A New Classroom

Mrs May looked at the trench. "It's for a new classroom," she said.

This book, at Stage 5 in the Oxford Reading Tree series, is very easy. It has 24 pages with about 13 words on each page. Most of the sentences are about 6 words long. The setting is the children's school, where they see some workers putting a fence up and doing some building. They discover that the workers are going to make a new classroom. This becomes an opportunity to learn about diggers. The classroom is a prefabricated one, so they get the chance to watch it being installed. There's an interesting problem with the classroom!

New Classroom

Roderick Hunt

Oxford University Press

発売日：2011-01-01

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Bourne Legacy & Hunger Games

I volunteer as tribute.

As you may know, two movies that started this past weekend are The Bourne Legacy and The Hunger Games. I really wanted to go and see both of them, but I haven't had time yet. Has anyone seen them? Although I would like to see Matt Damon as Bourne again, I hear that Jeremy Renner is pretty good in the role. The Hunger Games is based on a book. The book is actually part of a trilogy, so I imagine there will also be three movies.

test recording

Hi, listen to this.

listen to ‘Test recording’ on Audioboo

Summer vacation

As I mentioned earlier, I saw a few movies in the summer holiday. One of them was Prometheus. To tell you the truth, I wasn't expecting very much from this movie, as several movies from Ridley Scott have been disappointing, but I quite enjoyed it. I don't think the ending was very coherent, and I'm not sure exactly how it links in with Alien, but there was some good acting and it was quite exciting.

Summer Vacation

Most of August and most of September comprise the summer vacation at Japanese universities. Two months sounds like a long time, but unfortunately it's really only around six weeks. We also have many meetings and marking tests and things like that, so the holiday actually whizzes by. I had a short trip with my family to Hiroshima and a few other places, and a couple of days at my wife's ancestral home, and I also found the time to watch several movies. The rest of the time, I was working pretty hard, although I unfortunately wasn't able to complete any big projects. Oh, no!

Writing 4

Hi, everyone, and welcome to Writing 4! This semester's themes are writing book reviews and podcasting! I'll give you more details in class.

Blog stats

Post Counts

• February/March/April: 10
• May: 14
• June: 9
• July: 9

Word Count

• Total so far: 

Book reviews

• Total so far: 18

Essay

• 1st version
• Revised version

Juppun ha Juubun stats

• April 16th: _______ words
• July 24th: 
• Longest: 230 words (July 23rd)
• Shortest: 94 words (April 23rd)

Never Let Me Go

Blog stats (last class)

Post Counts

• February/March/April: 10
• May: 14
• June: 9
• July: 6

Word Count

• Total so far: 

Book Reviews

• Total so far: 18

Essay

• 1st version
• Revised version

Soccer

As you probably know, now is the time between Premier League seasons. Some of the players are busy  preparing to play in the Olympics, while some are doing pre-season training with their clubs, and others are on tours with their clubs. Manchester United is one of the clubs on tour, and the newspaper report I read said that Shinji Kagawa was their best player.

England had a warm-up match against Brazil—their last match before the Olympics start—and Brazil won 2–0. Commentators said that England looked very poor, and they are pessimistic about England's chances of getting out of the group.

Olympics

As you know, the Olympics are starting very soon in London. You may have heard that there are several problems associated with the Olympics. The biggest one is that the company that was going to provide security for the Olympics suddenly said that they weren't able to get enough personnel, and that they weren't even sure how many people they could provide. In addition, England's transport system is rather old, so there are worries that people won't be able to get to the venues in time.

Movie, Movie, Movie

There are many good movies coming over the summer. In the previous post, I talked about Brave and The Dark Knight Rises. In this post, let's look at some other movies that are coming soon. The first one is Man on a Ledge, coming this month. In August, 7 Days in Havana is coming. I don't know much about this one, but it is directed by Benicio Del Toro.

Films

In recent months, I've been missing many movies because of being too busy, so I decided to make time to see Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. This movie is very cerebral, and it's most enjoyable for its performance by Gary Oldman. (You may remember him from Léon, where he played the police captain, starring alongside Jean Reno and Natalie Portman.) It isn't exactly a true story, but it's inspired by a true story of British spies becoming double agents, so it's useful for informing us about recent British history.

As you probably know, there are lots of other good movies coming over the next couple of months. Brave is due to start on July 21st, and The Dark Knight Rises is coming on July 28th.

July 9th 2012

Today, if you have extra time, please try QWERTY Warriors and the Dolphin Game. You can find the links on winkhome.

Movies playing now or coming soon

This season is traditionally a very good one for movies. It's a good chance to catch some good but not blockbuster movies before the summer holidays, when a few mega-hits are shown endlessly. Let's think about some of the movies that are playing in movie theaters now or are coming soon.

Movies

Last week, I went to the US. On the plane, I saw three movies. The first was called 50/50. It was about a man who was diagnosed with cancer and has to decide how to live the remainder of his life. It was quite moving. Then I saw Safe House. It wasn't a great movie, but it stars Denzel Washington, one of my favorite actors, so I enjoyed it a lot. Finally, I saw The Artist. The Artist was made last year, but it was a silent movie, which is very unusual these days. This was the best of the three movies I saw on the plane. I thought the acting was great, and the story was very moving.
There are several movies playing now that I'd like to see, including Route Irish and Midnight in Paris. But maybe I won't have time. But I do plan to see the new Spiderman movie when it comes out next week.

Euro 2012 again

The Euro 2012 competition is over for England. Early this morning, the last quarter-final, between England and Italy, was played. No goals were scored in the regular 90 minutes, so extra time was played. There were no goals in extra time, either, so the match went to penalty kicks. Two of England's players missed, so Italy went through to the semi-finals. They will play Germany, probably the best team in the tournament so far. The other semi-final is between Spain and Portugal. Those are very interesting semi-finals, because Spain and Portugal are neighbours on the Iberian peninsula, and Germany and Italy are traditional rivals and they are the most successful teams in history excepting Brazil.

Most English fans accept that Italy played much better and that England were quite lucky to go so far. England's biggest problem was its very low possession, which I think was less than 40% today.

