Cool, Fall Weather!

It's finally getting cooler in Japan! The cool air feels great after the hot summer we had. I was beginning to worry whether we'd ever feel the normal fall temperatures. On the other hand, cold season is coming, so we all have to be careful and get enough rest. Take care of yourself!

The next essay is not due until Nov. 17, but I will introduce it today so you have enough time to work on it. Next week (Nov. 3) is a holiday, so there is no class. That gives you 3 weeks to prepare! The next essay is a restaurant review. This can be really fun if you do your best. I will tell you about it in class and post more details about it on this site in the future. For now, please check out the restaurant reviews from last year at the special site for this purpose:

Tsurumi Eats!

Also, here is some online grammar practice for you to do during class:
Conjunctions
Connectives

Recently, there have been some interesting international news stories (Libya, for example), but I suppose the offbeat news and entertainment news from Japan are more interesting for students. Following are links to a mix of serious and not-so-serious news stories. Please comment on one, OR scroll down to the student essays posted below and comment on one of them:

Disaster recovery minister calls Tsunami victims "idiots"
Japanese nurse to get death penalty in Malaysia
Erika Sawajiri Snickers commercial
Popular UK fashion brand uses strange Japanese

Please check out these Change Essays from your fellow students:
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How My Attitude for Work Has Changed
by K.I.

Most university students have to look for jobs when they become third year students. When I went to Tsurumi University after study abroad and I met my friends, I heard the word "internship" for the first time. I was not totally interested in becoming a member of society yet, and I thought that I did not have to do job hunting yet. However, I decided to go to the placement office then because I was not so busy. After talking with the staff, I learned that nowadays, finding employment is not so easy. I decided to participate in an internship to change myself and become more positive. I wanted to know about the real business world.

And so my life commuting to the placement office began. I talked with counselors many times, and I practiced how to write a resume and how to respond in an interview. Before summer vacation of my third year, I got an internship in the apparel (clothing) industry. The apparel business was harder work than I thought. I had imagined only a gorgeous and simple work before my internship, but in fact, it is difficult to have contact with customers with a smile in high heels all day. When I began, my smile was unnatural, and I felt only loathsomeness for the service industry. My eyes sometimes filled with tears, and days of severe instruction continued. These were such hard days, but my weak points for the service of customers gradually disappeared, and I started to think that talking with customers was fun. My smile became natural, and I was praised by senior staff. On the last day of the internship, I achieved unprecedented sales from a customer I was in charge of.

The time for job hunting began in earnest in the winter of my third year. The job hunting that I had regarded as a pain became very fun and I met various companies and people. These encounters led me in a good direction, and I think I grew up as a person greatly. And fortunately, I obtained a job!

Now I am able to contact people with a smile even if I might be sad. I want to laugh with people any time and the people around me change with my smile.

My way of thinking about work changed dramatically. I thought that I would suffer to earn money, but it was a big misunderstanding. I find pleasure in work now, and I can manage even difficult work if I and other workers encourage each other and change our attitude. After this internship, I found these ideas. That helps my present life and I now spend more substantial days. Even though the internship was hard, I am glad I took part in it. Everything that I learned will stay in my memory and help me in my future life.

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I Changed My Way of Thinking about Contact with Handicapped People
by S.K.

When I was younger, I was not good at being sociable. I was uncomfortable talking to handicapped people in particular because I didn't understand how to communicate with them. I used to have a prejudice. I changed my way of thinking about contact with handicapped people because I met three handicapped people. Now I think that a handicapped person in not different from us except the handicapped people need assistance.

The first disabled person I met rode in a wheelchair and he couldn't talk with us. He needed assistance with everything, so we helped him. For example, I brought his lunch box and I pushed his wheelchair. Then he always smiled. I remember his smiles well.

The second person doesn't have hair, but she is not different from us except for her hair. She is of a cheerful disposition and positive. I made friends with her so she spoke to me many times. She was always dignified even when someone made fun of her and she said, "I have a disease, so I have to accept my fate." I have the best impression from these words.

Finally, I know a person who has autism. My school has a special class for handicapped people. We ate our school lunch and practiced sports day together. I remember particularly practicing sports day so hard. Making progress took more hours for the autistic person than the others. I felt a sense of fulfillment when we could make a good performance.

Many people have a prejudice against handicapped people. If you make contact with them, they are glad for your effort. You would find they are not different from us and they are such kind people. These experiences when I met three handicapped people were valuable, and they changed my way of thinking.

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How I Changed My Eating Habits
by C.H.

I used to eat a lot of potato chips, chocolates, hard candy and other junk foods. When I was a high school student, I often went to McDonald's with friends. I particularly liked cheeseburgers, but I disliked vegetables.

