Presentations on Monday

Well, after a long and restful, but not surprisingly not long enough, Christmas and New Years vacation, we're back to classes. Students are preparing for their final presentations which will take place Monday evening. They're going to tell us about their projects and show us the short promotional videos they've produced. I've seen the students filming and editing and they're looking really good.

Monday's class will be the last class, and my last class at Kanda University as it's time to move on. I'm gong to miss my friends here in Japan. I'll try to keep you posted as to my whereabouts.

Christmas building

I was leaving class on Thursday evening when I noticed that the SII Building behind us here in Makuhari had their office lights turned on to make a Christmas tree. It was pretty cool and all the students on campus thought so too. It put me in the holiday spirit for a few minutes.

Storyboards

Students are writing storyboards for their video presentations now in class. They sound promising. One student is writing about the top five trends in Japan in 2005. Another is producing a video about responsible drinking, and another about foods found in Japanese bars. They'll videotape their presentations and then edit them with photos, music, title overlays, etc. in MovieMaker. Can't wait to see the finished products.

Greetings from Salt Lake City, Utah

Click here to see the photo slide show that goes with this posting.

Greetings from Utah. I'm away from Japan for a bit taking care of some family business in the States and attending interviews in Los Angeles. It's really cold here in Salt Lake. It has been snowing for the last couple of days and is supposed to get down to -13 degrees Celcius tonight (8 degrees Fahrenheit)! I'll fly to California tomorrow where it's supposed to be 21 degrees C (69 F). What a change, but I'm looking forward to it. If only it were for vacation and not interviews!

National holiday -- it's lovely out!

It's a national holiday in Japan today and I can hear the cheering of a baseball game over at the sports center. This is a lovely time of year in Japan. From October into December we have lovely sunny, dry, clear days where we can glimpse Fuji off our balcony. It's cold though. At night it's about 5 degrees Celsius and in the day it gets up to about 15 Celsius or so.

On Saturday I started the winter ritual of hiking with the 20-liter kerosene (we usually call it by the Japanese name "toyu", literally 'lamp oil') container down to the supermarket that pumps it in the back of the store. We then carry it up and keep it on the balcony. We have a hand pump to fill the 5-liter tank for the heater. Some neighborhoods have toyu delivery, but we don't here unfortunately. Anyway, it helps keep you fit.

A star apple pie

Tomorrow for lunch, the Makuhari Ladies are coming over. They're a group of women my wife, Brooke, teaches English to at the Makuhari Community Center. Brooke made a lovely apple pie for them. Instead of a traditional crust on top, she opted to cut stars out of the dough and make a stellar design. She's a star in my book!

Sample cat video

This is a video from Vidilife. I've embedded the HTML into this blog and Pretty funny little guys, eh? The big kitty won't have any of it though! Try embedding your own video into your blog.

Free video hosting, video codes at www.vidiLife.com

富士山 returns

When I woke up I saw that it was a clear morning. Once again we can see Mount Fuji from our balcony in Funabashi. That's so cool! The sunsets are great too.

A much better weekend (with photos)

Click here to see the photo gallery that goes with this posting.

I had a much better weekend this week than last. It was actually quite fun. My wife and I went into Tokyo and first went to Ginza 銀座. We were walking through a department store when a coconut curry caught our noses and brought us to a soup restaurant. The curry was good, but the portions were a bit skimpy if you ask me! Anyway, next we went to the Apple Store and checked out the new iPod video. Pretty cool little gadget. Personally I prefer using PCs, but that store almost converts me. And as you feel yourself being converted, you know it's time to leave! On Saturday the Ginza International Jazz Festival was on so we heard lots of cool tunes. It was really serendipitous that were were there on that day. Pretty cool.

In the evening, we headed over to Shibuya 渋谷 to an Indian restaurant and had a mutton curry and a pumpkin curry with excellent naan. おいしい! Afterwards, we saw a movie called Millions (click to see a trailer), a British movie about a kid who finds a lot of money. It was pretty good. We don't often go out to see movies in Japan because they're pretty expensive and we can often get them on DVD from Australia or America before they're in the cinema here. It was fun though.

