The English Lounge Podcast 4: An interview with Amrik

Toyo Gakuen University has a podcast! Last year Toyo Gakuen University started a podcast. In December the postcast featured Kazuki and Hidenori talking about homestays. The newest podcast is a conversation with Amrik.
Amrik is a third-year student at Aston University. Amrik is spending his third year in Japan as an intern at Toyo Gakuen University. Amrik is the second Aston University student to do an internship at Toyo Gakuen University. Amrik spoke to Claire Taylor and Clare Murray. They are English Teachers in the English Education Develpment Centre at Toyo Gakuen University.
Listen to the conversation. When you have time, please go to the English Lounge and chat with Amrik. He's a really interesting young man.

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Please subscribe to the English Lounge Podcast in iTunes.

A Note for teachers:

At the 2009 ETJ Tokyo Expo held at Toyo Gakuen University's Hongo campus in Tokyo, Andy Boon gave a presentation about our internship programme and he explained how educatators in Japan can set up their own programmes. Below is a video of his presentation. Andy has shared his powerpoint slides for this presentation too.

Setting Up An Intern Program

View more presentations from Andy Boon.

Please let me know what you think. Please post a comment.

Toyo Gakuen University Homestay English Last lesson: Christmas and The English Lounge Podcast

Well this is our last lesson. So today is special. First we are going to learn about Christmas in Tarragona Spain.
Now let's listen to the Toyo Gakuen University English Lounge Podcast. In this podcast you will hear two Toyo Gakuen University students talk about their homestay experiences.

Click the link:The English Lounge Podcast
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Widgets, Gadgets, and other fun stuff

Look at the right side of this blog. Scroll down. Scroll up. Now click the picture above in order to make it bigger. Look at the picture. You can see some of the same things that you saw on the right side of this blog. These things are called widgets, or gadgets. There are three kinds of widgets: web widgets, desktop widgets and mobile widgets. You can read about web widgets on wikipedia in English and Japanese. You can read about desktop widgets in English and Korean. Mobile widgets are widgets that you can use on your mobile phone. Mobile phone is 携帯電話 in Japanese.

Look at the picture above again. The widget in the middle is the newest widget on this blog. This widget comes from a great blog called Image English. Image English is like a picture dictionary.

Look at the picture again. The widget next to the Image English widget is from a website called
Urban dictionary. It's a dictionary of slang. It's really useful for understanding pop, rap and hip hop songs, but be careful! Many of these words are NOT words that you should use in class, or in a conversation with your homestay family!

Look at the picture again. The widget above the Image English widget is from the English 4 Today podcast. This podcast is for advanced learners.

Look at the picture again. The widget in the top right corner is from Vocabulary Grapher Thesaurus. This is my favourite widget. Click the picture below to make it bigger.

This widget is great for learning more about words that you already know. For example, in the picture above, the keyword is "student". From the graph you can see that pupil is a synonym (同義語) of student. The Vocabulary Grapher Thesaurus is a very useful for TOEFL test preparation too.

Look at the first picture again. The widget in the bottom left corner is an mp3 player from a website called Finetune. You can use this widget to listen to music while you read this blog. If you click the arrow next to the star in the top left corner of the widget and then click "user profile" from the drop down menu, you can listen to some playlists that I have made.

Look at the right side of this blog again. Scroll down. There are two more widgets. These widgets come from two great teachers' blogs.

You can get the Image English widget and the Finetune Player widget from Springwidgets. You can get he Vocabulary Grapher Thesaurus widget and the English 4 Today podcast widget from Google Gadgets. You can get widgets from other places too including Yahoo widgets, Widgetbox, and Schoolhouse Widgets.

Finally, I want to tell you about a great widget called Sing that iTune. Sing that iTune finds and saves lyrics for the songs that you listen to in iTunes. It also finds and saves CD cover art. You can get it from Yahoo widgets or if your computer is a Macintosh you can get it from your Dashboard.


Please tell me about your favourite widgets.
Enjoy!

