sheffnersweb.net

(”Farewell”. Photo by by ?M? at http://www.flickr.com/photos/mosca27/301594996/ )

Hi, everyone.

Today is the last class of World News B 2007.  Your blog belongs to you, not to me, and not to Shoin. What you do with it is your choice. If you want to delete your blog, you can - but please wait 1 week! Do not delete your blog before February 15th.

I really enjoyed teaching you this semester. Attendance was very good. Well done, everyone.

1. What did you learn in this class this semester?
2. Make sure all your blog entries are up to date. I will check all your blogs this evening. Your blogs show me what you learned this semester.
3. To pass this class, you must show you learned something.
4. 100% attendance is not enough to pass the class.
5. I will count
   1. how many blog posts you wrote
   2. the quality of your blog posts
      1. did you answer all the questions?
      2. did you spell-check your work before uploading?
      3. did you add links, and your own opinion?
      4. do you have a title (the date)?
6. If you have time:
   1. Read your classmates’ blogs.
   2. Blog about them on your blog.
   3. Read some of the news items listed in my delicious  links.

1. Watch the Powerpoint presentation “Blogging in English - Mistakes & Tips”. Write a summary of the key points (in Japanese or English) on your blog.
2. What is the purpose, objective, of a newspaper company?
3. What is the purpose, objective, of a television company?
4. What is the purpose, objective of Yahoo! or Google?
5. The purpose of all the above is to make money. That is the purpose of all these businesses. How do they make money? By getting as many readers or viewers (”eyeballs”) as possible. If their purpose is to get as many readers or viewers or “eyeballs” as possible, then what kind of news will they probably publish? Give 2 or 3 examples. What kind of news might they not publish? Give 2 or 3 examples.
6. Find a news article in English that interests you, and write about it on your blog. Write a summary of the article, then your thoughts about it, and any interesting English words or expressions or grammar you learned from reading this.
7. Read your classmates’ blogs and comment on them on your own blog.
8. Make sure your blog posts are all up to date. February 8th is the last class! I will use your blog posts to decide your final grade, so make sure your blog posts look great! Impress me!!

(photo from www.clipdisplay.com/a-z-exhibiting.html

Do’s and Don’ts

1. DO spellcheck everything before you post
2. DO use your own words
3. DO use complete sentences
4. DO use proper references
5. DO read your classmates’ blogs
6. DO leave comments
7. DO read the comments on your own blog
8. DON’T use translation software
9. DON’T just cut and paste
10. DON’T just answer the questions (”Yes. No. 600.”)
11. DON’T use photos or text from other websites WITHOUT giving the references.

Today’s lesson plan.

1. Look at this photo and answer the questions
   1. Where was this photo taken?
   2. When was it taken?
   3. What does the caption say under the photo?
   4. Translate the caption into Japanese.
   5. “Crowds cheer” = how many people, do you think?
2. Now look at this photo taken at the same place and same time, and answer the questions.
   1. How many people were in the square, do you think?
   2. Do you think “crowds cheer” is accurate?
   3. What do you think of the first picture now?
   4. Why did CNN use the first picture, do you think?
   5. What do you think after seeing these two photos?
3. Is it important for newspapers to tell the truth, or is it ok for newspaper to lie sometimes? Give reasons for your answer.
4. How can you check if some item of news is true or not? (Give at least two different ways).
5. Read your classmates’ answers to these questions (read at least 3 other blogs)
6. What do you think now, after reading your classmates’ blogs? Write your thoughts on your blog.
7. Go to Masa’s blog and read his latest news.

Next class is Tuesday, January 29th. We will be in room 516, not in this multi-media room.

Hi, everyone,

1. How many Muslims live in Britain? (Go here for the answer).
2. How many Hindus live in Britain? (Go here for the answer).
3. Check my answers! Find the answers on some other website (tell us the website and link).
4. Check out Masa’s blog. Leave a comment (it will make him happy!) or ask a question (he will surely answer you in his next blog entry).

