Homework 5: What are your plans for the summer vacation?

Hi everyone,

It’s hard to believe that the semester is nearly over, isn’t it? I hope you’ve been enjoying your time at university so far. And I’d like to thank you for participating in the blog writing activity this semester. It has been very interesting reading your comments. This week’s blog writing will be our last blog writing homework for this course. And the topic is one that I’m sure you’ve been thinking about for a while: What are your plans for the summer vacation?

As for me, well, unfortunately we teachers don’t really have a summer vacation. Just a few days off for “Obon”. However, because we do not have classes to prepare for and teach, we do have a lot more spare time, which is very nice. So in the summer vacation I always like to do things that I don’t have time to do during semester. One thing I definitely want to do is read lots of novels. Recently I’ve become hooked on books by an author called “Tetsuya Honda”. So far I’ve read “Strawberry Night”, “Jiu 1”, “Jiu 2”, “Jiu 3” and “Gekkou”. So, I’d like to read more of his books. Another thing I’d like to do is to get a driver’s license. Of course, I have an Australian driver’s license, but I don’t have a Japanese one. While I don’t have a car, I think it would be convenient to have a Japanese driver’s license, so I’m thinking about applying for one. Also this summer vacation I am in charge of the English “Gaikoku Kenshu” trip to Australia. So I will take some Shidai students to Australia for one month. “Gaikoku Kenshu” is held every year during the summer vacation. There are trips to China, South Korea and to an English speaking country like England, America and Australia. So, if you’re interested in studying foreign languages and going overseas, please think about participating in “Gaikoku Kenshu” next year!!!

Anyway, enough about me. How about you? What are your plans for the summer vacation?? Please write about 150 words by NEXT TUESDAY (21 July) MIDNIGHT. And don’t forget to leave a comment for the person who wrote before you.

Best Wishes,
Kris

Homework 4: What would you do with 1 million dollars (or yen)??

Hi everyone,

It was quite hot today, wasn’t it? I hope you are all feeling well.

First, thank you for your lovely blog comments last week. It was a pleasure to read them. It seems that most of you respect your family members! Masashi looks up to all of his family members, Atsushi, Keigo and Rina respect their parents, Marina, Sayoko, Kanako and Yuki Takushima look up to their mothers, Hirokazu and Shinichiro look up to their fathers, Kouhei looks up to his grandparents, Nozomi respects her grandfather and Yuzuru admires his older brother. Many of you also admire people you’ve met at school. For example, Kanae, Saki Takashiba, Yumi, Hiroaki, Yoshie and Emiko admire past teachers, Arisa and Yuki Tanabe look up to their high school seniors, Masato, Koudai and Saki Takashima look up to their club advisors and coaches, and Akira looks up to his old baseball manager. Kenshi and Hiroyuki admire athletes, Yousuke and Eriko respect historical figures, and Toshiaki looks up to people who try hard.

Thanks once again for sharing your opinions!!

Okay, now on to this week’s blog topic. This week I’d like you to tell us what you would do if you won $1 million dollars (or yen).

If I won $1 million dollars, I would take my mum and dad on a trip to Japan. My parents have never been to Japan before, but my dad in particular is very interested in visiting Japan. In fact he wants to come next year. If I had a million dollars, first, I would buy my parents first class plane tickets to Japan. Then, I would take them to all of the places that they want to visit, such as Kyoto, Tokyo, Hiroshima and of course Shimonoseki. We would stay at only the best hotels and eat the most delicious food. And of course I would buy them any souvenirs that they want. If I have any money left over, I’ll put it in a high-interest bank account, or invest in stocks, to save it for a rainy day.

Anyway, enough about me. How about you? What would you do with 1 million dollars/yen?? Please write about 150 words by NEXT TUESDAY (23 June) MIDNIGHT. And don’t forget to leave a comment for the person who wrote before you.

Have a great week,
Kris

Blog Homework 3: Who do you admire?

Hi everyone,

Sorry about the problems with the projector/computer today. Hopefully it will work OK next week. Anyway, thank you for your blog entries last last week. They were very enjoyable to read and it was interesting to see which countries were the most popular.

The most popular country was America. Keigo, Yuzuru, Kanako, Yuki Tanabe, Kanae, Atsushi, Hiroyuki and Masashi said they wanted to go to America.

The next popular country was France, with Marina, Yosuke, Koudai, Nozomi, Rina and Ryo saying that they would like to visit France.

And third popular was Australia – thank you!! Yumi Tasaka, Saki Takashiba, Masato, Rina and Ryo said they would like to visit Australia.

