Intergrated English 2 Autumn 2013 Chapter 3 Review and Quiz

Image adapted from an illustration by Yuji Tachikawa. (cc) 2010 ABAX

Hello everyone,
Today we are going to review Chapter 3,  and then we are going to do the Chapter 3 Quiz

First, let's study some vocabulary. Please click this link: Death on U Street Chapter 1 & 2 Vocabulary Test

Now please review the Death on U Street Chapter 3 Vocabulary.





Next, look at the timeline below. The timeline shows the important events in the story in chronological order (発生順に、時系列で).

Check your detective's notebook. Be sure you have noted all the important events in the story.
So, who do you think is the murderer? Please post your answer as a comment below. To learn how to post a comment on this blog please click the link.

CE-II Autumn 2013 Week 3

Hello everyone,

Last time I asked you to watch The Story of Bottled Water and answer some questions, relating what you saw in the video with what you have read in your textbook. Here's is an example of a good answer to the first question:

Question 1:According to the Story of Bottled Water, "Municipal water is regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which does frequent testing, as do local authorities." However, according to How Safe is Your Water?, "...there are no requirements for daily, or even weekly, tests for chemicals, lead or pesticides." Do you think water safety should be more regulated in the United States? Why? Why not?



Possible answers :

Yes, I think water safety should be more regulated in the United States because if water safety were more regulated in the United States, people would not feel the need to buy bottled water. Bottled water is both expensive and wasteful (The Story of Water p. 1,2; par. 7). Also, even if you buy bottled water, you can not be sure it is safe. (How Safe is Your Water? p. 32; par. 6).

No, I don't think water safety should be more regulated in the United States because the water in the United States is already safe. According to The Story of Water: The federal Safe Drinking Water Act empowers EPA to require water testing by certified laboratories and that violations be reported within a specified time frame. Public water systems must also provide reports to customers about their water, noting its source, evidence of contaminants and compliance with regulations. (P. 1; Footnote 3)

Now let's look at the other 4 questions before we move on to today's reading.

Today's reading is called Waste not, want not. In Japanese we have a similar saying,  勿体無い (Mottainai), which expresses regret concerning waste. Mottainai is an important part of Japanese culture. You can see "mottainai" written in many places in Japan including on Pizza Hut boxes.

However, despite the importance of mottainai in Japanese culture, there is a lot of waste, especially food waste. 


According to the Japan Times, about 23 million tons of food were discarded in 2007, which was worth about ¥11 trillion ($120 billion).  Japan's annual agricultural output is worth about ¥11 trillion too. So that means that Japan wasted as much food as it produced. Furthermore, it cost ¥2 trillion ($21 billion) to process that waste. What do you think of that? 

Another thing that is wasted all over the world is water. 
Today we are going to read about reclaimed water.
First, let's study some vocabulary. Please click the link: Cross Cultural Awareness and English 2 Vocabulary.

Now let's read the article and answer the questions.




Finally, please post a comment. Do you waste a lot of things? Is Mottainai important to you? How do you practice Mottainai?
See you next week!

CE-II Autumn 2013 Week 2

Hello everyone,

I hope you stayed inside, stayed safe, and had a nice relaxing "Typhoon Day" yesterday.
Today we are going to review the homework about Michael Pritchard and his Life Saver bottle.

First, let's study some vocabulary. Please click the link: Cross Cultural Awareness and English 2 Vocabulary.

Next, let's review last week's homework.

Our next topic is tap water. Do you think tap water is safe? Do you drink tap water, or do you drink bottled water because you think it is safer? Do you think that bottled water is more delicious than tap water? Let's watch an interesting video: The Story of Bottled Water. You can download the annotated script for this video too.

Watch the video and read the annotated script then answer the questions on the worksheet. You can download the worksheet here: Bottled Water vs. Tap Water.

For homework please read Waste not, Want not on pp. 37-39. Answer the questions on pp. 38 and 39.
See you next week!

Presentation 1 Autumn 2013 Week 3: The Layout Presentation

Hello everyone,
Today you are going to make your first presentations. Your presentations will be assessed according to how well you can use the skills we have practiced so far: posture, eye content, and voice volume. The content of your presentation will be assessed as well.

After that we will work some more on gestures and then we'll start our next presentation - the layout presentation.

Intergrated English 2 Autumn 2013 Chapter 2 Review and Quiz

Image adapted from an illustration by Yuji Tachikawa. (cc) 2010 ABAX

Hello everyone. Today we are going to review chapter 2. First, let's study some vocabulary. Please click the link and study the vocabulary on Quizlet.