Euro 2012

A while ago, I wrote about the beginning of the Euro 2012 tournament. The England team, due to play tonight, has lost many players to injury, and there are lots of worries in defence, midfield, and attack. Perhaps the most problematic area is midfield, because Frank Lampard and Gareth Barry both got injured shortly before the tournament, and Jack Wilshire has been injured for a few months.
In attack, England has had problems for a long time: there is usually no real partner for Rooney, and Rooney himself is suspended for the first two matches.

Movie Essay details

DEADLINE for 1st draft: June 29th
DEADLINE for final draft: July 20th
Length: about 1000 words

• Don't use the Century font.
• Leave a wide margin on the right side.
• Write in paragraphs. Give the essay a title, but don't use sub-headings.
• You can of course use the short posts you have been writing, but you should use them mindfully. The essay needs to be one coherent whole.
• Send it as a Microsoft Word attachment to me by the deadline.
• After I have commented on the 1st draft, please work on making the essay better to hand in a final draft.
• After sending the attachment, you can copy the content into a blog post (both the first draft and final draft). Before copying, save the text as a .txt or .rtf file. Add links and pictures to the blog post.

EURO 2012

As you may know, the Euro 2012 tournament has finally begun. Groups A, B, and C have had their first games, and tonight Group D, with England playing France, starts off.
The major upset so far has been Holland's loss to Denmark. Germany won, as most people expected, and, last night, Italy and Spain drew. Russia played very well in their first match.
I have been very busy, and I don't want to be sleepy at work, so so far I haven't watched any matches. And from Tuesday I'm going to America on business, so I probably won't be able to see any matches then. But I do hope to watch tonight's match!
England has had very bad preparation for the tournament. The coach, Fabio Capello, resigned a few months ago, and then it took a long time to find a new coach. The new coach is Roy Hodgson, and he has had only about a month to get ready for the tournament. Many of England's best players got injured shortly before the tournament, and Wayne Rooney is suspended for the first two matches. England's goal tonight will be not to lose, rather than winning.

No class on June 18th

Remember that I'll be away on June 18th: no class on that day!

Kobe

I went to Kobe this weekend and attended a conference. Although I didn't have any time for sightseeing, I did like what I saw of Kobe. It looked like a very pleasant city, and I noticed lots of advertisements for Ueshima Coffee and lots of Nishimura coffee shops. Konan Cube, in Konan University, where the conference was held, was a very modern and nice building.

There was a soccer match on TV last night, but unfortunately I forgot all about it! It was between Oman and Japan, and Japan won 3–0. I heard that Honda scored a goal, for the first time in a long time for Japan. Maeda also scored, so I am happy!

Much Ado About Nothing

We just watched the first 20 minutes or so of Much Ado About Nothing, the 1993 movie directed by Kenneth Branagh. As you probably know, this movie was based on the Shakespeare play probably from 1598-99. It stars Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, Denzel Washington, Robert Sean Leonard, Kate Beckinsale, Keanu Reeves, and Michael Keaton.

The movie is set in Messina (in Sicily) and features Don Pedro of Aragon returning victorious from a war. The movie is a comedy about the various loves experienced by the characters in the story.

Euro 2012

As I have mentioned a few times recently, the Euro 2012 football tournament is starting soon. England has a new manager, Roy Hodgson, who has not had time to work with the players. England has had two friendly matches and has won each one. Unfortunately, both in training and in the two matches, players have been injured and Hodgson has had to get permission to call up extra players. In Saturday's match, England lost Cahill, a defender, when he fractured his jaw. England's first match is against France, and everyone is worried that, with all the new players, teamwork will be very difficult.

In club football, Chelsea has signed two expensive new players, Eden Hazard from Belgium and Hulk from Brazil, even though Chelsea has no manager appointed for next season. Maybe next season will be a close fight between Chelsea, Manchester City, and Manchester United.

Movie Vocabulary

director (n.) The director of The Dark Knight Rises is Christopher Nolan.
direct (v.) Dark Shadows was directed by Tim Burton.
star (n.) Johnny Depp is the star of Edward Scissorhands.
star (vi.) Johnny Depp starred in Ed Wood, Dead Man, and Donnie Brasco.
star (vt.) Dark Shadows stars Johnny Depp as Barnabas Collins, Michelle Pfeiffer as Elizabeth Collins Stoddard, Helena Bonham Carter as Dr. Julia Hoffman, and Eva Green as Angelique Bouchard.
cost (v.) Inception cost $160 million to make.
earn/make (v.) Inception earned/made more than $825 million at the box office.
tell the story of (v.) Pirates of the Caribbean tells the story of a pirate called Jack Sparrow who has many adventures at sea.

Movie Expressions

trailer (n.) 予告編
star (n.) Johnny Depp is the star of Dark Shadows.
star (v.) Brad Pitt stars in Moneyball; The Dark Knight Rises is an action movie starring Christian Bale.
direct (v.) Like Inception, The Dark Knight Rises is directed by Christopher Nolan.
cost (v.) Inception cost $160 million to make.
make (v.) Inception made more than $825 million at the box office.

Sports Day and the Euros 2012

Yesterday was my daughter's last sports day at elementary school. As usual, I went to the school at 4:30am to get a place to sit in the shade. My daughter appeared in 4 events, and I managed to get more photos than usual, by using the "rensha" function on my camera. But I wish my camera had a stronger optical zoom!

The football scene is heating up, with many international friendly matches going on as preparation for the Euros 2012, and also the final World Cup qualifying rounds starting, too. On Saturday, England played Norway in Oslo, in the first match of the Roy Hodgson era, winning 1–0. The best point of the match was that Andy Carroll and Ashley Young looked good in attack, and probably the worst point was that the midfield looked weak.

Brave

Brave is a new movie from Pixar. I think it will come to Japan quite soon (probably a movie for the summer vacation). It's set in Scotland. It looks like a lot of fun. You can see the trailer on the Apple movie trailers site.

"The villains have taken over," [says Pinocchio]. He points to a poster for a play. The poster shows Charming defeating Shrek.

