Test pickup days - update!

Dear Everyone,

I am really sorry I couldn't be at my office on Friday or today (Tuesday) for you.. I am seriously ill, as I mailed you the other day. However, I am planning to be there on Thursday (January 16) from about 11:00-13:00. If you have time on that day, please come (Chuo 715). I will also be there on Monday (January 20) from 15:00-16:00.

If you don't come, I will put your test comments outside my office door on Thursday (16th) with your name on the outside. Your grade will be private (I will fold the paper). Please pick it up as soon as possible.

If you need to get in touch, please email me: laura.macgregor@gakushuin.ac.jp

Thank you all.
Ms. MacGregor

The best day of my winter vacation

December 30th was the best day of my vacation. It started out by going to see the movie Zero Gravity in Ginza, starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney.

It was a very moving and very suspenseful space story with a good ending. Next was lunch at Hirata Bokujo in Ginza.

They serve the best, reasonably priced tonkatsu in elegant surroundings that I know of. After that was a stop at Kimura at Ginza 4-chome crossing to buy some anpan and other bread.

Right next door was Wako department store. Their store window is always beautifully dressed and of course, the display on that day was of horses to celebrate the new year, the year of the horse.

Next was a walk down the street with a bit of shopping and browsing (window shopping) here and there, before heading home.

The sun was shining and it wasn't too cold, It was a good day!

What was the best day of your winter vacation? Tell your story to your group.

Speaking test groups for December 20

Please go straight to Chuo 506 on December 20. I will tell you the order of the groups on that day. When it is your group's turn, please go to Chuo 502, our classroom, for the test.  After your test, you can leave. 

☆Have a very good holiday and see you on January 10. ☆

Important: These groups are different than your blog groups. Please check the list and find your name and your group number and write a memo to yourself so you have this information on December 20.

Group 1
Nao
Mizuki
Momoko
Yumi

Group 2
Juri
Yurina
Satomi
Naoki

Group 3
Yui
Misaki
Masahiro
Tadashi

Group 4
Hiroshi
Yoshimi
Aya
Mai

Final blog (due January 7, 2014)

This is a free blog, so please choose an interesting topic and write as much about it as you can. Try to add links to websites, photos, and videos if you can. Please choose a topic that will be interesting to everyone. If you would like to confirm you topic, please check it with me by the end of December.

Post your blog to your group blog by January 7, 2014, 17:00. Please read and make comments on your group members' blogs by January 10, 2014 before 9:00am.

We all look forward to seeing your interesting blogs.

Blog #6: Tell us a story

For this blog, follow the instructions in the textbook on page 194 for Unit 6: Storytelling

Find a recorded story (it can be audio or video) that you can post on the blog. The video of the story can be told in English or in Japanese. 

Listen to the story and summarise it in English by answering these questions:

1. What is the name of the story? (this should also be your blog title)

2. Who told the story?

3. Who are the main characters? Describe each character in one sentence.

4. What happens in the story? Summarise the plot.

5. Do you like this story? Why or why not?

Find and summarise an interesting story for your blog mates. This blog is due on December 13, 9:00am. 



The story, White Rose is here:

 

Kamishibai (November 22)

Kamishibai is a type of storytelling. The words mean "paper drama" in English. Its origin is amakimono (paper scroll) that were made by Buddhist priests in the 12th century, telling moral stories. It made a comeback in 1920-1950, when kamishibai artists went from village to village by bicycle with a small stage. The storyteller set himself up in a park and used clappers to call children to come to the park. He then told a series several stories using pictures on illustrated boards that he passed through the stage one by one.

Have you ever seen kamishibai? What do you remember about it?
Here is one example of a kamishibai of a story called おむすびころりん。 Let's watch it.

Grading update (11/15)

I changed the activities for the class this year, so the grading system needs to be changed too.

Please see below.

          Original grades (April 2013)

Attendance and Participation     10%

Homework                               20%

Presentations                          25% (one each semester)

Blogs                                          25%

Exams                                        20% (July, January)

TOTAL                                     100%

Updated grades( November 15, 2013)

Attendance and Participation      15%

Homework                                           20%

Presentation                                       15%

Blogs                                                     25%

Exams                                                  25% (July, January)

(remember the TV CM was in place of the exam in July, and was worth 10%)

TOTAL                                                100%

Dirndl, Dress of Past, Makes a Comeback in Bavaria (October 25, 2013)

What is a dirndl dress? Let's try to find out by watching this video.

Now let us read an article from The New York Times.

