Welcome to the KGU Writing Blog!

Welcome students and other visitors! This is the writing blog for Kwansei Gakuin Univerity students of the School of Human Welfare Studies. We meet every Monday during 4th period from 3:10-4:40 in Building G, Room 311.

Students will be adding short pieces of writing to this blog throughout the semester based on what they will be learning from the textbook, Significant Scribbles.

Please feel free to add comments and positive words to encourage each other to become fluent and accurate writers!

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Last Homework!

Congratulations, you finished! I know it was a lot of hard work, but I'm proud of you and I hope that you feel that you learned something in this class.

...one last thing. Please write a blog post that answers some or all of the following questions:

1) What will you remember the most about this class?
2) How do you think your English has improved as a result of this class?
3) Do you think you will use English in the future? Why or why not?

Thanks for all of your hard work. Good luck in the future!

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Homework for 12/20

Last week for Monday! Yay!

For this week, please:

1) make comments on your group member's blogs about "movies"
2) study for the final exam next week (units 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10)

Let's finish strong!

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Homework for 12/13

Please do the following for this week:

1) Please write a "movie review" on your blog
2) Please include a "movie trailer" from youtube.com on your blog
*See Example below for "Inception"

Keep up the good work!

Paul

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Inception

In Inception, Leonardo DiCaprio is Dom Cobb, a thief who steals secrets from other people's minds. Because he is a criminal, he is wanted by the police and can't see his family. Ken Watanabe, plays Saito, who asks Cobb to put an idea into another man's head to help his business. This is called "inception". In exchange for doing this job, Saito promises to help Cobb see his family. However, the plan goes wrong and the inception team faces many problems trying to achieve their goal. The main message of the movie is that dreams are not real, but represent real feelings, desires, and emotions. I like this movie because it has an interesting story and a lot of great special effects. So, it is fun to watch and interesting to think about. Go see this movie if you have a chance!

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Homework for 12/7

Just 3 more weeks left! Our final class is on December 20th!

For homework this week, please do the following:

1) Textbook pp. 100 - 101

2) Please leave comments on your group member's "Advice" blog

See you next week!

Homework for 11/29

1) Please make sure you have finished your Bitstrips comic.

2) If you haven't already, please comment on your group member's bitstrip comic.

3) Also, please write your next blog. Please give advice to either Hiromi OR Keisuke. Write your advice on your blog.

Thanks and see you next week!

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Homework for 11/22

You should be finishing your bitstrip comic today. Once you are finished, please post it to your blog.

For homework, please do the following:

1) pp. 92-93
2) Make comments on your group member's comic "Life at KGU"

See you next week!

Life at KGU

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Homework for 11/15

I'm sure you are all happy the midterm test is finished! Hoooray!

Now we are going to get started on a new writing project, using Bitstrips again!

Bitstrips, Part 2

Design your own Bitstrips comic
Theme: Life at KGU
Boxes: 9
Words: 150

Also, for homework, please comment on your group member's blogs about "Part-time jobs"

Thanks

Monday, October 25, 2010

Homework for 11/8

Remember, there is no class next week (Oh, Yeah!). We will meet again on November 8th. You have two weeks to do the following:


Homework
1) Textbook pp. 86-87
2) Make comments on group member's "3 things that make me upset"
2) Blog: Part time jobs. Do you have one? If yes, where and why? If no, do you want one? Why/why not?

3) Review for Midterm Test
-Subordinate clause (pg. 68)
-Relative clause (pg. 69)
-Appositive (pg. 84)
-Punctuation (pg. 85)
-Also, there will be dictation (sentence listening)

Monday, October 18, 2010

Homework for 10/25

For homework this week, please finish pg. 84 and write a blog about the following topic:

Talk about three things that make you upset. Please give examples for each one. Be specific and give lots of details!

Ok, enjoy your week and see you next Monday!

Monday, October 11, 2010

Homework for 10/18

Please complete the following for next week:

1) comments on your group member's blog about "technology"

2) Textbook pp. 78-79.

Have a great week!

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Technology

I like to use technology. I think technology can help us in many different ways. For example, when I study Japanese, I often use this website to help me understand words I don't know or kanji I don't know how to write. I use my computer for many things othern than studying. I also make lesson plans, activities for my English classes. I make presentations and sometimes videos too.

However, sometimes I worry that I spend too much time with the computer and that I should try to spend more time outside, especially when the weather is really nice like it has been recently. I enjoy using technology, but I don't think it is healthy to use it too much!

Monday, October 4, 2010

Homework for 10/11

Everyone did a great job with today's work. I also really enjoyed reading about your summer vacations. Many of you had some really interesting experiences!

For this week, please write a blog post about the following:

1) Technology: Do you enjoy using technology? What kind of technology do you use the most? What kind of technology do you hate?

That's all for this week. See you next week!

Thursday, September 16, 2010

My Summer Vacation



This summer vacation was one of the best I have ever had. I took two trips and had a lot of fun. First, I went to the Philippines. I visited the city of Manila and I gave a presentation on some of my teaching techniques to local English teachers. The English teachers in the Philippines were very interested and were very friendly. I enjoyed working with them. I also went to a small village on the island of Mindoro. The village was in the mountains and had no electricity or water. I was very surprised! I spent three days in the village teaching young children English. They were incredible students! Second, I spent two weeks traveling around Hokkaido! In Hokkaido, I visited Shiretoko National Park and climbed Mt. Rausu, visited friends in Kitami, saw beautiful waterfalls in Sounkyou, saw lots of animals at the famous zoo in Asahikawa, went cycling in Furano, and ate lots of good food in Sapporo. Hokkaido was very cool and reminded me a lot of my home in America. I had a lot of great experiences this summer which is why it was one of the best summer vacations.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

End of the Semester!