Shrek the Third is the 3rd movie in the Shrek series. To accompany and promote the movie, several books summarizing the movie or telling us about some aspects of it were introduced. A Good King is Hard to Find is one of them.

Shrek, Donkey, and Puss in Boots set off together to find Artie, who is supposed to become the next king of Faraway. They find him to take him to Faraway and fight the evil Prince Charming.

Hapka, C. (2007). Shrek the Third: A good king is hard to find. New York: HarperCollins.
 (108 words)

Shrek the Third: A Good King Is Hard to Find (I Can Read Book 2)

Catherine Hapka

HarperCollins

発売日：2007-04-03

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Black & White

Black & White is a movie starring Reese Witherspoon, Tom Hardy, and Chris Pine. It's a romantic comedy with some action thriller elements. The chief plot line is that Tom Hardy and Chris Pine both fall in love with Reese Witherspoon, and things are complicated by the fact that they are best friends and also by the fact that they are CIA agents. They use their tricks as CIA agents to sabotage each other's attempts to woo Reese Witherspoon.

Snow White

As you probably know, there is a very famous movie of Snow White from Disney. It was made in the 1930's. The new Snow White movie, however, stars Kristen Stewart as Snow White and Charlize Theron as the evil queen.

Spider-man: Everyday Hero

Every day, I am on the lookout for danger.
I keep people safe from harm.
I keep good people out of trouble.

Spider-man: Everday Hero is a book in the 2nd level of the I Can Read series. It was one of the books published to mark the release of the Spider-man 2 movie. It is very short, and it gives a brief introduction to Spider-man himself, his Aunt May, and the main villain, called Doc-Ock. Other books in the series give more details of other characters.

Spider-Man 2: Everyday Hero (Festival Readers)

Acton Figueroa

Harperfestival

発売日：2004-06

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Champions League

On Saturday night, the Champions league final was held. It was a surprising match-up, between Chelsea (England) and Bayern Munchen (Germany), surprising because the teams had met Real Madrid and Barcelona in the semifinals, and most people had expected the Spanish teams to win their semifinals and meet in the final. Chelsea, especially, was a big surprise, because they had defended through nearly all the semifinal and won by not allowing Barcelona to take shots in the final quarter of the pitch. The final was the same, with Chelsea getting only about two shots in 90 minutes. Unfortunately for Bayern, one of those shots, in the 88th minute, became a goal for Chelsea.

Neither team was able to get a winner in the 90 minutes or in the extra 30 minutes, so finally there was a penalty shootout. Chelsea's goalkeeper, Cech, saved a couple of kicks very well, and Chelsea were champions, for the first time ever!

(156 words)

Movies in May/June

The last few weeks have been a quiet time for movies. But over the next few weeks several interesting ones are due to start. The Ideas of March is starting at the beginning of June. This movie is about the American presidential elections, and it stars Ryan Gosling, George Clooney, and Mr Tomei's sister.

Later in the month, Midnight in Paris, a film by Woody Allen, is due to start. You may know Woody Allen from his classics such as Annie Hall or Manhattan, or more recent movies such as Vicki Christina Barcelona.

At the end of June, the movie that I have been looking forward to the most is due to come: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. This is a tense spy movie based on the John le Carre novel.

All these movies are due to be shown at Denkikan.

Stone Soup

Have you ever tried Stone Soup? Today I read Stone Soup in the Folk & Fairy Tale Easy Readers series from Scholastic. A man visited a village and said he would make stone soup for everyone, but that it would taste even better if someone could bring a cabbage…an onion…some carrots…some beans. So everyone got to share a delicious meal!

Einhorn, Kama. (2006). Stone soup. New York: Scholastic.

Last day of the season

The last day of the Premier League season was yesterday. Like much of the season, it was very tense and up and down. Manchester United and Manchester City were level on points at the start of the day, but Manchester City were ahead on goal difference, so Manchester City would win the league if they won the match. If they didn't win the match, then they would have to hope that Manchester United didn't win theirs.

Most of the matches started at the same time, and I followed them on the Guardian web site. It looked as if City were going to lose the match until extra time, when City scored two goals in the 92nd and 94th minutes, to win City's first league title in 44 years!

Golden Week

Golden Week was lots of fun this year. In the first half we went to Amakusa, and during that trip we went walking in Tenjiku, which was very beautiful. In the middle of Golden Week, I worked for three days, and then we went camping in Misato-machi. The weather was very good, and we had a relaxing time.

Premier League & F.A. Cup in early May

The Premier League season is almost over. Most teams finished their 37th (out of 38) match yesterday. Both Manchester United and Manchester City won their matches, so now both are equal on points going into the last week of the season, with Manchester City ahead on goal difference. That means that Manchester City will win the league if they win their last match. Their opponent will be Queens Park Rangers, who nearly always lose away from home. But this match is likely to be rather special, because QPR are at risk of being relegated if they don't get some points from the game. In addition, their manager, Mark Hughes, used to be the manager of Manchester City, but was sacked a couple of years ago; and Joey Barton, QPR captain, also used to be a Manchester City player. (138 words)

BR1-4: Egyptian Adventure

The people put their hands together and raised them in the air. Then they sank down on their knees. "They are bowing to us," said Chip. "They must think we're important." "How strange!" said Nadim. The people were not bowing down to the children. They were bowing to Floppy.

Egyptian Adventure is a book in the Oxford Reading Tree series. It is a Stage 8 book. In the story, the children have just made a model sphinx and pyramid when the magic key takes them to ancient Egypt. They become slaves for a while, and Floppy is worshipped by the Egyptians. It seems that they have some kind of legend of a yellow dog.

Oxford Reading Tree is the most popular series of books in UK primary schools. They teach us about lots of countries and periods of history.

Hunt, R. & Brychta, A. (2003). Egyptian adventure. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

(137 words)

Liverpool

In the Premier League this year, Liverpool are not doing so well. They lost their match against West Bromwich Albion yesterday, and now they are in 8th place. Many fans are very disappointed, but a good point in their season is that they have already won the Carling Cup, and they are also in the FA Cup Final. So if things go well, they may end up with two trophies at the end of the season. But next season the owners will probably demand that Liverpool ends in the Champions league positions, i.e. the top four.

