2020年1月22日水曜日

English Education Jan.20

     Today, we learned about content-based language education. Many people are learning English, but in fact, most of them are not good at speaking and writing. Because of it, people focus on content-based language education. A recent book on content-based language teaching is "Focus on Content-Based Language Teaching" by Patsy M. Lightbrown. Recently, CLIL is one of the popular type of content-based language learning. In Canada, "Immersion Education" is popular now. There are three important principles of modern immersion education; Comprehensible input, Structured and extended output, and focus on form.
     At PUK, there are project which connects with content-based language learning. That is "Intensive English". Also, Japan Studies is associated with immersion.

English Education Dec.23

     Today, we learned about how we can improve our English skills such as listening, reading, writing and speaking. If we want to improve vocabulary, it is effective to do extensive reading, vocabulary notebook, English Central and so on. Also, We did activities as previous class today. We found a partner and did "elicited imitation". It was a little bit difficult, but so fun. We had to imitate 5 sentences, and I did four sentences well. Maybe I'm good at elicited  imitation!!!hahaha Actually, I'm not good at listening to English, so I think this activity helps me to improve my listening skill. I'll keep doing it when I have a free time.

English Education Dec.16

     Today, we learned about working memory, dictation, shadowing and so on. Also, it was first time to know about Alan Baddeley who works at University of York.
     At first, I write about working memory. There are four components of working memory, central executive, visual sketchpad, episodic buffer, and phonological loop.
     Also, we did some activities today. We found a partner and tried "working memory task". It was so interesting, and I thought that it is so effective method to improve our English memory. I think it is not so difficult and don't need anything, so we can enjoy it whenever!!!!

English Education Dec.9

     We learned about CLT, ACCESS and TBLT today. It was a little bit hard for me to understand them, but I write what I understand through today's class on this blog.
     The first one is CLT. CLT stands for Communicative Language Teaching, and it started from the 1970s. However, CLT has some problems. For example, teacher don't really know what CLT means, or teachers don't have the skill and technique to teach communicatively.   
     The second one is ACCESS. It stands for Automatization in Communicative Contexts of Essential Speech Segments. Its main tasks are genuinely communicative, Inherently repetitive, and functionally formulaic. (In fact, I couldn't understand it well........)
     The third one is TBLT. It stands for Task-based Language teaching. It was launched by N.S. Prabhu in 1987. He suggests that it is more motivating for young people to learn a new language while working together on some kind of task. Also, there are seven types of task. 
     I couldn't understand well today.....,so I want to ask my teacher about them again!

English Education Nov.18

     It was the first time to take the class by Lavin teacher. We went to the library and I tried to find a book about mobile learning. According to the book, we can learn how to use mobile devices for teaching and learning language and literacy through the book. Therefore, we can also learn how they have been changing during development of hardware or software. Also, Lavin teacher talked about an important book whose name is "THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF LINGUISTICS". I want to know about them more and more through his class, and use them when I teach English to someone.

2019年12月24日火曜日

New York

     It is said that New York is the most exciting city in the world. Every year, more than twenty million people visit there. But why are many people interested in New York? And what attracts so many people?


     Before we gave our presentation about New York, we read "New York" published by Oxford Bookworms. This story is invited into 9 parts, and we can know a lot of things about New York from this book, such as the history, food culture, what people enjoy, and sightseeing spots. We often hear the word, New York, but we don't know about there very much. That's why, on this blog, I tell you the history, food culture, entertainment and sightseeing spots.
     I'm sure that you come to want to go there if you read this blog:)


History
     Four hundred years ago, Algonquin Indians lived in Manhattan Island. In 1609, Henry Hudson came up to the river to Manhattan. Then, Peter Minuit, a Dutchman, also came to Manhattan, and paid the Indians some money for the Island in 1626. He built some houses and called the litte town New Amsterdam. In 1664, the British took the town from the Dutch and changed its name to New York. That is the begging of New York. After that, many people came to New York and lived there. They often lived in the same streets with other people from their own countries such as Irish, Italian and Chinese. That's why, New York has towns called Chinatown and Little Italy.

Food culture

     There are 17,000 or more restaurants, 'fast food' shops, cafes and food stands in New York. Also, we can eat any food from every country in the world. New Yorkers often eat wonderful sandwiches at the 'deli' or the delicatessen. When they go to the food stands, they can eat hamburgers, pretzels, hot dogs and drinks like Coca-Cola. When they go to Chinatown or Little Italy, they can eat the best Chinese food or the best Italian food. I want to go to New York, and eat a lot of food from every country someday!!! If you want to go there with me, please tell me♥

Entertainment
     People in New York spend their free time with many entertainments such as ballet, music and sports. People can do something different every night of the week. Most of the theaters are in the streets near Times Square and on Broadway. The tickets for ballet are expensive, but sometimes there are cheaper tickets. Also, New York is a wonderful city for jazz and rock. You can hear a rock and jazz concert. If you go to New York, why don't you try to go to the theaters and hear music? In addition, Americans love to watch an exciting game of baseball, and New York has two famous baseball teams, the Mets and the Yankees. I recommend watching their game when you go to New York!

