a special product

What are famous or special foods of your hometown?
My hometown is Sendai and I think gyutan and zunda are famous.
Also, Sendai is the birthplace of conveyor-belt sushi bar.( Many people may not know this.)

I think we have different hometowns, so please tell me special products of your hometown.

Tow dogs live with my family.My family live in Kanagawa,so I can not see my pets.I miss them.Their name is Boby and Milk.Boby is 6 years old.Milk is 3 years old.They are so cute!I really want to see them.By the way,I want to ask other studets question.What musician do you like?

cooking

Hi. this is Ayami .
I am living in a boading house now,
everyday, (except for holiday and Sunday)
boading house's Mother cook breakfast and dinner.
So, I cook my everyday lunch and holiday's and
Sunday's meal for my lesson!!
I didn't cook in my home town, but now
I can make nikujyaga, omelet containingfried rice,
and a sort of boiled food and so on.
I enjoy cooking now. This practice is interesting!!

Do you have any specialty?

Def Tech

As you can see in my profile, my favorite singer is DefTech.
Def Tech is a group cousists of two men, Micro and Shen.
Micro is Japanese, and Shen is from Hawaii.
Do you know them?

When I heard their song for the first time, I was so impressed and quickly interested in their music. Recently, their new song is used as theme music in a movie Catch a wave. I want to go to see this movie.

If anyone of menbers know Def Tech, please tell me what you think of them.
If you don't know them, I strongly recommend to listen to them.
I have some CDs of them, so if you want to , please tell me.

beer☆

Hello,everyone! Yesterday,I bought a lot of beer. I love beer,whisky,shoutyuu,and so on.
I drank too much alcohol・・・.So I`m　terrible hangover today.
What kind of liquor do you like?

Have you had pets?

Have you ever had pets?What kind?

When I was in Tokyo,I had a chipmunk.Her name is minto.My sister named her.She is very pretty.I wanted to bring her to Aomori but she was not accustomed to be cold so I had to leave her.Now my mother takes care of her.
Preparetion of her meal was my work.Every morning she was hungry so she waked me up to rattle her cage.When I heard the sound,I thought it was the time to wake.But now when my alarm clock rings,I wake but I can not get up soon because I don`t hear the sound.
She was my lovely pets and my superior alarm clock.She is one part of my life.

Playing tennis is fun!!!

Hello, everyone. What did you do last weekend?
Did you enjoy last weekend?
I belong to the tennis club. I played tennis from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday.I was very tired but it was very fun for me to play tennis. I love tennis very much.But recently I have an ache in my waist. So I must take care not to make an ache worse.
If you belong to any clubs, please be careful not to hurt yourself...

a dislike of food

Having a dislike of food exists everywhere. For example, I can't eat natto. What is today's breakfast? Of course, there is natto. I eat less breakfast than other people. That is a problem. Do you like natto? Do you have a dislike of food?

The regular match against Akita University

Hello, everyone! Are you enjoying your weekend?

I belong the table tennis club. I am a beginner so I practice table tennis everyday.
Yesterday, the regular match of spring against Akita university was held in Hirosaki. I played the match of table tennis for the first time. I got so nervous, and I was totally defeated.... But it was a meaningful experience.

The end of this month, we have the Tohoku league match. It is a big match.
I'll practice table tennis harder and do my best!

About my GW

Hi, everyone! I'm sorry to be late for this blog.
My name is Ayami Kanno. I'm major in Phisical Therapy.

In my GW, I didn't go back my hometown....,
because my home is in Kanazawa.
It is too long distance to get back whthin short period.
So, I have stayed here and helped restaulant in Hirosaki park.
During cherry festival,
people working there are always very very busy for service.
So, my boading house members usually help them.
Working there was very hard, but It was good experience!!
I had a difficulty,when foreign guests came.
I could have conversation like "Do you have order?" or "Here is charge."
But I could't do quick reaction to "How much ?"
Though I know English figure like, hundred or thousand.....
That's how it goes.

GW

Hello everyone.During Goiden week,I practiced playing baseball,so I could not enjoy holidays.But,last sunday,after playing baseball,I had a barbecue in our baseball ground with my teammates.It was very fun and I got drunk.

my GW

Hellow everyone!How was your GW?
What did you do?Did you go back home?

I can`t go back home, because I had club activities everyday except 5th. So I was in Hirosaki for GW.
Most of my friends went back, so I can not meet them and I missed them.But I enjoyed my holidays.

On 6th I went to Hirosakizyo with my seniors.We watched charry blossoms. I was worried about them because it rained on 5 th.But they were in full bloom.They are very beautiful.We took pictures with our mobile phones. The cherry blossoms made us happy.
But when we went to night stands,we wasn`t able to watch them.We watched only foods.
We ate karaagekun,black konjak,potato with butter and banana choco!They were very delicious!!

I am looking forward to you at 3B class!

