Book Assignment2

8. English classes that I took at high school

Eighth poem captures a moment when I took classes in my high school.  I liked my high school and I liked English.  However, the classes I took them there were not good.  We had to study too strictly grammar.  We had no joyful activities using English.  No classes having taking with ALTs.  I can see any pleasure when I took them.  I was likely to hate English.  I was not able to understand difficult English grammatical word.  Moreover, I didn’t understand why our teachers taught us so detail things.  The time I spent in my high school was painful for me.

 

9. English classes that I took at Gunma University

Ninth poem describes a moment when I took classes in Gunma University.  As I mentioned in former poem’s description, I didn’t like my English class in high school.  However, the classes in my university are very fun.  A lot of conversation in classes with my friends, native speakers are very close to us, and we are able to do many class activities.  I can feel the joy of learning English again.  Not to strict grammar and too quiet class.  I cannot help but smiling when I realize the day has English classes.  I think I can feel the gap between two English classes because these two was too different for me.

 

10. English experiences that I experienced in foreign countrie

Last poem captures a moment when I went abroad not including the this year’s one.  I went Hawaii as a family trip and Sydney as a short term studying abroad.  They game me a lot of experiences.  I was just a sixth grade of elementary school student and second grade of junior high school.  Therefore I didn’t know so many grammar to communicate with foreigners there.  However I didn’t feel any shame.  The only thing I felt then was lots of interest for foreign culture.  I saw many cultural differences between Japan.  I wanted to know more things that I was able to see then.

Book Assignment1

1.Self-introduction

My name is Shiori.  I am a second grade of Gunma University and I major in English education.  I was born in 12 16, 1998 in Maebashi city.  I spent most of my time here, but when I was a small child, before my sister was born, my family lived in Toda in Saitama.  I hardly have memories about that time.  However from that time, I already started learned English and I was interested in it from some time ago.

My hobby is watching English dramas and movies. (Though, I sometimes watch French, German and Russian movies.)  At weekends, I spend all the day or two days  watching them, if I have nothing to do.

 

2.Explanation of your theme

The theme of this book is about my English learning experiences . The connection of ten poems is that these experiences are all important for me.  Some poems are not seem happy, and look hard.  The other poems seem just fun and have no useful information.  However these experiences are all mine, and they consist of me as English learner.  As I wrote in my Self-introduction, I had had great interest in English since I was very small.  Therefore, I spent joyful time mostly as an English learner.  That especially why I clearly remember the moment or time I spent with hard feeling.  I wrote these ten poems with the hope not to forget these memories.

 

3.Background Information of  10 Poems

1.the First Class in Foreign Country

First poem describes a moment when I attended a class in Melbourne for the first time during the spring vacation in my first year in university.  I was in a right side of the table and there were three students who looked be familiar with classes.  I cannot understand what should I do or what should I speak in the class.  I was very confused with the situation.  That made me more nervous.  At first, I thought the three students were perfect, but it wasn’t true.  I found that they said their opinions or thoughts a lot, and not all these things are perfect.  Then, I found I can speak what I thought there easily.

 

2.TV Programs when I was a little child

Second poem captures a moment when I watch TV programs in my childhood, especially I was maybe zero to five.  I always watched them at home, and sometimes watches them in my grandparents houses.  My mother bought me the video or DVDs broadcasted in U.S. and U.K..  I loved these programs very much, and I begged my mother to play them for me.  My mother sometimes turned on the TV and let me watch Japanese programs, but I refused.  I don’t remember that fact, but I clearly remember I loved the programs she bought for me.  I did love the time I watched them.

 

3.the Scene in Melbourne

Third poem describes a moment when I talked with a man in a winery during my stay in Melbourne.  It was a very good sunny day and a last Saturday I can spend time with my Japanese roommate and my host mother.  My host mother brought us new and beautiful winery.  We drank a cup of lemonade next to a young couple.  A man who drank wine asked us an easy question, but I cannot understand what he said to me because of his dialect.  My mother re-told me in clear English.  Then I can understand it.  I was really shocked at that moment.

 

4.English songs which I have heard

Forth poem captures a moment when I think about my English songs as my one of my greatest hobby.  Most of my friends are not interested in the English culture, so they do  not know about English songs, of course.  I mostly don’t care about that, but sometimes I feel lonely this situation, because I cannot share my feeling with someone.  I want to sympathize with someone if my favorite singers did something.  I am sometimes jealous of people who have friends, and they can talk about their common hobby.  However, I never tried to listen to other Japanese or Korean songs, because I am not interested in them at all.