Yesterday's defeat was particularly bad news because West Bromwich Albion's manager is Roy Hodgson, who was Liverpool's manager last year but was booed by Liverpool's supporters and was fired from his job.

(127 words)

The Hunt for Gold

"Gold!" he yelled. "We've found gold." He picked up a big nugget of gold and jumped up and down. Everyone ran to see…"Hooray!" shouted Luke's mother. "We have found gold at last," she said. "I thought we'd never find any."

The Hunt for Gold is in the Oxford Reading Tree series. It's a Stage 7 book. It's part of the Magic Key series. The children go back to the time of the Gold Rush (1848-1855) and look for gold. It's a fun story and it teaches us about this interesting period in American history. I recommend reading all of the Magic Key series!

Hunt, R. & Brychta, A. (2003). The hunt for gold. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

(115 words)

The Motorway

Gran told people in the village about the motorway. Everyone was upset. "We don't want a motorway here. We must stop it," they said.

The Motorway is a book in the Oxford Reading Tree series. It's a Stage 7 book. The children and Gran are playing in the fields when they find out that a motorway is planned for their village. But they are not happy about it, and they set out to stop it. Will they be successful? Read it and find out!

Hunt, R. & Brychta, A. (2003). The motorway. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

(94 words)

Premier League and Champions League…and more!

The end of the Premier League season is getting ever closer. Everyone had assumed that Manchester United were safe at the top of the table, but, after leading 4-2 against Everton, they drew 4-4 yesterday. Manchester City won, so now Manchester City is exactly 3 points behind Manchester United. Manchester United will win the championship if they win their remaining games, but one of those games is against Manchester City. If Manchester City win that game, the two teams will be level on points, but Manchester  City's goal difference is better than Manchester United's. So if Manchester City win their remaining games including the match against Manchester City, they will be champions…for the first time in many, many years.

As you probably heard, Barcelona lost their Champions league semi-final first leg against Chelsea, and then they lost their La Liga match against Real Madrid. It is unusual for Barcelona to lose two matches in succession, so many people are wondering whether they are too tired to do well in the Champions League. Anyway, we'll find out soon!

(177 words)

BR 1-1: The Sky's the Limit

"Oh, please stay," said Angela. "I don't see you a lot these days. And the children don't see you at all." "I'm sorry, Angela," said Max. But it's an important dinner. I must go."

The Sky's the Limit

I read The Sky's the Limit. It's a Heinemann Guided Reader. It's about a man called Max, who is poor but then finds a job at a company called Friendship Services International. He is ambitious and he becomes more and more distant from his friends and family.

Whitney, Norman. (1992). The sky's the limit. Oxford: Heinemann.
(91 words)

More on the Premier League and F.A. Cup

As I mentioned earlier, the FA Cup is also reaching its climax in England now. The semi-finals were held yesterday and the day before. In those semi-finals, Chelsea beat Tottenham, and Liverpool beat Everton. The matches were especially interesting because they were both local derbies (Chelsea and Tottenham are in London, and Liverpool and Everton are both in Liverpool). The final between Chelsea and Liverpool will be held at Wembley on May 5th.

As I mentioned earlier, the Champions league semi-finals are also fast approaching!

(84 words)

BR 1-1: Goldilocks and the Three Bears

"Someone has been sleeping in our beds!" said Papa Bear and Mama Bear. "And someone is still in mine!" cried Baby Bear.

I read the Scholastic version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Maybe everyone knows this story, which is originally from Tolstoy. It's about a girl who goes into the bears' house when they are out, and eats and drinks their food and drink, and sleeps in their beds. She is very rude!

Findley, Violet. (2006). Goldilocks and the three bears. New York: Scholastic.

Premier League and Champions League

These days, the Premier League is rather exciting. Although it seems fairly clear that Manchester United will win the championship, the difference between them and Manchester City is not so big now. The fight for 3rd and 4th place is also quite intense. Although now Arsenal is in 3rd place, Tottenham and Chelsea are close behind. And Chelsea appear to be in good form now, so probably it won't be decided until the last week of matches. 3rd and 4th places are very important because 3rd place means automatic qualification for the Champions League, while 4th place means qualification via playoffs.

The Champions League is also exciting this year. The semi-finals feature Chelsea against Barcelona, and Real Madrid against Bayern Munich (Munchen). Both should be exciting matches, because the opposing teams have a history of rivalry. The Chelsea semi-final is made even more interesting by the fact that Chelsea yesterday won another semi-final, the FA Cup match against Tottenham.

Hi everyone!

Welcome to the Writing 3 course! Last week, we did the Typing homework, and I hope you mastered the method of opening the Word document sent to you by Mr Tomei, pasting your typing into it, and then saving the document and attaching it to your reply to Mr Tomei.

This week, let's talk more about the syllabus. But before that, let's try Juppun ha Juubun and book reviews!

(68 words)

Football, football, and more football!

As I mentioned yesterday, there is lots of football going on all through the winter holidays in the UK, and this includes not only the Premier League but also the F.A. Cup and the Carling Cup (formerly the League Cup). I watched some soccer news on TV this morning, and I heard that the Japan Under-23 team will be playing a match on February 5th, and then two more matches soon after that

Things to do on January 17th and until the final exam

1. Work on improving movie essays
2. Recording
3. Blog stats (word count) posts
4. Check your tags (labels)
5. Adding books to Booklog
6. Typing homework
7. Book reviews
8. General blogging (increase words)

Mr Tomei is doing a special course from this week until the end of January for students who need to write more words to pass the course. If you are in this situation (fewer than 10,000 words as of today), please go to his computer classroom at 11:40 today to sign up and get details. Don't miss this opportunity to pass this year rather than taking the course again next year!

If you have a class in today's second period, please email him to tell him you want to take part.

