We are members of a second-year IES course at Kansai Gaidai University in Hirakata, Osaka, Japan. In this class, we'll study literature, humanities, and English.
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The Hobbit is going to be made into a movie! When this movie comes out in a couple years, please watch it and remember our IES class!! For now, in the comments, please tell us which scene or character you are most looking forward to seeing in the movie and why!
Also, if you would like some more extra credit, you can leave a comment about your experience with serendipity. By the way, I had a serendipitous experience during the winter vacation! I wrote a comment about it, and I'm looking forward to reading your experiences too. If you'd like, leave your comment here and don't forget to write your name.
Finally, please vote for your favorite computer lab / blog activity from this year!
CALL Lesson for Wednesday, December 5
December 6th is Saint Nicholas Day.
This holiday is celebrated in some countries around the world. According to the Saint Nicholas Center, "Where St. Nicholas is prominent, his day, not Christmas, is the primary gift giving day. Parties may be held on the eve, December 5th, and shoes or stockings left for St. Nicholas to fill during the night. Children will find treats of small gifts, fruit or nuts, and special Nicholas candies and cookies. St. Nicholas gifts are meant to be shared, not hoarded for oneself."
Go to the Saint Nicholas Center site and click on a country of your choice to find out how Saint Nicholas Day is celebrated! In the comments section, share what you found out in your own words. Then, tell us what your favorite Japanese holiday tradition is; any holiday is okay!
Please work on your country project today! You can do research, write your paper, or work on your presentation. I'll hand back your project proposals; please let me know if you have any questions!
Two teachers at Kansai Gaidai are doing research on inter-cultural communication, and they would appreciate it if our class would help them with their research. Please take their SURVEY!
IES Vocabulary Learning Program
Here are a couple of the pictures of our class studying vocabulary. The teachers who attended the presentation were really interested in our class! Thank you for all your help!
CALL Lesson for Wednesday, November 21
Today, we will complete three tasks: Studying vocabulary, Working on your country research project, and Completing a Midterm Course Evaluation. Please see the detailed instructions below.
VOCABULARY
Step One: Lex Tutor
Let's do a review of your vocabulary words using the website, Lexical Tutor
Go to the site, and enter the vocabulary words you want to review in the box in the upper-left corner. Then, click the circle after the word "quiz"; after that, click "build". You will see a fill-in-the blank style quiz with the words you entered. Complete your quiz and show me when you've finished.
Step Two: Leave a comment on the blog (optional)
As I mentioned, I'll give a presentation about our vocabulary learning program at a conference in Tokyo this weekend. As part of the presentation, I'd like to share some student perspectives. Please write a comment about our vocabulary program. We have made word cards and studied them every week this year. What do you think are the strengths and weaknesses of this method for learning vocabulary? Leave your comment here on the blog!
RESEARCH PROJECT WORK
Work on your country research project
Continue researching and/or start writing your paper or presentation.
If you're having trouble finding information, please see the following tutorial which gives detailed instructions on how to conduct a more effective Internet search. Go to Finding Things on the Web; you may find "Search Tips" quite useful.
I did a search for sources of information about a variety of countries and here are a few results!
MYTHOLOGY
As we previously studied, The Hobbit has some similarities to mythology. Today we will explore some Greco-Roman Myths and an artist's depiction of the myth. You will be assigned one of the myths below. Click on the link and read the information there; also, mouse over the painting to get more information on the artist's rendition of the myth.
Then, answer the following questions with your partner, and write down your answers on your own paper:
CALL Lesson for Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Please view your assigned dVolver movies that your classmates made during our last class. After clicking on the link, please add your comment in the comments section below the movie. Please leave at least 2 comments for your classmates.
With a partner, please post a comment here on our class blog! (The number of comments allowed per hour on this blog is limited to 10, so that's why you should do it with a partner!) As you can see, I've added 2 new posts, and I hope one of them will interest you. One new post is about Wedding Cakes and one is about Serendipity. Please share your thoughts on one of these by leaving a comment, and don't forget to write your name and your partner's name!
