Coming to the end... and a new beginning.

Well, the semester is almost over. Just one more week! I hope everyone enjoyed improving your vocabulary and English skills by using the Internet. I also hope you had fun writing your blogs! I hope you will continue writing them after this class is over, too. It will be good practice for you, and a fun way to keep in touch after you graduate. Of course, you can send e-mail, too. I'm sure many of you will go on to do exciting things in the future (I hope you all will!) and I look forward to hearing about them.

Good luck on all your final exams, reports, and other end-of-the-semester work, and happy graduation! (You ARE all graduating, right?! Right?!)

It may be the end of your time here at Kokusai Junior College, but I hope for all of you it is the beginning of a new and exciting adventure.

Happy New Year!

Welcome back, everybody, and Happy Year of the Tiger!

I hope you had a good break. Just about another month to go, now. I had my first New Year in Japan since 1999-2000. I stayed in Tokyo and did traditional things: eating buckwheat noodles on New Year's Eve, visiting Shinto shrines at midnight, eating traditional New-Year foods in lacquered boxes... I like New Year's time in Japan -- it's very peaceful and quiet, like Christmas in the U.S.

How did you spend your holidays?

Happy Thanksgiving!

If we were in America, we'd be having a four-day weekend, gathering with our families and eating turkey, sweet potatoes, corn, cranberries, and pumpkin pie, and watching American football on TV.

Here's an interesting article written by a friend of mine, about what the first Thanksgiving celebration was probably like:

http://www.culturemap.com/newsdetail/11-20-09-thanksgiving-questions/


Well, we're not in America, but it's still good to take time to think about all the good things in your life.

What are you thankful for?

Was it the rain?

Yesterday, once again, there were many people absent. I wonder if it was the rain... In any case, I hope everyone remembers the attendance requirements for the class.

Today in class we talked about the e-greeting cards people sent and received. Many people still haven't sent e-greeting cards yet, so be sure to do that, and forward them to me, too.

On the other hand, there have been some interesting posts and comments on people's blogs, so be sure to check them out! Of course, also keep writing your blogs -- some of you haven't posted in quite a long time. Remember -- the requirement is AT LEAST one post per week!

See you in class (I hope!)...

Again?

Everyone's blog is linked here now, on the right side. Be sure to read your classmates' blogs, and leave comments!

There were a number of people absent again today... I hope they don't have the "new flu"!

I have to say, I was disappointed in the number of people who had not done their homework... We were not able to talk about the famous people today, as I had planned, because not enough people had finished their research. Come on, you guys, do your homework! (... or you'll be sorry when you get your grade at the end of the semester...)

Anyway, see you at the Nakano Festival, and of course in class next week! (Right??)

"Technical Difficulties"

Today we had a couple of problems. First of all, a lot of people were absent! Where were you guys?

Also, the Blogger website was having problems for a while, so some people couldn't see or work on their blogs. That seems to be fixed now, though.

Anyway, despite the technical problems, we managed to do some Internet work. Everybody chose a favorite famous person, and did some research about them, using only English-language websites. Next time we'll talk about the results of your research with other students... in English, of course!

See you then...

And so it begins...

This is the beginning of the Fantastic Internet English Blog. I hope you all will read it every week! I'll be writing about interesting things I find on the internet, or things that I notice here at school, or in daily life. I'll also write about what we do in class. I'm looking forward to reading everyone's blogs and comments!

Be sure to send everyone the address of your new blog. Visit others' blogs, and leave comments. Sign up to "follow" others' blogs.

Write at least one blog post per week! Also, be sure to comment on other students' blog posts.

"Comment moderation" allows you to edit the comments (just in case someone says something rude or mean, etc. -- I'm sure no one in our class will do that, but you never know who might read your blog on the internet!).

Most importantly, have fun!