Football during the holidays

Christmas and the New Year are big times for football in the UK. Most teams play a match on Boxing Day (December 26th), and then another 3 days later, and then another immediately after the New Year. The fatigue affects teams quite heavily, and there are many surprising results. This winter, the two leading teams in the Premier League, Manchester City and Manchester United, lost some matches. With Tottenham drawing, and Chelsea, Arsenal, and Liverpool all getting poor results, the race is wide open. Many people think now that Manchester United's superior experience may seem them through to the championship.

Premiership race

The Premiership race is heating up. Traditionally, it is said that the team at the top of the league on New Year's Day is likely to end the season as champion. Because Manchester City lost last week, the gap is now very small, and many people say that Alex Ferguson's superior experience will allow Manchester United to overtake Manchester City. Spurs have a few key injuries, and Chelsea find it difficult to be ruthless in putting away weaker teams, and Arsenal and Liverpool are a little behind and losing games here and there.

12 dancing princesses

[117 * 2 = 134 words]

Remember that, if the number of words in your podcast script is 125 or lower, you should multiply by 2 to get the nominal word count.

Book review script

The twelve princesses in this story like to have fun. When their father finds out they've been sneaking off at night to go dancing, he's furious. But can he stop them?

     Every night, the King locked the tower door, so that the princesses couldn't sneak out. One day, the maid went to the princesses' room, and she noticed their shoes were lying in a wet pile on the floor. The shoes were worn out. When the king heard about the shoes, he was very angry. Then he had an idea. He decided that the first man to discover where his daughters went each night could marry them. Who can find the princesses' secret?


(117 words)

A sample book review

[Thanks to Kana]

Princesses are supposed to be quiet and well behaved, but the twelve princesses in this story like to have fun. When their father finds out they've been sneaking off at night to go dancing, he's furious. "Dancing is banned!" he declares. But will that stop them?

     This story is about the twelve princesses' dancing. Their father, the king, was a grumpy old man who didn't believe in having fun. He believed that princesses should be seen and not heard. The princesses strongly disagreed. Their father hated dancing, but the princesses loved it, so whenever he wasn't looking, they danced anyway. The girls slept in a tall tower with their beds side by side. Every night, the king locked the tower door, so that they couldn't sneak out. One day, the maid went to the princesses' room, and she noticed their shoes were lying in a soggy pile on the floor. The shoes were worn out. When the king heard about the shoes, he was furious. Then he had a brilliant idea. He decided that the first man to discover where his daughters went each night could marry of them. Posters went up across the land. Who can find the princesses' secret?


(205 words)

The process of writing and recording a book review

1. Read a book!
2. Write a book review and post it to your blog (Use the Books or Book reviews tag.)
3. Edit your book review to make a shorter version (preferably fewer than 100 words). Post it on your blog with the Scripts tag.)
4. Practice reading the shorter version aloud. Key points are volume, going down and then pausing at periods, and differentiating content from function words.
5. Record your short book review, using the Audioboo app.
6. Upload to Audioboo, find the recording on Audioboo, and embed it into your blog. Use the tag My podcast. If the number of words in your podcast episode is 125 or fewer, multiply by 2 to get the official word count for the post.
7. Listen to the recording! Make sure that your volume and intonation are OK.

Notice how the word count works in this process. My book review was 205 words, my script was 117 words, and my recording itself was calculated as 117 words, multiplied by 2:

205
132
234
TOTAL: 571 words for 1 book review with recording

If you work efficiently, it may be possible for you to do 2 book reviews in 1 class, which would mean about 2400 words in these Monday and Tuesday classes, in addition to Juppun ha Juubun.

Remaining Writing 4 classes

After the classes on December 19th and 20th, there will be a long break. During that time, your main job is to finish writing your two movie review essays. (The deadline to submit the first draft is January 11th. See my earlier post for details.)

The next two classes are on January 16th and 17th, and those will be the final classes of the semester. Much of that time will be spent on movie review essay corrections, so I recommend that you try to finish off your 12 book reviews before the winter holiday.

Note that the minimum number of recordings this semester is 3, but I recommend that you do more than that, because reading aloud and recording book reviews improves your intonation and pronunciation. Also, remember that the official word count for a recorded book review is double the number of words actually in the script.

At the bottom of the post with your recording, use this format for the word count. (Imagine that your script has 90 words.)

[90 * 2 = 180 words]

Club World Cup

As you may know, yesterday was the final day of the FIFA Club World Cup. I didn't have time to watch the 3rd place playoff, at 4 pm, but I did watch the final, at 7 pm. It was between Santos, the South American champions, and Barcelona, the European champions. The commentators were very excited about a matchup between Barcelona's top star, Lionel Messi, and Neymar, Santos's Brazilian forward.

In the event, both players looked really good, but Barcelona had around 73% of the possession, so Neymar had few chances on the ball. Barcelona were much stronger as a team, passing the ball around quickly and not giving the Santos players many opportunities to attack. Messi was on top form, making several long dribbles past 3 or 4 Santos players and scoring 2 goals. Xavi and Cesc Fabregas also scored a goal each, for a final score of 4–0.

December 19th & 20th

We'll spend most of our time in these two classes working on our book reviews, both writing them and recording them in Audioboo.  These classes are a good chance to increase your book reviews and your word count!

About your movie essays

Remember that you need to watch two movies (please check which movies apply to your class), if you haven't already his semester, and write an essay on each of them. Each essay must have at least five paragraphs and at least 500 words, and preferably you should write between 750 and 1000 words for each one.

If you still haven't watched the movies, please make arrangements to do so as soon as possible. Also, make sure that you have been writing lots of Essay prep posts, based on the sites that we have looked at related to these movies. Be sure to use those Essay prep posts effectively to help you write your essay.

Many students will have already noticed that Essay prep posts give you the chance to use some of the same words twice on your blog. In addition, everyone should post each essay twice (1st and final drafts).

How to submit your essays: Send each essay as a Word, Pages, or RTF attachment to your teacher's email address.

