Dear Class,

Our one-pointEnglish lesson for last Tuesday was:

Do you have any allergies?
Yes, I'm allergic to Japanese cedar.
I'm allergic to house dust and pollen.
No, I don't have any allergies.

In class we reviewed our homework from a few weeks ago.
We were supposed to take our list and break it up into three categories:

1. Areas that are important to both you and your client

2. Areas that are important to you, but not to your client

3. Areas that are important to your client, but not to you

Here are a few examples we reviewed in class:

Important to only me
Steadily increase the rental fees for office leasing
Create an environment where clients can improve the communication in their organization
Enable clients to help themselves ("Help me, help you"=> Jerry Macguire)

Important only to my clients
Clients want a fixed rental fee
Clients think that it's more important for individuals to change their way of thinking

Important to both
Long term rental agreements

Homework:

Please finish up writing the three categories listed above and...

One-on-One Focus Group #3
*Talk to 2-5 people from your field (colleague, client, boss, superior)
*Talk to them about what you've written about your industry and job
*Is it correct?
*What feedback and additional comments do they have?

Thanks again and see you soon!

Sincerely,

Matthew

Dear Class,

Today is February 20th, 2007.

Today we reviewed the Chart from last time and added more specific examples about our jobs in particular. (Please click on the word "chart" above!)

We are getting very close to the last step in our process to create our Personal Branding Statement.
Keep up the good work and continue writing!

Your homework:

One-on-One Focus Group #3
*Talk to 2-5 people from your field (colleague, client, boss, superior)
*Talk to them about what you've written about your industry and job
*Is it correct?
*What feedback and additional comments do they have?

Please keep reading your graded readers and studying on the Cerego Website!

Sincerely,

Matthew

Dear Class,

Today is February 13th, the day before Valentine's Day.
Have you bought chocolates for the ones you love?
In America there is no White Day, only Valentine's Day.
On Valentine's Day men and women give each other gifts.
Men usually give women flowers and chocolate and women often give men chocolate as well.

Last week we talked about what's important to us and our clients.
We added a few more examples to the chart:

*Please click on the link below:
CHART

*Next be more specific and write what's important for you in your position and what's important for your clients, internal and external

Homework:

Write the following:

1. Areas that are important to both you and your client

2. Areas that are important to you, but not to your client

3. Areas that are important to your client, but not to you

And ... Have a Happy Valentine's Day tomorrow!

Sincerely,

Matthew

P.S. We will be finishing up this process in the next couple of weeks, so please make sure that you have done the previous steps.

Good Morning Class,

Today we are talking about what is important to ourselves and what is important to our clients.
Sometimes what we want and what our clients want is the same and sometimes different.
For example, we want to provide high quality service to our clients and they want to receive high quality service from us.
In this case, what we want is the same.
We may want to visit our clients as much as possible, but our clients may only want to see us when it is necessary.
In this case, what we want and what our clients want is different.

Our homework was to make a list of what's important to us and compare that to what is important to our clients.
Let's look at a few examples:

CHART

The more specific, the better
The more, the merrier
The fewer, the better
The bigger, the better


Homework for next week:

Enjoy the three-day weekend and see you next Tuesday the 12th of February.

Sincerely,

Matthew

Dear Class,

In our last class we went over some more answers from our previous homework.
Take a look at these other examples:

#3 Skills necessary for success

Nagashima Tetsuo
*Consulting skills
*Good communication skills
*Needs analysis
*Solution planning, proposal writing, presentation skills, and implementation

Sugimoto Ouki
*Ability to analyze a problem from the management and employee points of view
*Sensitivity to clients' feelings, needs, and concerns
*Counseling skills
*Interview skills
*Good conversationalist

Target client or boss

*Small to medium size companies
*Entrepreneurs with their own companies
*Companies who want to educate their next generation of leaders
*Companies who want to expand their business but don't have the know-how

Homework:

*What's important to your target clients?
*What's important to you?