Hiroyuki, Yosuke (Spain), Yuzuru (Germany), Kenshi (Italy), Hirokazu (Italy) and Emiko (Sweden) said they’d like to go to Europeans countries. Saki Takashima, Kohei (China), Akira (China) and Arisa (India) said they want to go to Asian countries. Yoshie, Shinichiro (Egypt) and Yuki Takushima (South Africa) said they wanted to go to countries in Africa. And Sayoko said she wanted to go to Canada. I hope you can all go to these places some day.

Okay, so now to this week’s blog topic. This week I want you to write about someone who you admire, respect or look up to. This can be a family member, a friend, someone famous… anyone!!!

Personally, especially since reading his first book “Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance” I have really come to admire Barack Obama. I think that his journey, from a young man unsure of his own identity to a man so passionate and committed to changing society for the better is just amazing. I really respect him for being so open about his life and experiences so far, and I think his down-to-earth attitude will make him a true “people’s president”. And I really admire the fact that he seems to genuinely care about the situation of people in hardship and of small communities, and that he is not self-centered and just in the game for the money and power. He seems to have a lot of ideas for enacting change and uniting divided sections of the community. I hope he will be a good president for the United States.

Okay, so enough from me. Please tell me about who you respect in about 150 words. And don’t forget to give a small comment to the person who wrote before you. Please write your posts by MIDNIGHT NEXT TUESDAY (16th June). I’m looking forward to reading your posts.

Best Wishes,
Kris

Blog Homework 2: If you could go anywhere in the world...

Hi everyone,

I hope you found today’s class useful. Well, first, I’d like to thank you for writing your “self-introductions”. I really enjoyed reading them, and I think it was a good chance to get to know each other a bit better.

Okay, let’s move on to this week’s blog writing activity. This week for homework, our theme is travel, and the question is “If you could go ANYWHERE in the world, where would you like to go?” So, if money and time were no problem, where would you like to travel to, and why? This can be somewhere domestic – in Japan – or somewhere international. Be specific: tell us exactly what you’d like to do there.

Personally, I’ve been to a few places around the world: Greece, South Korea, France, America, England, Singapore, and, of course, Japan and Australia. And I’d love to visit many other places. But, the one place I’d really like to go to is France, again. I LOVED France! I went to France in 2007, but it was only for 4 days!! I was in Paris for half a day, and the rest of the time I was in a small country town called “Compienge” which is about 2 hours north of Paris. I was there for work, so unfortunately I couldn’t do much sightseeing. So, if I had the chance, I’d love to go back to France and see more of the sights. In particular, I really want to experience the atmosphere. I think that Paris is a very stylish city. The people there are very casual and laidback, but also very passionate and stylish at the same time. I’d love to spend time just walking around the city, sipping coffee at the cafes and eating delicious food at the restaurants. Of course I’d love to see all of the famous sights like the Eiffel Tower, and of course check out the museums and art galleries. But, I’d also really like to go to the countryside and experience that side of France, too. So, if I had enough money and time, I’d really love to go to France.

Okay, that’s enough from me. Please write about 150 words telling us all about your dream holiday destination. And don’t forget to give a small comment to the person who wrote before you. Please write your post by MIDNIGHT NEXT TUESDAY (26 May). I’m looking forward to reading your posts!!

Best Wishes,
Kris

Blog Homework 1: Welcome to English Composition B

Hi everyone and welcome to English Composition B. My name is Kristen Sullivan and I will be your teacher for this semester I hope you enjoy the class and that it is useful for your English study.

In order to become a good writer, it’s important to get a lot of practice. So in this class, in addition to the essay assignments, we will also occasionally have “blog writing” homework activities. I think this will be a good chance to not only practice English writing, but also to get to know your classmates a bit better, so I hope you enjoy this activity.

So, for our first blog writing activity I want you to introduce yourself to your classmates. Please write about 150 or so words about yourself. So I’ll start…

Let me introduce myself. My name is Kristen Sullivan, but please call me Kris. I have been teaching at Shimonoseki City University for over 4 years. I’m originally from Brisbane, in Australia. Have you heard of it before? It is the capital of Queensland and is located on the east coast of Australia. It’s famous for being a pleasant place to live, for the friendly people, and also for its beautiful beaches. I started studying Japanese when I was a primary school student, and came to Japan for the first time during high school for a school trip. I was in Japan for 10 days. Half of that time I travelled around Japan, and the other half I stayed with a homestay family in Saitama. This family was very nice and kind, and I think it was because of them that I decided to keep studying Japanese at university. When I was in my 3rd year of university I studied in Japan for 1 year as an exchange student. So, I have been living in Japan now, altogether, for over 5 years.

Anyway, that’s enough about me. Please tell us all about yourself! I’m looking forward to reading your self-introductions. And, don’t forget to give a small comment to the person who wrote before you.

See you in class,
Kris