Today, we will be using Student Times and Catch A Wave magazines for reading about news in English.

Catch a Wave has audio for its articles here.

Lanterns Lead the Way to Kasuga Grand Shrine

Originally uploaded by jpellgen.

Happy New Year, everyone. Did you enjoy the winter break?

Today, we will find out about January in Britain. WRITE ALL YOUR ANSWERS IN MS WORD and SPELLCHECK FIRST, then upload to your blog.

1. Tell us about your New Year. Add a picture.
   My family all stayed at home in Ikoma. My daughter came back from Tokyo for a week. On New Year’s Day we wrote New Year’s cards, and I telephoned my parents. We also ate traditional Japanese New Year’s food such as “ozouni” and osechi. My son went to Kasuga Shrine in Nara with friends.On January 2nd, we sent our cards then went… to Kasuga Shrine! We went in the late afternoon to avoid the crowds. We bought some fortune cookies (”o-mikuji”) and tied them to a stringOn the 3rd, we went to a favourite temple called Joururi-ji
   You can see some photos I took here
2. How did you spend your New Year?
3. Now go to the Project Britain website and answer these questions about New Year in Britain:
   1. Hogmanay is the name for New Year in which country?
   2. In which city is the New Year’s Day parade held? Can you find a photo of this year’s parade?
   3. Whose birthday is on January 3rd, and what famous book did he write?
   4. Whose birthday is on January 5th? Why is this person’s birthday in a British calendar?
   5. Whose birthday is today (January 8th)? What is he famous for?
   6. What is Al Hijra and why is it on a British calendar?
   7. Who reached the South Pole in 1912 on January 17th?
   8. Whose birthday is on January 18th? What famous book did he write?
   9. Who died on January 24th, 1965? What is he famous for (write ONE thing).
   10. What do you think about this calendar?
4. Find an interesting news article and blog it. (Here are some news articles I found recently.)
5. Visit some of your classmates’ blogs and either leave a comment, or write a comment on your blog.

New Year Mosaic 2008

Originally uploaded by maplemama.
Happy New Year to you all.

The night before—

Originally uploaded by tollen.

A very happy Christmas to all of you.

Here’s my Christmas card to you.

As today is the last class this year, and it is nearly Christmas, today’s theme is Christmas. Go to the Woodlands Junior School website and find out about Christmas in the UK.

1) What is a nativity play?
2) What is a Christmas carol?
3) What is a pantomime?
4) What are mince pies? Find a photo of one.
5) Find a photo of a Christmas pudding.
6) Find a photo of a Christmas cake.
7) What are Brussels sprouts? Find a photo of some.

Write your answers in MS Word first, then copy to your blog.

Find a Christmas photo and put it on your blog.
Visit your classmates’ blogs and see their Christmas card. Which is the best? Vote on your blog.

A few days ago I got this email from Amnesty International:
 

On 10 December, Ikhtior Khamroev was released from the prison punishment cell to which he had been confined for 10 days. …Bakhtior Khamroev told Amnesty International that his son had lost weight but that he appeared otherwise reasonably fit. He said he had seen a three-centimetre scar on his son’s abdomen.

Read the whole story below:

On 10 December, Ikhtior Khamroev was released from the prison punishment cell to which he had been confined for 10 days. The next day, he was visited by his father, human rights defender
Bakhtior Khamroev, who told Amnesty International that Ikhtior Khamroev confirmed that he had been beaten and locked in a punishment cell, and that he had cut himself in the abdomen in protest at his ill-treatment. Ikhtior Khamroev told his father that, on 29 November, a senior prison guard had accused him of swearing at another prisoner - which is considered to be a disciplinary offence in prison - and had demanded that he sign a statement admitting to this offence. When Ikhtior Khamroev refused to sign the statement he was beaten by the prison officer and another prisoner. He was locked in a punishment cell and in protest at his ill-treatment he cut his abdomen with a small knife. Ikhtior Khamroev told his father that a doctor was called that night to treat and bandage his wound. While Ikhtior Khamroev was in solitary confinement, he was visited three times by a doctor, who changed his dressings.