Sightseeing spots
     There are a lot of sightseeing spot in New York. For example, Manhattan, Greenwich Village, Central Park and Brooklyn. As I wrote before, Manhattan has Chinatown and Little Italy, so we can enjoy their food and culture. In Greenwich Village, we can visit famous writers and artists's old houses. Also, we can enjoy some cafes, restaurants and art galleries. In
Central Park, New Yorkers often walk and play, and enjoy Delacort Theater or the Central Park Zoo.
In Brooklyn, there are more than five kilometers of beaches and New York Aquarium. Please try to go there.
     Finally, I tell you the best spot. I haven't forgotten it, I have saved it as last special one. Can you guess what it is? When you hear the word "New York", what immediately comes to your mind. Yes, that's the Statue of Liberty!!! Don't forget it! When you go to New York, you should see the Statue of Liberty.

     I'm writing this blog and I'm so excited now, because New York is so exciting town. I really want to go there!! I know I'm so persistent....but.......Could anyone go there with me??:)


John, Escott. (1995). New YorkLondon: Oxford University Press


2019年12月9日月曜日

Seasons and Celebration

     There are many kinds of festival around the world. However, the way to celebrate them is different depends on each countries. Let's compare our culture to foreign countries.

     Before we gave our presentation about celebrations, we read "Seasons and Celebrations" published by Oxford Bookworms. This book shows 8 celebrations such as Halloween, Christmas and Easter. We can understand their origins and how to celebrate them in the world. Also, we can know how celebration has changed until now. On this blog, I picked 4 celebrations and introduce them.

   
     The first celebration is The New Year. In many places, people go to parties, bars or restaurants with friends or family in the evening. In New York, thousands of people go to Times Square. In London, people go to Trafalgar Square. People do there and look at the clock just before midnight. Then, they count the last ten seconds before the New Year begins. After that, they make a circle and sing an old song called 'Auld Lang Syne'. Many people drink a glass of champagne, light some fireworks, or dance until the sun comes up. 

  In contrary, Japanese people go to the shrine with their friends or family on January 1st. It is called "Hatumoude" in Japanese. Then, people eat oseti together. Oseti has many kinds of food such as kazunoko, datemakitamago, kuromame and so on. What children like the best is... "Otoshidama". Children can get some money from their grandparents and relatives.


     The second celebration is Easter. It is said that Easter is more important festival than Christmas. Easter begins with Good Friday that is the day the Romans killed Jesus Christ, in Jerusalem, about two thousand years ago. Easter Day is the Sunday after the first full moon after the first day of spring, so it is different every year. On Easter Day, people decorate eggs with different colors, then take them to the top of hill and they roll down. It is a one of the traditional event called 'egg-rolling'. Also, people give chocolate Easter eggs as presents. Furthermore, many people eat hot cross buns at Easter. These are made with fruit and spices, small loaves of bread, and they have a cross on top. 

     In Japan, there are few people who celebrate Eater Day. However, I think it is interesting and important for us to celebrate it because Easter Day means spring and new life. This concept connects with not only foreigners but also us. Let's celebrate next year!!!


     The third celebration is Halloween. Two thousand years ago, people who lived in Britain celebrated their New Year on November 1st. Then, the Christians cam and people celebrated 'Hallowmas', a three-day festival between October 31st and November 2nd. At that time, October 31st was called "All Hallow's Eve", then slowly the name changed to Halloween. By the way, do you know why people  celebrate Halloween? It is because people believed that bad spirits such as ghost came in the winter hundreds of years ago. Then, people wanted the bad spirits to go away, so they celebrate it. On Halloween day, people enjoy a lot of things. Some people make "Jack o' lantern". It is a kind of light, and people use big autumn fruit or vegetables to make it. Some people dress like witches and ghosts. Children enjoy some games. The most famous Halloween game is called 'bobbing for apples'. People put water and apples in a big bowl. The apples stay on top of water. Then, children try take an apple out of the water by their teeth.

     In Japan, many people also enjoy Halloween. However, some people get too carried away. Unfortunately, they are arrested by policemen every year. Maybe most of people don't know Halloween's purpose or history, so I think we should know about it.... and let's enjoy Halloween doing 'bobbing for apples' next year.


     The last celebration is Christmas. At Christmas, people remember when Jesus Christ was born and the Christian religion started. Now, Christmas is  very important for Christians, but it is also similar to us. We buy and give presents, have parties, and be with family. People start to get ready for Christmas in late October or early November. Many shops are decorated with lights, trees and so on. In the middle of December, most families also buy Christmas trees and decorate them. On  Christmas Eve, children leave a stocking for Santa Claus when they go to bed. Then, parents tell their children that Santa Claus comes when they are sleeping. It is the same way in Japan. When I was a child, my parents used to tell me such a thing. Then, I try sleeping earlier to get presents. On Christmas Day, people eat turkey with lots of winter vegetables and then hot mince pies or Christmas pudding. In Japan, when it comes to Christmas dinner, I can imagine "KFC". Many people eat "KFC" for Christmas in Japan. Christmas is coming! What will you ask Santa for? I dress Santa Claus and give my parents some Christmas presents. It is so happy to see them smiling with presents. I have to think what I give to them this year...I'm so excited!!! Have a nice Christmas!!

     Through this book and my research, I noticed that there are some different ways to celebrate between foreign countries and Japan. Also, I hadn't known the origins, histories, and purpose to celebrate. Thanks to these new knowledge, I'll be able to enjoy some celebration more and more next year!! I can't wait next year!!

Maguire, Jackie. (1997). Seasons and celebrations. London: Oxford University Press





English Education Jan.20

     Today, we learned about content-based language education. Many people are learning English, but in fact, most of them are not good at s...