a gift that you still have or use to this day
Things to think about when you write:
  • what was it? 
  • who was it for? 
  • was it expensive? 
  • where was the gift bought? 
  • why was it so special - or so terrible? 
Think about all these things. Write 1-2 paragraphs, with 4-5 sentences in each paragraph, about it in your notebooks.  

Good luck! See you next week!

Image: "Magic Box" (personal photograph). All rights reserved.

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

ECA (英語基礎表現) I (Super A): Places & Traces

Hello!


How are you? In this post I'd like to show some more of your great writing, this time on places, for another collection I call Places & Traces - interesting and unique writing on interesting and unique places. 

A couple of you were drawn to this picture:


Here's what you wrote about it:

This is an uninhabited island. It looks beautiful, but it is empty. Nobody is here. There is only a ship! The ship is very old and rusted. In this island, there is the trace that somebody visited here.

Maybe, nobody could come back. Nobody can leave this island. Many specialists and adventurers were visited this island. But, they could not come back too! Were people who come to this island murdered by somebody? Or did they disappear into a time warp? I don’t know why! No one else knows either! The island that is full of wonder!

It may be a place of mystery! Now how about this one:

People are walking on the seashore. There are large puddles in the sand. There is also a very old ship and it is rusty. The ship had been drifting when water level was high, but it was left there when water level had dropped.

People look it and they think what happened there, who rode it, when came here. People go there in order to know them.

The rusty ship was formerly submarine and it traveled and saw under the sea all over the world. It saw a lot of sea creatures and sunken ships, and underwater ruins. The ship which was made more than a hundred years ago, contributed greatly to our oceanographic research.

The most surprised episode was to encounter mermaids. One day the crew found a town of mermen. The town was surprisingly beautiful and they lived so peacefully. They were astonished to see the submarine for the first time, but they were so curious and came closer to it. When they found there were human beings in the submarine, they played musical instruments, and danced and sang for them. There music was exquisite and the crew had never listened to such a marvelous melody in the human world. Mermaids were so beautiful that some crew fell into love with them.

There was a mermaid who could use magic. She enabled the crew to live with them, however the spell only lasted for a hundred years. The crew lived happily with mermaids but they all died when spell was gone out. Since the effect of the magic had disappeared, the submarine was washed up on the beach and it remains as it is.

Now that's incredible! 

Now - would you also like to know the real story behind this picture? Click on this link here to find out. 

Here's one more - a very moving one, based on this picture:



Every time I pass this street my feelings become bad. This street is called 77 street. It is small, narrow and very quite. There is not any traffic jam here so when you cross the street, you have to be careful, this street reminds me of a bad memory of my friend Takizawa, who was killed in a car accident on this street.
On May 25th 2015, after the school-year ending ceremony, we planned to have lunch at the restaurant that we usually ate after school. When we were on the way to the restaurant, I realized that there was trouble with the wheels on my bike, so I stopped to check what was wrong with it. He was riding in front of me and he didn't notice that my bike had problem so he kept going forward. When he nearly crossed the street, I yelled at him to wait for me. He then turned around to look back when he was crossing the street but he didn't notice that he was in the middle of the crossroad and that there was a car coming directly at him at high speed. The car crashed into his bike and he fell on the street. He was diagnosed with a bad brain injury and he had to go through surgery. After 5 hours of the operation, he didn't make it. I thought he was dead because of me so I was depressed. With time, I got over it but it's still a sad memory that haunts me for the rest of my life.
A moving story. 
I'm proud of the great effort you all put into this work. I'll look forward to seeing you in September to work on more great writing then. 
So see you then. Have a great summer!
Images: Top - personal photograph/Beach - "Arromanches" by Bulo78 - Own work. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0, via Wikimedia Commons/Street - personal photograph. All rights reserved on personal images.