My golden week

Hello Mr.Philips.I haven't seen you for a long time.
I went out to see the cherry blossoms at Hirosakijo during golden week.It was a wonderful time for me to enjoy the night view of cherry blossoms.
And last Sunday, I took part in a kendo match.I lost a match at the first match.It was regrettable.I will work hard to win a match.Of course,I will study English hard.
I am looking forward to seeing you in class.Thank you.

Enjoy GW?

Hi, everyone.
GW finished and the classes are started.
I'm depressed about it...


I stayed at Hirosaki all around the holidays.
I took some pictures of cherry blossoms in HirosakiPark, but I couldn't take good one.
Fortunately, we have beautiful pictures taken by Yumi and Kozue.
They are beautiful enough, but I want to see the blossom directly.
Anyway, thank you for the nice pictures!

By the way, I'm going to go back to my hometown Shizuoka next week.
I 'll take some pictures of Mt.Fuji.

Self introdaction

My name is iida.I am twenty years old.I love baseball and belong baseball club.I poor at English but I try to practice.

GW

Hello , everyone .
Today is the last day of GW .
Did you enjoyed GW ?
Yesterday , I enjoyed seeing cherry blossoms with my friends .
Cherry blossoms in Hirosaki park is very beautiful .
The sight moved me profoudly .
Anyone who have not seen cherry blossoms in Hirosaki park ,
please go and see it .
It is wonderful .

the Golden Week

Hello, everyone! Do you enjoy GW?
Now, I'm in Akita.
Today, I went to the cherry blossom festival at the Kimimachi park.
Look at this picture. It is very beautiful, isn't it?
Unfortunately, the weather was not so good...
Did you go to see the cherry blossoms?


Enjoy your GW!!

the cherry blossom festival

Hello, how are you? Today, I went to the cherry blossom festival at the Hirosaki park. The cherry trees were not at their best but they were very beautiful. Many many people came there. Did you go there?

Hello,everyone.Do you enjoy your GW??
Now,I'm in Tome. (Tome is a city in miyagi and it is my hometown.)
When I came here, I used the shinkansen.I got off at Kurikomakogen...Actually, I had to get off there. However, I fell asleep..and when I woke up, the shinkansen had just left from Kurikoma for next station, Hurukawa!!
Fortunately, at Hurukawa station,I was able to change for Morioka and come back home.

Today, I took this picture at Yokoyamahudouson, a jinjya in Tome. It was very beautiful!
Tomorrow,I will go to Sendai.
Anyway, let's enjoy our GW!!

'Golden Week' holidays

Hello! How are you spending your 'Golden Week' holidays?
According to the news, the today's number of the visitors to the Hirosaki cherry blossom festival is more than four hundred thousand! It's amazing, isn't it?

By the way, yesterday, May 3, was my birthday! I celebrated my 20th birthday with my family. The birthday cake made by my grandmother was so delicious! We spent a happy time!

I have a lot of things I want to do in these holidays. For example, going to the movies, practice table tennis, go shopping, etc. Let's enjoy your holidays!!
...Oops! I have a lot of homework!

Self Introduction...?

Hi, I'm Hiroki Takahashi, a student of the medical faculty.

I'm from Shizuoka prefecture.
Shizuoka is much warmer than Aomori,
so I'm surprised at this coldness in Hirosaki.
It's already May! It can't be...

I'm trying to get used to life in Hirosaki.
I think it won't be so long because Hirosaki is very interesting place.
The sakura in Hirosaki park is really beautiful.
I'm going to go to Hirosaki park and take some pictures of sakura tomorrow.
If I'll be able to take good pictures , I'll put one of them on this blog.


Uh, it's far from self introduction...

Well,I belong to golf club.

...Nice shot!!

self introduction

Hello everyone . I am Ryutarou Suzuki . I am from Mito in Ibaraki .I major in medicine .
My hobby is soccer . Anyone who likes soccer , please tell me . Leｔ’ｓ　talk about soccer .
I think English is difficult , but very useful language.
Shall we do our best to learn English?

Self-introduction

Hello. Nice to meet you.
My name is Sakiko Abe.
I am the student of the College of Medicine of Hirosaki University.
I am interested in preventive medicine.
I am from Hirosaki high school.
I belong to the table tennis club.
My hobby is reading books and dancing.
I am not good at English, but I'll do my best!

Nice to meet you

Hello, nice to meet you.
My name is Ryuhi Furihata.
I am a student of Hirosaki University.
I belong to a department of science and engineering.
I'm interested in cloud.
I'm from Osaka in Japan. So, I don't like natto. Do you like natto?

nice to meet you

Hello.Nice to meet you.
My name is rina sumino.
I am a student of Hirosaki University.
I am interest in human body and keeping healty, and majoring in medicine.

I was born in Shiga prefecture.
(It is famous for Lake Biwa,which is the largest lake in Japan.)
I had lived there since I was a junior high school student.
When I was a high school student,our family moved to Tokyo because of my father`s transfer.
So my high school,Toyama High school, is in Tokyo.
(By the way,do you know GOTAIFUMANZOKU?
It was a best seller a few years ago.
The book says its author went to our high school.
But I don`t meet him because he is senior by more 3 years.)

