I've Done Final Task!

Through Writing classes, we’ve learned a lot of things. We had essay prep. & essays proper, book reviews & bibliographies, peer-to-peer commentary, and portfolios of our work. We have been busy because of these tasks, but these tasks gave us a lot of opportunities.

For essay prep. & essays, we tried free-writing, mind-mapping, outlining, and drafting. Free-writing is lots of fun because we can write about anything topic. We usually tried mind-mapping first. This taught us a lot of ideas for our essays. After mind-mapping, we decided how to organize our essays, and then tried writing essay prep.. After this, there was peer-to-peer commentary. Thanks to our classmates, we could rewrite better essays. For me, these comments taught me many things, so I tried to rewrite twice. I wrote second essay longer than first essay, of course, last essay was the longest of the three. Second essay was better than first essay, and last essay was the best of all. Through these process, best essay has come.

For book reviews, we tried reading English books, and wrote quotations, summaries, opinions, and recommendations in our reviews. For this task, we went to library and borrowed some books, which is written in English. After reading  a book, we reviewed about it. Through this task, we tried to read English books for the first time. For me, this gave me a lot of opportunities. Until this year, I have never read English books, so this was good. At first, reading English books is difficult for me, but I found reading English books is a lot of fun. I want to continue in the future.

For peer-to-peer commentary, it reminds us of rules of comments. When we comment on our classmates’ posts, we tried to comment with praise, advice, agreement, and so on about articles. It was good for me to care these points. When I received comments, I was pleased, so I tried to comment on classmates’ and peers’ blogs as many as possible. Reading their articles was so interesting because they wrote about a lot of things. Reading their posts taught me a lot of things, so I liked it.

In this year, I’ve learned a lot of things through Writing classes though these tasks were very hard. These experiences will help me in the future.

[381 words]

kkk

BIG SMILE!

BR 2-18: Huckleberry Finn

"You don't know about me if you have not read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tome Sawyer. But that doesn't matter" (p.1)

 Like this, this book is the continuation of a story. It's interesting! The other day, I've written a book review about The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.  In this book, Huckleberry Finn, Tom's friends, is main character! Of course, Tom appeared on the scene. I feel like they are alive. It's great!

  I chose this book because I've heard that this book is so famous. I'll go to the United States from next summer, so I decided to read a lot of American books. This time, I tried to read this book. The author is Mark Twain. This book is printed from IBC public. These series have word list, and it's kind for readers.

139 words

  Mark Twain. (2005). Huckleberry Finn. Tokyo, Japan: IBC public.

BR 2-17: The Great Gatsby

"Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone, just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had." (p.1)

Jay Gatsby is main character. He lives in a luxurious mansion, west egg alone. Nick Carraway is a narrator. He will tell us a lot of stories about Gatsby. Tom Buchanan is Daisy, Nick's cousin, her husband. Nick and Tom have known each other from their college lives. At first, you should know about these main characters. Except these characters, there are some characters, for example, Jordan Baker, George B. Wilson, and Myrtle Wilson... This story will give you time for thinkng about your lives. It's good chance I think.

 I chose this book because I watched a movie from the original by The Great Gatsby in a class. After watching movies, reading originals is easy I think. This time, that is so. Until I watched the movie, I haven't known about this name. However, this book is so famous. The author is F. Scott Fitzgerelad! This book is printed from IBC public. These series have word list, and it's kind for readers.

186 words

 F. Scott Fitzgerald. (2006). The Great Gatsby. Tokyo, Japan: IBC public.

BR 2-16: Thumbelina

"Here is a magic seed" (p.3)

Thumbelina is pretty and kind, and as tiny as your thumb. Once, there was a woman who wanted a child, and went to a fairy for help. The fairy gave her a magic seed, and inside was a tiny girl, no bigger than a thunn. She is Thumbelina. The woman made here a bed ouf of a walnut shell. It's so fantastic! However, one night, a large, lumpy tad crept throught the open window... she snatched Thumbelina as she slept! What would happen to Tumbelina?!

