Category Archives: announcement

Temporary on hold

This blog is temporarily on hold. I used this blog to communicate with students about class content and assignments. However, I have now transferred this facility to DWC’s Learner Management system known as Manabi, so this blog is now superfluous.

There are some things which Manabi does not manage well, such as allowing students to comment or exchange messages, also contacting me directly seems easier just with regular email. Using Manabi is therefore an experiment and, depending on how it goes, I may, if necessary, resurrect this blog.

In the meantime, feel free to browse around the various resources offered, including the downloadable worksheets and student writing samples.

AS2: WEEK 9, DECEMBER 1st, 2017

Announcement

No class next week (Dec. 8th). Makeup on Saturday, Dec. 9th, 3rd period (13:15-14:45)

Homework

Continue your independent study.

Today’s class

  • Remaining presentations
  • Choosing the best presentation
  • Key cultural points about American/Western thinking
    • The first European visitors and settlers
      • Why they came
      • Where they settled
    • “Who will let you build these buildings?
      • “Who will stop me?”
    • “How will you force (your customers) to accept your ideas?”
      • “I won’t force anyone. And I will not be forced.”

WS1, week 10, June 24th, 2016

Makeup announcement

Makeup class will be held on Saturday July 2nd, same room as usual, same time as usual.

Homework

  • Read chapter 8 of “The Magician’s Nephew”.
  • Write the title and main idea of chapter 8 in one or two sentences.
  • Prepare your movie presentation
  • Here is the presentation schedule as of Friday June 3rd: WS1_Presentation_Schedule
  • Using your notes from today’s presentations on ““Lord of the Rings: the Two Towers”, write a short paragraph (4~6 sentences)  . You may need to do a little research before you write.
  • Choose another book from the Easy Reading list, borrow it from the library and start reading. (Download the list here:  AS1_Easy_reading_library_list
    • Challenge – 15 books this semester!

Today’s class

  1. Presentation on “Lord of the Rings part 2”.
    1. Write some notes about the presentation content
    2. Give some written feedback to the presenters.
  2. Checked answers to MCQ chapter 7.
  3. Topics, main ideas, supporting details.
    1. Discussed the key words and wrote the main idea sentences for the first few paragraphs of chapter 7.
    2. Example movie: “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone”.
      1. Key words –
        • Harry Potter, magic powers
        • starts studying at the school of wizards
        • makes friends
        • fights enemies
      2. Main idea – “Harry Potter, a boy with magical powers, starts studying at a wizards’ school, where he makes 2 good friends who help him fight against evil enemies.”

AS1, week 10, June 24th, 2016

Makeup announcement

Makeup class will be held on Saturday July 2nd, same room as usual, same time as usual.

Homework

  • Using your notes write a short paragraph about today’s  3 presentations. You may need to do a little research before you write.
  • Write the main idea (in 1 sentence) of paragraph 2 of “The Normans” on page. 21.
  • Choose another book from the Easy Reading list, borrow it from the library and start reading. (Download the list here:  AS1_Easy_reading_library_list
  • Read the textbook chapter 2, all of it, again.
  • Prepare your presentation. Download the latest presentation schedule here: AS1_Presentation_Schedule_june24

Today’s class

  1. Presentations about “Four Weddings and a Funeral”, “Great Expectations” and “Jane Eyre”.
  2. Find the topic and main idea for the first paragraph of p. 21 of the textbook:
    1. topic – Harold and William (or King of English and Duke of Normandy)
    2. Key words – 1066, Saxon King Harold (died in battle), Duke William of Normandy, great battle of Hastings.
    3. Main idea – In 1066, Duke William of Normandy killed Saxon king Harold at the Battle of Hastings and became the first Norman King of England.