Congratulations! You are finished with this course for the Spring Semester! We will meet again in September for the fall semester. Before you go, please answer the following questions on your blog:

1) What did you learn in this course?
2) How was the level of this course? (Too easy, too difficult, just right)
3) What did you like about this course?
4) What didn't you like about this course?
5) How can the course be improved for next semester?

For English practice, please continue to write on your blogs and tell us what you're doing during the summer holiday!

Thanks and have a great summer.

Monday, July 5, 2010

Homework for 7/12

OK, the final week is here! We are very close to summer vacation! For this week, please do the following:

1)Please comment on your group member's blog "summer vacation" AND "comic strip"

2)Review units 1 -7 for next week's test.

Study hard and do your best!

Thanks!

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Homework for 7/5

OK, just two more weeks and then done! For this week, please do the following tasks:

1) textbook pg. 57
2) Write you last blog entry about your plans for "summer vacation"

Also, you may want to begin reviewing all the units we have completed for the final exam in 2 weeks!

Thanks, and see you next week!

Monday, June 21, 2010

Homework for 6/28

We are getting close to being finished for the semester! ONLY 3 more weeks left! For this week, please do the following:

1) textbook pg. 54-55

2) Make a comment on your group member's blog about "sports"

We will have a little time next week to finish your comic. It should be finished during class next week!

See you next week!

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Homework for 6/21

Most of you have started your comic project. I will give you some more time next week to work with your partner. So please don't worry about doing your comic strip for homework. Instead, I would like you to do the following:

1) Study for next week's test by reviewing units 3, 4, and 5 (pp. 28 - 49

2) Write a blog about "Sports". It can be about sports you play now or when you were a child or sports that you like to watch.

Ok..have a nice week and see you next week!

Making Comic Strips

Today, we are going to begin making comic stips using the online comic site called "Bitstrips".

Please go to the site and do the following:

1) think of an interesting story that happened to you or someone you know
2) write the story
3) tell the story in 6 frames in a comic using bitstrip

Try to make it fun and interesting because we are going to share it with our classmates!

Monday, June 7, 2010

Homework for 6/14

Today we learned more about conjunctions (and, so, but, because) and transitions (However, In particular, Moreover, etc.). For homework, I would like you to practice using transitions. Please do the following:

1) complete pg. 49 in your textbook

2) please comment on your group member's blog about a "Trip"

Thanks and have a good week!

Monday, May 31, 2010

Homework for 6/7

Thank you for evaluating each other's blogs! For this week, I would like you to do the following:

1) Finish pg. 41

2)Write a blog post about a trip you took. It can be a vacation you took in Japan or to another country. It can be a trip with friends or family. Try to write using the paragraph structure!

Ok, have a nice week and see you next week!

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Midterm Evaluation

Today we are going to evaluate (or grade) each other's blogs. I will give you the name of a student in class. Please find the student's blog on my blog list. Click on that student's blog and answer the questions here.

Please be honest and fair!

If you have any questions, please ask me!

Monday, May 24, 2010

Homework for 6/1

OK, we are at the half-way point of the semester! Only seven more weeks until summer vacation. Keep up the good work and keep practicing writing sentences.

For homework this week, please do the following:

1) Textbook pp. 46-47

2) Make comments on your group member's blog about giving/receiving presents


Thanks, and see you next week!

Monday, May 17, 2010

Homework for 5/24

Congratulations on finishing the first test! Also, thank you for doing such a good job on the listening/writing activity today! For next week, there is only one thing I want you to do:

1) Please write a blog entry about a present you have given or received.

That's all for this week! See you next week!

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Homework for 5/17

The quiz has been moved to next week! Please continue to review all that we have done in the textbook for next week. Also, please do the following:

1) complete pp. 30-31 in the textbook.

2) please comment on each of your group member's blog post about GW!

Let me know if you have any questions about the quiz before next week!

Good Luck!

Monday, May 3, 2010

Homework for 5/10

I hope you all enjoy your Golden Week. Here is the homework for the next class:

1) Please comment on your group member's blog "My Best Friend"

2) Please write a NEW blog post with the title "My Golden Week". Please write about what you did (or didn't do) during the holiday.

3) Review Units 1 & 2 (pp. 12 - 27) for the quiz in the next class.


See you next week!

Monday, April 26, 2010

Homework for 5/3

Everyone is doing great so far! Please keep up the good work! Here is your homework for next week:

1) pg. 22-23

2) Blog entry #2: My Best Friend

Good luck and have fun writing sentences!

Monday, April 19, 2010

Homework for 4/26

Hi everyone! How do you like blogging? I think it is fun. For homework, I would like you to do the following:

1) pg. 14 #1-5

2) Make a comment on each of your group member's blogs

Have fun and see you next week!

Monday, April 12, 2010

Introduction

Hi everyone! My name is Paul Marlowe and I am an instructor of English at Kwansei Gakuin University. I am from Michigan, U.S.A.. I moved to Osaka, Japan in 2004 and now I live in Kobe. I have one older brother. He lives in Michigan with his wife. I have many hobbies. For example, I like hiking, cycling, photography, listening to music, and playing guitar. I also like to watch sports. I like to watch the Hanshin Tigers. Go Tigers!