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Welcome!

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

特別ポスト - ECA (英語基礎表現) I (Super A): 1st writing assignment: places and travel experiences/作文 1:場所と旅の経験

Hello! 



How are you? Today I'd like to publish some examples of your writing, and I'd like you to read these and post comments about them. What do you think of them? 

Here's the first one:




I love the picture of Times Square in New York, because I heard from many of my friends who went there that there is a nice and amazing place. They show me some pictures of that place.

I think that is a bright place and it have many peoples who go visit it. Since am young I loved visit a nice place like Times Square. I want to take many pictures from there and post it on my Facebook page.

Last year I heard from my friend who went there that the place is going to be more and more nice than before.my dreams is to go there one day, once going there I want to visit many shopping malls, many build and make many friends from there. That’s why I am trying my best to save money to realize the dream.

That's great! Let's see another one:


In Japan, we enjoy street festival in summer. The festivals are local and the scales are not big. But there are so many shops that sell something eat like kakigori, shaved ice, and serve the places to play some funny games like kingyosukui, scooping gold fish. We often go to the festivals with our friends during the summer vacation.

When I was an elementary school student, a street festival was held nearby my school. I participated in the festival as a member of the brass band gathered by the music teacher in my school. We wore the same costumes and marched down the central street of many shops. We were so nervous at first because each of us had had no chance of being paid attention to. But, as we started, we enjoyed and felt the time we played too short.

Playing the instruments, we were caught in rain unfortunately. But the people who enjoyed the festival did not move. They listened to we play to the very end. We were loved by citizens in our city. As soon as we finished playing, we ran to the tent where our baggage was. As we wiped the instruments, our teacher said, “Our performance is a great success!” A sense of achievement delighted us so much. The experience is so nice that I will never forget it though I do not play the trombone now and I have not seen the members for the long time.

I think that we felt happy when we realize that someone pays attention to us. That is why I think performances are necessary to get confidences. Street festivals are also nice to give the chances to express ourselves. And these are essential places to enjoy familiar games and foods and to communicate with our neighbors.   

That's a great one too! Now read this one:


I have been to The Great Wall. My impression was grand. It is a symbol of China. It starts at the Jiayuguan through Gansu province in the west and ends at the Shanhaiguan in Hebei province in the east. We call it “The Ten-thousand Li Great Wall” in Chinese.

The Great Wall has a history of more than two thousand years and it is too long to get to the top of it. Lots of beautiful legends and stories about The Great Wall took place following along the construction in the past. These stories indicate that it is the production of Chinese commoners.

Nowadays, every year people from all over the world to visit it. When I think of The Great Wall, I feel proud of my country from the bottom of my heart.

Now that is a great piece about the Great Wall! Now here's another one about it:

I lived in Shanghai, China for more than eight years until summer of last year. I have already been to Hangzhou, Anhui, and so on. But I have never been to Beijing before. It means I have never been to the Great Wall. Although Shanghai and Beijing are in the same country, those two places have a long distance. The Great Wall is the symbol of China, which is why it is famous in the world. It has a great history of China so that I must visit there and feel the history of China at least one time in my whole life. I think a long time ago people were very strong and I admire them because they made such a wall by handmade by using a lot of time and people. Also, a lot of people were died when built this wall so this wall is made up by so many lives. 

We must protect this wall and do not to waste their lives. I am busy now because of university and part time job. So I am going to earn a lot of money and I want to go the Great Wall with my friends in the future.

Fantastic! Let's look at this one:


I want to go to a tropical island. I want to relax, because I am very busy now. So I want to see the beautiful sea and landscapes. I think that I am impressed by the innocence of the beach! I was impressed to see the scenery! I want to go here! I want to swim in the beautiful sea. I think that a heart is settled down to the fragrance of the beach and a sound to wave. I want to enjoy while relax. It is good to be alone, but thinks that it is good I go with a friend, and to play. I want to do beach volleyball and fishing! I do the beautiful sea front and want to live a self-sufficient life. I want to look at the beautiful sea while sitting down all day on the beach. I want to live relaxed life! The light blue that the color of the sea is transparent and the white that the beach is beautiful. In the island, plants grow thick in an uninhabited island. Fruit grows, and animals live. I never go here, because the once is enough, the sea wants to go to the beautiful place! I want to see the scene which solar light reflects in the sea. I love beautiful landscapes! I want to certainly go when I become an adult. 

That sounds like an incredible place to be!

This is what I hope will be Part 1 of our collection of your great writing. I'd like to gather up more to make a Part 2. So keep sending me your writing! 


See you next time!


Photo credits: Top photo: "Colorful Puppets On A Market Stall In Kathmandu, Nepal" (courtesy of think4photop)/Times Square: "New York Times" (courtesy of Antoine Henrich)/Japanese street festival: "Street Festival, Hakone" (personal image)/ Great Wall: "Great Wall Of China" (courtesy of cescassawin)/Tropical island: "Cloud Reflection At Dusk" (courtesy of samuiblue)/All attributed pictures from FreeDigitalPhotos.net 

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

週8・9 - ECA (Speaking) II (All) - 買い物: フリーマーケット

Hello to my Speaking II All students,


Image "Shop" courtesy of Dino De Luca/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

How are you? I have a video for you. It's about two Japanese tourists in Frankfurt, Germany, at a flea market. 


Homework

1. Watch the video. How many things can you see in the video? Can you name them? Write down in your notebooks all the things in the flea market you see.


Uploaded from YouTube. I do not own the rights to this video. This is strictly for educational use.


2. Now which things at this flea market would you buy? Talk about these things!

Have fun! See you in class!

特別ポスト - ECA (英語基礎表現) I (Super A): Describing animals/動物を描写している

Hello to all my Super A students,


Image "Australian Sunset" courtesy of mapichai/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

How are you? Let's learn how to describe animals (動物を描写する)! 

Below is a video about an animal that may be extinct (絶滅種) now. A few members were still found alive in the 1930s in Tasmania, the island off the southeastern coast of Australia. It was called the thylacine, but sometimes it was also called the Tasmanian tiger.


Video uploaded from YouTube. I do not own the rights to this video. 
It is uploaded strictly for educational purposes.

It was not a tiger at all - it looked like a dog. But it was also not a dog - it was a marsupial (有袋動物), related to the kangaroo. Like kangaroos, it carried its babies in pouches under its stomach. The last known thylacine died in 1936, and this video shows a short film clip of it.

There are some people who believe that it may still be alive now, and in Tasmania, there are people who have reported seeing some thylacines in the wild - but scientists have no proof.

Activity/homework
Find an example of a unique or interesting-looking animal - any kind is okay - in Japan or another country. Find 1-2 pictures of it - and write a paragraph with 4-5 sentences about it. Here's what to write about:

Name of animal
Where it lives 
Diet (what kind of food it eats)
How big or small it is, and what color(s) it is
Relationship to humans (is it dangerous to people? Can it be a pet?)
Any other unique points about it (the kind of place it lives in, relationships with other animals, etc.)

Have fun, and see you next time!