I belong to badminton club.
It is difficult and hard for me.
The next day I played badminton I have a muscular pain.
But playing badminton is interesting for me and the club makes my school life very fun.

I won`t only play badminton but also study hard.
And I want to be good at speaking and wrighting in English.
I have tonsilitis so I can not speak now. But I`ll try to do my best in this class.
Thank you.

self-introduction

Hello.
My name is Syogo Hosogoe.
I am 18 years old.
I like sports, eating, sleeping and listening to music.
I am from Hachinohe.
I graduated from Hachinohe High School.
I want to learn how to use English and Amercan culture.
Thank you.

Nice to meet you!!

Hi,I'm Kozue Takahashi.I'm major in medicine.
I belong to an orchestra club,and I play the viola.
I'm from Sendai.

self-introduction

Hello,Mr.Philips.
My name is tuyoshi tokitou.
I am a student of Hirosaki University.
I am majoring in medicine.
My school register number is 06M1050.
I am 22 years old.
I entered another University three years ago.
I majored in engineering.
Then, my father suffered from cerebrovascular accident.
Through this experience,I decided to be a doctor.
I droped out and prepared for the entrace examinations.
At last,I passed the Hirosaki University.
Now I am enjoying my school life.
I am interested in THE BEATLES.
My favorite song is She Is Leaving Home.Do you know?
The lyrics and music are very beautiful.So,I like it very much.
My favorite sport is kendo.I belong to kendo club of Hirosaki University.
I have been playing kendo for 11 years.
What I hope to get out of this English class is how to write correctly and logically.
I am not goot at English.But I want to speak well and write correctly.
I will try my best.Thank you.

Welcome to IIIB class!

I'd like to welcome all the new students to English IIIB for spring semester 2006.

Please introduce yourself here, to let the other students (and anyone else who might be reading the blog) know who you are, what you're interested in, and what you hope to get out of this English class. If you have any special questions, this would be a good time to ask them. Don't forget to check out the links on the side of the page. They can help you learn English, too.

self-introduction

Hello everyone.
My name is Yumi Otaka.
I'm from Noshiro in Akita.
Do you know Noshiro?
Noshiro is famous for basketball.
I'm majoring in medicine.
I'm interested in mental illness so I want to be a psychiatrist in the future.
I belong to the tennis club.
Playing tennis is very interesting for me.
Do you belong to any clubs?
My favorite book is detective story.
Do you like detective story?
If you like it, I want to talk with you about detective story.

I hope to see more of you.

Thanks, everyone!

Thanks to all my students from English Communication 3 class. This blog will restart next month with a new batch of students. I may post to it in the meantime, but if you want more news about English in Aomori in the meantime, check out Aomori Prefecture's premier English teaching blog, "Avoiding Life" and enjoy!

Thank you everyone!

I was glad to participate this class. The first half of this class,we had a presentation. My group members,Masashi,Mika,Yukiko,Mitsuki,Miyuki,we've worked hard,haven't we? I think so. Thank you all of yours! I've enjoyed with you. And other group's presentation were also very good, I think. Reading and discussing about newspaper , and Using money and practicing order were also helpful for me. Concerning watching movie and listening CD, they were hard to do understand for me. But, All of things in this class were, at least, developped my English skill, and friendship. Thanks everyone & Professor Phillips.

A letter of appreciation

I could have a meaningful time due to you.
I'll give thanks,thanks, thanks to everyone!
I don't know whether I'll take 4th English communication class or not.But I'm sure to keep up studying English.

So, whem you happen to see me,please say readily something.
Bye bye for the present(^^)v

spring vacation☆

It was good for me to hear nativespeaker's speaking in this class. I think my listening ability grew. So I 'm very grateful to professor Philips♪ And I'm also grateful to all of my classmates. Thanks to all of you,I could enjoy class!
Now, we have about two months as spiring vacation. I'm going to read English novel and watch English movies which doesn't have subtitle on DVD. I bought new computer for it!
How are you going to study English in this vacation?
I hope all of you spend nice spring vacation(^^*)/
Well, see you again!

My regret.

I felt regret for a little speaking.
I couldn't speak English very much, because I was afraid of my mistake of using English.
I studied how to break a silent atmosphere in English Communication Level 2.
But I couldn't make use of it in this class.

I had to be positive, and I should used any words (easier words are O.K.!!) for tell you my opinion.
The level up of language speaking is PRACTICE again and again!!!

I will visit to USA, and do homestay in this spring vacation.
I want to study speaking English, so I must talk with host family.
If it's difficult for them to understand my speak, I will try using another words.
I think the more speak, the more progress.

I will grow from the regret.

