Cooperation is Important!!

  Today, we took CWT in ARW class. I couldn't prepare enough for it, but some people in my section could do well, so I cannot excuse myself for my grade...

  The test was about "fallacies" and arguments. I couldn't understand the difference between "Sweeping generalization" and "Hasty generalization". Also, there are lots of "fallacies" and they are very similar to each other, so it is difficult to distinguish between them. However, I understood the importance of writing a persuasive essay. I tend to make mistakes in constructing paragraphs, so I have to remember what I learned in classes. It is important to connect the premise and the conclusion well, and the content of them have to be checked well. Although I will check my essay again and again, it is difficult to notice all mistakes in it, so I want my section mates to check it. And I'll check their essay as well as possible. Please check my essay and comment on it!

Make My Essay More Persuasive!

  We started reading "The Old Man and the Sea". It is difficult for me to read it without a dictionary because there are many special words of ship. However, Mr.Dan sent us some picture with explanation about ship. It will help me to read the book more smoothly. I have never read a book that was written by a Nobel Prize winner in English, so I want to enjoy reading it.

  I learned how to make my essay more persuasive yesterday. My teacher said that "survey" is the most important source. Although I thought it is difficult to send out questionnaires about what I'm going tow right about, my teacher taught us how to do it. By using computer, we can ask my section mates or another section's member some questions easily! I 'd like to take advantage of it if necessary.

Also, I learned about "Fallacies". I didn't know that there are so many kinds of fallacies. Mr.Dan said that students tend to make mistakes in syllogism, so we have to be careful about it. I want to write a persuasive essay, or a essay that can change the readers' mind.

Opposite Ideas are important!!

 Today, I'd like to talk about what I leaned in ARW class.

   I learned the way how to make my essay more convincing and reliable. My teacher said that it is important to give good evidence and opposite ideas. I didn't know that opposite ideas are so important, but I understood what my teacher said. I think the reason why he emphasized them is that opposite ideas will make our main ideas more clear. If there are only supporting ideas, readers will get only one aspect of the issue. It will cause biased ideas. I think a diversity of idea makes readers more active.
 
   I'd like to use what I learned when I write my essay.

The importance of peer review (May 22)

   Sorry, this is that I wrote on May 22. I forgot to contribute this blog.

   I watched six videos about "peer review" that Mr. Dan recommended to us. I did it till today without much thinking, but I learned the importance of "peer review".

   Today, I'd like to tell you what I learned through watching the movies.

   I learned that it is important to be specific and constructive when I comment about others' essays. Namely, we should comment about a particular point with detailed explanations. I think it will  help us improve our reading and writing skills. This is because we have to read deeply the essay, and in order to convey what we noticed in it to the writer, we must explain it as plain as possible. It seems easy, but it is difficult to express what I want to say in English.
   In addition, we should not forget that we support each other and cooperate to write good essays. We must not be on the attack our peers. It is important to find not only the weak points of the essay, but also the strong points of it.  To correct errors of it is important, though, I think more important thing is to find good points of it. Because we can learn many things from it. We should follow what we recognized to be a good model. I would like to continue "peer review" with respect.

Don't forget what we learned! (May 24)

   Yesterday, my teacher said that we could not perform what we had learned in our essays. I also had many mistakes in my paragraph. For example, there are a luck of indent, a mistake for usage of parentheses and an error in citation. Although my teacher taught us how to do them again and again,  most of us could not do them. These are very important when we write essays after this. We must memorize what our teacher taught us and use them appropriately.

 Also, I learned the importance of evidence through yesterday's class and watching four videos that my teacher sent to me. A worthwhile evidence is accurate, relevant, representative and adequate. I noticed the difficulty of  fulfilling all of these criteria through writing essay. However, we have to add good evidence into our essays in order to persuade the readers, so all of these criteria are necessary. I'd like to be careful about choosing good evidence when I write my essay.

How to write a good essay.

I’m upset now about writing first body paragraph of my essay by tomorrow! What should I do for it? I read LBH and watched two videos that Mr. Dan recommended to us to learn how to draft. I learned some things from them.
 
 I learned we should set aside enough time to write it. No matter how short the paragraph or essay may be, it is necessary for us to think deeply about it and to write as much as possible. To keep writing is also important. It is because we can make our ideas more clear through writing. And then, we must develop our questions to become working thesis and make them easy to understand.
 
I’d like to write a good paragraph right now.

It is necessary to use grammarly!

  We reviewed someone’s CWT papers in ARW class yesterday. I found it was difficult to assess others’ papers. Mistakes in grammars or spellings that I noticed on their papers were what I am likely to make. I recognized that it is important to read my own sentences objectively after I finish writing it. At the same time, I could learn various expressions that I had never used by reading their sentences. We should not use same expressions again and again on one paper, so the more we learn them, the better writing we can write. As stated above, we can learn a lot through reading others’ writings. Therefore, I think we should take advantage of these opportunities.

  After that, we learned how to make our own Evernote accounts. We can share materials that we use for our essays by using it. Also, Mr. Dan taught us that there are several ways to search materials that are about what we want to know. I’d like to read materials and watch videos about “refugee camps” as many as possible in order to write a good essay.

  Lastly, I’d like to tell you about grammarly. I was surprised at it! How useful grammarly is!! I can notice many mistakes that I cannot find by myself in my sentences. When I ran my paragraph through it, I found from trivial mistakes to serious mistakes. In addition, it marks my sentences on a score of 100 and I got a low score. However, this encourages me to write better because I am one of those who never give up. I dream of getting a score of 100!

photo credit:http://goo.gl/XQ29bH

Thank you for your advice!!

  Today, I would like to tell you what I learned in May 12’s ARW classes.
 