Shibaura Institute of Technology Listening Comprehension Mid-term Exam

The Midterm Exam is next Tuesday. You can prepare by watching and listening to some videos. Click this link to watch the videos: http://mrstoutsblog.blogspot.com/search?q=videos
You can get more practice by listening to these podcasts:

• English Journal Podcast
• ELT Podcast
• ESL Radio Show
• ELLLO Podcast
  

You can find links to many other podcasts by clicking this link: http://iteslj.org/links/ESL/Listening/Podcasts/


Happy listening and good luck on the exam!

The Hire Hire Festival at Toyo Gakuen University

Hello everybody,
Well, it's that time again!! The Hire Hire Festival starts tomorrow.
I spoke to Yuka, one of the organisers of the festival. Our chat was made into a podcast by Jerry Talandis, one of the great teachers at Toyo Gakuen University. You can listen to the podcast by clicking the link below.  There are many great things to see and do at the festival including:

• a flea market
• fireworks
• stamp rally
• stand-up comedy
• live music
• food stands
• ..and many more things!!

Please leave a comment.
Enjoy!

ELP 5: The Hire Hire Festival

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

Making a Date

Recently we have been learning about dates and time in the FE4-Speaking Class at Toyo Gakuen University. For the next test you will have to make a date to go to a movie. Here's a video from EF Education First to help you. The video talks about polite ways to make a suggestion in English. There are various ways to make a suggestion including:

• How about....?
• Would you like to...?
• I was wondering if...?

Which of the ways above do you think is the most polite? Watch the video and find out.

Here's another video about making dates. This video is an animated video. My friend Paul made this video. Paul has a video podcast called ESLpodTV. It's a great podcast. This video is about an English man called Ed. U. Cator. He calls his new friend to invite her to his house. You can learn more about making suggestions, invitations and polite requests (丁寧語、招待) in this video. here's some vocabulary to help you:

guy - person, usually a man

anytime - whenever

nothing special - nothing different or unusual

accent - the way your voice sounds shaped by where you’re from

housewarming party - special event celebrating moving into new home

neighbours - the people living nearby

got nothing on - not doing anything at that time

few - a small number of something

funny - strange

I was wondering if… polite expression requesting somebody do something

If you’re free… - expression often used to ask for a date or request favour

Educator Diaries 3 from kibishipaul on Vimeo.

When we make a date in English we need to be able to say dates. For example: June 11th, August 30th, December 25th. We need to be make to make the "th" sound. You can watch some videos about making the "th" sound by clicking here.

When we make a date in English we need to be able to talk about time as well as dates. Here's a video from Real English about time.

Here's another video that talks about prepositions of time. This video comes from JenniferESL

For your next test you will have to make a date to see a movie. Good luck!

Toyo Gakuen University Homestay English: Unit 7 - Cooking is easy

Today we are going to learn useful English for cooking. Many homestay families are interested in Japanese food. It's a good idea to teach them how to make a Japanese dish. First, let's watch a funny video about making sushi. What mistakes is Baka Tono making?



Next, here's a video in English about how to make tempura.



Now lets watch a video about making fish and chips.

This video downloaded from VideoJug

Let's watch again and do the tasks on your handouts. The tasks for this video were written by Paul Carr for his video podcast ESLpodTV. On the ESLpodTV website Paul Carr wrote the following about this video lesson:

There are some useful words and expressions to learn below. More are in the text.
pour - move liquid from one container to another

serve - give food to the people who will eat it
season - give flavor to food by adding salt, pepper etc.

fry - cook food in oil

flip - turn something onto its other side




For Japanese and Spanish translations please go to transcript. ( せりふの訳はこのページです)

Finally, please leave a comment. What Jpanese dish can you make? What are the ingredients? How do you make it? Please post a comment.

Toyo Gakuen University FE3-Listening
A Video about a Burglar for Unit 3

This is a video made by my friend Paul Carr for his podcast ESLpodTV. As an introduction to the video Paul wrote:

• Topic: Burglar mystery story (泥簿事件)

• Level: (lower) intermediate (小中級)
• Language: dialogues, facial descriptions (会話、顔の説明)
• Grammar: Verb tenses, adjectives (動詞、形容詞)

Watch what happens when Ben and Yuki hear a strange noise in the middle of the night. Who’s there? A burglar or somebody else? Our brave couple go downstairs to find out. You can see the transcript by clicking here. ( せりふの訳はそのページのURLをRikai.comへ)

There are some useful words and expressions to learn below.