Last Communication

hello,dears.
I was in a trouble.
I couldn't contribute the blog.I don't know what's wrong.but,Mr Phillips gave me invitation mail again.so,I can write down the blog now.thank you Mr.

and,yesterday,I had a takoyaki party with my friends.I ate handmade takoyaki for the first time!It's very tasty^^after that,We went to the bar.and,there were many many people.
but,I excited the noise.
then,the foreigners came to us,and had a talking and drinking together.
I have no oppotunity to talk with native expect communication class now.so,I enjoyed that talk.
they praised me for my pronunciation.so,I was so happy(*^^*)

I thought that things by grace of communication class.
I was probably to be shy when I spoke in English.but I like to talk in English.
I wanted to talk with MORE people.I regreted this thing.
but I'm happy to communicate with group member and Mr Phillips.
thank you.
thank you dears!!
let's talk with me in English on the blog and so on,from now on^^

Good Luck on the next new step!

Good evening! How are you?
I'm fine of course , but feel loneliness a bit.
You know, our last class finished yesterday, and we can't meet so long. For some friends, it is hard to meet again...
I thought each friends in this class were so great. I felt a sense of belonging in this class.
In the next semester, we'll move up to the new grade, and walk each own way. But all of us are "English mate" , I think.
Thank you for enjoyable class , and good luck on the next new step.

Finally, I introduce my best home page, and then, say good bye.
This page is written in Japanese. So maybe, this do not match in here. But I can get energy, and positive attitude through seeing the page. See here as an experiment.↓↓↓
http://www.bonsha.com/bonboya-zyu/chibi/chibigallery.htm

Good spring vacation, good next semester, good life for you.
See you again.

What I learned

I was sick and I couldn't join in. Sorry. But I learned from the class that expressing my idea or opinion correctly is important. I could speak only a little, but thank you.

The class ended.

I feel the second semester ended soon. Something I memorized is that I was tired very much on last October. As time passed, I came to recover little by little. But I will take a rest more in this spring vacation. And then, see you again everyone.

See you again

I could enjoy this class. As you know I am a fourth year student. I am gonig to graduate from this university in March.Most students in this class are two year younger than I. But I really liked talking with you. Thank you so much. I will continue to study English.
When you see me, please talk to me. Let's have a coversation in English. It will be a good practice.
See you again. Bye .

Dear my best friends!!

Hello:)) What's up??
Yesterday was very enjoyable class!! I think most of you could enjoy speaking English then. In my group(Kenichi, mika, yoshie) talked about part time job, dream,hobby etc.
Although I tried talking about Computer, other member didn't like that. So I gave up.
Anyway,Since Everyone spoke English so fluently, our group were always exciting.

I will become junior soon. And my seminor starts.
My major is English and Computer. Maybe yours are concerned with English too.
As long as we are atudying same thing, we are good friends and rival.

I'm not sure that I continue this class or not. Because I'm taking 2types teacher's licence(English and commerce). Whether I could take or not depends on the timetable in the next term.

I hope we can practice together again!!

Bye-Bye!!

Finished

Good bye everyone. I finished all classes to be an English teacher. At last, I can say good bye to Hirosaki university.
I will stay in Hirosaki, and study study study! I will take a test for teachers five months from now. So, my battle with English lasts forever.
See you again, my friends! Thanks a lot! Bye-Bye!

ＦＩＮＩＳＨ！！

　We had good times in this class!! I enjoyed English inside and outside class!! Thank you , everyone!! I like English better than before!!
I am sorry to join in the party. Because I had a part time job. But We may have chance to drink again!!! If so, I abusolutly go!!

P,S
Today(February 10th) is my birthday!!! The day is the last day of semester every year!! So I am very happy double.

Last class

I'm very tired because I had THREE tests today.
How is the results of your test?
I'm so-so.
Today is last class.
I don't know whether I take English L4 class.
But I really appreciate your kindness.
Many thanks to everyone.

about the class

To participated this class , I thought many things,but the thing　I was impressed the most was your attitudes toward English.Many of you were positive and had clear purposes to study English. So great! Everyone spoke English fluently. Really wonderful! Attending this class,I really think I have to practice English more and more.I could learn a lot of things to study with you.Thanks a lot☆

we finished tests!!

I was so lazy. I left the message on this blog only once!

So today I try to leave messages as much as possible. I'm so sorry.

Today I felt a lot of thanks to everyone in my class!!
To the friends who have taken the same communication class since Level 1,
to the friends who I met in this class for the first time, thank you ..thank you so much!!!!

In Engrish communication class I've got many good friends!
So I'll take Level 4 class.

How about you? Will you take it?

Today's class.

We were divided into five groups, and talked about the college. Specially we talked about some class of the Humanities. We talked actively, we were always laughing (The contents is too real to show here, sorry). And we talk about snow.
Remembering about snow, this morning I was near to be under the bus. Going the class, I slipped on the road. Then bus stopped suddenly a few meters behind. Everyone, pay attention for the snow and car, please.

