semicolon

Hi everyone,

In our lesson today, we learned how to use comma, colon and semicolon. It was new and interesting for me to have this lesson, because I have never learned nor used colon and semicolon in my essay.

Therefore, I wanted to use these punctuations correctly, so I searched on internet for correct usage. There, I found interesting picture.

In this picture, difference between comma, semicolon and period are clearly explained with the illust of bear, and I thought this was very understandable.

This site I found clearly explains interesting factors with comic, so I would  like to recommend this site to those of you who are not very good at grammar like me!

Here is the link to the site;

http://theoatmeal.com/comics

Learning about grammar, I felt how normally do not think deeply about English grammars. I think most of the returnee students have the same problem, because we learned English naturally. We do not think too much about grammars, so that makes us say “this sentence is grammatically wrong, and I know the correct answer, but I cannot explain”. I had this experience in my public junior school in Japan, when I just came back from International School. My friends wanted me to teach them English, but I did not know how. This was a large complex for me, and I think this experience made me to work for part-time job as an English teacher.

I hope you will have nice Christmas holiday! :)

Preface and Chapter 1

This week we had lots of readings to work on. However by reading the Preface and The Shackleton Saga, I was able to get some ideas about how Shackleton was a great leader. To get close to Shackleton, I would like to introduce my goals as a teacher in clam school, relating it to Expedition Log at the end of each chapter.

Defining a Long-Term Vision

As an English teacher, I would like to improve my students’ scores of English test, and make them pass the exam. Bringing this goal to The Edge, I would make my goal to let my students pass their first choice schools.

Focusing Energy on Short-Term Goals

First, the key opportunities of action to achieve my goal are improve both English skill of my students, and myself. Since I am not used to explain English to others especially grammar, it is necessary for me to improve my own English skills.

Secondly, I would prepare well for all of my lessons so that I can answer most of the questions my students ask.

Thirdly, my “engaging distractions” may be lost of motivation of the students. To pretend this from happening, I can include some interesting factors in the lesson, and also make a good mood so that children can study with interest.

Finally, my short-term milestone now would be make students interested in English, in order to bring up their motivation.

First readings

In our class on monday, we read the article about relationship between posture and confidence. Until I read this article, I thought postures which were provided in the article were rude to take in front of people. However through the lecture, I was able to realize the difference the level of confidence by actually taking the postures. Furthermore, I came to know that the way I thought that it is rude to take these kind of postures in front of people was very Japanese, as Ken mentioned in class that Japanese have tendency to respect others. So, as I learned that postures and emotions are related, I would  like to try taking these postures before my presentstion.

Also in our Wednesday class, we learned how important it is for leaders to care about the mood of workplaces. As Japanese, I know how mood of the class would strongly affect act of each person in class, both in possitive and negative ways. However, I was surprised by the result of the experiment mentioned in the article that people would have better working performance when they have “negative performance feedback accompanied by positive emotional signals” than “possitive feedback accompanied by negative emational signals”. Through this reading, I thought having good mood is important in any situation.

About Me!

Hi everyone :) This is my first post for RW blogs, so I would like to introduce myself.










Please look at the picture above. This is picture taken in Batangas beach, which is near from Manila, the capital city of philippines.
I was born in Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture, and mainly brought up in Yokohama and Philippines.
In Philippines, I learned in International School of Manila, where I improved my English skills. I also went to many places in Philippines for trip while I lived there, and I earned the kids license for scuba diving. Philippines is beautiful country in the countryside, and has lots of valuable nature, like coral reef. However as many developing countries do, they hold problems in its safety. Furthermore, Philippines is now suffering from serious effects of typhoon, so I would like people to realize and help the citizens in Philippines, living just 3000 kilometers away from Tokyo.

Also, some people might know me as the graduates of ICU High School. I was a club leader of badminton club in there, where I became interested in leadership. I learned how hard it is to gather and find the best solution the conflict of people, so I would like to learn what kind of leader could make people make people come to agreement in peace.

I am looking forward to learn with you in the same RW class! ;)