Death on U Street Chapter 1 Vocabulary

Death on U Street Chapter 2 Vocabulary

So, who do you think murdered the victim? Post your answer as a comment. To learn how to post a comment on this blog please click the link.

Presentation 2 Autumn 2013 Week 2: Introduction to English Central

Hello everyone,
Today we are going to sign up for English Central. Please click the link for your class:

Presentation II Autumn 2013 Thursday 1st


After you have signed up for English Central, choose a video and practice speaking. after you have finished using English Central, click the link and download the task sheet for your first presentation.



Now let's start preparing for our first presentations.

Presentation 1 Autumn 2013 Week 2: The Informative Presentation

Hello everyone,

Today we are going to learn about gestures and we are going to start to prepare for our first presentation.

Your first presentation will be an informative presentation.
Your presentation must be 1 minute.


Only your posture, eye content, voice and the content of your presentation will be tested, so this presentation won't be too difficult. You should practice with a partner.

You will give your presentation next week, so don't be absent and don't be late!

Integrated English 2 Autumn 2013: Chapter 1 review and quiz

Hello everyone,
Today we are going to review Chapter 1: The Victim, and take our first quiz of the second semester. Look at the image below. The image is a mind map (マインドマップ). Mind maps are a great way to take notes. The mind map below is about the scene of the crime.
Open your Detective's notebook to p. 10. Fill in the crime report. Use the information in the mind map to help you.



OK, now let's review some vocabulary. Click this link: Death on U Street Chapter 1.
Now turn to p. 92. Do the Police Briefing. After that we'll take the first quiz.

Now let's do the pre-reading on p. 94.
Finally, for homework please read Chapter 2 and do the tasks.
By the way, you can learn more about learning English with mind maps by reading my friend Chris Foskett's book: マインドマップ英語勉強法.

CE-II Autumn 2013 - Welcome back!

Hello everyone, welcome back!

Today we are going to start our next unit of study. We are going to study....water.
First, lets study some vocabulary. Please click the link: Cross Cultural Awareness and English 2.
Now click the link to download this semester's course outline.

Finally, let's watch a video. Please click the link. The video is a TED Talk. The TED Talk is by a man called Michael Pritchard. Michael Pritchard has invented an amazing water bottle. Watch the video and answer the questions below:

1. Why did Pritchard invent the Lifesaver bottle?
2. Why is the filter in the lifesaver bottle so good?
3. What is the benefit of processing water at the source?
4. How much money is needed to make water safe for everyone in the world?

That's all for today.

See you next week!

Presentation 2 Autumn 2013 - Welcome

Hello everyone, Welcome. Thank you for choosing Presentation 2. Today I'm going to tell you about the course. Please click the link to download the course outline. In this course you will make three presentations. You will make all your presentations using an online tool called Voicethread. The first presentation is a self introduction presentation. Let's watch a great presentation made last semester.
 


Your second presentation will be a group presentation. With 2 or 3 partners, you will make slides to present an article on a topic related to your major. After you have made the slides you will read the article aloud and record it.

Finally, you will make a presentation about this university. You will describe the faculty you belong to and tell us about your major too.

Also, starting next week, we will use a great online tool called English Central. You will need to make a premium account. In order to make a premium account, you need to go to the bookstore on campus and buy the voucher shown below.

OK, that's all for today. See you next week!

Presentation 1 Autumn 2013: Welcome

Hello everyone, welcome to Presentation 1.
Today I am going to introduce you to the course. Let's look at the course outline.
look at the picture on the left. This is the text book we will use. I hope you have bought it. If not, please buy it as soon as possible. We will be using it starting next class. This semester we will learn the basics of how to give 5 types of presentations: an informative presentation, a layout presentation, a demonstration presentation, a comparison demonstration and a persuasive presentation.

First, lets look at a bad presentation. Watch the presentation and take notes. What mistakes are the presenters making? Now let's watch another bad presentation.

Next week we will start our first presentation.
See ya!

Integrated English 2 Autumn 2013: Welcome Back!

Hello everyone, welcome back! I hope you enjoyed the summer.

Today we are going to begin the second half of our course.

This semester we will read two detective stories. For the first half of the semester we will read Death on U Street, the second story in our textbook, Fiction in Action - Whodunit. Death on U Street is another story featuring Detective Ellie Koo. I'm sure you will enjoy it very much. Just like last semester, there will be a quiz after each chapter.

In the second half of the course we will read The Sign of Four, which is a Sherlock Holmes Story.

First, let's study some vocabulary. Please click the link: Death on U Street Chapter 1 Vocabulary.

Death on U Street is fiction, of course, but U Street is a real street in Washington D.C. You can see U Street in the image below.


