Learn words in the context in which you find them

In the directions I gave you on the first day of class I asked you to "write the sentence or phrase in which you found the word" or words that you write about on your blog. Some of you have written sentences or phrases that you found in dictionaries or ones that you have made up yourself. I think, though, that the first thing that you should do is to make a note of the sentence in which you actually found the word you have studied. It is very important to learn words in context. So, naturally, you need to pay close attention to the context in which you find the word. That is one reason why I would like you to write the sentence in which you found the word or words that you write about.

Second class

The first post on "STICKY PIECRUST" is very well done. Please look at this post.

Also, in the future, most you will also need to add links to your posts in order to show what you have been reading. Please click here to see an old post I wrote that explains how to do this. If you have trouble, please ask me.

I have commented on all of your blogs. Please make sure that you read my comments and respond appropriately. If, for example, I ask you a question, be sure to answer it. Generally speaking, it's a good idea to comment on my comments so that I know you have read them.

First class

Hi!

Welcome to Gaisho Kodoku (Readings in English)! I hope you enjoy the course. Today I would like you to do the following:

Start a blog, read and listen to my essay called "How to Learn English", and post a message about what you read on your blog.

1. Starting your blog

Click here to go to a site called "Blogger" where you can start your blog. ("Blogger" is the site on which I have made this blog.) Follow the directions you will see on that page to start a new blog. Remember that you do not need to use your real name.

After you make your blog, send the address to me at masden@kumagaku.ac.jp.


2. Reading and listening to "How to Learn English"

Click here to open the web page containing the text and audio for an essay called "How to Learn English". There are links on the right side of this blog (that is, the page you are looking at right now) to dictionaries that you can use to look up the words you do no know. I strongly encourage you to listen to the audio as well. If you have an mp3 player, you may want to download the mp3 file to put in your mp3 player so that you can listen to it when you want to.


3. Posting your first message

Write a message about "How to Learn English." In the message include the following:



1. At least three words or expressions that you did not know before you read this essay. Also write the sentence or phrase in which you found the word and an appropriate definition from a dictionary.
   
2. A question or two about something you did not understand.
3. Comments about or a short summary of the essay.

Please click here to see an example of how to do "a". This student has only included two words that she did not know, but she did a good job of including the sentence or phrase in which she found the words. Also, she looked up the meanings of the words in the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. I strongly recommend that you use this dictionary. She also included a link to the web page she read. By the way, click here to see a page on the Librivox web site that has links to the audio and text of the original version of the book, which is called "The Princess and the Goblin." Of, you can click here to listen to the first chapter and click here to see the text.

I don't think you will be able to finish all of this today. You will need to work on the assignment in your spare time before the start of class next week. The most important thing is to read everything I have written in this message and then read my essay. Some students try to skip ahead and then find that they do not understand what they should be doing or why.

Please raise your hand to ask for help if you have any trouble.

This I Believe

I would like to recommend an essay that you can read and listen to. It is part of a series called "This I Believe" on National Public Radio from the United States. The name of the essay is "All Men Are My Brothers" and it was written by and is read by James Michener, a very famous American author. Please click here to go to the essay.

Fall Semester

Hi!

For those of you who are new to this class, welcome! For those of you who participated in the spring or last year, welcome back!

I have separate instructions for the new students and the returning students.

• For new students

I would like to begin by having you do what students who participated in the spring semester class did. Please click here for instructions.


• For Returning students

I would like you to continue doing the kind of reading and blogging that you did last semester. Please note that I have added to the list of links called "AUDIO AND TEXT" that you see on the right-hand side of this page. Please refer to these links. I hope you will listen to material that you read.

As we say in Japan, yoroshiku!

New Links

I have added some links to this blog. If you look on the right side of the this page, I think you will see a group of links called "DICTIONARIES." Underneath that, you should see a group of links called "AUDIO AND TEXT." Here, I introduce sites that provide text that you can also listen to. Most of the these links used to be in another place on my web site. One link, however, is new. It is the 週刊 ST Essay link. Some of the vocabulary in these essays is rather difficult but their quality is good I think. They seem to have been recorded by professional announcers -- though I would have preferred to hear the voices of the people who wrote the essays.

I hope you find these links to be useful.

Your grade

I talked about grades with the students who came to either the last class or next to last class this semester. If you did not come to either of those classes you need to contact me.