Write out and compare what's important to you and what is important to your clients in two columns.

See you next Tuesday!

Sincerely,

Matthew

Hello Class,

This morning we reviewed our homework which was to finish writing out the answers for questions 1-3:

Here are some examples:
#3 List the key talents and skills necessary for success in your present position

*Persistent hard work, consistently accurate accounting, strong financial background, analytical skills
*Account management skills, emergency crisis management, disaster management, organizational skills, financial knowledge
*Vision Creation, "Thinking out of the box", planning organizational change, persuading others, management knowledge and skills
*Manager/leader training skills, networking skills, good negotiation skills, honest communication, business and social etiquette training
* English skills, management skills, new IT knowledge, negotiation skills, writing skills

Part 2 of last week's homework:

Describe your target client or boss

*People who want to innovate
*Artists with innovative talent
*People dissatisfied with their current situation
*Galleries or museums who are interesting in cutting edge art using technology or curators who believe that art benefits humanity

*People who want to increase motivation in their employees
*People who want to create corporate identities and corporate cultures
*People who want to improve ther company image in society
*CEOs who are deciding who their successor will be

*People who want to manage their real estate more effectively
*People who are looking for offices or apartments in high-class areas
*Companies that need financial reports for REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts)

Thank you to all who attended today.
We got a lot of work done!

Homework for next week:
Please make sure that you have the three questions regarding your job or position and your description of your perfect boss or client

Enjoy your graded readers and have a great week!

Sincerely,

Matthew

Hello Class,

Here are the notes for lesson #25.

In our lesson on Tuesday we went over our homework for last week.

Examples:

#1 Your Title or Current Position

• Property Management Administrator
• Internal Communications Coordinator
• Organizational Development Consultant
• Financial Development Manager
• Management Solutions Team Leader
• Chief OD Consultant

#2a General responsibilities

• I am responsible for office leasing.
• I am responsible for account management
• I am responsible for internal communications
• I am responsible for corporate accounting
• I am responsible for developing and managing the corporate development plan

#2b Specific duties or responsibilities

• I have to check contracts, do accounting for all corporate office leasing, and make financial reports for Real Estate Securities
• I have to track costs and budgets for corporate accounts
• I have to plan internal communications including the website, newsletter, and company events such the annual kickoff meeting.
• I have to keep track of payments and receipts, make investments, and write risk management reports

Homework for next week:

1. Please make sure that you have finished questions 1-3 for next class.
2. Describe your perfect boss or target client/customer.

See you next week and have a great weekend!

Sincerely,

Matthew

Dear Class,

Good morning and Happy New Year!

This is the first post for 2007!
Tuesday morning in our 24th lesson we talked about our New Year's resolutions.
Here are some examples of what class members shared today:

*I want to make a regular habit of studying management
*My New Year's resolution is to read 1 million words using graded readers in 2007
*My New Year's resolution is to get up early every morning and read English books
*I want to make a habit of exercising regularly
*My New Year's resolution is to study English regularly
*My New Year's resolution is to save time and money
*My New Year's resolution is to wake up earlier and read more graded readers
*My New Year's resolution is to go to the movie theater at least once a month
*My New Year's resolution is to get up at 6 a.m. to stretch and study English on the train
*My New Year's resolution is to wake early and come to work at around 7:30 or 8:00 every morning and to study English and other subjects at home

A friend of mine also does video podcasts on his website.
His #17 podcast is on our the subject of New Year's Resolutions.
The name of his website is "English4Now.com".
Click on the link above and then go to the "podcast" section of his website and you will find his podcasts.
I think you'll enjoy it and it's a great way to get more listening practice!
Let me know what you think.

We also talked a little bit about the way English is pronounced.
Here's a really good link to a listening text that I introduced to Berlitz Japan.
It is a really great guide to how English changes when spoken:
http://www.abax.co.jp/listening/index.html
I will put the file onto the Project You! Community site too.

