An introduction to the WAI
Here is a basic WAI.
Using email to post to your blog
If for any reason it's difficult for you to use Blogger, it is possible to use email to post to your blog. You just create an address as shown in the picture, then remember the address, and use it to send new posts to your blog.
N.B. The address shown is not a real one.
Book Reviews 2nd semester
Remember that you need to write at least one book review each week. Book reviews count towards your 7 weekly posts.
When you write a book review, sometimes you want to copy a small part of the text. This is very interesting for readers, because they get a "taste" of the story or the style of the book.
But you need to avoid copying too much. The copied part should never be more than a half of the book review. If you do copy, you must mark the copied part clearly, like this:
Let's go see the West," said Pa. "The land is flat and the grass grows thick and high.
If you don't mark the copied part like this, it looks like you are pretending that the writing is your own. This is an ethical and legal problem. It is also very important to avoid even a single mistake.
If you have time, please read also Mr Tomei's guidelines on book reviews.
Please check out some of the example book reviews that he points to. These are good examples of reviews written without any quotes. Note that the best book reviews also have pictures and at least one link.
You can improve your blog by remembering to add the books you read to your LibraryThing collection.
Blogger Tips
Pin in the Map
Here are some examples of posts using Pin-in-the-Map:
Students using Slideshare
Interesting post about jobs
Here is an interesting post about a student's thoughts on careers:
Yuka's Wacky life..: I was down once, but not out!
Blog Settings: Comments & Backlinks
Some ideas for learning vocabulary
If you are interested in boosting your vocabulary, please check out this post on another of my blogs.
Helping your readers
Nobunaga Oda has a great technique for helping readers. He adds links to an English-Japanese dictionary when he uses difficult words. He learns English words by using them, then helps readers learn them by reading them and checking them in a dictionary. Here is an example.
Linking to other posts
Commenting is good, but you cannot edit your comments, and usually people forget where they commented.
Another good way to respond to another blogger's post is to use the BlogThis! bookmarklet. To get this bookmarklet, you need to go to this page, and drag the BlogThis! button to the bookmarks section near the top of your browser window.
On your computer at home, or on a school computer where you are using your own account, you only need to do this once. Unfortunately, when you log in as "student", your information is lost each time, so you need to do this every week!
So that's our weekly routine. Come to class on time, open up Firefox with 3 tabs: gmail.com, blogger.com, and winkhome.org, and also open your Typing document in Word. Then COMMAND (APPLE)-click on the BlogThis! link in my Hot Links section to find the BlogThis! bookmarklet and add it to Firefox. Then you're ready for the typing test.
If you come in giri-giri, do the typing test first, then get Firefox ready.
I'll show you how to use the BlogThis! bookmarklet in the 2nd and 3rd weeks.
TYPING 1: FOOD & DRINK
I like eating and drinking! First I will talk about food. When I cook at home, I tend to make Italian, Indian, or Chinese food. Perhaps Indian is my main kind of cooking. Typically, I use about 10 or so kinds of powdered spices. First, I fry some onions on a medium flame, until they are clear. Then I add the spices and fry some more. Then I add the main ingredients, usually some meat and a few kinds of vegetables. Indian people say that frying the spices into the onions is key to a good curry, so I don’t like the Japanese style of adding “roo” to a curry after it is almost made. Next time, I’ll talk about drinks. One of my favorite kinds is beer. Another is ginger ale. (132)
Summer Vacation
I didn't have much of a holiday in the summer vacation. But I went to Nagoya for a few days to present at a conference. Here is an exciting scene from my trip!
hello
hello
Writing IV: 1st class
Schedule for today:
1. Typing and attendance
2. Explanation
3. Writing about the summer vacation & commenting on other blogs
4. 十分は十分
Typing topics (Writing IV)
WEEKS 1, 2, 3: FOOD & DRINK
WEEKS 4, 5, 6: KUMAMOTO
WEEKS 7, 8, 9: FREE TIME
WEEKS 10, 11, 12: BOOKS & READING
Remember that you can interpret the topics as you like. You should aim to get a little faster each week, especially when the topic is the same as the week before.
Time management (Writing IV)
We will do various things in our writing classes, and each week will be different. But the basic framework for each class will be similar.
(1) 9:10 OR 10:50 : Typing & attendance (send me a Gmail message with your typing result)
(2) EXPLANATION AND MAIN ACTIVITIES
(3) 10:10 OR 11:50 : 十分は十分
(4) SAVE FILES, ASK FINAL QUESTIONS, SHUTDOWN. Bye!
Remember that you need to come on time, in order to start up your computer, launch Word, and take the typing test. Delays with the typing test mean less time for the main activities in the class, and that will mean more homework!
Remember that the target for typing this semester is 150 words in 5 minutes. Think about what to write before the class!
If you come early, you can draft a post on some other topic. But make sure that you have Word ready for the typing test!
About "essays"
Last semester, we did some essays. This semester will be the same, but not all of them are real essays. Some of them will be cooperative, i.e. you will do them with your friends. Some will be multimedia assignments. However, let us continue to use the label "essay" or "essays".
You should start the first assignment in the first class, if you have time, and finish it by Tuesday, October 9th. This first assignment is to make a presentation based on your Kumamoto essay from the first semester!
Welcome to Writing IV!
Hello, everyone, and welcome to Writing IV. I hope you had a nice summer holiday, and thank you for answering the poll questions. (Please take a look at Mr Beaufait's post.) I hope those of you who went abroad had an enjoyable time and benefited from your stay.
Writing IV is similar to Writing III, in these ways:
1. The course is based on blogging.
2. You need to read an easy English book and write a book review on your blog each week.
3. You should continue to use the 読書記録手帳 to record all your reading.
There are also a few differences:
1. You need to write 7 posts a week, at least 90 during the semester! This includes all posts, such as the general posts you write on your interests when you have time, book reviews, assignments, typing posts, and 十分は十分.
2. The typing speed requirement is 150 words in 5 minutes, (using the 5-minute timer). These typing posts count towards the total in (1) above.
3. We will do a regular 十分は十分 post, using the 10-minute timer. There are no requirements for length, and you can write about anything you like, but you do need to stick carefully to the 10-minute time limit. The posts will not be assessed for length or content; instead they are a way for you to see your progress in writing over the semester. Remember that these posts count towards the total in (1) above.
