Good Morning Class,

Today we are talking about movies.

We viewed the trailer for Spiderman 3.

Movie Genres:
suspense/thriller - Dressed to Kill (Brian DePalma)
action - Terminator, Speed
science fiction (Sci-Fi) - E.T., Star Wars, Alien (Ridley Scott), Aliens (James Cameron)
comedy - Mr. Bean, Home Alone
mystery - DaVinci Code, The Usual Suspects, Mystic River
fantasy - Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Legend
love story/romance - Love Story
romantic comedy - You've Got Mail
Musical - Phantom of the Opera, Chicago, Chorus Line, West Side Story, My Fair Lady
Drama - Dream Girls
Animation - Lion King, Beauty and the Beast


Spiderman 3 (2 of 8)
What did you think about it?
"It was interesting!"
Who was your favorite character?
The Sandman
What color is Spiderman's normal costume?
red and blue
Why is Spiderman wearing a black suit?

• He has a split personality
• The black costume is his real costume.
• Maybe he started out as a bad guy with the black suit, but later changed his mind. *
  

*Useful Phrase => "I changed my mind"

Die Hard (6 out of 8)
Did you like it?
"Yes, I liked it."
What kind of movie is it?
"It's an action movie."

Babel (3 out of 8)
What did you think?
"It was a little difficult, but interesting."
Who was in it?
Brad Pitt, Kate Blanchett, Rinko Kikuchi, and Yakusho Koji

The DaVinci Code (3 out of 8)
Did you like it?
"It was so-so, but interesting"
Did you read the book? (3 out of 8)
"Yes, I did."

Pirates of the Carribean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (4 out of 8)
Pirates of the Carribean: Deadman's Chest (6 out of 8)
Pirates of the Carribean: World's End (2 out of 8)
Did you like it?
"Yes, we did."
What kind of movie is it?
Comedy and adventure
Who is your favorite character/actor in the movie?
Captain Jack Sparrow/Johny Depp

Homework:
Read, Read, Read!

*Don't forget to input the books you've read on the Extensive Reading Community!

Hello Class,

Today we talked about the Graded Readers that you read and summarized the stories.

Sarah's Surprise
The shop's owner's husband took some food and the part-time worker called the police.
It was a big misunderstanding.

Slam Dunk for Mark
Mark chose his grandmother over his friends and basketball.

Quiz Night
Ji Sung was very smart and honest.
His rival tried to cheat, but she couldn't get the answers to the questions.
Ji Sung lost to her, but he didn't give in to the temptation to cheat.

A Good Friend
Yoko and Eric are good friends, but at first Yoko's mother didn't like Eric because he had long hair and asked Yoko to go to the beach.
Yoko's mother thought that Yoko was too young to have a boyfriend.
One day, Yoko lied to her mother and sneaked out of the house to meet Eric at the beach.
He told Yoko that it was bad to sneak out of the house and told her to go home.
At that time, Yoko stepped on some broken glass and cut her foot.
He took her to the hospital and called her mother.
Her mother came to the hospital and Yoko told her the truth.
Her mother changed her mind about Eric and said that he was a good friend.

Homework:
1. Write example sentences for last week's blog
2. Read, Read, Read

Good Morning Class,

Today we talked about the Graded Readers we have been reading from the Thomson Foundation Library.

We looked at some of the phrasal verbs - verbs that are phrases - and created some example sentences.

We wrote example sentences for "get on" and "get off".
Can you write some sentences for "get in" and "get out"?
There are some ideas below to help you:

Get on -
the bus - I get on the bus at the bus stop on at the corner of 5th and Washington.
the train - I get on the train at Kashiwa Station.
a bicycle - Yesterday Mari got on her bicycle in front of the library.
a motorcycle - The terminator got on a motorcycle and rode away.
a horse - The cowboy got on his horse and rode into the sunset.
a ship - They got on the ship in Alcapulco, Mexico.

