Mr. Stout's Blog now available as a podcast.

You can listen to this blog now!
Click "listen now". It's the button under the title of this post. Now you can listen and read.
You can subscribe too. That means that every time I write a new post you can listen in iTunes.
I was able to make this blog a podcast by using odiogo.com. I'd like to thank Isabelle Jones, a Spanish and French teacher in the UK, for introducing me to odiogo.com.

Odiogo logo uploaded to flickr by Svletlana Gladkova on the 13th of February 2007

How I learn English - a contest from i-osmosis

i-osmosis is an English learning website operated by my friend Abhishek's company Cactus Communications. Learners can get instruction in writing English for exams including TOEIC, TOEFL and EIKEN. i-osmosis has courses in writing for general purposes too.
i-osmosis also has a Japanese website, i-osmosis.jp.


i-osmosis is having a contest called "How I learn English". If you're interested please visit this link: http://www.i-osmosis.jp/how_i_learn.html. Five Amazon.com vouchers worth ¥1,500 each are available.
Good luck!

Toyo Gakuen University Open Campus Lesson: Learning English through Music

Hello! Welcome to Toyo Gakuen University. Below is a video we'll watch in our lesson. Here are some cool links too:
First, a link to a playlist I made on YouTube of videos with lyrics and subtitles:
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=0F18E8397C420965
Next, a webpage made by Clair Taylor, a Toyo Gakuen University teacher:
http://www.hm.tyg.jp/clair/
Finally, a website about J-Pop in English:
http://nippop.com/
Enjoy!

Toyo Gakuen University Interest-based English 12 - Music PowerPoint Presentations

Students in the Interest-based English 12 (Music) class have finished their presentations! They worked hard and did a great job.

These presentations are profiles of musical artists. Each student chose an artist that he or she liked. Then they found photos on flickr and on artist fan sites. After that, they did research using wikipedia, and other websites. They used three wikipedias: English, Simple English and Japanese. After they got the information they wrote the key points on their PowerPoint slides. Then they changed the key points into sentences and recorded a narration. If you want to learn more about this class and this project please read my EFL Classroom 2.0 blog post. All the students said they enjoyed making the PowerPoints very much. I'm very proud of their work. Enjoy!

Please reward these students' hard work by posting a comment. I'm sure that they will appreciate it.
Thanks!

The 100th Anniversary of Anne of Green Gables

Image originally uploaded on
http://www.aquilabooks.com/L%20M%20Montgomery/MontgomeryAnneofGreenGables.html

Anne of Green Gables is a very popular novel. It is popular in Canada, the USA, the UK, Japan, and many other places too. Anne of Green Gables was first published in 1908. So, it was published 100 years ago.

Anne of Green Gables is the story of an orphan girl called Anne. Anne has red hair that she wears in braids. In the story, Anne is adopted by a man and woman called Marilla Cuthbert and Matthew Cuthbert. Anne goes to live with the Cuthberts on a farm called Green Gables. The farm is called Green Gables because the roof of the farm house is green. Also, the roof is gabled. Green Gables is in a town called Avonlea. Avonlea is a fictional town on Prince Edward Island.

Image by doubleblue. Dowloaded from wikipedia

Image uploaded by chensiyuan to wikipedia.

The author of Anne of Green Gables was Lucy Maud Montgomery. In the picture below, Maud ids a little girl. Her life was very similar to Anne's life.

Image is public domain. Copyright has expired. Source: http://207.61.100.164/cantext/canlitr/montgome.html

Anne of Green Gables has been made into plays, musicals, and many television series and films. Isao Takahata made a Japanese anime series based on Anne of Green Gables. The voice of Anne was played by Eiko Yamada.

Many people from all over the world visit Prince Edward Island. They want to see Anne's home. As you can see in the pictures below, they sometimes dress up as Anne too.

Image by Quasimime. Originally uploaded on 21 August 2005

Photo taken by Will Pate on May 9, 2007, uploaded May 12, 2007.

