Welcome back everyone!

Greetings Tsurumi University students! How was your summer? I hope you had a great time and are now feeling refreshed! Please tell me some things you did during the summer break!

Personally, I had a really great summer! I spent a few weeks in Virginia, then I flew to San Francisco to chaperon a group of Tsurumi University students at Dominican University in San Rafael, California. I was only there 10 days, but I learned a lot about San Rafael and San Francisco. It was a really fun time for me. You can see some photos from the trip by clicking here.

Now let's talk about today's class. We will do the following:
1) Check out the original comics we made in the last class of the Spring Semester. Just scroll down this page or click on the link from July on the right and find "Original Student Comics." You can do this while I take attendance.
2) Briefly talk about what we did this summer vacation. Please ask 1 question to someone in the class after they tell what they did.
3) Review some of the things we did during the Spring Semester. It's been a while, so we all need reminders about some writing rules and policies. You'll see a list below.
4) Kevin will introduce "A Change in Me" essay. You can read a sample essay written by a student from last year below. Your first draft is due next week.
5) Practice this pattern; "I used to ... but now I ...." Everyone must think of an example and say it to the class. For example, I used to practice my guitar every day, but now I spend most of my free time surfing the Internet.
6) Blog about a change in you. Tell us how you used to do something or believe something, but now that you are older, you don't do that or think like that anymore. You can talk about how you used to play a sport or have a hobby or have a certain belief, but now you have changed on that point (hopefully, for the better!) This topic is fun to think about, and the blog comments and essays are usually interesting to read, so please try to do a good job!

Review of Spring Semester
a. Attendance & grading policy
b. Always give me a 1st draft and final draft.
c. Always save your documents so you can edit and reprint.
d. Carry a current copy of your last essay on a USB drive or on your mail.
e. Essays should have good paragraph shape; don't type 'Enter' after each sentence.
f. There is always one space after a comma or period.
g. Follow capitalization rules
h. Use the correct verb form in your sentences.
i. Make comparisons correctly.
j. Your essays should have an introduction, body & conclusion.
k. Use transition words to link sentences and paragraphs.
l. Combine simple sentences to make complex sentences whenever possible.

"A Change in Me" student sample essay from 2010

How I Changed my Way of Thinking about Our Neighbor, Korea
by Swwie

Although I live in a country which is part of Asia, I used to believe I would not have opportunities to talk with Korean people. When I was young, I thought I might be able to talk to English speakers in the future because I had learned English in school. On the other hand, I had never learned any other languages besides Japanese and English. However, learning English gave me a lot of opportunities to talk with Korean people and changed my way of thinking about them. Now I know more about Korea, even though I live in Japan.

In 2009, I went to Canada to study English and had a lot of opportunities to meet students from all over the world. Of course, there were many people from Japan's neighboring country, South Korea. Before living in Canada, I had actually never talked to Korean people or been friends with them. But when school started, I soon made friends with some of the Korean students. We often chatted in English about the cultures of our countries, and we taught each other some words in our native language. Those times made me interested in Korea.

In 2010, I accidentally found a Korean TV drama, "Kun; Love in Palace," on a Japanese channel and it was really interesting to me. This is not a historical drama but a love comedy, so it is easy for me to understand Korean culture. Soon I began to like it. I gradually became interested in Korean TV dramas. They teach me about pop culture in Korea.

Now I am a person who likes Korea. This semester, I am taking a class about Korea and the culture of Korea. I hope I will be able to speak and write Korean a little through this class. I would also like to visit Korea in the near future.

People tend to dislike things they don't understand well. However, if we take a step to know other people's culture, we will hopefully like them and become interested in them as I am interested in Korea. Knowing about other cultures helps us keep a good relationship with foreigners.

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Now please blog about a change in yourself. This may be the topic for your essay, or you can write about something else. I'm looking forward to learning about an interesting change in you!

Welcome Back Essay Writing Students!

Hi everybody! How was your summer holiday? I hope you had a great time, got some rest, and earned some money. I also hope you studied English a little in your spare time. Did you read a book or watch some DVDs in English? Great!

You may notice that I used this blog site for my Summer Intensive English Course. There are some comments from my 9 summer students about things we talked about in class. You can read the comments if you like. I hope you don't mind that we borrowed this site for the purpose of blogging.

Well, now it's time to get started again and do more writing in the 2nd semester. Today's topic is "A Change in Me." We will think about one way in which we have changed in our lives. For example, when I was younger, I thought having my own business would be great. For a while, I had my own real estate office, and I was part owner of a small restaurant, too. Now I really appreciate having a steady job as a teacher, and I don't think I would open a business of my own again. I think I am less motivated by the dream of getting rich, and I am more leery of the risks involved in having a business.

How have you changed over the years? Is there something you believed when you were young that you don't believe anymore? Has your opinion of people or life changed over the years? Have you become more optimistic or pessimistic? This is a sophisticated topic, but if you think deeply and do your best, you can turn it into an interesting blog comment! Gambatte!