Bakhtior Khamroev told Amnesty International that his son had lost weight but that he appeared otherwise reasonably fit. He said he had seen a three-centimetre scar on his son’s abdomen.

The press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Uzbekistan issued a public statement denying that Ikhtior Khamroev had been beaten and injured. The statement alleged that the reports had been a fabrication by his father.

Ikhtior Khamroev is serving a three-year prison sentence handed
down in September 2006.

Bakhtior Khamroev thanked Amnesty International members for their
support.

No further action is needed. Many thanks to all who sent appeals.

These are my answers to last week’s questions:

1. Beowulf is
   1. the title of a recent movie
   2. the title of the oldest poem written in Old English
   3. the name of the hero of the poem (and the hero of the movie).

   There are at least two other movies with the same title: this one from 2005, and this one from 1999. I found both of them in my local Tsutaya video rental store, but I have not borrowed either of them yet.

2. The movie is based on the Old English poem “Beowulf”.
3. It was spoken between the 5th - 11th centuries.
4. Old English was first written using the runic alphabet (see picture here), then later (after Britain became Christian) using the Roman alphabet (see picture here).
5. There are some recordings of Old English poetry here (click on the illuminated capital letters to hear the sound file).
6. The story is about a Scandinavian hero called Beowulf who fights three fights: first against an evil monster called Grendel; then against Grendel’s mother; and finally against a dragon.
7. At the end of the poem, Beowulf dies.
8. The director of the 2007 movie is Robert Zemeckis. He also directed the trilogy “Back to the Future”. These are three of my favourite movies.
9. This movie stars John Malkovitch, Angelina Jolie, Anthony Hopkins. I have seen Anthony Hopkins in “The Remains of the Day“, “Silence of the Lambs”, and “The Fastest Indian“. I liked “The Fastest Indian” and “The Remains of the Day”.
10. “The Golden Compass” is a fantasy movie based on a British novel “Northern Lights“. (This book is called “The Golden Compass” in USA.)
11. It was written by Philip Pullman (or in Japanese here) and published in 1995.
12. The main characters are Lyra Belacqua, Mrs Coulter, Lord Asriel, a bear called Iorek Byrnison, and a balloonist called Lee Scoresby . It takes place in a universe like ours but different. (For example, Lyra lives in Oxford which is a town in English with a big university, but the Oxford University in Lyra’s world has different college names.) Lyra leaves her home in Jordan College, Oxford, and goes with Mrs Coulter to London to be her assistant. Just before she leaves Oxford, several children are kidnapped by a strange group called “The Gobblers”. In London, Lyra discovers that Mrs Coulter is the leader of the Gobblers. She runs away and is saved by the Gyptians who take her with him on a journey to the North to rescue the children. Lyra also hopes to find and rescue her uncle, Lord Asriel. She also hopes to discover what Dust is, and to see other worlds.
13. Oxford is in the south of England. It is near London, and also on the river Thames (see map here).
14. There are 39 colleges (”Jordan College” does not exist in our universe).
15. The director is Chris Weitz. He also directed “About a Boy” (another British movie, starring Hugh Grant), which I enjoyed very much.
16. The main actors are Nicole Kidman (in Japanese here), Daniel Craig (”James Bond”) (in Japanese here), and a new child actress, Dakota Blue Richards who plays Lyra (Dakota was born in Brighton, UK, as I was). I saw Nicole Kidman in “Moulin Rouge“, with Ewan McGregor (in Japanese here).
17. The controversy is about religion. In the stories by Pullman, there is an evil organization called “The Magesterium”, which is similar to the Catholic Church in our universe. Many Catholics are angry about this negative portrayal, and are urging people not to watch the movie or read the books. Pullman says his books are not anti-religious or anti-Catholic, but he himself does not believe in God and his books show the bad side of any organized religion. Some people say his books encourage readers to ask questions.