Full House

Today I want to introduce my favorite American TV show. That is the "Full House". Do you know this?
This is also televised in Japan (see 7 pm. Tuesday NHK educational TV) .
You can see friendship, family love, comedy, and so on in this drama.
When I feel down or want to escape from real world(especially on exam period), I see it and laugh and laugh!
I see this drama on DVD in Eglish with English subtitle. To tell the truth, I can't understand perfectly. Nevertheless, I can laugh and feel fun.
Here is Home page I found by google↓↓↓

http://fullhouse.warnerbros.com/

In spring vacation, I suggest taking in this drama to you, not only for improve your English skills, but also for feel enjoyable♪

In this connection, my favorite character is Michelle. She is a so cute baby in this drama's season1. Do you know her? What do you think? I love her smile very much!!

Today's class

I know a little about 'sit-in' a little ,but I couldn't hear narrator on the video.

my poor writing

In last class I felt so awkward .
I thought both cases would give us some influences by each ways.But I hoped to watch movies(especially musical!), 'cause I was afrad of silence.
We can talk with each other easily in Japanese,but when we discuss in the class (or sometimes even talk in the small group),we zip up our lips and look down.
I talked about this problem with some classmates a few times,and found we had some common reasons for silence:

We don't know What to say(means "I have no idea!").
We can't make ourselves understood in English.

So these make silence, and silence makes us feel SO nervous.
However,whether we have much English vocabulary is not really the point,I think .It depends on our will.It isn't bad not to understand.If anything,we should say BY OURSELVES,"I have no idea."or"I can't undearstand what you mean." and so on.So we can put in a few words to help each other.
This is one style of the communication with others,isn't this?

I wish I could have exprss my opinion by myself in last class!!(＞＜)

We have two classes left!

In today's class, we talked about the last two classes. Some people want to watch movie. other want to discuss something, (Ken wanted to study language history.)
In my case, I want to talk in small group. I want to discuss something. I think we have little chance to talk with all classmate in this class. So some people must have classmates who haven't talk yet, I think. (Of course ,we talked each other many times on this blog!!) That's why I want to talk.
However, whether to watch movie or discuss, both of them will make our English skills improve!! so I also have the idea that I want to watch movie....
If anything, I want to talk!!!!!!Talk and talk!!

Today's class...

Today's class left a bad taste in my mouth. I couldn't speak out at all.
To tell the truth, I didn't have firm opinion in my mind.
When we talked about what should we do in the last two classes, I said I want to watch movie or TV program in English. But this reason was not to practice listening skills. I said that because I just thought watching movie looks easy to take class. This is disgraceful and cheap reason...
Now I think, I should have think about "what is my priority in this class" from the beginning. My priority of this class is improving communication and speaking skills. So for me, I need more practice communication in the last two class.
Anyway, although this comment is shamefulness , I feel fine rather than keeping regret only in my mind.
In either case (watching movie or discussing in small groups) , let's enjoy the last classes. See you on Monday.

Throw peanuts around !!

Today is Setubun. Do you have any plan ?
Today is February festival , left hand box! right hand peanuts!!
Beat the evil and invite the happiness!! Then, you eat peanuts.
By the way, what do you throw in Setubun? My hometown, Hachinohe use peanuts.
Anywhere different?

Last Thursday...

I went to Aomori PARURU to see my favorite artist"shakalabbits"!I was so excited and enjoyed that I hit my knees against the chair(**;)Now, my knees are blue...Anyway, the live was great!!Their music makes me happy(^_^)/

Finishing class

We only have a few weeks left, and on Monday I plan to have you practice some listening. This is your chance to tell me what you want to do for the final class meetings. What do you think we left out that is important? What should we do more? Which skills do you think we should have worked on more? What information about English, its history, its dialects, its grammar and its vocabulaty, its literature and folklore, or anything else there is about English, do you think I should talk about in the remaining few classes?

The movie 'Otokotachi no yamato'

I went to the movie-theater to watch 'Otokotachi no yamato' last week. Main actor was Takashi Sorimachi and Sidou Nakamura, but I don't know them very well. So I couldn't know which actors play whom even if the movie had ended.
P.S. Professor Philips. My computer was seemed to repair.

Today,we talked about money and food.Then,I remembered a birthday cake made by american woman for my cousin.　It was big ,rectangular and decarated with colorful flowers(pink,yellow,sky blue,red and so on) made from sugar.It was so beautiful!Do americans eat such a lovely cake whenever they celebrate someone’ｓ birthday? If so,it is wonderful!

Today's menus

I'm glad everyone seemed to like today's lesson, even though it was more of a lecture than English practice. I hope everyone will be ready this Friday for more practice with menus, ordering food, takeout, being a waiter or a waitress, etc.



Here's the website for Giordano's pizza in the Chicago area. Chicago has a large Italian populaion (Alphonse Capone was the most famous, but they don't like to talk about him much) so it is famous for Italian food.

Chicago is also famous for Greek food. I'm sorry I don't have a Greek restaurant menu for you, because I love Greek food but you can't find it in Japan. Even in Tokyo the closest I've come is a Turkish restaurant. Whenever I go through Europe I try to eat at a Greek restaurant.