Sunday we got some shopping done -- persimmons, veggies... First we had lunch at our favourite kaitenzushi 回転寿司 (sushi train place) because you shouldn't go shopping on an empty stomach...and because we love sushi. I discovered garlic shoots at the market for the first time. They smell really nice, if you like garlic, and can be used similarly. We also sampled goat's milk at Seibu in Funabashi. It was great!

Something really shocking that was saw this weekend is that Japan is already decorating for Christmas! I guess in America the Thanksgiving adds a buffer and this sort of thing doesn't begin until the end of November.

Overall, it was a great weekend. How war yours?

Kanda University is on the Internet

Of course Kanda University has a website. That's nothing new. Okay, it's not the best, but it has a lot of the information we need. Okay...now I'm just being nice. I do, however, often use the library's website to check if they have books before I walk down there, not to mention the databases we have available only until November 20th something which every serious university on the planet offers its faculty and students.

Anyway, my point is that there are some pretty cool blogs out there in which Kanda University is mentioned. I found them on Google Blogsearch, one of my new favourite sites. Give it a try. Try searching for "kanda university" or "kandagaigo" or even "神田外語大学" and see what you find.

It's amazing what you can find in blogs. As are many of the third year teachers at Kanda, I'm looking for a job. Finding out about places where I might live and schools I might want to work for is a lot easier (and more fun) with blogs.

I had a busy but productive weekend.

I've had a pretty busy weekend. It wasn't all that pleasant, but I got a lot done. I'm looking forward to seeing my class's blogs online soon, but they haven't blogged yet. I think the class members have interesting topics: food, fads, ... so I'm looking forward to reading what they have to say. I also am looking forward to seeing some cool pics on their blogs!

Since I'm feeling in a peaceful mood, I thought I'd share with you a picture of one of my favourite (and most peaceful) places -- the forest in De Klinge, Belgium/Clinge, the Netherlands where my friends live (on the border). I love riding my bike in this forest.

Class is underway

The EIC3 :: LLTT class is again underway in semester 2. There are 5 great students in this class. We've spent the first month working on various aspects of HTML and building simple webpages by hand.

The exciting thing is today student will be setting up their own Blogger accounts so they should be online soon and everyone interacting. I'll post links to their blogs on the right navigation bar under "Semester 2 EIC3 students' blogs".

Students are still deciding what they would like to do for their projects. They're picking topics that they would be interested in -- after all, they'll have to work on them for the next 3 months! Hopefully they have chosen topics well. I've told students that they should be somewhat personal so that they can be an expert in whatever field they've chosen and they should have an audience in mind. The goals of this class are the reach out the the wider-world of English speakers -- going beyond the aluminium gates of Kanda University.

The end of Semester 1 of LLTT

Well, the first semester of the EIC 3 class has finished and I'm going to put some of the results from teaching the class together and present them at Eurocall in Krakow, Poland this summer. Overall, I think it was a successful semester although I think it's difficult planning and teaching a class for the first time. Fortunately I'll have the same class again next semester.

We finished the last presentation in class on Wednesday. The students used Camtasia and my computer to create a video which they narrated showing the various digital components of their projects (blogs, videos, webpages...). If you're at Kanda, they online for everyone to see. You can click here to look at the LLTT students' presentations. Again, this link only works at Kanda University.

To the students, thank you all for your imagination, hard work, and for trying hard and thinking of other possibilities even when you had difficulty. I'm impressed.

Otsukaresama!

Tour de France

I've had several late nights listening to the Tour de France coverage over the Internet. Cycling is my favourite sport and the Tour de France every year really exciting. I don't have satellite or cable TV at home so I just follow the text and graphic updates on the Tour de France website, http://www.letour.fr, and listen to the audio commentary on Eurosport. I wish I could see it live. Last year we were there on Alpe d'Huez. It was great!