 

5.English movies and dramas which I have watched

Fifth poem describes a moment when I watch English movies and dramas.  I mostly watch them using Hulu.  Therefore, I can watch them at house of course, even at my university.  I watch some series of drama in daily, and I watch  movie when I have a time.  I have some favorite movies.  I sometimes watch them again.  Not just one time.  It means I truly love them and I try to train my English skill.  I change settings and try to watch them without Japanese subtitle.  I am addicted to the amazing movie and drama’ s world.  I cannot live without them.

 

6.Linguistic classes that I took at Gunma University

Sixth poem captures a moment when I took linguistic classes at my university.  I  like to studying English since I was a child, but I was especially interested in this studying.  I had a great pleasure when I got a new things about them.  The most impressive points about this studyings are that we see the language we use every day from other aspects.  We can notice many things form doing it.  I like the feeling I cannot express using my words.  I was able to know the magical world about language rules.  I still study linguistics to be a good linguistics learner.

 

7. English classes that I took at junior high school

Seventh poem describes a moment when I took English classes in junior high school.  I had a great interest in English but these classes were the trigger for me to start to study English hard.  I describes especially classes when I was a first and second grade of the junior high school.  The important thing about it is that the teacher was amazing.  She taught me a lot of interest things.  Thanks for her great teaching, I was able to have much more interest about studying English.  I cannot forget her beautiful characteristics and her classes with pleasure.  I want to be a good teacher like her if I decide to be a teacher.

10 poems

1.the First Class in Foreign Country

At first, I feel nervous to join the class

All the classmates look at me

I think I can’t make any single mistake in front of them

 

But it was wrong

I can be free now

I realize it isn’t life-and-death problem

because nobody knows me

 

The problem is not whether I make a mistake or not

I don’t have to take the situation so seriously

A heavy and huge stone disappears from me

I feel the air is very fresh

 

 

2.TV Programs when I was a little child

Cheerful and gorgeous world spreads in the square box

A child is addicted by the world

She feels she lives in the world

I never watch TV programs made by Japanese

No reaction for watching them

The only things I’m interested in are vivid, fancy, and English culture

 

 

3.the Scene in Melbourne

I didn’t have shame about my English

I understood the daily conversation I heard in Melbourne

I managed to live with my English skill here

Until then …

 

But one day

A man talks to me:

“Where do you come from?”

I cannot answer it

And then, my host mother says it to me more clearly

“I’m from Japan.”

I can answer it with a great shame

I feel someone hits my head hard

My confidence collapses

I know

That guy has a slightly regional accent

But,

I remember this scene vividly

even now …

 

 

4. English songs which I have heard

I couldn’t talk about music with my friends

I couldn’t follow the things they talked about

No person had interests about English songs

No person I could talk about English singers I loved

But

They have attracted me so much

The words

The culture

The context

they have

I still love them

 

 

5.English movies and dramas which I have watched

Violent battles

Gorgeous dresses

Impressive reunion

Unbelievable development

Special world spread in front of me

Its culture

Their language

And background

Spread in my head

I can’t take my eyes off them

I am truly attracted by them

 

 

6.Linguistic classes that I took at Gunma University

First time

I think about the exact meaning of the language

First time

I think about do deeply the words I have used

This study gave me a great shock

This study gave me a wonderful interests

I decided I study about it much more

 

 

7. English classes that I took at junior high school

Sing

Read

Talk

Write

Listen

I knew the loveliness of communicating with foreigners

I knew the joy of learning English

These English classes taught me the pleasure of using English

She taught me the happiness about thinking of English

I’m composed of this precious time

 

 

8. English classes that I took at high school

Nothing could change

Everything could change

I cannot understand the differences between the English classes that I took in junior high school and that of high school

I should have liked English

But

This idea was likely to break

The studying term I spent in high school was grey

 

 

9. English classes that I took at Gunma University

Clearly changed

It is different from English classes that I took in high school

No need to pay too much attention to specific grammar

That made me free

I can feel the joy of learning English again

This class give me a few confidence of English

 

 

10. English experiences that I experienced in foreign countries

I knew how large the world was

I felt the difference between us and people in other culture

I had much more interest about them

I had great longing for these culture

My dream decided then

“Live with people from diverse culture ”

 

Poems about My English Learning Experiences

1, English classes that I took at junior high school

Sing

Read

Talk

Write

Listen

I knew the loveliness of communicating with foreigners

I knew the joy of learning English

My English taught me the pleasure of using English

I’m composed of this precious time

2, English classes that I took at high school

Nothing could change

Everything could change

I cannot understand the differences between the English classes that I took in junior high school and that of high school

