8. Melissa was 7 years old. She told Santa she wanted a doll for Christmas, But this doll had to be a special doll, the kind she saw in a horror movie that comes alive at night and kills people.
[Copy and paste the sentence above into the comment box below and add a sentence or two. The next students will copy all of the sentences and add to them until we have a complete Christmas story! Gambatte!]
9. There was terrible news on Christmas Eve. The newscaster said that Santa’s sleigh had been flying over Hokkaido when suddenly it disappeared from the radar. People everywhere were worried that Santa and his reindeer had crashed in Hokkaido.
[Copy and paste the sentence above into the comment box below and add a sentence or two. The next students will copy all of the sentences and add to them until we have a complete Christmas story! Gambatte!]
It's time to choose your Graduation Seminar for 2023. Communication major students should choose from A, B or C below. If you want to take another teacher's seminar, you should talk to that teacher directly. Suzuki-sensei always has many students, so he will probably not accept any Communication students (but you can still ask him). It will be difficult to change. - Kevin
Don't forget to choose your graduation seminar.
Did you practice for your audio clip with Kevin? If not, do that. If yes, you can post your audio on the page where the related text is.
Next ...
Want to do some grammar practice? No? I didn't think so. Let's make a comic instead.
Make Beliefs Comix
Here's a comic I made with Make Beliefs Comix, an online comic building site. The scene is from 'Annie Hall,' Woody Allen's most famous movie. Here's the original scene from the movie.
Here's another comic from the same movie, but after the character, Alvy, has become an adult. And here's the original movie clip (scene starts at 1:40).
The comic below is from a Quentin Tarantino movie. Do you know it? The comic creator is called Strip Creator.
Here's the actual scene from "Pulp Fiction," (from 1:00 minute mark) for the dialog above. (The comic was edited slightly to remove profanity.)
Some ideas:
Save the comic (or take a screen shot) and paste it into your blog post. Send me a link so I know where to find it!
You can delete the comic if you like after the course grades have been given. (But you don't have to delete it.)
Blog Post #5 is due next week - Dec. 13.
Today you will present Blog Post #4. Have you made all corrections?
Today ...
1. Present Blog Post #4
2. Make any needed changes to your blogs.
3. Blog Post #5 is due Dec. 13 (or sooner)
4. Continue audio recording activity; actually, I would like to help you practice your pronunciation and intonation before you record. We can do that in class if there is time.
Today ...
1) Blog Post #4 is due. Kevin will give you corrections, either today or by email.
2) We will hear 3 more limericks.
3) We will do a Relative Clauses worksheet. PDF
Practice #1 / #2
4) If time, we will start an Audio Activity: Find a blog post that you'd like to add audio to.
5) Choose (or make) two to four sentences that capture the feel of your blog post.
6) Practice the sentences until you sound like a native! You need good intonation! Have Kevin listen.
7) Record your sentences (on Voice Record Pro) . *
8) Save the audio in your Google Drive or on Sound Cloud (you can log in with Google).
9) Copy the 'share' code.
10) Paste or embed the audio clip in your blog post (at the bottom of the post).
Today ...
1) We will practice saying some limericks for intonation (PDF)
2) Blog post #4 is due next week (Nov. 22)
Today you will present Blog Post #3! Have you made all corrections?
Blog Presentations #3
This is your blog! Present without reading, please! Practice in advance, know how to pronounce all words, and speak with feeling!
Today ...
1. Present Blog Post #3
2. Make any needed changes to your blogs.
3. Blog Post #4 is due Nov. 22 (or sooner)
4. Do a grammar exercise re. the Present Perfect Tense
Past Tense vs Present Perfect Tense
Past Tense example:
How long did you work at Starbucks? I worked there for two years.
Present Perfect Tense example:
How long have you worked at Starbucks? I have worked there since 2019.
Past Tense - the work is finished
Present Perfect Tense - the work started in the past and is still continuing
Present Perfect Tense Practice Exercise
Do the form!
Present Perfect Tense Form
Reminder: Tokubetsu Enshu II students will choose Graduation Seminars soon. I will not be here next year, so you have to choose another teacher.
Today (Nov. 1) ...
1) Thursday we will have a day off. How will you spend your day?
2) We will check to see that you posted Blog Post #3.
3) We will do another Passive vs Active exercise and a Word Families grammar exercise.
The results of the More Passive vs Active Sentences form were surprising. Students who got less than 20 out of 23 should review verb forms.
By the way, one answer was marked wrong even though it was not wrong. I fixed it (sorry).
#10. The teacher's accent ___ by the students. (not understand)
The teacher's accent is not understood by the students. OR The teacher's accent isn't understood by the students.
Both are OK!
Students who got less than 20 on the form should do the following:
Online Present Simple Exercise
Be Verbs Exercise
The forms of Be Exercise
Mana and Chihiro don't have to do the above 3 exercises.😀
Please look at these two sentences:
English is taught at Tsurumi University. / English was taught at Tsurumi University.
Both are passive, but the first is present tense, the second is past tense.
All students should do this form:
Still More Passive vs Active Sentences
All sentences on the form are in the present tense.
adjective | adverb | verb | noun |
free | freely | free (freed) | freedom |
calm | calmly | calm (calmed) | calm, calmness |
quiet | quietly | quiet (quieted) | quiet, quietness |
perfect | perfectly | perfect (perfected) | perfection |
deep | deeply | deepen (deepened) | depth |
creative | creatively | create (created) | creation |
decisive | decisively | decide (decided) | decision |
lost | lose (lost) | loss | |
special | specially (especially) | specialize (specialized) | specialty |
influential | influentially | influence (influenced) | influence |
He’s a free man. He spoke freely. He freed the birds from the cage. I like my freedom.
She’s a calm person. She spoke calmly. She calmed the crying baby. I am enjoying the calm.
Next week be ready to present Blog Post #3.
Blog Post #3 is due next week (Nov. 1). You will present it Nov. 8.
* Please make corrections to your blog as soon as possible after Kevin shows you the mistakes.
Today ...
1) Passive vs Active exercise (I gave you the paper last week in class.) PDF
Jamboard
2) More Passive vs Active Sentences
3) Tokyo Theme restaurants & cafes
