I'm Professor Philips and I teach this class. You can find my campus website here, but I haven't updated it in a long time. You'll find links to other sites that might help you with your English on the side of this blog itself, as well as on the links section of my website. Please take some time to study what earlier classes have posted on the blog to familiarize yourself with the blog and the kinds of things I assign you to post about in this class. This is your blog now, so feel free to post messages.
I'm a historian by training and inclination, and I've published lots of articles and written or edited several books, but I have several hobbies as well. I like chess, photography, cooking and nature. Italian, Japanese, Chinese, Mexican and Greek and different African cuisines are among those I especially like. American music is a special love of mine, but I also enjoy European, Indian and African musics. Writing is part of my job as a historian and I love good writing. Some of my own writing is on my website, and some of my academic writing is available at academia.edu or google scholar. I have two grown children and a wife in Akita I try to see when I can. Don't ask how old I am, but I'll face mandatory retirement in a few years.
As I explained to you in the class, my main research focus is on Africa, especially Islamic Africa. Here I am talking to an elderly gentleman who helped me a lot with some research I did in Nigeria.
I want to mention something I forgot to mention for the Friday class, too. I have to be somewhere Friday, so class is cancelled for Friday the 9th of October. I'll see you all at the next class, though, and of course your blog assignment is still due. Maybe I should start posting the blog assignments on the blog so that you'll have to visit the blog more regularly. Comments and suggestions about that are welcome.
I hope you enjoy the class and learn a lot of English. Remember to practice writing every day!
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