Write a summary of the Coconut story in “Splitting the Arrow”. Your summary should include only the main points of the story and should be between 3~6 sentences long. Upload it in the assignments section of Manaba.
Write a personal response to the Coconut story and upload it in the Forum on Manaba. What you write will be read by your classmates and me.
Today’s class
Thinking academically
Asking questions to get correct and accurate information
This is necessary in order to
take correct action
write correct reports or essays
write persuasive essays
We read the textbook, pages 01-04.
Japan has a traditional practice called Zen which includes the use of unusual questions (called “koan”) to provoke deep thought and understanding in the student. One example of a “koan” is “What was your name before you were born?”
We read the Coconut story, checked the meaning of difficult vocabulary and wrote a summary of it.
What can you learn about Western civilization from this story?
Today’s class
How can you improve your (academic) English ability?
What is the difference between England, Britain, Great Britain and the United Kingdom?
Adam & Eve story in Genesis
What are the key points of this story?
What can you learn about Western civilization from this story?
Review of key points of academic writing
Start with a research question
e,g, what are academic skills?
e.g. what is the difference between England, Britain, United Kingdom?
e.g. how has British history affected Japanese people today?
This research question could question existing accepted knowledge
e.g. is the earth really at the centre?
Is a classroom really the best place to learn English?
Define your terms, e.g.
original meaning of “academic”
history of academic writing – where does it come from
original meaning of “Britain”, “England”, “Great Britain”
History of Britain – who were the first Britons? Where did they come from? When did they come to Britain? Why? How did they live? What language(s) did they speak?
Collect your evidence
Observations (what you see, hear, touch, smell, taste with your own senses)
objective facts (what other people can confirm with their senses)
make careful notes of what you find – dates and names of people, places, etc.
Decide your answer (conclusion) to your research question
present / publish your answer (conclusion, findings, research results) including your facts which support your conclusion.
Start work on your independent study project and show me next week.
Read chapter 2 of ITHOTR. Write a shor comment about it.
Today’s class
The desire to learn, to grow, to improve our situation, to understand ourselves and the world we live in, is a beautiful one. Where does this come from?
Individual conferencing about independent study topics.
Choose another easy reading book from the list. Read it. Write a short report :
Title (English)
Title (Japanese – if it is a famous novel, you will find this easily with a bit of research)
Author . Some books are original stories. But many books are famous novels re-written for English students (like you). In that case, write the name of the author of the original story, not the easy-reading version.
When book published
Story:
When does the story take place?
Where does the story take place?
Who are the main characters?
What happens (give a short summary of the story)
What did you learn about British from reading this book? (You may need to do a little bit of research).
Your comments (short, please)
Today’s class
Today I will use some extracts from this book to introduce the importance of thinking logically when writing in English.