View U Street NW, Washington, DC in a larger map

Ok, now let's start reading. Enjoy!

The University of Tsukuba Web 2.0 Workshop for Japanese Secondary School Teachers

Hello everyone, Welcome to the University of Tsukuba, and welcome to our workshop. Here's what we will do today.

Part 1: 13:30-15:00

1. Introductions and team building
2. Survey – I will ask you to do a survey in order to help understand your technical expertise, interests and needs. The survey will also introduce you to a great tool called Survey Monkey
3. A very brief introduction to Web 2.0
4. Some examples of how my students and I have used Web 2.0 applications

Part 2: 15:15-1645

1. Hands on practice using GoogleDrive
2. Hands on practice using Quizlet, a great online vocabulary flashcard application.
3. Introduction to iPads
4. Hands on practice using iPads
5. Closing Discussion

The first Web 2.0 tool I used was this blog. I started it when I was teaching at Kanto International High School (関東国際高等学校).  Please click the link to see some projects my students and I did at Kanto International High School.

Now let's look at some projects that I've done with students at various universities. Please click the links to see the projects.

Toyo Gakuen University Projects
Shibaura Institute of Technology Projects
The University of Tsukuba Projects

Finally, if you are interested in reading more about Web 2.0 and iPads you can find some articles in my shared Web 2.0 Workshop 2013-08-01 Folder on Dropbox.


I hope that this workshop has been enjoyable and useful. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me on stout.michael.ga@u.tsukuba.ac.jp

Presentation 2 Spring 2013 Weeks 11-14: Project 3

Today we will work on our third project. First, let's do a survey for English Central. please click the link: English Central Survey. Now let's use English Central. Did you reach your goal this week?

Your third project is another group project. Work with the same group you worked with for Project 2

You and the members of your group will make a presentation about your course of study at the University of Tsukuba. 

Follow the steps below:

1.     Research and preparation

a.     The University of Tsukuba’s undergraduate education system is organised into undergraduate schools. These schools are divided into colleges. Click the link. Find information about your school and college: http://www.tsukuba.ac.jp/english/organization/college.html#003

b.     Find information about your college’s curriculum

c.      Find information about majors

d.     Make notes about a project you are working on now, or a project that you want to do in the future.

2.     Write a script

a.     Write first draught

                                               i.     Introduction

                                              ii.     Description of your school

                                            iii.     Description of your college

                                            iv.     Description of your majors

                                              v.     Description of your projects

                                            vi.     Conclusion

b.     Read and edit first draught

c.      Write second draught

3.     Make Powerpoint

a.     Title slide

b.     Schools

c.      Colleges

d.     Majors

e.     Projects

f.      Conclusion

4.     Upload Powerpoint to Voicethread

5.     Record

OK, have fun doing your project!

Presentation 2 Spring 2013 Week 11: Project 2

Hello everyone,

Today we are going to work on our second project.

First, let's do some speaking practice using English Central.

Now let's check our Voicethread presentations and listen to any new comments. Look at the image on the left. When there is a new comment on your Voicethread presentation you will see yellow speech bubbles. After listening to the new comments on your presentations, please make another comment of your own.

OK, here are the instructions for our next project:

Your second project is a group project. You should work in groups of four. You will present a text related to your major. I have prepared some texts for you. Here are the steps in the project:

1.     Read the texts

2.     Choose a text related to your major from the choices provided

3.     Listen to the recording and mark the stressed words, the pauses and the full stops. Look at the example below.

4.     Show your paper to the members of your group. Your papers should be the same.

5.     Make slides for the text – 2 slides for each group member

6.     Upload your Powerpoint to Voicethread.

7.     Share your presentation with your group members:

• Go to your My Voice Page
• Click on the gear menu icon in the corner of your Voicethread presentation thumb nail
• Click Share
• Selection our Tsukuba Dai Group
• Scroll down to find the members of your group
• Click the pencil icon to make it turn gold.

  
 8.  Record your presentations

Please finish your presentations by next class.

Enjoy!

Presentation 2 Spring 2013 Weeks 9 & 10: Finishing up the first project

Hello everyone,
Here's today's plan:

1. Finish your Self Introduction Presentations: copy and paste the text and record
2. Share your presentations with our Tsukuba Dai Presentation II Spring 2013 Voicethread Group.
3. Watch 5 of your classmates' presentations. Post a comment and ask a question on one slide of each of your 5 classmates' presentations
4. Go to your own presentation. Listen to your classmates' comments, make a reply, and ask a question.
5. Finally, go to English Central and get some more speaking practice.

You must finish all these tasks by tomorrow at 12 noon

Enjoy!!