DWC typhoon class cancellation rules

Dear AS & WS students.  Here are the rules for canceling class in the case of a typhoon.
同志社女子大学教務課です。

台風11号の接近に伴い、気象警報の発令が予想されます。
気象警報発令時の休講措置は、次の通りです。

17日(金)午前6時30分現在、暴風警報(暴風を含む警報全て)
が以下の地域の何れかに発令された場合は、全日休講、午前6時30分
以降に発令の場合は、発令時刻以降の授業を休講とします。

但し、午前9時30分以前に発令が解除された場合は、3講時以降の
授業を行います。

以上、念のため予めご連絡申し上げます。

【発令地域】
・京都府南部(「京都・亀岡」「山城中部」「山城南部」「南丹・京丹波」)

・大阪府(「大阪府」「北大阪」「東部大阪」「南河内」「泉州」)

同志社女子大学
教務部 教務課(京田辺キャンパス)
TEL:0774-65-8413
FAX:0774-65-8418
E-mail:kyomu-t@dwc.doshisha.ac.jp

Instructions for AS1 and WS1 on the online class library

These instructions are for students in both my Academic Skills and Writing Strategies classes. The online class library for each class is on a website called Zotero. To add your books to Zotero’s class clibrary, you will need to register. This is a simple 3-step process.

  1. Send me an email ((I suggest you use your university email address).
  2. I will then send you an email invitation to join the class library (either DWC_AS or DWC_WS). It will look like this (this is for the DWC_AS group)Zotero_email_invite
  3. When you receive the email, click on the (blue) link in the email. It will take you to the Zotero page which will look like this (click the image below to see a bigger version):Zotero_DWC_AS_joinclick “Join”
  4. You will see a page like this below. Click on “register” in the top right-hand corner (click the image below to see a bigger version).Zotero_DWC_register
  5. Fill in the registration information. Choose your own password (and remember it  or make a note).(click the image below to see a bigger version). When you’ve finished, click “Register”.Zotero_register
  6. You will see a page like this (click the image below to see a bigger version). Do NOT type anything into this page. Instead, check your email.Zotero_Email_validation
  7. Check your email. You should soon receive an email like this (click the image below to see a bigger version): Zotero_Email_validation2Click on the (blue) link in the email. It will take you to the Zotero page which will look like this (click the image below to see a bigger version):Zotero_login
  8. The login page (click the image below to see a bigger version). You can login with either your username or your email address.Zotero_login2
  9. Go to your library and input the English easy-reading books you have read so far this semester. First, click “groups” in the Zotero menu bar. You will see the group you have just joined (click the image below to see a bigger version).Zotero_groups
  10. Click on “Group Library” (click the image below to see a bigger version).
  11. Click on the green circle to create a new item (click the image below to see a bigger version).Zotero_group_library_input
  12. Choose “Book” from the drop-down menu (click the image below to see a bigger version).Zotero_library_item_input
  13. Fill in as much information as you can. Remember, this is to help other people (e.g. your classmates) to find this book if they are interested (click the image below to see a bigger version).Zotero_group_library_input2
  14. Click “Save” when you’ve finished (click the image below to see a bigger version).Zotero_group_library_input3
  15. Voila!

 

Welcome to Sheffner’s Academic Skills I, week 1: April 11th, 2014

Welcome to Sheffner’s 2013 Academic Skills (AS) I class blog. Thank you for visiting.

This blog will be updated weekly. Each week there will be a summary of the lesson and the homework details.

Click the images to see a bigger version.

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Weeping cherry in Himuro Jinja, Nara city.

Homework

  1. Send me an email: a short comment about today’s class.
    1. Use the proper email format

      English Email format
      English email format
  2. Leave a comment here on this blog by clicking the words “Leave a comment” at the bottom of this post (投稿).
    1. The comment topic is: “Tell us something you know about British history”
    2. For your privacy, when leaving a comment, use your family name only or use a nickname.
    3. If you use a nickname, please tell me your nickname when you send me your email.
    4. To leave a comment, you must first type in your email address. Please use your school email address.
  3. Homework deadline for #1 and #2 above: Tuesday (April 15th) midnight (23:59).

In today’s class, we

  1. Received Sheffner’s contact information and blog address and the outline of this course.
  2. Did some freewriting
  3. Decided student groups/partners and the schedule of presentations.

Textbooks:

  1. “Illustrated History of Britain” (IHB) (Click the link to buy it on Amazon Japan. There is also a Japanese translation to help you. Click here to see it on Amazon Japan.)
  2. A Guide to MLA Documentation

In this class this semester, we will

  • read chapters 19-21
  • learn something about British history
  • learn about academic writing formats
  • make 1 or 2 presentations
  • write a final paper in English.