What kind of food do you most like? What kind of food would you like to try?

summer!?

It was very very hot in winter in the Philippine Islands!
To tell the truth, I stayed in Club Paradise at new year^^
I thought there is the real paradaise.

2006 is the sports year!!!!

Hi this is my first writing in 2006. 2006 is the very sports year!! We have many sports events!! For example , World Cup of soccer, World Baceball Classic, and the Olympic Games in Turin!!!! I like watching sports very much. So I will be excited this year!!! So excited!!! I'm looking forward to these sports events!! Don't miss it!!!

Someone wants to contact you people:

This is from an e-mail I just got today:

"Hi John, I'm just writing with news of something that might be of interest to your English class blog. I'm an author but I'm currently experimenting with a live novel - I'm writing a short chapter every day and publishing it directly to http://likeplastic.blogspot.com/
"It's very unusual (it's actually a skewed updating of Pope's "Rape of the Lock") but the central characters are Japanese, one of them inspired by a comic book hero, and I'd be very keen to get feedback from Japanese readers. There are four chapters already up and it should run until early February."

"Many thanks and all best, K"

I leave it out here for students and lurkers who may be interested in it. -JP

Where do we go from here?

We have three weeks of classes, 6 classes in all. I do plan to bring menus and money for you to practice ordering food (restaurant, takeout, delivery, etc.), but you can ask for anything else you want to learn about English, or practice in English, before we finish this class next month.

COUNTDOWN JAPAN

Do you know "COUNTDOWN JAPAN"?
This is one of the largest rock festivals in Japan.

I attended COUNTDOWN JAPAN held at Makuhari Messe on Dec. 31th.
Actually,it held for 3 days.(12/29~12/31) The last day,festival lasts all night!

I love Jackson vibe very much.Do you know??(If you want to listen to their music,please call out to me.)
I watched their performance in the front row,and I was moved very much.

It is very exciting to watch and listen to live music.Lets go live♪
Link

Coming of age day

In this winter holidays, I participated in coming of age celemony. Most women wore HURISODE(This is kind of KIMONO) and looked sooooooooooooooooooooo beautiful!!
Some of them have already got married and had a child. I met a girl who I had been in love with in my junior high school.

couldn't say anything...

She was very very beautiful more than I expected.
That was my bittersweet memories:)

How many people did participate in coming of age celemony in our class??
Please tell us your impression!!

Today's video

We watched the video of the Grimm Brother's fairy tales in today's class. I didn't impress this story, but I was surprised because I watched old-style SFX in some scene. It was cheap, but I felt fresh by contraries because CG is so gorgeous recently.

Bonenkai

I'm sorry I couldn't left comments for so long.
Today,I attended Bonenkai and had a great time with you. Unfortunately, some people couldn't attend because they have another plan.
Incidentally, 8 people are attended(Professor Philips and his seminar student, hiroyuki, jun, masashi, hirono, mika and I).
We had a lively conversation and I enjoyed it very much.

Professor Philips, thank you so much for the dinner you treated us today!!

Winter vacation begins tomorrow. I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Let's keep blogging over the break!

I know many of us will be gone over the break, but I think we can keep blogging.

Let us know what you are doing during the break, and keep in touch with the rest of us.

Go to abroad

Today's presentations were very interesting to me.
Through the class, I want to go abroad and pay attention to Lady First.
I want to go Germany for FIFA World Cup 2006. Language is different, but English is World Langage, so there is no problem maybe.
On Lady First,the presentation shot the point, but my friend had said "It looks to depend on male". How about her opinion? Some want it, some dislike.
Female is difficult to male. Of course opposite.

I love ....

I love whiskey and sake. These alcoholic beverages on the picture are very, very, very good! Of course, I have this whiskey with rock. It is the happiest moment for me. I recomend them for you!
But, there is a big problem. That is these are very very expensive. If you are interested, please click on the link.

The Glenlivet
Hakkaisan



By the way, have you ever had DOM PERIGNON?
I don't like wine. So, I didn't think it tasted good when I had it.
But, DOM PERI is not so expensive.
Christmas comes soon. If you have a good time on Christmas with your friends and your honey, plese drink it.

If you can, this Christmas will be on a memorable day for you.

See you tomorrow!! Bye!!

HEAVY SNOW...

In much snow, how do you live ? It's hard for me to ride bicycle.
Do you play any winter sports ? I'm from Hachinohe, so I did skate in childhood.
But I prefer snowboard to skate. On TV program, snowboarders jump high and make fantastic trick. I wish I could jump like them...

Hey, everybody!

Thanks for some great reports today. I'll comment more fully when I get the last ones Thursday.

Don't forget to take any old newspapers you want from the front of my office. Practicing reading them is good for your English.

Bonenkai information is in the comments below. (^_^)/~~~~~

winter vacation mood:))

Good evening. how's everything going??
I'm playing,playing,plarying and playing.LOL
As if I were in the winter vacation.