Office 6210 Admits to Drip Problem

This is an email written by officemate, David, about something that happened yesterday:

In an event that shocked the three inhabitants of office 6210 last night, an air conditioner came to life and expressed itself over Michael's desk.

The air con, which had until today been quietly and effectively doing its business, erupted during fourth period yesterday. With the water splashing harmlessly in the middle of the office, nobody understood the potential of this threat, and it was swiftly mopped up with student papers and survey sheets.

"When I saw it dripping near David's desk I wasn't too concerned," admitted Michael, a popular teacher in the IC department. "But when I returned after period 5 I found water covering my desk."

David, whose desk neighbours Michael's, pointed out that it could happen to anyone. "These things are lurking everywhere above us. We don't know where they might strike next" he warned.

Afternoon coffee reflection

Sitting here at my desk having a coffee and I thought I'd reflect on the latest activity in LLTT. Over the past two weeks students have been working on planning, producing, and editing videos using MovieMaker (a version which is really in need of updating too!). Students were supposed to mak a video about their LLTT project, a video which might make others interested in looking at their projects. In Wednesday's class, students were supposed to present their projects in pairs. I thought I'd given the students plenty of time to do the task, but still there were some who weren't ready to share their projects with others. That's frustrating. Most students were prepared though and showed interesting and creative movies about their projects to their peers.

AC in DC

This blog is a reply I posted on Chihiro's blog C.S Page. Check out her blog if you haven't already.

Do you use the air conditioning at home? My wife and I don't use it yet during the day because we tend to have a slight breeze during the daytime, but at night we turn on the AC because the air becomes a bit stagnant and it makes it easier to relax and sleep.

When I was young in America (near Washington, DC) it was very humid (muggy) and we always had AC. When I lived in Europe, nobody had air conditioning, but it never was so muggy, but there were some hot days when it was difficult to sleep. Likewise, in Melbourne, Australia, I don't know anyone with air conditioning even though it gets very hot (I remember a day in 2002 or 2003 when I got up to 44 or 45 degrees!). It's not very humid though and so at night, the heat's not so bad.

Since when have most Japanese people had air conditioning at home? I know there are many students who don't have it.

Scandinavian daydreams

I've always been interested in Scandinavian culture and languages. I've never lived there, but I have visited Iceland three times, visited southern Sweden briefly twice, and been to Copenhagen twice. Other than the fact that it's soooooo expensive there (I speak mostly of Copenhagen), there's a cool vibe in the air (not just the cool weather), a joie de vivre that I just love. And Scandinavian languages, mostly Norwegian and Swedish with their tones, have to be the grooviest sounding languages in the world in my opinion!

My interest in Scandinavia was rekindled by hosting two Norwegians from Trondheim at our house in Funabashi this week. The way they spoke about their country, the natural beauty, and the local variations and dialects within Norway was great. If you're interested in learning more about diversity within Norway, the Norwegian newspaper Aftenpost has an article about the make-up of the population of Oslo. (Just for an idea according to the article, there are 191 nations or 22.3 percent of Oslo's population are from overseas, much more diverse than Japan. The largest migrant groups are from Pakistan, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sweden, and Turkey.)

Maybe I should start learning Norwegian in preparation for any job offers anyone might have out there... any?? Let me know.

Est-ce que tu as vu 富士山?

On a clear day this is the view from my bedroom and living room. Of course, I haven't had this view in about two months due to it becoming more humid. It is amazing though and it took my wife and I the longest time before we realised what a wonderful view of Mount Fuji we have. While I could often see it from the train on my way to Kanda or from the third floor of Building 4, I totally missed these views every morning and evening for about a year and a half! How? Je sais pas. Sad, eh? My wife was actually the first to spot it one clear afternoon in November -- she was shocked! From then on, until it started warming up again, we could see Fuji every evening when the sun set perfectly behind it creating a beautiful silhouette.