I should have liked English

But

This idea was likely to break

The studying term I spent in high school was grey

3, English classes that I took at Gunma University

Clearly changed

It is different from English classes that I took in high school

No need to pay too much attention to specific grammar

That made me free

I can feel the joy of learning English again

This class give me a few confidence of English

4, English experiences that I experienced in foreign countries

I knew how large the world was

I felt the difference between us and people in other culture

I had much more interest about them

I had great longing for these culture

My dream decided then

“Live with people from diverse culture “

Poems about My English Learning Experiences 2

1. English songs which I have heard

I couldn’t talk about music with my friends

I couldn’t follow the things they talked about

No person who had interests about English songs

No person I could talk about English singers I loved

But

I never had interests about Japanese songs

The only interests I had was English songs

They have attracted me so much

The words

The culture

The context

they have

I still love them

2.English movies and dramas which I have watched

Violent battles

Gorgeous dresses

Impressive reunion

Unbelievable development

Special world spread in front of me

Its culture

Their language

And background

Spread in my head

I can’t take my eyes off them

I am truly attracted by them

3.Linguistic classes that I took at Gunma University

First time

I think about the exact meaning of the language

First time

I think about do deeply the words I have used

This study gave me a great shock

This study gave me a wonderful interests

I decided I study about it much more

Revised poems 1

1.the First Class in Foreign Country

At first, I feel nervous to join the class

No people who know me

All the classmates look at me

I think I can’t make any single mistake in front of them

But it was wrong

I can be free now

I realize it isn’t life-and-death problem

because nobody knows me

The problem is not whether I make a mistake or not

I don’t have to take the situation so seriously

A heavy and huge stone disappears from me

I feel the air is very fresh

2.TV Programs when I was a little child

Cheerful and gorgeous world spread in a square box

A child is intoxicating by the world

She feels she is in the world

I never watch TV programs made by Japanese

I have no reaction watching them

The only things I’m interested in are vivid, fancy and English culture

3.the Scene in Melbourne

I didn’t have great shame about my English

I can mainly understand the daily talking I’ve heard

I can manage to live with my English skill there

But one day

I cannot answer the question “where do you come from?”

My host mother read it to me more clearly

I can answer it with great shame

I felt someone hit my head hard

My confidence collapsed

I knew the man who asked me had a slight regional accent

But

I remember this scene vividly

Poems about My English Learning Experiences

1.the First Class in Foreign Country

At first, I feel nervous to join the class

No people who know me

All the classmates look at me

I think I can’t make any single mistake in front of them

But it was wrong

I can be free now, because nobody knows me

The problem is not whether I make a mistake or not

I don’t have to take the situation so seriously

A heavy and huge stone disappears from me

I feel the air is very fresh

2.TV Programs when I was a little child

Cheerful and gorgeous world spread in a square box

A child is intoxicating by the world

She feels she is in the world

I never watch TV programs made by Japanese

I have no reaction watching them

The only things I’m interested in are vivid, fancy and English culture

3.the Scene in Melbourne

I didn’t have great shame about my English

I can mainly understand the daily talking I’ve heard

I can manage to live with my English skill there

But one day, I cannot answer the question “where do you come from?”

My host mother read it to me more clearly

I can answer it with great shame

I felt someone hit my head hard

My confidence collapsed

I knew the man who asked me had a slight regional accent

But

I remember this scene vividly

Free Writing of 10 memories of English Language Learning

1.English TV programs that I watched when I was a little child

・I like English TV program that my mother bought from U.S. and U.K.

・Teletubbies, the wiggles, Blue’s Clues, Bob the Builder, Thomas and Friends…

・watch them almost every day

・loved these programs

・had some toys and dolls

・sang these songs in English

2.English classes that I joined when I was a kindergarten student

・I went English clam school once a week (maybe)

・I liked to go there

・I had no hesitation to use English

・I remember that it had events related English speaking culture and Halloween it was the biggest one

・we(my mother, my sister and i) joined Halloween, with pretty costumes

・we celebrated Christmas and Easter, too

3.English songs which I have heard

・I have liked listening and singing English songs since I was a little child

・The first CD I bought by myself is Lady Gaga’s one

・I love Disney song so much, and ssang them in English

・I sometimes learned new words and phrases from songs that I listen

・I use Apple Music now, and listen to these music with official lyrics

・when i was a junior high school student i loved one direction and i started to have interest about British English