It's amazing that a little novel from Canada is still so popular after 100 years.
Happy Anniversary Anne!

Shibaura Institute of Technology Make-up Homework

This is homework for students who were unable to attend the make-up classes on the fourteenth of June. This homework is due on the 12th of July.
Download the worksheet here: http://www.divshare.com/download/4869283-245
Watch the video. Do the tasks on the worksheet.

400th Anniversary of the Founding of Quebec

400th anniversary of Quebec, originally uploaded by Jeffrey and Rachel Vanneste.

Today is the four hundreth anniversary of the founding of Quebec by Samuel de Champlain.
Vive le Quebec!

Toyo Gakuen University Freshman English 4 - Speaking Semester 1 2008 Final Exam Study Guide

The semester is almost over. Wow! Time flies. The final exam schedule is:
K5 - Wednesday, the 9th of July 2008, 2nd period (10:40 - 11:30)
K6 - Friday, the 11th of July 2008, 3rd period (1:00 - 2:00)
K7 - Monday, the 14th of July 2008, 2nd period (10:40 - 11:30)

If you are late DO NOT ENTER THE CLASSROOM! Go to the English Lounge. Students who arrive 30 minutes late will not be able to take the final exam.

The final exam has two parts. Part 1 is a roleplay about asking for directions and giving directions.

You can prepare for Part 1 by watching a video about giving directions from Real English.com.

Part 2 is a roleplay. You will do one of the roleplays below:
A. On the telephone - Taking and leaving a message. You can prepare for this by listening to "Phone Message" on Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab.



B. In a restaurant - Ordering and Taking an order. You can prepare for this by listening to "Heavenly Pies Restaurant". This is also on Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab.


You can also watch this funny video.


The Smallest Restaurant in the World from mmmarzio on Vimeo.

C. Making a date to see a movie. You can prepare for this roleplay by listening to "Movie Show Times". This is another audio track from Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab. You can also watch the videos that I posted on the 11th of June.

The most important thing you need to do is PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Good Luck!

Toyo Gakuen University Homestay English 2008 Final Exam Study Guide

The final exam is on Wednesday, the 9th of July 2008. The format will be the same as the midterm exam. The final exam will have 3 parts:
Part 1: Vocabulary. Study the vocabulary using wordchamp
Part2: Multiple choice questions about Units 7 - 12 in your textbook.
Part3: A short paragraph answer type question based on the videos below. You will be asked to:

1. List 2 good points about each homestay
2. Choose which homestay you'd like to do.
3. Give 3 reasons for choices.

The first is a video about a homestay programme offered by the International Education Program at the University of California Riverside.




Next, a video by the South China Morning Post about a homestay family in Beijing.



Next a Japanese student talks about her homestay in New Zealand.



Study hard and Good luck!!

Shibaura Institute of Technology Listening Comprehension 2008 Assignment 2

Here is your second assignment. This assignment is due on Tuesday, the 8th of July 2008. Download the worksheet for this assignment here: http://www.divshare.com/download/4845241-536

Watch the video and answer the questions on the worksheet.
The video is about a ski trip. The video was made by my friend Paul Carr. In this video, Paul goes on a ski strip to Niigata in Japan. Enjoy the show!

There are some useful words and expressions to learn below.

jump on ~ get on a bus or train

feline ~ cat like or like a cat

idiot ~ a foolish person

kids ~ children

prepare ~ to get ready

Today is Canada Day

Most Canadian photo ever? Terry Fox takes his message to Pierre Trudeau on Canada Day, July 1, 1980, originally uploaded by penmachine.

July 1st is Canada's birthday. Canada is 141 years old today.
Recently, Canadians were asked to choose the most iconic Canadian people, places, and events. Two of the people chosen are in the picture above, and one of the events - Terry Fox's Marathon of Hope.

Happy Birthday Canada!!!