Friday,I with 5 only guys went to Bowling till 2:00 pm.
Saturday,my girlfriend and I went to ajigasawa for snowboarding.
After that participated in bonenkai(English club)
And today,I spent in playing CP all daytime.

Hard Schedule!! I'm HS Hiroyuki,not HG hiroyuki haha:))) Fwo~!!!!

As a matter of fact, I will go billiards club this night.

Oh!! I have to prepare for tomorrow class.
We are going to play skits.
And I'm looking forword to other groups!!

see ya

Snow

Recently I think I don't need snow any more. It 's frustration that I walk to the university on the snow. I also hate this cold.

World Champion

Hi, this is Tomoki writing.
Do you watch the FIFA Club World Championship TOYOTA CUP JAPAN 2005 ?
I watched yesterday's game on TV, I saw super goal !!
Today's game, we can see the play of "King" KAZU. I've liked him since J league held. I hope his goal and dance.
If you can, check it today and the final(18th Sun).

Hello!!

This is Kim's writing. By the way, do you have any plan in winter vacation? On the Chrismas day, it seems that Yoshifumi wants to eat shortcakes!(^^) He likes sweets and sweet chrismas,I think.
Recently, I'm absorbed in POKEMON! I dont like games but POKEMON is very interesting. Have you ever played it? I like RAICHU the best. He is more pretty than PICACHU, isn't he!?
Then, have a nice day!See you next time!

Good Morning！

Hi! This is Miyuki writing. Today I have time to write this blog. Because I missed the 1st period. I come to school by car from Goshogawara city. It takes about 1 hour in morning. But now we have snow, so it takes more time. Today I leave my home as usual. So I wasn't in time for 1st period... I'll try to get up more earlier from tomorrow!!

Recently, I'm very busy. I join brass band club in this university. December 18 is our club's 12th regular concert♪ So we practice playing the instrument very hard for it. We'll play many music at the concert. It has three stages. We play some music maybe you don't know in the 1st and 2nd stage. But 3rd stage is Pop stage, so there'll be many music you know. For example Disney, Christmas and Pirates of the Caribbean songs. This concert be held at Hirosaki civic hall. It opens at PM2:00 and starts at PM2:30. And entrance fee is 500 yen. Please come to hear our concert if you have time.I have two ticket now. If you want to come, I'll give you it free.

Well, next lesson is communication. See you soon(^^*) /

STRIKE!!

It's warm recently, that's good to me. Do you check the tree illuminiation? That's fatasy, I like the blue reindeer.
Today's evening, I'm going to play BOWLING. The number of player is over 25!!My play style is unique, so the score is inistability. Sometimes I scored 0ver 190, sometimes under 80. Score isn't important, the atmosphere we enjoy is good. I'll sweep off the pins to score over 200!! maybe....

Good evening:)

hello,what's up?
I didn't write down this blog briefly...
I'm so sorry.and I absented class THREE times!oops...I felt so bad and overslept.I,however,make a effort to go this class.because I want to improve my comunication skill and I feel so fun to talk with my group members!

BTW,look at this sweet picture:)
I took this picture at the new cafe in Dote-street.
the cafe's name is 'pebble cafe'.do you know that?
I love to go cafe and variety store.
the cafe will be my favorite one:)
this cake is fondant chocola.maybe,it's a French sweets.
chocolate source in the cake is hot and very tasty!!I invite you to eat this at once（≧∀≦）

>masashi
do you go abroad to study?When and Where do you go?>
yes.I want to go abroad to study hotel management at school in Canada.and I want to obtain qualifications of hotel.so I MUST study English harder!I hope to go next March or May.

About ‘High Noon’

I enjoyed　‘High Noon’. I was impressed by the scene whitch he throw his badge away　the most. How did he feel when he did that? Maybe he had no fondness for that town because he lost everything-friendships,trust and so on. He left there without talking any one and his face was cold. I felt a little bit sad and had mixed feelings for him.

High Noon

I'm glad someone already started with a question or comment about today's movie. I'd like to encourage everyone who was there to write a question or comment about it. And if there's something you didn't understand, please ask the rest of us about it.

I have 10 questions I'd like to see if people can answer. Please put your answers in the comments to this message.

1. Why is Frank Miller after Marshal Kane?
2. What religion is Mrs. Kane?
3. Why did she join that religion?
4. What is the significance of that religion to the film?
5. Why did Kane go back?
6. What did Mrs. Ramirez tell Mrs. Kane?
7. What is the meaning of the empty chair?
8. Why is Mrs. Ramirez leaving Hadleyville?

Bonenkai

I talked (and some of you responded) about going drinking before. What about a bonenkai? I have 10,000 yen for it. Which is better, 20th (Tuesday) or 22nd (Thursday)?

♪Karaoke♪

At Novenber 3rd, my seminer (Mr Kimura) and Mｒ & Mrs Okuno's seminer held meeting.
Throw away the contents of meeting, we went drinking and karaoke after the meeting.
I had been far to singing for months, I couldn't take good tune. But I felt fun a lot.
Finaly, Mr Kimura has cool and sweet voice.