September 28, 2013

Dirndl, Dress of Past, Makes a Comeback in Bavaria

By MELISSA EDDY

MUNICH, Germany — If there is one thing that Claudia Nowka understands, it is the desire of every woman to stand out at Oktoberfest. Nine years ago, dreading that she might sit down at a beer table only to see another woman wearing the same low-cut, tightly laced, traditional Bavarian dress, she designed her own dirndl in red satin, topped with a colorful apron.

Long considered the dress of an older, more conservative generation, the dirndl of the Alpine regions of Bavaria and Austria has become a popular symbol of the good times and good life of Germany’s most prosperous region. This is especially apparent during the two weeks of Oktoberfest, which ends Oct. 6, where a dirndl (pronounced DURN-dul) for women and its male counterpart, lederhosen for men, have become must-have outfits. “Ten years ago, nobody was wearing dirndl and lederhosen to Oktoberfest,” said Thomas Andersch, a Munich native. "Now it looks strange if you show up in jeans.”

But designers and ethnologists say dirndls are more than just a costume. Simone Egger, an assistant professor of European ethnology at the University of Munich, sees the revived popularity of the dirndl among young people as a reflection of the confidence of a new generation of Germans who are turning to tradition to define themselves in the face of the encroachments of globalization.

“It has now become standard for every Bavarian to have traditional clothing in their wardrobe, and from here it has simply expanded,” she said. “Everyone wears them.”On of the largest makers of traditional Bavarian clothing said it sold about 16,000 dirndls last year, a 750 percent jump from 2002.

In many ways, the symbolism of the dirndl has not changed over the decades. The dresses first began appearing in rural regions of Bavaria and neighboring Austria in the 1800s. In the first half of the 20th century, versions of the traditional peasant dresses were introduced into Munich’s fashion as leisure wear for wealthy women.

After the war, many people rejected the clothing for political reasons, its associations with the Nazi party, or the Bavaria-only Christian Social Union. But today even that stigma appears to have lifted. “Everyone is longing for a world that is intact,” said Mr. Hittenkofer. Most of his customers range in age from 20 to 40 years old, he said, and are fashion conscious and politically more left-leaning than the dirndl devotees of previous generations. “This generation is incredibly conservative,” he said. “Many struggle for orientation in the globalized world, but discover they are able to find themselves in traditional clothes.”

Kathrin Hollmer’s first pink-and-white dirndl was a gift from her grandmother when she was a 5-year-old growing up in the Bavarian countryside. Now 25, she is part of the generation that helped bring the dresses back into vogue. Ms. Hollmer owns seven dirndls, including three vintage dresses she found in secondhand stores.“For me the dirndl has always been associated with good times, and with a feeling of home,” she said. “I always wore one on happy occasions, a relative’s birthday, to celebrations in church; whenever something nice happened.”

The dirndl saw a minor revival with the 1972 Munich Olympics, when the hostesses wore light blue ones as their official uniforms. The dress captured the international imagination as something synonymous with all of Germany, to the chagrin of Germans from Cologne, Hamburg or Berlin, where the dirndl is not representative clothing.

Dirndl traditions continue to evolve. For example: the bow. Shopkeepers often tell customers that if a woman wears her apron strings tied on the left, it signals that she is single. A bow worn to the right means she is already in a relationship. “When a dressmaker whispers this to a customer, they have the feeling they are getting secret information,” Ms. Egger said. “So it has become tradition, although it has no actual roots in the history of the dirndl.”
Discuss in a group the answers to these questions:

1. Where is Bavaria?
2. What is happening there with the dirndl dress?
3. How are the ways of thinking changing for the people there?
4. Why are their ways of thinking changing?
5. Do you think this change is a good thing? or a bad thing?

Now, think about Japan: Work in a group. Brainstorm some traditional things that are making a comeback in this country. Then discuss.

HW for 11/8 class
 Prepare a 5-minute presentation in which you will:
1. introduce something that has made a comeback in Japan
2. explain what it is and how it is making a comeback by giving several examples.
3. explain why it is making a comeback
4. explain your opinion about this comeback

You may use a powerpoint, handouts, or other materials to make your presentation. Do a good job!

HW for after Debate day (October 11, Blog #5)

Write a reflection blog, Blog #5 in which you:

1. Explain your role in the debate and the points you made.
2. Introduce the best point made by the opposing team and why you think it was the best.
3. Explain what you learned from this debate experience.

If you were a judge, then you should answer 1. and 3 as written above. Your 2. is: Introduce the best point made by each team and why you think they were good.

For each of the above (1, 2, 3), you should write at least 100 words. At the end of each answer write the word count in parentheses like this (89 words).

Post your blog to your group blog page by October 17 at 17:00.

HW for Naoki and Masahiro who were absent:
Hand in your complete debate notes next week to me in class. Make sure they are clear and that you have details for each of your points for both sides. You must do a good job on this.