4.English movies and dramas which I have watched

・I liked Disney movies (especially by I started to use Hulu) and watched them again and again

・Now I (my family) use Hulu and watch movies and dramas

・my favorite movie is Ocean’s series (especially  Ocean’s thirteen)

・few weeks ago I went to see a new movie “jumanji” at a theatre

・I watched a movie “the greatest showman” once in Melbourne and one in Japan

・I sometimes watch English movies that I knew the story and I have already watched more than once without English subtitle

・my favorite drama is “supernatural”

・now i watch “criminal mind”

5.English classes that I took at junior high school

・i respect the English teacher named Ms. Takei

・she was a very good to me and i liked her

・i think she was the only person that person who admit me

・her English class was so active and I loved it

6.English classes that I took at high school

・I had CE and 英表 from more than two teachers

・my favorite teacher was Ms.Yoshazawa

・in her class I can understand the task we had to do

・some teachers have terrible pronunciation and I hated it

7.English classes that I took at Deakin University

・it was great

・there are 4 外大 students, 2 滋賀大 students, ２ 杏林 students (they have already been in Australia for 5 months) and 1 Turkish man (same as 杏林 students) and me in my class

・most of all classmates were very kind to me and others but one 外大 student (majoring English) was not

・we had two excursions during the classes(immigration museum and acmi)

・after the excursion 杏林 students and 滋賀大 students and Turkish man and me went out

・the gelato shop that John brought us was so good.  i ate pistachio one

8.Linguistic classes that I took at Gunma University

・i love these classes much better than classes about education

・i sometimes forget time when i took these classes

・i just started taking Shibata sensei’s class about 音声学, and it is vert interesting for me

・i liked Yamada sennsei’s class about 統語論, too and i take his another class this semester

・i want to study about these things much more

・my small goal is that i can write tree diagram by myself if the sentences are  complex

9.English experiences that I experienced in foreign countries (Australia and Hawaii)

・I only had poor grammatical knowledge about English (I had not learned 不定詞 yet when i went these countries), but i used my English as much as possible

・it was very important to use my English if i made mistake

・the host family that i had in Australia was not Australians, Germany

・they(the host family) are also not native English speakers and i can have confident that it was OK to make a grammatical mistake

・to be friendly to everyone was very important

10.the Experience that I went to Australia during this spring vacation

・I spoke to many foreign people not only Australian

・I felt that  Chinese English was sometimes hard to understand

・I can’t say that i want so quickly

・most of ESL not from Japan are so voluntary and have high skill especially speaking skill

・I sometimes can’t understand the easy sentences that was uttered by native people and felt ashamed myself

・I really enjoyed shopping alone or with my friend and talk to clarks just a little

・Starbucks was not so expensive because the commodity price was higher than japan

Essay about Chamcharatsri’s Article(2013)

The writer argued this article by observing students who use English as their second language and Thai as their first language. The topic of this article is that L2 learners can express their feelings by using poetry writings. Usually, L2 learners have struggle when they show their feelings in their writings. The writer said that poetry writings help their abilities of creating linguistic, cultural, and emotional use. In addition, the feeling contains both negative and positive one. He said that it is good for L2 learners to do tasks of writing their meaningful experiences. Therefore, he suggested that teachers, especially literacy teachers, should encourage their students to use ability of express their feelings and develop their writing skill in their classes.

After I finished read this article, I cannot agree with him because I haven’t experienced writing poetry in English. I think we Japanese don’t take so many poetry classes even in Japanese. Moreover the knowedge we gained from these classes were mostly about grammatical feature of poetry. We have written poems by ourselves just four or five time, especially when we were elementary school students. Therefore, firstly teachers teach poetry to their students in their L2. I understand that teachers have to teach their students many kinds of grammar, but it is also important to increase their writing skills. In my opinion, it is also good to have habit to write diary. I think writing diary is easier and more realistic for Japanese people because of the reason that I mentioned above. I feel that we don’t have familiar about poems, so it can replace diary.

Short Lists of English Language Learning

1.English TV programs that I watched when I was a little child

2.English classes that I joined when I was a kindergarten student

3.English songs which I have heard

4.English movies and dramas which I have watched

5.English classes that I took at junior high school

6.English classes that I took at high school

7.English classes that I took at Gunma University

8.Linguistic classes that I took at Gunma University

9.English experiences that I experienced in foreign countries

10.the Experience that I went to Australia during this spring vacation