Project videos

In LLTT this week students are preparing videos on their projects. These are short, promotional-type videos running about two minutes each. They're also learning how to use MovieMaker to edit these videos. Unfortunately MovieMaker on the BLS computers is really outdated so I'm asking students to use MovieMaker on their home computers if they have it, otherwise I can arrange for them to use mine or another computer at Kanda. (This should be sorted during the summer holidays.) I'm quite pleased with the planning students have make for their promotional videos: storyboards, timelines, and research! Way to go. Looking forward to seeing their videos soon. Including this week, there are just four to go. How's your video going?

Yukata time!

Atsui, ne! Okay, it's not really that hot yet, but it's getting there little by little. We even had the air conditioner on the other night because it was very damp in the house. Well, I know one way that I'll stay cool this summer -- by wearing my yukata! Have you started wearing your yukata yet?

Akibakei

I was in Akihabara last week and, as promised, I was on the lookout for the elusive 秋葉系 (akibakei). I'm not 100 percent sure, but I think I might have found one. What do you think?

Zeke

Just wanted to let you all know that the kitty has a name. His name is Zeke (pronounced like 'zeek' not ゼケ if you're Japanese). Zeke is the name of the main character, a griffin, in the children's book called The Pinkish, Purplish, Bluish Egg. According to the dictionary, a griffin is "a mythical animal typically having the head, forepart, and wings of an eagle and the body, hind legs, and tail of a lion". The message of the story is to be happy about who you are. It's a great story for children and adults!

Speaking and writing

I was talking to a student today in the ELI who said that when he first came to Kanda he had difficulty communicating with other students when he spoke Japanese. I was surprised at this. He said that it was because they way we spoke and the way he wrote were different. When he spoke, he used the dialect of the area where his family comes from which is very different from standard Japanese. He said though when he wrote, he used standard Japanese. I was wondering why, if he knows standard Japanese for writing, why can't he speak in the same way? I mean, I think my writing and my speaking are nearly the same. Sometimes I use more formal words for essays, but this blog is in the same language that I would speak in and I think any native English-speaker would be able to understand me.

What do you think? Do you write differently than you speak?

French article: Media shift and protecting French

I like to practice my French quand j'ai l'occasion (when I have the opportunity). Yesterday I was in the Kanda library and was reading Le Monde, a French newspaper. In the Saturday, 28 May 2005 edition of the international edition weekly selection, there was an article called L'univers des blogs, en majorité créés pas des adolescents, ses habitants, ses rites, son langage (The universe of blogs -- the majority of which are created by teenagers: their inhabitants, their rites, and their language).

The French are always trying to protect their language, but the word "blog" is universal. The French have officially coined their own term for blog -- "bloc-note", presumably because of the shape of a blog posting. The article also mentions how bloggers tend to create their own language, similar to the abbreviated language used in text messaging.

The article also mentioned how everyone is able to read a blog, decide on the meaning of what is written in a blog, and comment on what is written. Media is shifting from big companies who are financially able to transmit a message to millions of readers or listeners to bloggers. What do you think of that?

Concerns

I just had a look at everyone's blogs and I see that there are some students that are well on their way with their projects. I also see that there are some students who don't appear to have started (which is worrying). I mean, they haven't posted anything. You know who you are!

I think I have made it clear that blogging is part of the project. It's better to blog often about things that we have learnt and things we're just thinking of. I think that blogging is different than writing an essay. Here our thoughts don't have to be so structured...just tell us what you feel or what you're thinking and that might help you or help your classmates.

Also, please use your blogs so write about research that you've done. Post links to things (articles, websites...) that you've read that will help you with your project. Comment on the things that you've read!

How's your project going?

肉まん and random acts of kindness

Yesterday evening I was coming back from the Freshman Orientation Camp at British Hills. I was tired, but I decided to stop at the vegetable market behind Funabashi Station before catching the Tobu line train to where I live.