Homework:
Finish writing out the answers to the questions about your job and work responsibilities from last class. Please see the last post on December 19th.
I have updated this on the Personal Branding Statement page on the Project You! Community discussion group.

Our next step is to look at our target market which we'll do next week in class.

Have a great week and be sure to record your the graded readers you've read in our Extensive Reading Community!

Sincerely,

Matthew

Buying Some Gloves - Chapter Preview

(洋販ラダーシリーズ)
By Niimi Nankichi

Theseus and the Minotaur - Chapter Preview

(Penguin Longman Active Reading)
By Ken Beatty

A King's Sword

'You have two fathers, Theseus,' his mother said. 'You are the son of Poseidon, the god of the sea, and the son of King Aegeus.'

Theseus lived with his mother in Troezen, in Greece. He was a clever, happy young man, but he did not know his father.
One day, his mother said to him, 'Come into the garden, Theseus. Do you see that big rock? Can you move it, my son?'
Theseus was strong He moved the rock and looked under it. There was a sword - a king's sword!
'This is the sword of King Aegeus,' his mother said. 'And now it is yours.'
Theseus looked at her, and then at the sword. 'Mine?' he said. 'Why is it mine?'
'You have two fathers, Theseus,' his mother said. 'You are the son of Poseidon, the god of the sea, and the son of King Aegeus. King Aegeus lives in Athens. Go to him now. It is time.'
That night, Theseus said goodbye to his mother.
'I am going to walk to my father's home,' he said to her.
'But it is a long and difficult walk,' his mother said.
'I am strong,' Theseus said. 'You know that, Mother. Don't cry for me.'
Theseus walked for ten days. There were many bad men on the road. But he fought them - and he killed them. Then he came to Athens, to the home of King Aegeus.
But Aegeus had a new wife, Medea, and she had a son too. She was angry about Theseus.
'He is your father's first son,' she said to her son. 'You are going to be king after your father - not him.'
She wanted to kill Theseus. But Aegeus watched her and he stopped her.
The king talked to Theseus. 'You moved the rock and you have my sword,' he said. 'You are my son.'

Crime Story Collection - Chapter Preview

(Penguin Longman Active Reading)
By Sara Paretsky

Three is a Lucky Number
Margery Allingham

This was the difficult bit. The discovery of the body must be made, but not too soon.

At five o'clock on a September afternoon Ronald Torbay was making preparations for his third murder. He was being very careful. He realized that murdering people becomes more dangerous if you do it often.
He was in the bathroom of the house he had recently rented. For a moment he paused to look in the mirror. The face that looked back at him was thin, middle-aged, and pale. Dark hair, a high forehead and well-shaped blue eyes. Only the mouth was unusual - narrow and quite straight. Even Ronald Torbay did not like his own mouth.
A sound in the kitchen below worried him. Was Edyth coming up to have her bath before he had prepared it for her? No, it was all right; she was going out of the back door. From the window he saw her disappearing round the side of the house into the small garden. It was exactly like all the other gardens in the long street. He didn't like here to be alone there. She was a shy person, but now new people had moved into the house next door, and there was a danger of some silly woman making friends with her. He didn't want that just now.

Hi Class,

We had the 23rd lesson on Tuesday.
I hope everyone is feeling well.
Many people in my office have been getting sick lately.
Take care of yourselves!

In the lesson we discussed the next step in the Personal Branding Statement process.
We have learned that the formula for the PBS is Skills + Personality/Passion + Market Needs.

Our next step is to look at market needs.
Here is your homework for Tuesday, January 9th, 2007:
(Please note that there are no lessons on December 26th and January 2nd!)

I'd like you to write out the following:

1. Write down the title of your position or the type of business you are in.
Example: If you do consulting for clients, you might be a business consultant.

