Introducing "Zen Pencils"

* Reminder!
We are now working on Essay #5. By now, you should remember to include a title, capitalize the title, have good paragraph shape, put one space after a period or comma, and think about your font size and spacing. If you don't do these things, you haven't learned the simplest things that will make your essay look good. Beyond that, of course, you need good content. That means you must plan your essay carefully before you begin to write. Don't just start writing whatever comes into your head; that's not an essay!

Today, we will:
1) Receive our corrected Essay #5 (Change Essay) from Kevin
* If you didn't turn in your essay last week, you need to do that today!
2) Do a worksheet on the difference between the Present Perfect Tense and the Simple Past Tense.
3) Do some online exercises re. verb forms (see below).
4) Check out a great website called "Zen Pencils."

Below are some online grammar exercises that practices verb forms, including the Present Perfect Tense. Please do them.
http://a4esl.org/q/f/z/zz29bms.htm
http://a4esl.org/q/f/z/zz79bdo.htm
http://a4esl.org/q/f/z/zz64fck.htm

When you finish the exercises above, please take a look at Zen Pencils. This is an awesome website I discovered recently. The author/artist is Gavin Aung Than, of Melbourne, Australia. He finds an interesting quotation or inspirational message and illustrates it. I haven't read all of the posts yet (there are 85 to date), but below are a few that I liked. Feel free to view others. After you've looked at several, please blog here on the message or quotation that appeals to you most. Be sure to explain which quotation you are blogging about, paste the URL in your post, and please write your name on the post.

http://zenpencils.com/comic/83-howard-thurman-ask-yourself/
http://zenpencils.com/comic/81-richard-dawkins-the-lucky-ones/
http://zenpencils.com/comic/80-henry-david-thoreau-on-happiness/
http://zenpencils.com/comic/75-l-p-jacks-work-and-play/
http://zenpencils.com/comic/73-mark-twain-an-educational-journey/
http://zenpencils.com/comic/63-carl-sagan-books-are-awesome/
http://zenpencils.com/comic/60-robert-frost-the-road-not-taken/
http://zenpencils.com/comic/50-neil-gaiman-make-good-art/

Change Essay Due Today

Here is the agenda for today's class ...

1. Pass in Essay #5 - A Change In Me (Change Essay)
2. Give Kevin any old essays or comics that you have not turned in yet
3. Do the Conjunctions Worksheet in class
4. Do the Sentence Combining Worksheet in class
5. Blog about a current news topic, or click on the link below and blog on it

Yokohama Chinatown Parade Is Cancelled

If the news about Chinese-Japanese relations is too depressing, how about this article? It has no politics. It's about a species of ant that is enslaved by another species, and it rises up in rebellion against its masters. I'm not sure why it's here, but maybe you want to read it and comment?

Enslaved Ants Regularly Rise In Rebellion, Kill Their Slavers' Children

Some online tools for checking your sentences. These are useful! Get to know them!

alc.co.jp
tatoeba.org
translate.google.com
OneLook.com 
www.just-the-word.com

Welcome back!

Welcome back, everyone!

We will be starting our next essay, called "A Change in Me" or Change Essay for short. Here are links to some Change Essays from last year.

How My Attitude About Work Has Changed, by K I.

Also, on the same page as the link above, please read:
I Changed My Way of Thinking About Handicapped People, by S. K

Finally, below is an 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.

Student Comics 2012

Check out this year's student comics, made on the online site Makebeliefscomix.com.

More coming soon!

More Student Essays 2012

How to Make a Boyfriend

by G.E.

Do you have a boyfriend? Do you want to know how to make a boyfriend? There are some tips for getting a boyfriend. Of course, they may not work for everyone. However, I can say that reading them and doing something is better than doing nothing and just being depressed. Now I’ll explain how to make a boyfriend. 

First, be pretty every time when you meet people. For example, wearing a skirt and high heels makes you prettier. Also, a nice hair style, like glossy, wavy hair, plus stylish make up are effective for attracting boys. Humans are attracted to beauty, and boys like pretty and cute girls. It is absolutely true. Of course, always being pretty may be a bother to you. However, if you want to get a boyfriend, you should make the effort or you won’t succeed. 

Second, you shouldn’t concentrate on just one boy. You can get along with many boys and girls. There may be more than one boy who wants to be your boyfriend! Don’t cover your charming points. Let them know it. Also, ask your girlfriends to arrange a blind date. You should take the chance! Don’t look at just one boy. Look around at your relationships and use them. 

Finally, get information about your target guy or guys. You should know his favorite girl’s style, like “cute” or “sharp style” and what he likes and dislikes. For example, if he likes rock music, you should listen to rock music and research his favorite band and songs. If you know his favorite singer and songs, you can talk with him more easily, and he will be attracted to you. Likewise, if he hates drinking alcohol, you should be careful when you drink with him. You can get some information from his friends or your friends. To make a boyfriend, you should study and try the things that will be most effective. 