Schedule

• January 11th: Deadline for submission of both essays (1st drafts). After submitting, paste the text into a new blog post. Use the tags Essays and Movies.
• January 16th or 17th: A chance to ask questions about corrections and make revisions.
• January 20th: Deadline for 2nd (final)* drafts
• January 23rd: Deadline for final drafts (for students whose 2nd draft was not acceptable).
• January 30th: Final exam

*January 20th is the deadline for the 2nd draft. If you have made good improvements to your 1st draft, this will be the final draft. However, if your 2nd draft is not acceptable, you will need to edit the essay one more time. Once your final version is accepted, please paste it into your blog. Use the tags Essays and Movies. Note that you may post only two versions of each essay to your blog, even if you wrote three versions.

This week in football

The most notable results this past week have been Barcelona's win against Real Madrid, and Sunderland's win against Blackburn Rovers.

The first result means that Barcelona still have a realistic chance of catching Real Madrid in the championship race.

Soccer again

As I mentioned in my previous post, the two top teams under some pressure, Manchester City and Chelsea, both won at the weekend. Sunderland, playing between managers, weren't able to win, and their victors were Blackburn Rovers, whose manager is under lots of pressure because they are near the relegation zone, and because the fans don't seem to like him.

Go

Hey, everyone, I'm not sure what to talk about today, so I guess I'll talk about soccer… as usual! All eyes were on Manchester City and Chelsea this weekend, because of their poor performances in the Champions League, but both won fairly straightforward victories. There was also excitement surrounding Sunderland, because the manager, Steve Bruce, was fired last week, and Martin O'Neill was appointed in his place. Sunderland lost yesterday, as usual, and O'Neill will take over today.

Lucky Number

I read Lucky Number. This is about a poor boy who works all day shining shoes. One day, a rich man buys a lottery ticket but drops it by accident and the boy picks it up. He tries to give it to the man but the man is in a hurry and doesn't hear him. Will the boy and his mother become rich?

Lucky Number: Starter (Macmillan Readers)

Macmillan Education

発売日：2008-01-31

ブクログでレビューを見る»

Milne, J. (2005). Lucky number. Oxford: Macmillan Heinemann ELT.

Recent and upcoming movies

Autumn is a good season for films, and there have been a lot this year as usual. But unfortunately, many of them are not well promoted, and they play for only two weeks or so, often with only one or two showings a day, and it is difficult to find the time to see them.

The best one I have seen was Fair Game. This movie is a true story, about a CIA agent called Valerie Plame whose identity is revealed by the government and who thus loses her livelihood. The actors are Naomi Watts and Sean Penn, and they're really good. This film is very moving.

Another movie was The Three Musketeers. This was quite entertaining, but rather superficial and not very memorable.

Macmillan Readers

I read two Macmillan Readers today. They were both Starter level, so I finished them in about 5 minutes each.

The first one was Anna and the Fighter. This is about a girl who travels on a train by herself for the first time to visit her aunt. Unfortunately, she falls asleep and goes past her stop, and she doesn't have any money to ride in the train again to her destination. And a big man with a scar is in the carriage with her and she's afraid.

Anna and the Fighter: Beginner (Macmillan Readers)

Macmillan Education

発売日：2008-01-31

ブクログでレビューを見る»

The other one is The Lost Ship. This is about a captain of a ship who finds another ship with no crew. He goes aboard to see what is happening, and finds himself trapped.

The Lost Ship: Starter (Macmillan Readers)

Macmillan Education

発売日：2008-01-31

ブクログでレビューを見る»

Laird, E. (2005). Anna and the fighter. Oxford: Macmillan Heinemann ELT.
Colbourn, S. (2005). The lost ship. Oxford: Macmillan Heinemann ELT.

New York Review of Books… and football!

I often listen to the Slate Culture Gabfest podcast, which each week features discussion on about three cultural topics, such as a new film or book, or an essay in the Slate or another magazine. Last week, one of the topics was a review in the New York Review of Books. As a result, I looked through the contents of the NYRB and found them very interesting. So I bought a short-term subscription and now I'm finding and saving lots of articles to read later.

The writing in the NYRB is very good, and often they feature long essays on 5 or 6 books on the same topic, so it is possible to find out about a lot of books from one essay.

In the Premier League, Manchester United and Manchester City both drew at the weekend. It's been a long time since neither of them won. Arsenal, Liverpool, and Newcastle also drew, while Tottenham and Chelsea won. Tottenham are now in 3rd or 4th place.

The two main characters in Amadeus

The two main characters in Amadeus are Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri. They were both composers in the Classical period. He was born in 1756 and died in 1791. He composed more than 600 works, including ______________, _____________, and _________________. He was active as a composer in Vienna for much of his life. It is said that he may have died of infection by a parasite in pork or rheumatic fever.

Salieri was important in the development of Italian opera. He was the director of the Italian opera in Vienna. Some of his famous students were Beethoven, Liszt, and Franz Schubert.

Salieri is played by F. Murray Abraham and Mozart is played by Tom Hulce.

Amadeus links

• Amadeus on Wikipedia (Japanese)
• Amadeus on IMDB
• Amadeus on YouTube 
• Amadeus on allcinema
• Amadeus on Kinema Junpou
• Amadeus on AllRovi

Premier League in late November

As I mentioned, the Premier League is hotting up. Chelsea seems to be the top team with the most problems at the moment; I think they've lost their last three matches. Arsenal, after a very bad start, have won their recent matches, but nearly all their goals are scored by Robin van Persie, who so far has been injured for long stretches of time every season. Manchester United have recovered from their bad loss to Manchester City and seem to be winning all their matches 1–0. Everyone seems to agree that the two Manchester teams will take the top two spots, but there are several teams who could possibly get one of the top 4 spots. These include Liverpool, Tottenham, Arsenal, and Newcastle. And, for the first time in Premier League history, we are near the end of November and no manager has yet been sacked.

Actors (and other personnel) in Midnight Run

The two stars of Midnight Run are Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin.

Robert De Niro is considered to be one of the greatest movie actors. He was born in 1943 and has had a long career. He became famous with the movie Mean Streets. Midnight Run is considered to be one of his best performances because of his good chemistry with Charles Grodin.

Charles Grodin was born in 1935. He is probably best known for the Beethoven dog movies. In Midnight Run, he is credited with making it easy for Robert De Niro to give a great comic performance.