This is based on a story by Hans Chrisian Andersen, retold by Susanna Davidson, and illustrated by Petra Brown. This is USBORNE FIRST READING: LEVEL FOUR. I think these words are little difficulut, but illustrations will help you guess unknown words. It's good for us to study like that. The story is good, but I wonder where the frist woman goes...

[152 words]

Thumbelina. (2008). Thumbelina. London, England: Usborne.

BR 2-15: The Runaway Pancake

"I'm delicious but you'll never catch me!" (p.25)

When seven hungry children have pancakes for breakfast, one pancake refuses to be eaten... That is unbelievable. Just kidding, but the pancake jumped right out of the pan and rolled out of the door. The family, they all went running after runaway pancake. Can the runaway pancake escape from the whole family, the dog, the rabbit, the duck, the cat, the goat, the fox and a cunning pig!?

This is retold by Mairi Mackinnon, and illustrated by Silvia Provantini. This is USBORNE FIRST READING: LEVEL FOUR, but I don't think too difficulut. The illustration is so funny, so you can also enjoy them. Anyway, I recommend you to read this book when you are disappointed. This book maybe make you funny.

[149 words]

 Mairi Mackinnon. (2006). The Runaway Pancake. London, England: Usborne.

BR 2-14: Percy and the Pirates

"I've found a treasure map" (p.38)

Percy Pike and his family lived on a farm by the sea, and spent all day working in their tiny filed. However, there was never enough to eat. Early one morning, Percy came up with a plan, that is, fishing trip, but it runs into trouble. He's captured by pirates, but the capatain was terrible I thikn. Can Percy escape before he's forced to walk tha plank?!

 I chose this book because this book has really cute illustrations. This is written by Russell Punter, and illustrated by Kate Sheppard. It's USBORNE FIRST READING: LEVEL FOUR, but is easy to read. It has about 50 pages, but hasn't too many words. I recommend you to read this! After reading this, you maybe think about doing good things is very important!

[134 words]

Russell Punter. (2007). Percy and the Pirates. London, England: Usborne.

BR 2-13: Sonny Gets Lost

"Most of all, Sonny likes cats" (p.6)

Sonny, a big, black, shaggy dog, lives with Sandy. He really likes to sleep everywhere like in the sun, on the mat, and on the chair... also he likes men, for example, Greg, Mark, Dave, Dean and so on. Most of all, Sonny likes cats. He likes to run after cats! He runs after big cats, little cats, black cats, white cats, and so on. One day, Sonny ran after a black cat. The cat ran away down the road, so he did so. He did not come back, so Sandy, his owner, went to look for him. Where did he go? Could she find Sonny?

I chose this book because this book is good for children I think. This story is written by Josephine Selwyn, and illustrated by Stella Yang. This is MACMILLAN. Its YL is 0.5, so it is written only about 200 words (about 16 pages). I really recommend you to read this book to children. OR I recommend you to read this book as warm-up.

[176 words]

Josephine Selwyn. (2004). Sonny Gets Lost. South Yarra, Australia: Macmillan.

MR: King of the Apology

I thought about movies which I've watched in this year... I remembered to watch this movie, King of the Apology, with my friends, Nozomi and Sakura. That day was Wednesday. On Wednesdays, we have fifth class. Wednesdays remind ladies of ladies' day. Only girls can watch a movie in 1,000 yen. That movie was funny. We laughed very much... If you have a chance, let's watch it!

[67 words]

Nobuyuki Iinuma, Kazutoshi Wadakura, and Satoshi Fukushima (Producers), & Nobuo, Mizuta (Director). (2013). King of the Apology. Japan: Nippon Television Network Corporation

Welcome to Hungry Tummy!

