Week 7 - Introduction to Tsurumi Eats!

Good afternoon!

About practice blog URLS ...
You can see the practice blogs linked at this page of the website (scroll down).

A few students still need to ...

• Correct their description
• Customize the background (Some people may not want to customize their background, but it will look more unique and special if you do. Also, it's fun to try different backgrounds and background images, and this is your 'practice' blog. By customizing, you learn more about the features of blogging.)

About Movie, Book, Manga Reviews ...

• After you fix your movie/manga/book review, please post it on your practice blog.
• There should be no mistakes (spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc.) on your blog!
• Kevin will talk to your about adding images and embedded videos
• Did you send your corrected review to Kevin?.
• You will present your review in two weeks; June 14

Restaurant Review site; Tsurumi Eats!

Some selected Restaurant Reviews from Tsurumi Eats!

1. Crisscross - All-Day Cafe
2. Favorite Hamburger Restaurant - Kua 'Aina
3. Hawaiian Restaurant - La Ohana
4. Japanese Style Café - Komeda Nagomi Café Okagean
5. 1+11 (Kei) 
6. Sendai Gyutan Ara
7. Peppers Drive-in 
8. Umeya 
9. Shabushabu Onyasai 
10. Carl's Jr.
11. Talk Back     
12. Rakeru 
13. Tsunami 
14. Washoku En 
15. Akakara
16. Monsoon Cafe 
17. Gaki Daisho
18. Gorkha Kitchen 
19. Pumunoki - 
20. Gyukaku  
21. Jiro Ramen 
22. La Pattola
23. Green Sheep 
24. Manoa Aloha Table - 
25. Komeraku
26. Amapola 
27. Devil Craft 
28. Lord Buddha 
29. Grand Buffet 
30. 800 Degrees   
31. Obon de Gohan 
32. Red Rock  
33. Taj Tandoor  
34. Meshidokoro Karasawagiya 
35. Sushi Bar Kohada
36. Tokori
37. Baru Ajito
38. Pappa Pasta
39. Hana no Kura
40. Plumeria Cafe
41. Soshu Torigin

Present one of these to the class next week; June 7. Kevin will assign you 3 or more of the above to choose from. Write the one you will present in the comment box below.

• Ryosuke  - 1, 13, 25
• Minami - 2, 14, 26
• Yuka - 3, 15, 27
• Kaito - 4, 16, 28
• Hiryu - 5, 17, 29
• Funo - 6, 18, 30
• Chihiro - 7, 19, 31
• Rui - 8, 20, 32
• Mana - 9, 21, 33
• Aoi - 10, 22, 34
• Shizuka - 11, 23, 35
• Saki - 12, 24, 36, 40

37-41 are also available

What to present:

• the post title
• what type of restaurant is being reviewed
• where is the restaurant (general location, not the address)
• what are some things you learned from the post about the restaurant
• are there any good or bad points about this post that you noticed?

Restaurant Reviews Assigned

Your own restaurant review is due June 28.

You must go to a restaurant (or bakery or take-out place), take some photos, and write a review. Choose a place that is a little unique and has some good points. Don't choose a large chain or fast food restaurant that everyone knows. However, a small, lesser known chain is OK.

About restaurant review photos:

• Take many photos so you can choose the best ones.
• Take the photos before you start eating the items!
• A full drink looks nice in the photo.
• Think about the angle, lighting and composition.
• Hold the camera still! A blurry image is not good.
• No dirty napkins or empty plates should be in view.
• Take photos only of the food and drinks for the review. Your friends and family don't need to be in these photos.
• Interior photos are good too.

Which of the photos on Tsurumi Eats! are good? Which are not? Please take GOOD photos!

Please DO NOT copy sentences from a Japanese review and translate them into English.

Please continue to look at all kinds of blogs to get ideas for your own blog that you will write in the fall. You will need to find a topic that is interesting for you to write about (5 times!), and you need a topic that is not too difficult for you to write about. Please think about the topic seriously!

Connecting Sentences: Because & So

Examples:
I was hungry so I ate some cookies.
I ate some cookies because I was hungry.
I was sick so I didn't go to school.
Because of the rain, the game was cancelled.

Exercise:
1) I go to Tsurumi University. I want to learn English.
2) They're excited. They're going to a concert.
3) I'll lend you my gloves. Your hands won't get cold.
4) He's the best player on the team. He gets the best salary.
5) He thought he should have won. He's angry.
6) Taeko was tired. She worked all day.
7) I know you're upset. I will leave you alone.
8) I need to study tonight. I have a test tomorrow.
9) He got food poisoning. The chicken was undercooked.