2. List up the following:
a) the general responsibilities of your job
b) the specific duties of your job
c) achievements you have made

3. List the key talents or skills necessary for doing your job well.
This can include areas that you need to improve as well.

Do your best writing out this homework and we will discuss it during the next class.

I hope that all of you have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Sincerely,

Matthew

Hi Class!

This is the 22nd lesson.

Today we reviewed the steps for the Personal Branding Statement.

You have Skills, Personality, and Passion finished so far.

Your homework is to meet and do a one-on-on discussion with a colleague, friend, a co-worker, family member, or a superior and discuss your Personality and Passion with them.
Write down any feedback or new things you learn about yourself in the process.

You should know what your strong traits are now and should have gone to the "Project You! Community" and posted them to the discussion: What's your personality? => Scaling => Strong Traits.

By the way, this link is the ALC site which has a very good dictionary:
www.alc.co.jp

Thanks for all your hard work and see you in class,

Matthew

Hi Class,

Today we had the 21st lesson.

Homework:
Have a one-on-one discussion about your your 10 skills, passion, and strong traits with a friend, colleague, or superior.
Write down anything that was different or that was added to your Skills, personality, or passion.
Please use the Personal Branding Statement page in the Project You! Community as a guide.

Dear Class,

On Tuesday we had our 20th Lesson!

We are making really good progress with creating our Personal Branding Statements and many of you are really reading a lot of books.

I am very happy to see that you are posting the books that you've read on the Extensive Reading Community.

In class this week we reviewed how to add the books you've read to the discussion group.
Here are the basic steps:

• First use the search function at the top-right part of the page to search for your book title

• If you read "Forrest Gump", just type in "Forrest" and if someone has added it, it will appear
• You can also search by using the abbreviation for the book level; type PGR2 and all of the Penguin Graded Readers for level 2 will appear
• Put in your first or last name and a list of all the books you've read will appear (after you have inputed them of course)

• If your book hasn't been inputed then type the following into the discussion subject:
  
• Series/Level * Book Title * Yomiyasui Level * Genre * Total # of words * Rating
• For Example: PGR3 Forrest Gump YL 3.4 HU 10,000 ☆☆☆☆
• Now type the date you finished reading the book, Your name, and a comment into the Message area
• For example: 2006/9/5 Yumiko Toyoshima 映画と比べるとより現実的な内容だったけど、おもしろかった。

• If your book has already been inputed then reply to the last message, input the following, and press the send button:
  
• date you finished reading the book, Your name, and a comment into the Message area
• For example: 2006/9/5 Yumiko Toyoshima 映画と比べるとより現実的な内容だったけど、おもしろかった。
• Now do this for all of the books you've read so far!

I want to thank everyone who has posted the books they read this week.
As of last night, around 80 books, and over 100 comments have been entered!
Let's keep up the good work!

Be sure to bring your Personality Scaling Worksheet results with you tomorrow.
You should know what your strong traits are now and should have gone to the "Project You! Community" and posted them to the discussion: What's your personality? => Scaling => Strong Traits.

Our next step will be to have a one-on-one focus group with a friend, colleague, boss, or superior to discuss your personality traits and see if they agree or can give you some feedback.

Thanks again and see you in class!

Matthew

Dear Class,

Today was Lesson 19 and we discussed the following:

• We talked about Gmail and the different programs related to it such as:
• Docs & Spreadsheets
• Calendar
• Groups
• We reviewed the Personality Scaling worksheet from the Excel file
• We finished circling our personality traits
  
• We wrote down any traits that were 1, 2, 7, or 8
• These adjectives are our "Strong Traits"
• Our homework is to go to the "Project You! Community" and post to the new discussion: What's your personality? => Scaling => Strong Traits
• We decided to create another group for Extensive Reading
• Each book will be a post
• Each additional person who reads the book will add a comment
• Lastly, we talked about online social communities:
• Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG)
  
• Habbo Hotel http://www.habbohotel.jp/habbo/jp/
• Second Life http://secondlife.com/world/jp/
• MMOG Chart http://www.mmogchart.com/

Homework: Don't forget to register on our class blog.
Hiromi is in charge of helping everyone at iCommunications to get logged in.
Be sure to review what we did in class and go to the Project You! Community to input your homework as a comment under What's your personality? => Scaling => Strong Traits.