Some years back, the skin on my face became rough. Moreover, my face was covered with many pimples. I thought maybe the cause was my unhealthy meals. I tried many cosmetics to make it better afterward, but my face didn't heal. However, my mother recommended making fresh juice. I made fresh juice from apples, lemons, bananas, carrots and soy milk.

After drinking it twice a week, the effect was magical. Fresh juice is a good drink in the morning and at night. Also, I ate fermented soybeans (natto) and soft seaweed in order to cure my face. I became interested in healthy eating habits.

By changing my eating habits, I could improve my condition. My skin is much healthier now. I have been making fresh juice for about 3 years.

More About Graphs

Good morning everyone! How did you do on the data and graphs essay? Was it difficult to write about statistics? If it's any consolation, it will be just as difficult for me to edit your essays, so please think about me this weekend!

Let's spend a little more time on graphs and do some online exercises. These will give us additional practice with English expressions often used when working with graphs.

Line graphs
Column graphs
Bar graphs
Pie graphs

Next, please check the topics below, click on a link of your choice, read the article, and write a blog comment in English. Be sure to say which article you are commenting about and write your name, please.

English articles:
Temperature record of the past 1000 years
Japan vs. U.S. crime statistics
(You can also compare other countries with this site)

English article with Japanese video:
AU vs Softbank network speed

Japanese articles:
Japanese article on 2010 most popular companies for job hunting
Japanese survey on smart phone apps
Japanese survey on types of smart phones people have
Japan smart phone carriers
Japan middle & high school use of cell phones

Traditional Japanese Bonito Fisheries

by CCC

There are many traditional fisheries in Japan, but they are disappearing little by little because it is hard to catch fish by traditional fishing methods. People who catch fish in traditional fisheries are decreasing. In particular, people who catch bonitos by hook-and-line fishing, one of the traditional methods, are decreasing.

Please look at the bar graph (above). The vertical axis shows catches of bonito in tons and the horizontal axis shows years from 1960 to 2008. The bar’s contents shows the proportion of ways to catch bonitos. The dark gray bars at the bottom show the proportion of hook-and-line fishing, and the middle bars show the proportion using purse seine. The top bars show other methods. The largest proportion from 1960 to 1980 is hook-and-line fishing. But from 1980, the proportion using purse seine starts to increase rapidly, and most bonitos are caught by using purse seine now. The catches by hook-and-line fishing in 2000 are the same as in the 1960s.

This graph shows that most bonito fisheries between 1980 and the present use purse seine. Using purse seine catches many more bonitos than catching by hook-and-line fishing, so most fishermen now use purse seine. But hook-and-line fishing doesn’t catch too many bonitos and doesn’t put as much stress on the bonito population. People are talking about whales and tunas, but they aren’t talking about bonitos. If people don’t start to talk about bonitos, they may disappear faster than whales and tunes.

Source

http://database.asahi.com/library2/main/start.php
Kikuzo II visual Asahi Shinbun Database

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Using Data & Graphs in Your Essays

This week, you need to find a topic that interests you that has some data or statistics that you can present. You should write about the topic and include a graph to help the reader understand the information. There are two basic types of article you can write:

A general information essay with data -
For example, you might choose "cell phones market shares" as your topic, and you might find some data showing which cell phone companies have what market share now. If you have good market share data, you can make a pie chart showing which companies have what percentage of the market. Of course, you also must write in words what all the data means.

An advocacy essay with data -
This type of essay takes a point of view on a topic. For example, I am concerned about shark finning and the decline of sharks around the world. I can write an essay about the problem and show a graph with data on how sharks are declining in the world's oceans.

When you look for data on your topic, please try to use reliable sources. A student blog, for example, would not be considered reliable.

You must also list your sources at the end of the essay in this assignment. If your source is a website, you must write the name of the site, the date if known, and the URL.

When you put the data in your essay, please use the graph function in Word. Part of this assignment is learning how to use the graph function so you have experience with it if you need to make graphs in the future.

Be sure to choose the correct type of graph for the data you want to explain and be sure to represent the data accurately. Think carefully about your data. You can't, for example, simply compare the number of smokers in Japan to the number of smokers in China. Why? Because the populations are so different. It would be better to compare the percent of people in each country who smoke.

Today you will spend most of your time trying to find a topic to write about and search for reliable statistics that can be represented in a graph. Gambatte!

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Simple Past Tense & Present Perfect Tense

Today Kevin will talk about using the Simple Past Tense and the Present Perfect Tense, as well as how to choose which tense to use. Later, you will practice some online exercises. This is the link to Kevin's web site, where you will connect to the online exercises.

englisheveryday.weebly.com

A random topic, but what do you think of point cards? Do you carry many of them in your wallet? What do you think of this idea?

http://www.japanprobe.com/2011/09/25/fight-against-annoying-point-cards/