I was packing my fruit and vegetables away when an old lady standing next to me asked me in Japanese if my backpack was heavy. I couldn't really say to her what I wanted, but I showed her that it wasn't and that it also had wheels. She was impressed! She then asked me if I like 肉まん (niku-man), steamed buns with meat inside. I said that I do and that they are おいしい. I thanked her for being so friendly and started walking away. Before I knew it, she was calling me back and opening her big bag of 肉まん and pulling out one to give to me. She wouldn't accept my gracious refusal! Then she gave me another. She was so friendly and kind and though I don't mind talking to strangers (I quite enjoy it!), I felt uneasy accepting food from her. I thanked her profusely and then walked away, heading home to catch my train.

I very much appreciate her kindness and her curiosity. She probably thought I was a backpacker and didn't realise that I live here. It's not often in Japan that I meet people who talk to me on the street. Sometimes people seem too shy, not even giving you eye contact. She was so opposite. It was an experience that I will always remember.

In the end though, I didn't eat the 肉まん. Anyone who has been to British Hills on a school trip knows that we have too much to eat. I also wanted to reciprocate the kindness. In Funabashi Station there are plenty of homeless people and I knew that a gift of something to eat would mean a lot to them.

Getting their legs about them

Things seems to be going well with the LLTT class. I had hoped that we could go a bit faster, but due to several factors (not doing homework is always among them) we had to slow down. Several students hadn't kept up with their blogs and had to start over again, but no worries, they did even better he second time. Hopefully they'll keep up with the blogging now.

I've seen some innovation as well, like students modifying Blogger templates to fit their needs. Way to go! They wouldn't be able to do that without knowing some HTML! I would like to see a bit more interaction among classmates. Even though they're working on their own projects, I would like students to help each other out, give each other ideas, and comment on each other's blogs. Make learning a social event!

New kitty: "braaaaaaaaaah"

Unfortunately shortly after Brooke and I left Australia in March, Shadow, one of Brooke's parents' cats passed away due to kidney failure. He was my favourite. Her parents really missed having a Siamese in the house so they contacted a Siamese breeder nearby in New South Wales and got this little guy. Can't wait to see him! You can tell from the little jumper the kitty's wearing that it's almost winter in Oz.

Peer feedback

I thought tonight's class went well. Students shared their project ideas with each other and received feedback from their classmates on their projects. I think it was productive. My experience with students at Kanda is that students hesitate to give productive feedback to each other, preferring to praise other people's ideas. Today I heard students asking for further explanation and suggesting ways that to make their colleagues' projects better. I was pretty impressed. :) Good job.

I'm convinced now that students have their project ideas pretty well sorted out. I do think, however, that they should put some time into writing down (blogging) what it is that they need to do, step by step, in order to reach their goal of a finished project which incorporates technologies in order to reach out to the wider English-speaking world on a topic of their choice.

Sushi weekend

Hope you all had an enjoyable weekend. I enjoyed mine -- going out with friends, seeing live music at a pub, and going out with my wife for すし (twice). Yeah, we both had a sushi craving and there's a great 回転寿司 in Funabashi between the Keisei and the JR/Tobu stations. I took this picture in February when I was in Melbourne, Australia at the Queen Victoria Market -- my favourite market! Sometimes I think my students look at me like this fish! If he could speak Japanese, I think he would be saying "えー！" like the students do.

Class's progress

It's a very chilly Saturday morning here in 船橋. It's hard to believe that it's spring time, and May at that with these temperatures. It's 12 degrees as I type this. No matter though -- it's the weekend and we should celebrate! First thing I have to do is go get the front brake on my mamacheri to get repaired.

Anyway, I've had a look at all the class's blogs and they've all got some great ideas. If there was enough written, I left some comments. I hope that the students will begin writing more and thinking about their projects. How will they develop their ideas? I think they have to think a bit more deeply still.

Enjoy your weekend.