Integrations Into English

I have some projects I'm working on in a couple classes. Presentations that I am "converting" for my blog, so You'll get an idea of what I'm doing for school this semester. With 3 literature classes, it's a lot of reading...a lot! Basically it's read and discuss, read and discuss, write paper, read and discuss. I thought I'd put up this video to hold you over. I found this along time ago and liked it. What I think is special about this video is the lighting effects. Whoever did the lighting is amazing. There's a scene a good ways into the video that has all the colored lights and stage lights flashing like crazy and "glaring" on camera. At first your first reaction might be to squint(it's alot like seeing tons of camera bulbs going off in front of you. But it's amazing because you don't squint. It's actually all quite pleasant. I don't know how he managed the right amount of filters and such but it's really cool.

As you should be able to tell by now...I'm really interested in Japanese culture, and those of you that have been listening to the podcast, you know I plan on moving there after I graduate. I don't know how long it'll be before I see Tokyo(I'll be trying to settle a bit south of there, closer to Osaka) but I liked this clip.

Finally, another podcast. I recorded this while fixing a late night snack. Thanks for being so patient while I was busy with college. I should have time to get another podcast out next week. Direct Link Here's the "how to" video on stirring that I mentioned in the podcast. Thanks to japancast.net where I found it.

I'm very excited about this. Last semester I had the opportunity to propose developing a new type of curriculum for English. This is very preliminary and didn't even establish for what grade level, but what it did do is open up some doors. Of course there will be some things I can't do until I'm in Japan, but there's still a lot I can do now. I now have the time and resources to work on another project I've been thinking about. Developing some ESL curriculum. Particularly some curriculum for teaching English in Japan. I'd prefer doing this work in Japan, but I'm just too excited about it to wait until I move. Besides, there's a lot of groundwork I can lay before I go, that will speed up the process. One thing I want to do, that'll be a lot of fun(I think) is to use you guys/gals as my guinea pigs:) I started using writely.com to create some online content, and I will continue to update it and post it on this blog. It will require me to talk somewhat to explain a lot of the content and help you better understand it, but that's what podcasts are for, rigtht? What does this mean for my podcast? Well, it means I will be steering the content a little towards a Japanese audience, but it's still very important to keep in touch with an English speaking community. Initially I'll be talking(in the podcast) about some of the things I've mentioned here, and more. I'd like to establish some connections with people teaching english in Japan. I'm going to be getting some of the newer curriculum being used in classrooms right now. For now I posted a horrible mix of words and ideas in a recent document I created on writely.com These were random thoughts I just laid out the other night. I didn't really organize my thoughts so I know how unprofessional and childlike it seems, but that's part of the joy of sharing my work with you. You can watch it come alive and develop right before your eyes. So without further delay, here's what I've written so far. Integrations Into English MP327 minutes Powered by CGISpy.com

In this months Hiragana Times there's an article about a new English teaching method that has been garnering rave reviews in Japan. Professor Onishi who has a Japanese television show called "Haato de Kanjiru Eibunpou"(English Grammar Feeling By Heart) where he has been teaching english by throwing out the old boring grammar book. Instead of the traditional way of teaching the basics of grammar with a textbook, which has many students bored causing them to do poorly, Onishi uses what he refers to as teaching cores. "Every grammatical part has one core, one essential, fundamental 'intuition.' Once you get the core you can use it to learn other smaller derivative points. You don't have to build up usages or memorize any rules, you just attack the core. It's a very efficient way of learning" I have been looking around for info on the net. So far I've come up empty handed. If anyone knows any URL's or more info on this, I'd love to see it. I'm hoping to find an episode, clip, or even just some photos of professor Onishi or his show. I know that someone from NHK TV discovered him which had a great deal to do with him getting publicity. He's even having a series of new books published soon. Also the late post comes from a combination of being busy with school, and google's server temporarily down during the one shorthttp://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=20609135 time I actually tried to post. So I've thrown in a couple Quickclips to keep you all happy, and coming back. These are two clips of the openings to "Densha Otoko" a new popular show in Japan about an Otaku who meets a beautiful woman and she starts to like him. I haven't watched the whole series but I may. Have a good day and a great week!