Links for Midnight Run

• Midnight Run best scenes on YouTube
• MR on Rotten Tomatoes
• MR on IMDB
• MR on Wikipedia

5 movies I like

I recommend these movies:

• Midnight Run (great scenes)
• Donnie Brasco (trailer)
• Heat (restaurant scene)
• Magnolia 
• Carlito's Way (final scene in Italian)

Premier League again

Things are continuing to heat up in the Premier League. Hitherto unbeaten side Newcastle United lost 3–1 to Manchester City, and Chelsea continued their losing streak, putting pressure on their manager.

SiL on Wikipedia

I just read the Wikipedia page on Shakespeare in Love.

Shakespeare in Love is a 1998 film written by Tom Stoppard. It was hugely popular and won 7 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actress, and Best Supporting Actress. It contains many references to Shakespeare plays, featuring several paraphrases from Romeo & Juliet and Hamlet, as well as references to Twelfth Night.

The movie includes several real people, including William Shakespeare himself, Christopher Marlowe, and Queen Elizabeth I.

The cast is very good, and includes Joseph Fiennes, Gwyneth Paltrow, Geoffrey Rush, and Judi Dench.

Links for SiL

• SiL on IMDB
• SiL on Wikipedia
• SiL on Wikipedia (Japanese)
• SiL on allcinema
• SiL on Rotten Tomatoes
• SiL trailer
• SiL review in Japanese

England versus Sweden

As I mentioned in my previous post, England beat Spain on Saturday. England will next play Sweden, on Tuesday. It is expected that this will in some ways be a tougher game, because, while Spain are an attacking team who tend to leave a lot of space at the back, Sweden will be underdogs and therefore England will probably have to attack more and try to unlock the Swedish defence.

According to the Guardian, the England team will feature a few new players: Bobby Zamora, Kyle Walker, and Daniel Sturridge. It will be interesting to see how England do with these new players. It is interesting to note that England have not beaten Sweden since 1968, so, despite their lower world ranking, this is unlikely to be an easy game.

Much Ado on Wikipedia

I just read the Japanese Wikipedia page on Much Ado About Nothing (the Shakespeare play) and part of the English page on the same topic. I don't remember all the details, but there was good information on the characters who appear in the play.

• Leonato is the governor of Messina, part of Sicily
• Don Pedro is the Duke of Aragon
• Claudio is a Count and a companion of Don Pedro, and he falls in love with…
• Hero, who is Leonato's only daughter

Some of the themes of the play are love, infidelity, and deception.

It is thought that the play was written in about 1598.

Much Ado Trailer

I watched the trailer for Much Ado About Nothing just now. It's a 1993 movie, directed by Kenneth Branagh, based on the famous Shakespeare comedy. Actors starring in the movie include Kenneth Branagh (also the director), Emma Thompson (Branagh's wife at that time), Keanu Reeves, Kate Beckinsale, Denzel Washington, and Robert Sean Leonard (of The Dead Poets' Society fame). The movie begins with a poem:

Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more

Men were deceivers ever

One foot in sea

And one on shore

To one thing constant never

Then sigh not so

But let them go

And be you blithe and bonny

Converting all your tales of woe

Into hey nonny nonny

My impression after watching the trailer is that it's a joyous movie. I'm looking forward to watching it (again).

Info on Much Ado About Nothing

• IMDB
• Shakespeare play on Wikipedia
• Branagh film on Wikipedia
• Shakespeare play on Wikipedia (Japanese)
• Rotten Tomatoes
• todok tosen
• Shakespeare's plays
• Trailer on YouTube

Go, England!

Last week saw the latest international break for soccer. Japan played a World Cup qualifier on Friday, winning 4–0 in Tajikistan after a rather depressing first half. Meanwhile, in Europe, a lot of friendlies were played. One of those was England versus Spain at Wembley. Everyone assumed that England would lose, because these last few years, although England usually does well in qualifying, they usually lose when laying a top team such as Holland, Brazil, France, Spain, and so on.

Apparently, this time was similar in the first half: Spain had possession for most of the time, and England wasn't able to mount any good attacks. Luckily, though, Spain wasn't able to convert their possession into a goal, and England scored a goal with a quick attack, winning 1–0.

Mary Queen of Scots

More on the Premier League

As I mentioned, the Premier League is gradually coming to resemble the Premier League that we are familiar with. The big difference is that Newcastle United are undefeated and right up there at the top. Generally, commentators say that Newcastle's opponents recently have not been very strong, and it is generally assumed that Liverpool, Arsenal, or Tottenham will be the 4th team (after Manchester United, Manchester City, and Chelsea). However, Chelsea are looking a bit unsteady, and Newcastle's unbeaten run keeps going, so some commentators are starting to take the team seriously.

Jane Eyre

If you're interested in British literature, you will probably read Jane Eyre at some point. Before reading the original text, I recommend that you read a simplified version, for example the Oxford Bookworms version. You can find it in the University library.

Jane Eyre (Oxford Bookworms Library, Stage 6)

Charlotte Bronte,Clare (RTL) West

Oxford Univ Pr (Sd)

発売日：2007-11-29

ブクログでレビューを見る»

Premier League early November

As we move into November, the Premier League is hotting up. Many commentators say that the teams on the bottom now are unlikely to escape relegation, while the top 6 is becoming a more familiar group, the unusual thing being that, instead of Arsenal, that group includes Newcastle. Until several years ago, when manager Bobby Robson was fired, Newcastle were regularly in the top 4, but in recent years they have been closer to the relegation zone and were actually relegated for one season.
(84 words)

Book Reviews

How to do a book review on the IS4 blog

a good book review

Hi from Audioboo!

Premier League again again

As I mentioned not long ago, yesterday Manchester United lost big time to Manchester City. The final score was…nan to…6−1! Towards the end, Manchester United were desperate to get a goal and their defence became terribly disorganized. Both Dzeko and Balotelli scored 2 goals each!

Hi!

Premier League re-revisited again

This week, I thought I would write about the Premier League for a change. If you are a football fan, you probably know that Manchester United played Manchester City yesterday. Anticipation was intense, because it is the first time for many, many years that Manchester City has been seen as a team that is competitive with Manchester United. The Guardian ran a series of 4 articles on the respective teams' goalkeepers, defences, midfields, and attacks. Most people assumed that Manchester United would win or that the result would be a draw. So what happened?