This restaurant's crew are Yui, Tomohiro and Yukie. We grew up together. From now, I talk about our restaurant's history. We were friends from childfood, and we were always hungry. We loved eating too much, so we decided to open our restaurant someday. Yui were good at management, so she studies it and does it now. Tomohiro were good at making dishes, so he studies it and now he is a cook. Yukie were good at making candies, and studies it in France and she is a patissiernow. We built our restaurant two year ago. The reason why we chose this place as our restaurant is it's easy to get here. It'll take about 15 minutes from downtown by bus. You can get here by bus, of course. There are bus stops over there. How did you come? Anyway, I'm glad you have a wonderful dinner. Bye.

 

[147 words]

My Favorite Season

I would like to write about my favorite season. My favorite season is spring! At first, I really don’t like hot days because it’s too hard to live in hot days. Kumamoto is one of the hottest prefectures I think, so I hate its summer… When I say about winter, in fact, I don’t like cold days. However, I will go to Montana from next summer. I’ve heard it is too cold from my friend. I wonder if I can live…  In conclusion, I like spring the best because it is warm and makes me feel comfortably warm. I love spring! One of my friends said I don’t like spring because I have to change the class. Surely, when we were student, we had to change the class. It has fun and restlessness, but in the university, we don’t have to change the class, and we can spend time with our best friends. Also we can meet new people in spring. It’s a lot of fun! Can’t wait next spring!

[170 words]

BR 2-12: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

"Aunt Polly asked me because I'm a very good painter." (p.1)

I have read this story in Japanese and I wrote a report about it. I like Chapter 1 The Fence, of course, this story was in Japanese version. I think this story was in second chapter. It was interesting. Tom is wise. The above word was funny, and I laughed. Reply to this, Ben, his friend, said "I'm a good painter, too. Please, can I paint? I have some fruit. Do you want it?" Tom is really wise. He got a lot of things from his friends, and finished his work quickly. Also, aunt Polly was surprised!

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) is about a young boy in a small town in the 1800s. This is famous! I recommend you to read this story in various versions. I'll try to read another version in the near future.

[149 words]

Twain, Mark. (2000). The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Essex, England: Penguin.

What I intend to learn in 2014

I would like to write about what I intend to learn in 2014. At first, in 3 months, I become junior student. Maybe, I don't have to take many classes, so time for me will be increased. I intend to learn how to use the time for my future. I want to do a lot of things, and learn a lot. I intend to learn about my future job.

In 7 months, I will go to Montana State University in the United States as an exchange student. I want to learn about English education, cultures, live English, and so on at there. Can't wait! To success my study abroad, I want to learn English harder in Japan. Until my departure, I continue to improve my speaking and listening skills! In there, I will live in a dorm, and have to live by myself. For this, until my departure, I have to learn cooking. I'll do my best at home...

On October in 2013, I started my work as a tutor. Because I'll study abroad, I have to quit this in half a year. Until then, I intend to learn a lot of things from my students and peers, especially how to teach English easily. This experience will be helpful for me in the near future I think.

[217 words]

 

What I learned in 2013

I would like to write about what I learned in 2013. This year, I became sophomore student. I had heard sophomore is the hardest year, so I had worried about if I could live... but back to past, I could do it I think.

This year, I had big exams for being an exchange student. Through it, I thought about myself carefully. I had passed the exams, and I became to study English harder. I'm taking classes for being an English teacher now. I had some microteachings in this year. I was so nervous because of these, but it was doing well. Through these challenges, I learned about classes.

In this year, I more often went to English Lounge than last year. It was courageous for me to go there, but going there is a lot of fun. I met a lot of people there, and enjoyed talking with them. I learned that courageous was important, and I learned a lot from people I met. They were working hard every time, so their work taught me a lot of things.

On October in this year, finally I started to work at a cram school as a tutor. I want to be an English teacher, and it was a lot of fun. However, teaching English is difficult, especially to students who don't like English. When I was a junior high school, I liked English, so it was difficult for me... Through this job, I learned fun and difficulties of teaching English. Through 2013, I learned a lot of things and met a lot of people. I want to thank all of people!

[271 words]