Hello, and welcome to this update of a future sister site to Integrations Into English called Integrations Into Eigo. The site design is simple, and ready to use. However it is not ready to open. I'm working on a series of vodcasts, as well as podcasts. I'm still working on the formats, and gathering the resources I need. I have recently been practicing with video software. I should note: I do everything for free. I don't have the money(right now) to put into buying higher quality software or anything fancy. I made a preproduction video clip of a possible intro to the Integrations Into Eigo vodcast. I was aiming for "Goofy". I have a couple more ideas but I think this was a great start. Enjoy the short clip, and let me know what you think.

Yep, another week of no audio. Looks like I've gotta put some extra work into the podcast to make sure these mistakes don't happen so often. I found this video from real english. I actually found the video on Google video. I think it's a great example of teaching language acquisition. The more senses you involve increases the learning potential. Another little video is of some young kids singing. I think a large majority of American teachers teaching young kids in ESL are women. You can see that it must be fun and gives them a feeling of accomplishment, and they think the kids are cute, and so on and so forth. I myself will be happy to teach any age group. I think it's important to teach more people multiple languages but you need to look beyond that. You should always think about what's next. I don't just mean what's next for your class, or next assignment but what's the next big step. We need to learn how to constantly better language acquisition across the globe. We also need to keep in mind that we are also constantly improving our own education here at home, and apply that. You really have to take a lot of things into consideration. Bettering yourself and the world is more than just teaching a 4th grade class for 5-10 years. Think about the people who are moving and shaking the earth, and what they did to get where they are at(in any profession or education) You have to think big. I am looking forward to teaching ESL, but I will be thinking beyond that. About improving the educational standards, developing my own curriculum, ALWAYS learning more to better myself. I am also thankful to places like google video, for now I can have video casts as well as just audio. I have a cheap little miniDV. It doesn't have a lot in the way of features, but I had bought it just for a simple point and shoot, so that's OK with me. I created a little cam test. I think I got some very good quality video out of the camera. It is a bit dark, but that's not the cameras fault. It was at night and pretty dark in the room already. I really want to thank my listeners and everyone visiting the site for being so patient with me. I've been pretty busy with classes. My literature classes all have me writing papers that are due around the same time. So I've been a little overwhelmed. It's a lot of reading, you know. Some fun, some not so fun. I've really enjoyed covering the book "The Woman Warrior" Written by a Chinese-American. I love Eastern culture. Specifically I concentrate my interest on Japanese culture, but I like other Eastern cultures as well, so It was fun to read. I've started doing more with the blog. I've been slipping in more personal interests into it, and I think that's cool. It gives the blog, and podcast, a little more life. I've also been working on my other site, and podcast--so I guess that AND my schooling has contributed to not having a podcast this week. Anyway, I had it pretty much set up, then I started discovering all the cool blogger skins available. So now I don't know. I found one that is kinda neat, but it just isn't functioning the way I'd hoped. I'm trying to get help with it, but it's kind of at a stand still right now. So I'm also still looking for another skin. The one I found, I became kind of attached to. Finally I'll end this weeks post with a couple videos I found on human development. This is an introduction to a course being offered at Wheelo(c)k college. Yeah, it's best use is for a student who is deciding whether or not to take the course. However it kinda talks about what I was just saying about learning, and continuing to learn. You may not see it explained right-out, but she talks about developement of a person(including the brain) Well if you start thinking about it and how a person develops throughout their life, you'll see how you need to present material to them. We can think, by seeing this video, that there's ways we are learning...how people learn, and that affects how we teach. It's not being cyni

Dave let me share this. I should also mention I originally discovered it on Herro Flom Japan podcast Dave is a photographer and his site is professorbright

Take a look at this video: Why is the latter part of the movie scene so funny, by American standards of humor? Is it funny to other cultures? if yes, why? And finally add any other thoughts you have.