What do you think about the movie 'High Noon'?

In the movie 'High Noon' nobody help hero except heroine. But when I watched this movie, I sympathized with the coward audience. If something trouble had happed like this story, I would run away. Anyway I can't criticize those people abandoned Gary Cooper.

My club

Are you in any clubs?I'm in the radio club.
I have to think many things, but radio is very exciting!
If you have a chance,please tune in on the radio.
hirodairadio

Your turn to suggest topics

This week is your turn to recommend topics for others to post about. Try to think of something that others will be interested in.

My softball team's web page!!!!

Hi!!This is yosuke!! Today I show you my softball team's web page I made. There are some rooms in this page. Of course, There is also message room!! So if you're intereted in , Please leave message!! Clickhere!!

first appearance

Hello! This is my first writing.I want to introduce a nice web site to you all.The URL is http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/index.html?kind=ej&mode=0&kwassist=0
It's online dictionary. But it has something special.We can hear the voice spoken when we click on the picture of the speaker!It's useful when we want to check the pronunciation of English words.But the university PC is mute at first,please erase the check of mute of the volume(onryou) right on the tool bar below if you use.It's a little difficult,but I hope the site will do you good.

I watced Ken's girlfriend

I watched a photograph of Ken's car.It's very good and seems to be expensive.
By the way,about three weeks ago,my bicycle was stolen!It was the second time.I'm very sad.
Instead,I intend to steal your car.If your car dissappeared,a criminal is this me!
But it's OK! I'll leave the side mirror.No ploblem!!

Roleplaying

This is Tomoki writing.
In today's class, our group discuss about Roleplaying.
I think roleplaying is good way for studying English, because it effect for student to be more active. And it is needed student's imagination, so they can communitate through the roleplaying.
It has many good point, but the problem is the scenario. However, the problem will be solved by Mr Ken/961 at next class.

my interest

Do you know the movie "In Her Shoes" starring Cameron Diaz?
She puts on various kind of shoes one after another in this movie.They are so cute!(of course,so is she.)
I'm looking foward to watch,but "In Her Shues" will not be released in Hirosaki...

my girlfriend

This is my car, "delsol". "Delsol" means "sun" in English. I like her very much though there are only two seats and very narrow. I think she is a rare car in Hirosaki because she was made by Honda more than ten years ago. However, she produces about 200hp. She is a high-powered car even now.
I bought this car 3 years ago in a package purchase...so I had no money then. I didn't eat any foods for a week. I became malnourished and broke down for some days. I was a reckless man.
Now, my hobby is driving. Shall we go for a drive with me? Wow! OF COURSE, ONLY YOU because there is only one seat in my car. If you have a driver's license, you should buy a car, of course, with your money!

Internet Radio

Hi! This is Okubo writing!
How do you study English? There are many way we can use.
Please push this. And you can find many links for listening English radio.

Group work!!!

Hi how are you doing? This is Yosuke writing!!! It is colder and colder recently , isn' it ?
By the way , our group is "education". We talk about English class in school. When you were junior hi and senior hi school students, did you have any special class or intereting class?(For example, English teacher don't speak Japanese absolutely!!! etc... ) If you have , please tell me!!!

Dress up your computer!!

What's up, everyone! what's going on??
Today,I will introduce my computer:)
The picture is my desktop.
You know,This is far from default Windows isn't it??
I wanna keep my computer fashionable.
But my computer is not only fashionable but useful.
you can see many items on my desktop. calendar, digital clock,weather report,RSS reader etc...
So now I will show you some links about desktop customizing.
Each of them is great site.
Try it!!
ThemeXP
Win Customize

December Coming !!

Good evening everyone!! what do you do now?・・・・That's good!!
How is the group discussion in the class? Our group talik about EDUCATION.
It is difficult and interesting topic, so it helps me better.
I mind when all of us can communicate in the class. It may be fun a lot....

DVD of The Studio Giburi's animation

I heard about DVD of The Studio　 Giburi's animation which people could listen to not only in Japanese but in English . Recently I don't watch the Studio　Giburi's animation, but I felt it strange that people can watch the Japanese movies in English.

Where did the weekend go?

I was going to post a suggestion on Friday, but I'm glad to see people still posting messages to the blog.

No one posted any links! What was the problem? You can't figure out how?

What about pictures? Someone already posted a beautiful picture of flowers, and we should all post some pictures. Do people know how to post pictures?

Knitting.

Recently, I'm interested in knitting.
Now, I'm making a black woolen scarf.
I'm not good at knitting, but my woolen scarf is being worked steadily.

Do you have any interests now?

From TOKYO

Hi,what's up?
Suddenly,I'm in SETAGAYA just now.I'm going to go back Hirosaki by Monday morning,but it may be that I won't attend next class...
It was sunny and very warm today in tokyo.
I'll talk about stories from my travel(^^)