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!

週6 - ECA (Speaking) I (C, W, & A): 過去について：Hokkaido summer

Hello to all my Jido, Ningenfukushi, and Obei speaking students,

How are you? Today I will tell you about a trip I took to Hokkaido two years ago. 

First, we went to Sapporo. 

We walked around Sapporo. This was me in front of the old Sapporo City Hall (元札幌市役所).

We went to Hokkaido University. This was me. The sign says "Boys be ambitious" (ボイズ・ビ・アンビシャス). 

We took the train to Otaru. The man with the hat and backpack is my father-in-law (義理お父さん). We walked around many places in Otaru!  

This is my wife. We were so hungry! She wanted to eat everything. We ate a lot of great food in Otaru. 

We drank some great beer in Otaru. This was a big glass!

We went back to Sapporo and walked around more. My wife got very hot and we sat down. We were tired, but happy!

Activity
Let's draw some pictures of a holiday you had or a special place you went to. Then, let's talk about it with each other in class. 

See you next class!

特別ポスト- ECA (Speaking) I & II (C, W, A, & All): first speaking practice posters (Part 2)/スピーキング練習1ポスター(Part 2)

Hello to all my speaking students!

How are you? Here is Part 2 of our posters from last week. Take a look at this one above. Isn't it great?

Here are some more of your wonderful and interesting posters. Take a look at them and see how good your work is. I'm very proud of your hard work on these. You can feel the same way too!

I have enjoyed and loved these posters. We'll do more like these soon. 

Take care! See you next class!

特別ポスト- ECA (Speaking) I & II (C, W, A, & All): first speaking practice posters (Part 1)/スピーキング練習1ポスター(Part 1)

Hello to all my speaking students!

How are you? In this post, I would like to show some of the great posters you made for last week's speaking practice on the themes of health and happiness, and directions to your favorite places. I was very happy with your posters, and proud of all of you who did them.

Please let me show the great work that you did!

My photograph was not the best shot of this poster, but I hope everyone can see the great work in it!

Here are some more wonderful health and happiness posters. Please enjoy them!

Now, here's a couple of great posters on directions to your favorite places. Check these out!

This is Part 1. Look for Part 2 to come tomorrow!

See you then!

週6 - ECA (英語基礎表現) I (Super A): Describing people & their feelings/人物、気分を描写している

Hello to my Super A students,

Image "Old African Man" courtesy of africa/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

How are you? Let's learn about how to describe people and their feelings (人物、気分を描写する).

Activity/homework
Look at these pictures. Write about the people in these pictures. The picture at the top of this post is an example (例えば) :

This person has a long, curly white beard. He's older and smiling. He looks happy.

Now try to write some extra details about his clothes (洋服がさらに細かい描写): 

He's wearing a cream-colored hat and shirt with a white t-shirt underneath. 

Now add something at the end about his feeling (気分): 

He looks happy.

So, your description (描写) can look like this: 

This person has a long, curly white beard. He's older and smiling. He's wearing a cream-colored hat and shirt with a white t-shirt underneath. He looks happy. 

Try with these other pictures! 

1.

2. 

2. 
3. 

3. 

4.  




5. 

6.

7. 

8.

9. 

Have fun!
Photo credits: 1. "Beautiful Young Woman" (courtesy of posterize) 2. "Preparing For Dinner" (courtesy of imagerymajestic) 3. "Smiling little girl 

Other photo credits: 1. "Preparing For Dinner" (courtesy of imagerymajestic) 2. "Asian Woman Smiling On The Bedroom Floor" (courtesy of Feelart) 3. "Older Man With Hat" (courtesy of Rosemary Ratcliff) 4. "Asian Woman Have A Headache" (courtesy of tiverylucky) 5. "Young Woman In Stylish Outfit" (courtesy of posterize) 6. "Genial Older Man" (courtesy of Rosemary Ratcliff) 7. "Beautiful Young Woman" (courtesy of posterize) 8. "Young Man Thinking Seriously" (courtesy of podpad) 9. "Seated African Child" (courtesy of africa)/All pictures from FreeDigitalPhotos.net

週4・5 - ECA (Speaking) II (All): 道を教える

Hello to all my Speaking II All students,

How are you? Let's talk about directions (方向)!    

Activity

Look at these pictures. They are the directions to Seigakuin from a train station, but the pictures are not in the right order (違う順番). With a group or a partner, can you put these pictures in the right order? 

When you are finished, can you talk about these directions? Here is some language you can use for the order (順番) of the directions: 

First...    go straight...    down this street...    turn right...    turn left...   

next to the...    between (the)...    across from (the)...    at (the corner)...    

on the left...    on the right...     

Try it! The picture above is the first picture. Here it is again: 

A. #1

B. 

C. 

D. 

E. 

F. 

G. 

H. 

I. 

J. 

K. 

Homework

Take 4-5 pictures of the way from your train station to your home. Bring them to the next class and show your classmates. Talk about your directions from your station to your home.

Have fun!