Get off -
the bus - Where do you get off the bus?
the train - He got the off train in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
a bicycle - He got off his bicycle and went into the store.
a motorcycle - He got off his motorcycle and went into the library.
a horse - She got off her horse and went into her house.
a ship - They got off the ship in Cancun, Mexico.

Get in -
a car
a taxi
a coach
a horse-drawn carriage
a canoe
a rowboat

Get out of -
a car
a taxi
a coach
a horse-drawn carriage
a canoe
a rowboat

Put on your clothes
Take off your clothes

Get dressed
Get undressed

Homework:
1. Write sample sentences for "get in" and "get out" and add them to a comment.
2. READ, READ, READ

Hello Class,

Here is an interesting advertisement from Berlitz.
It is from somewhere in Europe, but I thought you would enjoy it.

Do you understanding what it means?

Add some comments if you like.

Thanks and see you next week!

Hi Class,

Here are some small talk dialogs that we did in class today:

A: What are you going to do today?
B: I'm going to do some recruiting.
A: Oh, sounds busy.

A: What are you going to do today?
B: I'm going to attend a meeting and go to dinner with a client.
A: Who is the client?
B: It's a tin manufacturer and container company.
A: What kind of containers do they produce?
B: They produce shipping containers, metal drum containers, and stainless steel containers for chemical manufacturers.

A:What are you going to do today?
B: I'm going to prepare for tomorrow's meeting.
A: What kind of meeting are you preparing for?
B: We are meeting with a company (that we are collaborating with) to create educational programs for junior high school students.
A: That sounds interesting.

A: What are you going to do today?
B: I'm going to visit a client to develop a training program for company freshmen.
A: What kind of training?
B: A training for communication.
A: Sounds fun!

A: What are you going to do today?
B: I'm going to an educational training for market researchers.
A: Oh, sounds hard.

A: What are you going to do today?
B: I'm going to make a tenant list for all the buildings we purchased recently.
A: Oh, sounds fantastic.
B: Well, not so fantastic because we purchased buildings that aren't earthquake-proof and we have to kick out the tenants so we can tear down the buildings.
A: Oh, sounds very severe.

There are three points I'd like you to notice.
First the phrase of the day, "What are you going to do today?"
The answer should start with "I'm going to..."
Lastly, take a look at the different examples of "back channeling" or あいづち:

• Oh, sounds busy.
• Sounds fun!
• Oh, sounds hard.
• Oh, sounds very severe.
• That sounds interesting.

Remember that back channeling is used to keep a conversation going smoothly.
Try some of these English expressions in your next session of small talk.

Have a great week!

Dear Class,

Here are some more dialogs that my Saturday class studied:

A: What are you going to do today?
B: I'm going to go to another class.
A: What kind of class are you going to?
B: I'm going to a fabric dyeing class.
A: Wow, that sounds fun!


A: What are you going to do today?
B: I'm going to Umewaka Sports Gym.
A: What are you going to do there?
B: I'm going to a kendo lesson.
A: Oh, that sounds hard.

A: What are you going to do today?
B: I don't have any plans, but I might go for a walk around here.

Dear Class,

Today I brought some graded readers from the Thomson Foundations Library.
This series starts lower than most graded reader series.
It has 7 levels from low beginner to low intermediate.

I really recommend these stories because they are have interesting plots, colorful illustrations, and are all set in the same small town.
Let's try reading them together!

Talking about work:

Here are some dialogs we created in class today.

A: What do you have to do today?
B: I have to attend a meeting today.

A: What do you have to do today?
B: I have to write some reports today.
A: What kind of reports do you have to write?
B: I have to write some REIT reports.
A: What does REIT stand for?
B: REIT stands for Real Estate Investment Trust.

A: What do you have to do today?
B: I have to visit a client today.

A: What do you have to do today.
B: I have to check a report and reply to a client for an artist.

A: What do you have to do today?
B: I have to listen to recorded interviews and write a report.

A: What do you have to do today?
B: I have to prepare for a general shareholders' meeting.

A:What do you have to do today?
B: I have to attend some meetings, visit a client, and go to Osaka tonight.
A: Wow, what a hard schedule!