Thanks and home to hear from you soon!

Sincerely,

Matthew

Dear Class,

If you look at the comments on the last post, Miyu sent us a link to the Penguin Reader website.
This is a good resource for learning more about their graded readers.

I have added this link to the right-hand side of the blog as well as the links to the other publishers' graded reader sites.
Some are in Japanese, but most are in English.

I hope you find them helpful!

Thanks again to Miyu!

Sincerely,

Matthew

Hello Class,

Yesterday we had our 18th lesson and we talked about the following subjects:

• I explained how to use the our Project You! class blog
• Introduced the Google Groups Project You! Community
• It's a group discussion page where we can discuss the homework and answer questions posted
• There is a link to it on the right side of the class blog!
• We went over the adjectives in the personality scaling chart
• Lastly, we discussed which books everyone is reading for Extensive Reading

Homework: Be sure to fill out the Personality Scaling Chart in the Excel file I sent previously.

• The adjectives in the left and right columns have opposite meanings
• Highlight or printout and circle the details about your own personality
• For example: if you are really not really organized and not scattered, you can mark somewhere in between the two adjectives
• We will go over your answers next Tuesday, so please print out the chart from the Excel file

Thanks again and be sure to leave comments or questions here on the class blog and in the Project You! Community discussion pages.

Sincerely,

Matthew

Hello Class!

On Tuesday, we had lesson 17.
These are some of the subjects we reviewed:

• We talked about my business trip to Kokura, Kyushu where I participated in the Japan Association of Language Teaching (JALT) conference
• Professors, publishers, and other professionals came from all over Japan and from other countries to meet and share research, know-how, and products for learning English
• I learned more about Podcasting and how it can be used to teach English
• Experts are saying that Extensive Reading and Listening is not only beneficial but essential to learning English (I've been saying this all along!)
• We also went over our "Personality Traits" in pairs and learned many new adjectives
  

Lastly, our homework is to do the personality chart in the Excel file I sent you a while back.
You can find it in one of the worksheets in the file.
It has been filled out already as an example, just change the answers to fit your own personality.
We will go over it in class on Tuesday morning.

Good luck with your homework and see you soon!

Sincerely,

Matthew

Hello Everyone!

As you know, I went on a four-day business trip to Kita Kyushu.
My colleague, CEO, and I went to an international conference for the Japan Association for Language Teaching (JALT) in Kokura.

We had a booth in the exhibition hall to demonstrate our website to people attending the conference. It was very interesting to meet university professors and other professionals from all over Japan and many from overseas.

I attended a lot of presentations regarding topics such as extensive reading, podcasting, online chat, and other technology for language learning.
I really learned a lot about some new areas and am excited to try out some of the things I learned.

Last Tuesday, we had our 16th class.

We reviewed the 5 Essential Factors again and talked about the importance of keeping a notebook with your goals written down inside (See last post; how to use your SMART Goals).

As for our Personal Branding Statement (PBS), we have the following formula to help us create it:

PBS = Skills + Personality/Passion + Market Needs

So far we should have the following done in our Excel sheets:

• 10 Skills - How they help you with your job/career & Proof of the skills
• Meet with a colleague, boss, or friend and get feedback on your 10 skills
• Passion - What do you love?
• If you didn't have to work, what would you do all day long?
• What is your dream job?
• What would the schedule for your perfect day be?
• Personality - Write down 10 adjectives that describe you or your personality.

That's all for now.
Remember that your homework doesn't have to be perfect, just do your best!

I'm looking forward to seeing you tomorrow!

Sincerely,

Matthew