  First of all, we discussed each topic that we chose for our essay and explained our own scratch outlines. My group member asked me some questions about my topic, refugee camps, and I noticed that my topic is difficult to explain, so I think that I should try to explain it as simply as I can. As it was said in the video that my teacher send to me, I have to think more about my topic and what I state in my essay through clustering, or making “mental map." Also, I learned a lot from a discussion about one of my group members’ topic. Her topic was “English education in Japan” and we discussed it. There are various ideas that I did not notice for it and I learned the importance of discussion and exchanging our ideas once more.
 
  Secondly, we confirm our handouts of elements of argument each other. Although I could not fill in it by myself, thanks to my group member’s advice, I could! I learned what should I do when I write an essay. In an academic essay, we have to tell what I want to say more logically than blog, so we must follow the order as the handout.

  These are what I learned yesterday. I would like to make good essay with what I learned.

We are all monkeys!: Against racial discrimination.

  Do you know the act of racial discrimination that happened during a soccer game in Spain? Daniel Alves, who is from Brazil and a professional soccer player in Spain now, responded to the act of racial discrimination with humor, and this action made people all over the world be aware of the racial discrimination. What did he do? When he was about to take a corner kick in the game, someone threw a banana to him, and then he ate it calmly. In order to object to the racial discrimination, those who was sympathized by his action put up their photos or movies with bananas and message against discrimination on their web page.

  I watch one of the movie which was made by ICU students and teachers. When I heard the news about the affair at the first time, I was sad that there are still people who discriminate against black people, so I was impressed by the movie. Moreover, I recognized that there are also a lot of people who oppose to these discrimination throw knowing the existence of these action. I think we can reduce the discrimination by spreading these action.

  I didn't know that such action is familiar to me, so I was surprised that my friends did it. At the same time, I noticed the importance of these action. We can think more about certain matter through these action. In addition, people who watch the movie also can rethink about it. However, we should not do it just because it is fun, we have to do it with responsibility for our action because we don't know how many people watch the movies or photos. I would like to take action like this as opportunity permits.

  I want you to click this (http://goo.gl/g0Y6JH) and to watch it.

photo credit: http://goo.gl/8WXKoJ

"The Way How to Find the Best Life" two things what I want to do before I die

photo credit: http://goo.gl/Nd3JQB

  What should I do before I "kick the bucket"? "Kick the bucket" means death. This word was popularized by the movie, "The  Bucket List". Have you ever watched this movie? In this movie, two old men do everything which they want to do before they "kick the bucket". If you haven't watched this movie, I strongly recommend you to watch it.

  Today, I would like to talk about my "bucket list", or the list of what I want to do before I "kick the bucket". Although my "bucket" is filled with what I want to do during my life, there are two things that I particularly want to do.
  First, I want to travel all around the world, and I want to look at a lot of beautiful scenery, for example, auroras, clear seas, or great plains. This is because I want to see what I have never seen, and I want to experience what I have never experienced, and I want to eat what I have never eaten. In order to communicate with local people, I would like to study  many languages. I think these experiences change my thought about my life. It is impossible to travel all countries in the world, but I will try to go as many countries as I can.
  Second, I want to be a world champion of kungfu. (Kungfu is a score based sports, so don't mistake it for a combative sport.) The reason why I want to be a champion is that it has been my dream since I started to practice kungfu. However, I have never participated in the world championships before. It is difficult to achieve it, but I will do my best!

  I would like to do what I  can do now, because I don't know how long it takes to achieve it, and I don't know when I "kick the bucket". I hope that I will be able to achieve everything in my "bucket".

  What's on your "bucket list"?

Importance of "Netiquette"

   Today, people say that it is important to follow "netiquette" when you use the internet. However, I haven't thought well about what "netiquette" is.  What is "netiquette"?
 
  "Netiquette" is an abbreviation of "network" and "etiquette". While it is a kind of manner toward other people like daily etiquette, we can't see other people when we are using the internet. This likely to make people be insensitive. For example, it happens quite often to hurt other's feelings unconsciously. I attribute this kind of problem to people's unthinking behavior. People tend to concentrate on themselves only, and be not able to consider other people's feeling when they are using the internet. However, whenever you contribute your opinion to the internet, there are a lot of people who read it, so we have to make sure that our opinion is proper to write before you contribute it to the internet. I think this is exactly "netiquette".

  On the other hand, I think there is also "netiquette" that people who read some article or someone's blog should follow. The most important thing for the readers is not to accept what are written on the internet, because there are a lot of false or groundless rumors in the world of internet. If you accept it rashly, and spread it to your friends or family, the rumor may cause great confusion. We have to think more about the articles or ideas before we accept it. I think this behavior is also good "netiquette".

  We need to follow "netiquette" not only as a person who send own ideas but also as a person who accept other's ideas when we use the internet.
 

I wonder if I have "Gogatsu-byo".

  I am tired out and very sleepy now, because there are a lot of things to do recently. In addition, I am studying harder than when I was preparing for the entrance examination. Is this "Gogatsu-byo"?
 
  "Gogatsu-byo" is one of mental illnesses."Gogatsu" means "May" in English, and "byo" means "illness". Some people feel sleepy or tired or spiritless if they have "Gogatsu-byo", and those who cannot adapt themselves to their surroundings well are liable to get "Gogatsu-byo". In Japan, a new life, or to enter a university for example, begins in April, and people are tired from getting used to new lives in May, especially after Golden Week(Japanese consecutive holidays), so I think "Gogatsu-byo" is peculiar to Japan. However, there may be another illness like it in other countries. For instance, "October-illness" may exist in the U.S.

If you think you have "Gogatsu-byo" now, I recommend you taking a rest, exercising, and sleeping well during Golden Week or a holiday. I think it is the best way to cure the illness, so I would like to do so, and I would like to study harder after Golden Week.