Conjunctions Practice

• Conjunctions online exercise 1
• Conjunctions online exercise 2
• Conjunctions online exercise 3

Also, some preposition practice

Schedule Reminder
June 7           Review is posted on practice blog ↩; be ready to present a restaurant from the list
June 14         Book/movie review presentations
June 28         Restaurant review due ↩

Week 6 - Book, Manga, Movie Reviews Due

Good afternoon everyone ...

Book, Manga, Movie Reviews

• Your review is due today. Please submit it using Google Drive by Tuesday (May 24).
• Your revised review is due June 7 (in two weeks, but sooner is better!).
• Your presentation on your review is June 14 (in 3 weeks).

Does your blog have a description? If not, please write the blog description. Go to Settings and Description is just below Title.

Easy things you must do every time you write ...

• Title
• Name on the document
• Check spelling
• Capitalize correctly
• One space after a period, comma or other punctuation

Maybe not easy, but you must do ....

• Correct use of 'be' verbs
• Subject-verb agreement
• Don't repeat the same sentences
• Group the same ideas together

General vs Specific exercise

Online grammar exercise re. Simple Present Tense and Subject-Verb Agreement

I speak            We speak
You speak       You speak
He speaks       They speak
She speaks
It speaks


Phrasal Verbs exercise

You will need the following phrasal verbs:

• believe in
• fill out
• get on
• look for
• put out
• switch on (means 'turn on')
• take off
• throw away
• try on
• turn down

To Do List
1) Capitalize the title of your blog
2) Write a description for your practice blog
3) Customize your practice blog background
4) General vs Specific exercise
5) Do the Grammar Exercise re. Simple Present Tense / Subject-Verb Agreement
6) Do the Phrasal Verbs exercise online
7) Correct your review writing as soon as Kevin returns corrections to you.
8) Post the corrected review on your practice blog! Add images (English if possible).

Week 5 - Making a Practice Blog

Hey, guys! Your group photo is now on the BlogZemi website.

Making a Practice Blog
The short video below explains the steps to making a Blogger (Google) blog.

Kevin will explain how to make a blog in class. Please make your own practice blog and send Kevin the URL Please wait until after the May 17 class to do this!

When you send the URL to Kevin, please notice ...

The URL for Kevin's website looks like this:

It DOES NOT look like this:

My students often make the mistake of sending me the URL of their blog editor. That is not the correct URL. You chose your blog URL when you created your blog, remember?

____

Movie/Book/Manga reviews are due next week, May 24. Send them to me on Google Docs. Be sure to give me permission to open your document! (Follow the procedure on the blog! It's posted here!)

Your Movie/Book/Manga Review should ...

• have a title
• have your name on the paper
• have no capitalization mistakes
• be on a Google Doc sent to Kevin so he can open it!

* Do not copy sentences from other websites!
* Do not use Google Translate or other translation software to translate your sentences. Make your sentences yourself!

____

EdPuzzle about writing a movie review
(You may not need this, but the class code is:  fosweoj)

Log in to Google before you do the EdPuzzle above.

Review of Capitalization Rules
Capitalization Online Form

Simple Past Tense and Negatives in the Past Tense
Past Tense Online Form

To Do List

1. Make a Practice Blog and send the URL to Kevin
   
2. Do the EdPuzzle video exercise above
3. Do the Capitalization Online Form
4. Do the Past Tense Online Form
5. Finish your Movie/Book/Manga Review and send it to Kevin; due May 24
   * Follow the procedure to submit a Google Doc!

Week 4 - Present a Japan blog; also Movie Reviews

Good afternoon, everybody! How was your Golden Week?

Today's activities are ...
1) Introduce a Japan blog in English
2) Next writing assignment: Movie/Book/Manga Review; due May 24

Today I'm assigning a book, movie or manga review. This is a major writing assignment that you must do. It will be graded and it will be posted online with your name. It's due in two weeks; May 24. Send it to me using Google Drive. Please be sure to do all the things I asked you to do in class: include a title, name, make paragraphs, capitalize correctly, don't indent, etc. Use the Google share function correctly.

Whichever you choose, you must review something that you have read or seen yourself. It can be Japanese, but of course, you must write in English.

Do not use translation software to make your sentences!

Below are some examples of review sites for each of these types. I'm posting the links here so you have an idea what a blog for these topics might look like. You will be writing in English, so the English blogs should be your best model. However, I posted links to Japanese blogs too in order to help you get some ideas.