Wasamatter? - What’s the matter?

downstairs - On the floor(s) below

torch - a light you carry in your hand

stairs - steps

scared - afraid

granny - grandmother

gramps - granddad

dangerous - not safe

locked - closed or shut so it cannot be opened without a key

burglar - someone who steals from houses

freckles - brown spots on the face

bald - to have no hair on the head

scars - an old cut that leaves a mark on the skin

wrinkles - age lines on the face

Enjoy!

Shibaura Institute of Technology Global Issues 1
Make-up Assignment

This is an assignment for students unable to sit the final exam. Watch the video and do the tasks on the task sheet given to you. You must submit your work by 28 July 2007. Enjoy!



This video was made by Paul Carr for his podcast ESLpodTV. Below is Paul's introduction to this video:

• Topic: students talking about the meaning of ‘home’ (家にはどんな意味があるのかについて話合います)
• Level: beginner (初級)
• Language: listening (聞く)

This is a supplementary beginner lesson on the topic of the meaning of the word ‘home’. Watch and listen as a group of students talk about what they think the word home means. . Enjoy the show!

このビデオは初級生徒の為のレッスンです。学生が家にはどんな意味があるのかについて話合います。

There are some useful words and expressions to learn below. More are in the text.

abroad - another country, not your own

support - to help and assist someone

discriminate - to judge someone based on color, race, sex, height etc.

treasure - someone or something very important to you

accept - agree with or understand another’s ideas or feelings

For Japanese and Spanish translations please go to transcript. ( せりふの訳はこのページです)

In April another video about "home" was posted on this blog. Check it out again!

Shibaura Institute of Technology Listening Comprehension Make-up homework for class absences (欠席)

This is a make-up assignment for students who were unable to attend class on 23 June 2007.
On 23 June we studied Units 10 and 13 from Listen In Book 1 by David Nunan. The topic in Unit 10 is how things work. The goals are understanding instructions (使用上注意) and following a sequence (連続). The topic in Unit 13 is ordering food in a restaurant. The goals are understanding food and drink orders and understanding and confirming reservations. Therefore, for your homework you will watch a video about making fish and chips. Fish and chips is a popular fast-food in England. Many university students enjoy eating fish and chips.

This video downloaded from VideoJug

The tasks for this video were written by Paul Carr for his video podcast ESLpodTV. On the ESLpodTV website Paul Carr wrote the following about this video lesson:

• Topic: cooking - fish and chips (イギリスの伝統的な料理)
• Level: intermediate (中級)
• Language: listening (聞く)

There are some useful words and expressions to learn below. More are in the text.
pour - move liquid from one container to another

serve - give food to the people who will eat it
season - give flavor to food by adding salt, pepper etc.

fry - cook food in oil

flip - turn something onto its other side




For Japanese and Spanish translations please go to transcript. ( せりふの訳はこのページです)


Enjoy!

Toyo Gakuen University FE4 - Speaking

This week our lesson was about meeting people. Therefore, I have posted a video to help you practice meeting people. This is a video podcast called The Daily English Show. It's done by a teacher from New Zealand. You can subscribe to The Daily English Show through iTunes. The show has four parts: The introduction, Stick News, Conversations with Sarah, and Question/Answer.

You can read the English script by clicking: http://thedailyenglishshow.blogspot.com/2006_04_05_archive.html

You can read the Japanese translation by clicking: http://plaza.rakuten.co.jp/dailyenglish/diary/200604050000/

Your homework is:
Follow the instructions in the third part - Conversations with Sarah.

1. listen and repeat.
   
2. practice the conversation.
   
3. When you're finished click comment.
   
4. Write a comment about the video.
   
5. Sign your comment. Write your class name, your first name, the first letter of your last name, and your seat number.
   

For example:

Hi Mr. Stout. This homework was interesting and fun.
N05 Toyotaro D. 01

Your homework is due one week from your last class.

If you want you can get more practice on The Toyo Gakuen University English Lounge website, or just come to the English Lounge and have a chat. I'll be there at lunch time.
Enjoy!