Small Talk Topic of the Day

The Weather

A: It's a beautiful day today, isn't it?
B: It is, isn't it!

A: It's really raining hard, isn't it?
B: It is, isn't it!

A: I guess it's supposed rain all day.
B: Yeah, I wish it would clear up soon.
A: Me too!

A: I wish the rain would stop soon.
B: Yeah, me too ... I forgot my umbrella!

A: What lovely weather we're having.
B: Yes, it's nice, isn't it.

Homework:

Read, read, read!

Dear Class,

In our last class we talked about another topic of small talk; the weekend.
Here are a couple dialogs we made in class:

A: How was your weekend?
B: It was good.
A: What did you do?
B: I watched Major League Baseball.
A: Who was playing?
B: It was the Mariners vs. the Yankees.
A: Who won?
B: I don't know . . . unfortunately, I fell asleep.

A: How was your weekend?
B: Same old, same old.
A: What did you do?
B: I slept.
A: Oh . . . sounds . . . interesting.

A: How was your weekend?
B: Great!
A: What did you do?
B: I took my son to the swimming pool.
A: Really? Did you swim too?
B: No, I sat next to the pool and counted laps for him.
A: How far did he swim?
B: A little over a kilometer.
A: Wow, he must be a good swimmer!

Small talk is generally unimportant conversation, but learning to make small talk is very important!
It's best to make small talk with same topics such as:

• the weather
• sports
• television
• movies
  
• the weekend
• family

Four topics that should be avoided are:

• sex
• religion
• politics
• money
  

Of course, these topics are discussed but usually only between close friends.

We also went over some of our goals for increasing your commprehensible input of English
through Extensive Reading and Listening.
I gave you some feedback on how to improve your goals by making them SMART Goals.

Homework:

Rewrite your goals to be SMART Goals.
Be sure to continue reading your graded readers!

See you next week!

Matthew

Hello Class,

I found an interesting little movie in Japanese that talks about the importance of creating an "English Brain".

Click here!

Getting exposure to lots and lots of English through Extensive Reading and Listening is very important for developing your English.

I hope you enjoy the explanation and learn something new from it!

Thanks and see you next Tuesday!

Matt

Dear Class,

I am back from vacation and am glad to see everyone in class.

Here is a dialog that we wrote together in class:

A: How was your Golden Week?

B: It was good.

A: What did you do?

B: I stayed at home and relaxed.

Here is another:

A: How was your Golden Week?

B: It was fun.

A: What did you do?

B: I went to my home town and saw a movie.

A: Which movie did you see?

B: I saw Babel.

A: How was it?

B: It was very interesting ... in a good way.

Next week I will bring a sample Business English textbook called Market Leader.
We are looking for a new topic for class.
One idea is to use a Business English textbook.
Do you have any other ideas?
Please leave a comment!

Homework:

Write a SMART goal for INPUT
Focus on Extensive Reading and Extensive Listening

Dear Class,

We went over some

Good Morning Everyone,

Today we reviewed the lesson from last week.
We talked about formal vs. informal language.

We also reviewed some expressions for time:

tomorrow =
the day after tomorrow

yesterday=
the day before yesterday

next week=
the week after next

last week=
the week before last

We then went over the Brand Statement organizer.

Homework:

Fill out the next two sections of the PBS organizer.

See you next Tuesday!

Matt

Good Morning Class,

In class today we worked on our Brand Statement Organizer, but first let's review a few vocabulary words we talked about last week.

