Fall weather is here! Goodbye humidity!

If you're like me, you're happy the cool, fall weather is here and the hot, humid days are over! Every morning this summer I arrived at Tsurumi University all covered in sweat. I had to change my clothes before teaching my summer intensive course. Now we have nice cool, fall weather. It's much better for studying, and of course, it's football season in the U.S.! Who is looking forward to watching the NFL? Only me, right? Oh, well ...

We haven't blogged in a long while, so today, let's do some blogging in Essay Writing class. You have two themes you can choose from:

1) "used to"

Write a short, true story about something you used to do. It can be from your childhood days, or from a more recent time, such as high school or college. Use "I used to ..." or "We used to ..." somewhere in your blog. Write at least one paragraph.

2) The Senkaku Islands Dispute

We talked about this a little in class, as we try to stay abreast of current events. What is your opinion on this issue? Do you support Japan's position? Do you think China's position has some merit? Write a paragraph about your thoughts on this.

OK, let's get busy blogging!

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!

Reflection on Summer Intensive Course

Let's take a moment to think about what we did and what we learned during the Summer Intensive Course. Please comment below on the things you liked, didn't like, and on the activities we did that were effective in helping you learn.

Taking Risks

In class, we've been talking about dangerous things in our daily lives. We've also talked about taking risks. Below is a list of several activities (from Let's Talk 3) that are either risky or that might make you feel tense or anxious. Which one would be the most difficult for you to do? Why? Choose one and blog about it. Explain why it would be difficult for you and how you would feel if you had to do it. You should start your blog like this: "Being interviewed on TV would be the hardest for me." Etc. Please try to write at least 4 sentences in your blog. Explain in as much detail as possible. If you wish, you can also describe a past experience that is connected to the topic.

* being interviewed on TV
* complaining to a teacher
* giving a speech in front of many people
* going on a blind date
* jumping from an airplane
* moving to a new country
* quitting a job
* singing solo in front of the class
* traveling abroad alone

If you finish soon, please write a 2nd blog about which activity from the list would be the easiest for you to do.

Summer Students - Let's Blog!

As part of the summer intensive course, let's blog about something in English! Today we learned some vocabulary about feelings, such as "annoyed," "embarrassed," "anxious," etc. Please choose one of the words and use it to write a blog paragraph. For example, if something annoys you, write about it and explain what annoys you and why. Another example: think about a time you were embarrassed or worried about something and tell the story.

Following are some rules for this exercise:
1) Write a paragraph, not a list of sentences. That means you don't type the "Enter" key after each sentence. You make one space after the period and then keep typing.
2) Type at least 4 sentences in this blog. Try to make your blog as interesting and fun to read as possible.
3) Ask Kevin how to spell or say things you don't know.

Here is a complete list of the feelings words we learned today:
annoyed
anxious
delighted
depressed
embarrassed
furious
proud
scared
shocked
surprised
tense
worried