Introduction to Restaurant Reviews 2012

From today, we will start thinking about Restaurant Reviews, our #7 essay. These are interesting and fun, but we need to take our time and do a good job. I would like to publish ALL of your restaurant reviews on a special blog site for that purpose, so they need to be GREAT!

Please don't begin writing a restaurant review yet! I need to tell you what to do first!

To begin this unit, let's look at some Japanese restaurant information on the Hot Pepper site. Please click on this link: Hot Pepper: Places that Girls Like In Kanagawa

Now we'll do an activity with the above page only.

1) Check out all the restaurants on that page only.
2) Choose one.
3) Write some information about the restaurant in English on Google Docs. Don't write the hours or address or phone number; write something about the food or atmosphere or specialties that identify the restaurant. However, don't write the name of the restaurant!
4) What you write is supposed to be a hint for that restaurant.
5) Copy and paste what you wrote from Google Docs into the comment box. Please write your own name. Other students will try to guess which restaurant you wrote about.
6) Read the hints other people wrote. Try to identify which restaurant it is. Reply to the comment with your guess and your name.
7) You should try to guess every hint that's posted. Be sure to write your name every time!
8) Tell Kevin secretly what restaurant you wrote a hint about.
9) If you complete this activity, you will have written one hint and about 25 guesses. (The number of guesses will depend on how many students are in class.)

Besides this activity, I will explain what you need to do to write a restaurant review. Here are the main points you need to include:

1. Restaurant name
2. Restaurant review title (not the restaurant name only)
3. An original jpg photo of the food, interior or entrance (You must send the photo to my email as an attachment.)
4. What kind of restaurant is it? Chinese, Italian, Korean, yaki niku, ramen, buffet, sandwich shop, family restaurant, etc.
5. Information about the menu, favorite items, service, staff, specials, atmosphere, prices, etc. If the owner is interesting, tell us about her or him.
6. Complete address of the restaurant (including postal code)
7. Phone number of the restaurant
8. Business hours and holidays
9. Access information (closest train or subway station; how many minutes on foot; simple directions)
10. Web site URL if available

Also, be sure to read the restaurant reviews from last year to understand how they should generally look.

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At the beginning of class, I will ask students to read the Sample Change Essays posted on the blog post of Oct. 17. You may have already read the first one, but there are now two more. The two essays about love have very different viewpoints, so it's interesting to compare them.

Oct. 25 Essay Writing

Today we will do 3 things:

1. Sentence combining exercise
2. Read a Japan Times article and comment
3. Give Kevin final copies of any essays you need to correct

Also, please start thinking about which restaurant you want to review. Don't write the review yet, but start reading some restaurant reviews and think about which restaurant in the Kanagawa or Tokyo area you want to introduce to others on the Internet.

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On Okinawa’s Obesity Problem

Okinawa has more than two and a half times the national average of people over 100 years old and an extraordinary number of people who enjoy excellent health well into their eighties.

But the next generation is the fattest in Japan and has a range of obesity-related illnesses that could kill them in middle age.

Experts blame fast food, which was introduced to Okinawa when the island was administered by the US after WWII. Okinawa got its first fast-food restaurant in 1963, seven years before Tokyo, and it still has more fast-food restaurants per person than anywhere else in the country.

From The Telegraph

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/3342882/Japanese-get-a-taste-for-Western-food-and-fall-victim-to-obesity-and-early-death.html

 

Online Tools for Making Better Sentences

Today we will do an exercise on making sentences with and without using online tools, such as translation software and dictionaries. We will also look at phrasal verbs and how a collocation database can help us understand which words go together and their meanings. Kevin will explain in class. See you there!

First, translate this Japanese sentence into English without a dictionary or online resource:

彼らが結婚した

Here are some student results:

They got married.
They were marry already.
They were married.
They married.
They had married.
They were marriage.
They were get married.

Now let's use alc.co.jp. The alc.co.jp result is ....

• そして、彼女の夢が、彼らが結婚したことで本当になった。
  And her wish had come true after they got married.〔【出典】Hiragana Times, 2000年9月号◆【出版社】株式会社ヤック企画 〕 全文表示
• なぜ彼らが結婚したのか不思議です。
  I wonder about their marriage.

Now let's use tatoeba.org:
       When they got married, they both swore to never lie.
       彼らが結婚した時、２人は互いに決して嘘をつかないと約束した。

Finally, let's try Google Translate:
       彼らが結婚した         They were married

It's important that you don't rely on translation software too much. However, there are times when it will help you find the correct word or phrase that you need for your essays.

Please write a blog comment below that explains which of these translation sites are useful for you. If you know another site, please tell me.