Get started on your Nonfiction Sharing Project. Each student will choose one specific area of The Hobbit to research. You can read information about your topic at One Wiki to Rule Them All ; Tolkien Gateway ; or other online resources. Then, you will prepare an informal presentation to share with your classmates. A detailed assignment sheet will be given to you during class; please follow the instructions carefully!
Here are links to the movies that were made during our last class in the computer lab. Directors' statements have been included, if available.
Please watch your assigned movies, plus any others that interest you. You will notice that once you click on the link to a movie, there is a space for writing comments, so please use it to write two comments for your classmates!
The Winter by Tomoyo
Changing Tradition by Kosuke
Japanese Life by Saya
An Insect by Rika
After School by Minami
I want to tell people that many Japanese teenagers go to karaoke after school, and they sing freely so they can reduce their stress.
New Fashion Trend by Ayaka
The girl who spoke first thinks the other girl had already gotten the new trend, so she thinks the other girl doesn't have to buy any more new things. I tried to show the conversation about young girls' trends; young girls tend to want to get new trends very much to become cuter!
Japanese Life by Miho
No Eyebrow by Natsuko
Young ppl in Japan by Haruka
I tried to tell that today's young people love to drink with their friends.
Christmas Party by Yuri
First, I chose Christmas scene, after that I chose funny characters that don't match Christmas. I wanted to show Christmas for them. They realized they didn't match Christmas themselves before going to the Christmas party, and so they gave up going there.
Unsociable by Shoko
Bush goes forth by Syujiro
Drinking party by Mina
Too sad, but... by Risa and Yuka
Recently the number of people who don't work or study has been increasing. They always stay at their houses or go out with their friends.
Here is the video of Steve Jobs' commencement speech at Standford that I wanted to show you! If you have the chance, please wait for the entire video to download, and then listen and watch it.
Even if you don't have time to watch the video, please take a moment to share a story with the theme of "serendipity"!
Today I would like to introduce you to my friend, Christine. She designs and makes wedding cakes. Earlier this year, she was part of a team which appeared on the TV show, Food Network Challenge. Since many of you enjoyed our discussion about wedding receptions in class last week, I asked her to share some information and pictures of her work with us. Please leave a comment if you would like to ask her another question or something!
The process of making a wedding cake
actually begins several months
before the big day.
I sit down with the clients and discuss
design ideas, flavors,flowers, colors, and themes
they may be using in their wedding.
Then cakes are baked and allowed to cool and
set for a day before I can start decorating.
Once they're ready I split and fill them with
the couples' choice of fillings. Each cake tier
is four layers of cake and three layers of
filling so they end up being at least 5" tall.
I frost them with a "crumb coat" or
"masking coat" which is a rough coating
of frosting. Then the final coat goes on and
worked until it is smooth, nearly perfect.
That all happens 2 daysbefore the wedding.
The day before the wedding I do
all final decorations, any piping design or
fondant application. The day of I arrange
the flowers and deliver the cake. During the
wedding season(June-Sept) we have 15-20
wedding cakes in a weekend.
Trends in weddings change every year but I
always try to encourage couples to incorporate
designs from their invitations or beadwork from
the gown or any theme into the design of the
wedding cake. This personalizes the couples'
experience, shows their style, and creates a
unique cake. A personalized cake is timeless.
Traditional wedding cakes are white,
cream, or ivory but I have noticed more people
indulging in the rich and decadent side by having
chocolate covered cakes.
Another tradition is to use
frosting flowers or sugarpaste flowers but we use
fresh. They are more beautiful, fragrant, and make
better arrangements than sugar flowers.
Another trend is to use color on the cake. We use
lots of fondant (a rolled sugar dough) for this
purpose because it takes food color paste easily
and creates a porcelain smooth finish. It can
also be used to make patterns
(i.e mosaics, stripes, harlequin, dots) that would
not be suitable for piping.
Working within the wedding industry is hectic and
stressful but it's also challenging, creative and
rewarding.
This is a picture of the cake that Christine and her team created for the Food Network Cake Challenge.
CALL Lesson for Wednesday, October 10, 2007.
Here are the activities for you to complete in class today:
today
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
June 2007
May 2007
February 2007
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