We talked about the idea that we use some words in informal situations and some words in more formal situations.
Many words that are considered less formal come from the Anglo-Saxon heritage of English.
Words like "talk, walk, eat, and sleep" are all very natural words in English.
More formal words come from Latin and Greek.
The words on the left are used in less formal situations and the ones on the right are used in more formal situations:

need (v) => require
needs (n) => requirements

help (v) => assist
help (n) => assistance

ask about (v) => inquire
question (n) => inquiry

job => occupation

I'm here to ask about the job=>
I'm here to inquire about the position

In class we filled out the next section of the Brand Statement Organizer:

Brand Personality

honest, positive, and effective

candid, effective, and down-to-earth



Homework:

Answer these questions using your "Personality Scaling", "Passion", and "important to me & important to clients" worksheets

• What are the gaps between your current job/skills and what your clients want/needs
• Are there any opportunities or niches to fill?
• If so, list up a few of these opportunities
• Which of your top ten skills are most important to fill these gaps?
• Which of your personality traits or passions match these needs?

Good luck and see you next week!

Matthew

Hello Class,

We are nearing the end of our process to create our Personal Branding Statement (PBS).
I have uploaded the spreadsheet for you to fill in with the data we have been working on the past few months.

You can download the "Brand Statement Organizer" here.
(Click on the word "here" to follow the link!)

In class we worked on the first two parts together.
Next week in class, we will continue with the other parts.

Here are a few examples from the first two parts:

Field and/or Industry

Corporate education consulting and organizational Development focusing on organizational change management and career development

Corporate real estate leasing including, offices, apartments, and retail outlets

Target Audience

Top management of mid-sized companies who are dealing with specific challenges and realize that they need assistance

People who are looking for offices, apartments, or retail space

Homework:

Download the "Brand Statement Organizer" and fill in the first two spaces; Field and/or Industry & Target Audience.
Print it out, bring it to class, and we'll work on the other parts together.

See you soon,

Matthew

Good Morning Class,

This is the last real work session for creating our Personal Branding Statement.
You should have finished the following:

*List of what's important to you and your client
*One-on-one Focus group

We did a quick 15-question quiz to see how much we remembered from last lesson.
Try it for yourself and put your answers in a comment!

1. M
2. C
3. L
4. D
5. VII
6. IV
7. IX
8. XL
9. LXX
10. XIV
11. XXIX
12. CXXVII
13. CCCXXXIII
14. MM
15. MCMLXXIII
16. Try writing your birth year in roman numerals!

Now let's try a few shapes:
What do you call each of the following?

1. 3 sides
2. 6 sides
3. 5 sides
4. 4 sides, not a square
5. 8 sides
6. 10 sides

Homework:

Answer the following questions:

*What are the gaps between your current job and skills and your goal for your job or skill set
*Do these gaps allow for some sort of niche market?

Good Morning Class,

Here are a few more examples:

Important to only me
I want to feel as though I am growing through my work
To prioritize my tasks my self

Important only to my clients
Want to feel as though they have gotten above average cost-performance
Want to get more out of the training than they pay for
They want to squeeze every last thing they can get out of the training

Important to both

Want to see that the training positively influences sales/revenue for the company

Here are some additional English concepts that we learned:

Roman Numerals
Roman numerals can be seen on many clocks, in documents, and are even used for writing the year.

I = 1
II = 2
III = 3
IV = 4
V = 5
VI = 6

As you can see from the pattern, smaller numbers on the left are subtracted while ones on the right are added.

X = 10
L = 50
C = 100
D = 500
M =1000

For example XLII would be 42.
Ten is subtracted from fifty plus 2.

Try a few examples yourself and write your answers as a comment!

1. LXX
2. MCM
3. CDXLIV
4. MCMLXXIII (Hint: My year of birth)
5. XCIX

Shapes
Also we talked about shapes as well:

A shape with three sides is a triangle (tri = 3 thus 3 angles)
A shape with four sides is a square or a rectangle
*All sides of a square are equal lengths
*Opposite sides of a rectangle are equal lengths
A shape with 5 sides is a pentagon (The US Military building is called the Pentagon and has five sides!)
A shape with 6 sides is called a hexagon
A shape with 7 sides is called a heptagon
A shape with 8 sides is called an octogon (Octopus, eight legs!)
A shape with 9 sides is called a nonagon
A shape with 10 sides is called a decagon

Homework:

Finish up list:
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

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?

Idiom of the day:

"Give them an inch and they'll take a mile"

See you soon!

Matthew

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