Student Samples "Change Essay"

I Changed My Way of Thinking About Love
by K. T

Recently, I started going out with my girlfriend. She is the first girlfriend in my life. She is so cute, honest, and lively, and she always pleases me. I think I'm a lucky boy to be able to go out with her. In the past, I thought I didn't need a girlfriend in my life, because a girlfriend can be troublesome. They get jealous and bother their boyfriends. In fact, my friend had a lot of trouble with his girlfriend. He had to call her all the time. If he met her, she was always angry and complained to him, “Why you don't answer the phone!!” “You don't understand me!!” “You don't love me,” and things like that. When I saw that, I wasn't interested in love. Of course, I fell in love with a girl once in a while, but I quickly gave up about it. I worried that if I failed, I would be depressed forever. So I became reluctant to love anyone.

I changed when I met  my girlfriend. I really wanted to go out with her. I gradually thought I could live my life with her, so I decided to profess my feeling. It was August 28 at midnight.  I called her cell phone and said, “You're the one I love. Can we be a couple?” She was so surprised by it. After that, she sent me an e-mail. It said “Thanks for calling me. What do you mean?” At the time, she didn't understand. So I sent her an e-mail, “In my happiest memories, you are always there. I love your smile. I love you. I want to go out with you.” Later, she called may cell phone and said, “Me too, I love you.” I was so happy when I heard it. 

Since then, we started going out together. But going out with her does not always make me happy. Now I become dependent on her. Of course, when I meet her, I'm very happy. But other times, when I am away from her, I am afflicted with some obsession, like “I really have to meet her right now!! I want to talk to her.” Sometimes this was very painful. I really struggled and struggled with my feelings. But now I have solved this problem. The answer is “trust her.”  When she doesn't send me e-mail or doesn't call my phone, I think, “She loves me; just wait and believe.” This is not a perfect answer for me, but it`s the only way to satisfy myself.

After all, I am very happy now. She loves me, and I love everything about her. I can really devote my life to her. I really love her. I think “love” is the most important thing for human life, but on the other hand, it is dangerous. If we mistake love, we can ruin our life. So we must choose a good way to love people.

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How My Ideal Man Changed

By K.A.

I have loved comics since I was a little girl. I read all genres of comics. For example, I read love stories, adventure stories and fight stories. When I was a child, I thought that things in the world of comics actually happened. When I saw Sailor Moon, I thought that I could transform myself. And when I saw Cinderella, I thought that a prince would also appear to me. I was a dreamer girl, so I thought I would meet a nice man, fall in love with him, get married and become fortunate.

When I was a primary school child, I had my first love. He and I were in the same primary school and the same junior high school. One day he declared his love for me. I was happy at first, but he was different from my ideal guys, so I declined him. Then I associated with another boy, but my heart didn’t beat fast like in the comics, so I said goodbye to him, too.

When I was a high school student, I thought that I would have many encounters and I would fall in love with a nice guy, but there were no people with a good character and a smart appearance like a prince. I learned to compromise, and I had a boyfriend, though it wasn’t passionate love.

When I was 18 years old, suddenly it came. I met an interesting and handsome guy. My heart beat very fast. It was a new experience for me. I was very happy and it was fun to be together with him. I had the feeling that I became a heroine. I thought every day was a rose. I wanted to be together with him a long time. I was sure he was my ideal man!! But abruptly we parted because actually, he is a womanizer. I was disappointed that he wasn’t my prince. I slapped him on the cheek and said goodbye. I understood that handsome men love many women because they get a lot of attention from women. I can’t trust a man like him.

I have experienced many things. And I learned that there isn’t a perfect prince like in the comics. I came to my senses at last. Love doesn’t need a good appearance and a romantic encounter. It needs his single-minded love for me, and he must be gentle and rich. Money is very important, because money doesn’t betray me and makes me happy. I was a dreamer girl, but now I am a realist. I changed. Looking back now, I was in love with love. What a lover must have is a good character and he must be rich. This isn’t the world of comics and perfect princes.

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How I Changed My Way of Thinking About Japan

By K.S.

When I was a junior high school student, I used to dislike Japan. I thought that Japan was too small, there were many electric wires, and the weather had many cloudy days. It would be endless to list the bad points. I longed for the beautiful European city scapes and the magnificent scenery in America. But I changed my way of thinking about Japan after I had various experiences and I understood more about Japan.

I took several courses in Japanese history when I was a high school student. I learned that many great people were killed in the fight for peace and development of Japan. Ryouma Sakamoto is probably the most famous in Japan. In about 1850, he made a great contribution to the modernization of Japan. I am proud of people like him and I appreciate the people who built Japan at the risk of their life.

In 2011, I was very impressed by the actions of the Japanese when the Tohoku earthquake disaster happened. Although they could not lead a usual life, they did not get into a big panic and order was kept in Tohoku. I thought that the Japanese people were diligent and splendid all over again.

Of course, I still see a lot of negative points about Japan. For example, Japan has extreme weather and ineffective government. But I grew to love Japan because now I know Japanese excellence. I think if I were reborn, I would like to born as a Japanese again.