"That's a really good question, and I'm glad you asked." "I am asking." "And well you may."

Session 4: October 24th, 2011

It's time for our first podcast episode of the semester today. To make the procedure a little easier, and to make it possible for you to continue posting after this course finishes, let's switch to audioboo! Audioboo is a site just for short audio posts. You can link to your post from your blog.

1. Join Audioboo. I'll give you detailed instructions separately.
2. Make a "reverse outline" from your movie essay.
3. Create a short script from the reverse outline and print it out. Your aim should be to speak quite quickly for about 1 minute.
4. Record your script on Audioboo.
5. Create a new post on your blog. Tags should be "my podcast" and "movies". The text content should be the reverse outline you made in (2). You need to link to the recording you made in (4).
6. After you've finished, create another post with your script from (3). Tag this "movies" and "scripts".

HINT: When you're working, take a few moments to arrange your workspace. I suggest separate windows for (i) Audioboo, (ii) your own blog, and (iii) these instructions (at rickkgu.blogspot.com ; look for the Teachertalk tag).

UPDATE: Because of time problems, we will do the reverse outline and the recording for the movie essay next time. In this class, you should record a quick introduction and one of your book reviews from this semester. (Please count the number of words that you recorded, just as with a standard written post.)

HOMEWORK: We are now a third of the way through the semester. I am worried about people falling behind. There is no class next week. Before the next class (in November), please:

1. Make sure you have written 4 or 5 book reviews for this semester;
2. Updated your Booklog collection;
3. Finished and posted your essay movie;
4. Posted a Blog Stats post with your up-to-date number of words for this semester.

Autumn films

This month is a good one for films. Rise of the Planet of the Apes began last weekend, and at the end of the month, The Three Musketeers, Source Code, and Fair Game are all coming. To tell you the truth, October and November are very busy times of year for me, so I'm not sure whether I'll have time to see them, but I really want to see them all. I think Moneyball is also coming soon.

Of those movies, Fair Game and Moneyball are both based on true stories. Fair Game is about Valerie Plame, a CIA operative whose identity is exposed by the Bush administration as retaliation for a newspaper article written by her husband. Moneyball, starring Brad Pitt, is about a baseball team that doesn't have much money but manages to win a championship.

Premier League revisited again

After the international break, the Premier League was back in action this weekend. The biggest match was Liverpool against Manchester United. The two teams are the most successful in English football history, with Manchester United having won 19 championships and Liverpool 18. In recent years, Manchester United have been by far the most successful team, winning the Premier League about once every two years and also getting to three Champions League finals in the last four or five years. However, when it comes to direct meetings of the two teams, in recent years Liverpool has the better record.

This year, Manchester United rested many players, including Rooney, who had taken part in the international matches or whom they want to include in next week's match against Manchester City. Apparently, the match was very dull until Gerard, returning from injury, scored. But, as happens very often, Manchester United came back to a draw with a late goal, after sending Rooney on as a substitute.

Manchester United's draw combined with Manchester City's win over Aston Villa to send Manchester City top for the first time. My suspicion is that Ferguson, the Manchester United manager, will be the most satisfied of the managers, because most of his top players have had a good rest, and I think he will be confident of beating Manchester City and going top again.

In a battle between two clubs lower down the table, Arsenal beat Sunderland 2-1. Yeah!

Movies to watch this semester (C class)

1. Shakespeare in Love (available in Tsutaya, etc., and in the KGU Library)
2. Amadeus (available in Tsutaya, etc., and in the KGU Library)

Premier League again

In the last post, I said that many people believe that the top 3 places will be taken by Manchester United, Manchester City, and Chelsea, and that that order seems most likely. I actually think that Chelsea will overtake Manchester City once the new manager gets used to his team and possibly brings in a new player or two in the January transfer window. So my prediction for the top 3 is:

1. Manchester United
2. Chelsea
3. Manchester City

The 4th spot is very interesting and important because the 4th team also gets a chance to play in the Champions League, which as I mentioned before brings in a quite a lot of money. For the last 14 years, Arsenal has always been one of the teams qualifying for the Champions league places but that looks unlikely this year. Most people think either Liverpool or Tottenham will get that 4th spot. I think it will probably be Tottenham, because many of Liverpool's players are not so strong (I believe), although Liverpool's manager is probably a little better than Tottenham's.

Movies to watch this semester (A class)

1. Midnight Run

Available on VHS in the KGU Library. Also available at Tsutaya and so on.

2. Much ado about nothing

Available on DVD at the KGU Library. Also available at Tsutaya and so on.

Premier League

I'd like to talk today about the Premier League table. Most teams have now played 7 matches, which is about a fifth of the total matches for the season. The top 3 places are filled by Manchester United, Manchester City, and Chelsea, and most people assume that those are the three teams that will be at the top at the end of the season. In fact, most people seem to think that the three teams will end in that order, with the odds of Manchester United being champions set at 5/6, Manchester City at 12/5, and Chelsea at 4/1.

All three of the top 3 teams qualify automatically for next season's Champions League, which means that they get extra income and have a better chance of continuing to improve their team.

On today's menu: October 3rd, 2011 (Session 2)

1. Juppun ha Juubun
2. Talking about the syllabus
3. Essay 1

Writing 4: October 3rd 2011

Hi, everyone, today let's do the first essay of this semester. The title is My favorite movies. Please choose about 3 movies that you have enjoyed very much, and tell us about them. Some things you could write about:

• the story (but don't tell us the ending!)
• why it was interesting to you
• the actors
• the director
• the English and Japanese titles: is there anything interesting about the translation of the title?
• any famous lines or speeches from the movie
• any other similar movies

Some sites you could use:

• Internet Movie Database
• allcinema

Please don't read detailed explanations (in English) of the movies too soon, because if you do you may find it difficult to think of your own words to write about the movies.

The deadline for the essay is October 16th (before the next Writing class on October 17th).