To summarize these tips, be pretty always, don’t concentrate on just one boy and get information.You will attract boys with your beauty and charming points, and you will get more chances. You should seize the chance, and if you have information about him you can become intimate easily. How about using these tips? Try hard and you’ll get a boyfriend this summer!

Original Comics 2012

Spring Semester is almost finished!

Some of you are still working on your Opinion Essay and are finishing drafts of older essays. When you finish all of your essays, you can take time to do something fun before summer holiday. Please try making your own original comic at: MakeBeliefsComix.com. Kevin will give you instructions.

When making a comic ...
1) Take some time to think about your comic. Following are some possibilities.

• It can be funny.
• It can be serious.
• It can state an opinion about something.
• It can tell a story.

2) Give it a title.
3) Type your name in the name box.
4) Follow capitalization rules and one space after a period.
5) Ask Kevin to check your spelling.
6) Print the comic and wait for it to print before closing the site (in case you need to print again).
7) Be prepared to re-do it if there is some very strange mistake.
8) Give your printed comic to Kevin.
* Kevin will post these comics on the website, so we want yours to be as good as it can be!

Archives of last year's student comics.

After today's class, please check this website to see if your name is on the list for completing all your essays. If you are completely finished, the class on July 19 is optional for you. However, if you come on that day, I will talk with you individually about your writing.

The list of names is on the previous post; Progress Update, July 1.

Progress Update

Summer vacation is coming soon ...

We are almost finished with the first semester. After today, there are only two classes before summer vacation. You must finish all drafts of the first semester essays by the end of the semester. Please finish any 2nd or 3rd drafts of your essays. 

In Essay Writing, it's important that you notice your own mistakes!
Do you do the following?
1) Check your own essay before passing it in? You should notice capitalization errors, spelling errors, and spacing problems yourself.
2) When Kevin returns your corrected essays, do you think about the changes he suggests? If you just change the sentences without thinking about them, are you really learning anything?
3) Do you re-read your corrected essays? Reading your own final corrected essay will help you get a feel for how correct sentences and paragraphs should sound. This is your essay, right? Do you really know what the final version means?

In connection with the above, after you finish submitting your final copy of your Opinion Essay, please find one sentence that Kevin changed for you. Look at the original version and at the corrected version. What did Kevin change? Why did he make the change? Send Kevin an email with the two versions of the sentence and explain in your own words why the second version is better.

Example: 
Original sentence:    Please do, if an uninterested men addresses.
Corrected version:    Please try this if an uninteresting man addresses you.

First, Men should be man because of "an". We don't use plural nouns after "an". Next, uninterested is the wrong form of the adjective. It should be uninteresting, because the man is not interesting to me. Finally, we don't need a comma after "please do" and we need "you" after addresses. If we don't have "you", we don't know who the man is addressing.
___________________________________

To Do List for Today (July 5, 2012)
1) Send Kevin email as explained above re. one of your sentences from Opinion Essay.
2) Expressions with GET handout - do in class
3) If you finish everything, read one of the following articles and tell me if you agree or disagree in the comment box below, and why.
'Have Babies': Not Wise Advice
New Taxes Are Not the Answer
Negotiating with Russia
Romantically Active Japanese Elementary School Children


Progress Update

Finished Special Thing:
Taki, Kanami, Yukiko, Daiki, Mikako, Kazunari, Nao, Yui, Maki, Goh, Daichi, Hana, Mina, Akira, Hiroki, Takayuki, Kenta, Masae, Akane, Yumi, Miya, Hiroharu, Sena, Yuya, Kouji, Shoichi, Tae, Takeshi, Taihei, Haruka (30 of 30)

Finished Comparison:
Kanami, Yukiko, Kazunari, Nao, Takayuki, Maki, Yui, Daiki, Goh, Taki, Hiroki, Masae, Yumi, Daichi, Mikako, Mina, Kouji, Tae, Yuya, Hana, Akane, Akira, Sena, Hiroharu, Taihei, Takeshi, Shoichi, Haruka, Kenta, Miya (30 of 30)


Finished "How to ...":
Kanami, Daichi, Kazunari, Yui, Nao, Yukiko, Taki, Mina, Mikako, Takayuki, Daiki, Kouji, Akane, Hiroharu, Taihei, Masae, Yumi, Hana, Goh, Miya, Takeshi, Hiroki, Haruka, Shoichi, Akira, Maki, Yuya, Sena, Tae, Kenta (30 of 30)


Finished Opinion
Kanami, Masae, Akane, Hana, Mikako, Taki, Goh, Yukiko, Daiki, Hiroki, Akira, Kazunari, Yui, Takayuki, Kouji, Nao, Takeshi, Daichi, Tae, Yuya, Shoichi, Yumi, Haruka, Taihei, Maki, Sena, Mina (27)
Not yet: Miya, Hiroharu, Kenta