Book review blogs (English sites)
Becky's Book Reviews  http://blbooks.blogspot.jp/
The Chocolate Lady's Book Reviews  http://drchazan.blogspot.jp/
Daisy Chain Book Reviews  http://daisychainbookreviews.blogspot.jp/

Book review blogs (Japanese sites)
本ナビ：本のソムリエの一日一冊書評  http://1book.biz/
書評　精神世界の本ベスト100  http://ameblo.jp/tokyo1947/

Movie review blogs (English sites)
RogerEbert.com  http://www.rogerebert.com/
The Movie Blog  http://themovieblog.com/category/reviews/
FilmJabber  http://www.filmjabber.com/movie-blog/

Movie review blogs (Japanese sites)
素人目線の映画感想ブログ  http://eigamove.blog.fc2.com/
セントの最新映画100本  http://blog.goo.ne.jp/signnoot
伝説のhiropoo映画日記  http://ameblo.jp/hirop-1001/

Manga review blogs (English sites)
MangaBlog  http://mangablog.mangabookshelf.com/
Comics Worth Reading  http://comicsworthreading.com/

Manga review blogs (Japanese sites)
すーぱーそふぁーたいむ  http://supersofatime.blog.fc2.com/

漫画の虎　https://manga-blog.net/osusume-tanpen-50/

Also, one of my students reviewed Japanese comics for his seminar classes. You can check his blog, My Favorite Japanese Comics, here.

Some important points about this assignment:

• Choose 1 (only 1!) book, movie or manga to write about.
• It must be a book or manga that you have read, or a movie that you have seen.
• Write at least 200 words (but more is OK).
• For movie reviews, tell the movie genre, and tell the names of the director and major characters. Also tell the date the movie came out.
• For book and manga reviews, tell the genre, and tell the names of the writer, illustrator and major characters. Also tell the date it came out and the publisher.
• A summary of the story should be short. Writing a long, detailed summary is not good in a review. If you tell us the whole story, we have no reason to experience it ourselves!
• Check your sentences for good grammar, spelling and capitalization.
• Your writing should be in paragraphs.(Don't use the Enter key after each sentence!)
• Your review should be interesting and useful!
• Check out the blogs above for ideas on how to write a review.
• After reading your review, I should know if I want to read the book or manga or see the movie.
• Your review should not contain spoilers! However, you can write spoilers if you warn the reader with a subtitle, like Spoiler Alert!)
• Send your review to Kevin (kjmiller address) by Google Drive.

Tips for Movie Reviews
1) Choose a movie that you have an opinion about. If you have no opinion, your review won't be good. Your opinion can be positive or negative, but if you have an opinion, and you defend it, your review will be worth reading.

2) Give examples from the movie to support your opinions.

3) Talk about the plot (the story) only a little, not a lot. If you tell the whole story, there's no reason for the reader to watch the movie. Readers want some information, but only enough to help them decide if they want to see the movie.

4) There are other things to talk about besides the plot.

• The director - Who is he/she? What are some other movies by him/her? What is characteristic about his/her directing? What is his/her reputation in the film world?
• The actors - Are they perfect for this role? Why or why not? Do they perform well? Believably? Do you think they will win some awards? (Or did they win some?) Why? Did you notice any flaws in their acting?
• The photography (cinematography) - How do the photography, camera angles, lighting, etc. influence your opinion of the movie?
• Music and sound - How do they influence your feelings about the movie? Are they distracting? Perfect for the mood?
• Audience reaction and box office sales - This information is sometimes interesting and tells us how other people are reacting to the movie.
• Similar movies - How is it similar and different from other similar movies?
• Explain why a person should or shouldn't see it.

Movie/Book/Manga Reviews are due May 24 (in two weeks), but you can send them to me sooner.

How to write a movie review

Choose a movie that you have seen recently that you want to write about.

The most important thing is, DO NOT COPY sentences from Wikipedia or another website. Make your own sentences.

Also, do not write in Japanese and use translation software to change it into English. You will never learn how to make your own sentences if you do this.

Write 3 paragraphs ...

1) Write a paragraph with information about the movie. When was it released? Who was the director (映画監督). Who are the main actors? Did the movie win some awards, such as Academy Awards or Golden Globes? What were the box office results? You can research this on the internet.

2) Write a paragraph that introduces the story a little. Don't tell the whole story and don't give a lot of details. Just tell us enough so we can decide if we want to watch it or not. And no spoilers, please!

3) Write your comments and opinions about the movie in a paragraph. This is the most important part of the movie review.

Example: The Hateful 8 by Sayaka / Example: I Feel Pretty by Miho