Just to let you know, there will be lessons tomorrow, Wednesday and Thursday.

Looking forward to seeing you as always.

The CEP-Team

p.s. If you haven't done already, please send your PowerPoint presentations to me at weareceppers@gmail.com. Thanks

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Please leave your future speculation statements here.

Thanks again for all your hard work.

Paul

p.s. Please read yesterday's blog.

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That was a challenging lesson today. Speculation is a difficult thing to practice, so well done for your efforts.

For homework, please find some information on the environment, civilization, the world economy, or global language and prepare, written if possible, a couple of short paragraphs on your prediction for the future relating to that category. Please come prepared for tomorrow's lesson.

Have a nice evening!

The CEP-Team

p.s. Also, if you have time this week, could you please send me the PowerPoint files you used for your Alien presentations? That would really help, thanks.

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Just a quick note to confirm what you need to do for homework. Please write a survey of at least 10 questions and collect as many responses as you can. After collecting the raw data, analyze it and write a couple of short paragraphs explaining your findings (just at the raw data level). Then write another couple of paragraphs on the meaning of the data. Please try to use some of the language we discussed in class on Friday.

Tips: Use Survey Monkey. You will collect data a lot more easily.

Send your findings to me at:

weareceppers@gmail.com

I will look at it for you so we can talk about it next lesson.

Good luck!

See you next week.

The CEP Team

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I've replied to all your surveys. Please check the answers when you get a chance.

See you this afternoon.

Paul

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Thank you for conducting and participating in the survey today. For homework please look at your results and write a short analysis of the data. For example, you could write a short paragraph on how many people you asked liked Niigata ramen:

The majority of people that I asked said that they liked Niigata ramen, though some people disliked it. One person said that they REALLY liked Niigata ramen! (Hmm, I wonder who that was?)

If you could write it on this blog so I could use it for reference in tomorrow's lesson, that would be very helpful.

Thanks again!

The CEP-Team

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Thanks!

The CEP-Team

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Just a quick summary for our last module on UFOs and aliens. Here are a couple of links to sites about UFO day:

http://www.ehow.com/how_2191000_celebrate-ufo-day-june-24.html

http://uforum.blogspot.com/2009/06/happy-world-ufo-day.html

Enjoy!

See you this afternoon.

Paul

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weareceppers@gmail.com

Have a great weekend!

Paul (The CEP-Team)

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1. Do you think UFOs and aliens exist? If yes, why? If no, why do you think we are alone in the universe?

2. Suppose aliens exist, do you think they are dangerous or friendly? Explain.

3. If UFOs and aliens do exist, what kinds of preparation do you think we should be making for a first contact?

See you later! Paul

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CLOSE ENCOUNTERS PROJECT

Find a story (real life or fictional) on aliens, UFOs, or strange phenomena and make a presentation based on your findings. The following resources might be of some use to you:

Web pages such as:

http://www.ufosoveramerica.com
http://www.ufoalert.com/ufo_stories.htm
http://www.alien-ufo-pictures.com/ufo_sightings.html

Movies:

Alien
Close Encounters
Star Trek
Star Wars
Terminator
War of the Worlds

Also consider researching radio broadcasts, TV, and books and magazines.

You may use the following ways to present your idea:

 Video production
 Audio production
 Power Point
 Role-play interview
 Overhead projection and skit

NB. You can use a combination of any of the above.

Length: Presentation should be between 10-15 minutes long.
Presentation date: Thursday, June 24th.

See you tomorrow!

Paul

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See you 2moro

Paul

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Well done today. Your pictures were great!

Here are some words and phrases I would like you to study for tomorrow's lesson:

Nouns
planet
creature
being
vehicle
tentacle
flash
witness

Verbs
stare
examine
wonder
scratch

Passive verbs
to be kidnapped
to be captured

Adjectives
to be frightened
to be scared

Expressions
I’ve no idea
I tell you!

Adverbs/adverbial phrases
against one’s will
closely

Also, please consider adjectives following this pattern:

Opinion - Size - Age - Shape - Colour - Origin - Material - Purpose

ex. a crazy small old square red English wooden rocking chair.

More usable examples:

an old red box
a crazy old British English teacher
beautiful big blue eyes
a new round crystal ball

Hope this makes sense. We'll do more on this tomorrow.

See you then.

Paul

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http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Ag08cEIpgJ4ky7vO6x2hOggjzKIX;_ylv=3?qid=20090603021812AAMC6mC

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AvC..R4lullc15HT8UHiYcYjzKIX;_ylv=3?qid=20090603022503AADhNmh

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AhvqBjxkDi94i.8a2HlhMqIjzKIX;_ylv=3?qid=20090603022405AAkgIJC

Good luck tomorrow! The CEP-Team

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Here is some more information about today's vocabulary:

Relevant = Having a bearing on or connection with the matter at hand.
Hindrance = Something that blocks, complicates, or gets in the way

Ways to use, and other ways to say, 'relevant':

This book is relevant to my course
His comments are relevant
That is irrelevant! (antonym)
That is NOT relevant (negative usage)

That has nothing to do with it (nothing to do with = synonym)
Those things are not connected

Ways to use hindrance:

Lack of skill could prove a hindrance
Too little participation in sport can be a serious hindrance to your child's health

Hope this helps.

See you tomorrow. The CEP-Team

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How are you doing today? Hope you are enjoying the sunshine!

For homework I asked you to google 3 things: gender equality, gender unity, and equality debate. If you could leave your research findings here, that would be great.

See you tomorrow!

Paul

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Here's some extra info from today's lesson. We talked about several things today but one interesting new sentence was 'to do/say something behind someone's back'. This phrase is used to describe something that is done secretly, and usually negatively, without important people involved in the situation knowing the details. There are several ways you can use this. For example:

He did it behind my back
She told him everything behind my back
I don't like knowing what people say of me behind my back
They were talking behind my back!

We also talked about the "controversial" comments by Professor Karlov and thought of different ways of disagreeing with what he wrote. Here are some points to consider:

When commenting on someone's work, especially in the professional sphere, there is plenty of room for constructive criticism (criticism or advice that is useful and intended to help or improve something, often with an offer of possible solutions). When you are reading something that you disagree with, you can point out to someone else that you think the opinion or information is not something you agree with by using several variations of "I disagree/I don't agree". You might even say, "That is ridiculous!" but you have to be a little careful with such words. We also looked at the word "rubbish" today. Be careful with this word as it can be offensive in some situations, especially if you say it to someone directly. Again, sometimes it's better to understand words than to use them. Please bear that in mind.

A sentence like "I'm not sure I totally agree with that opinion" is a softer way to highlight something you want to criticize. We will be practicing some more examples like this tomorrow.

Well, have a great evening. See you tomorrow afternoon. Looking forward to it!

Paul

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Hope you are all enjoying the fine weather today.

Right, on to business. Well done for all your contributions recently - yesterday was particulary good. Please continue with more of the same today.

Here are a couple of links that might interest you relating to Girl Power:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girl_Power

http://www.girlpower.com/

http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:22091605~pagePK:64257043~piPK:437376~theSitePK:4607,00.html

Enjoy!

The CEP-Team

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Well done today, everyone. This debate is getting more and more interesting now. I hope you are getting something out if it - vocabulary, grammar, confidence to agree or disagree etc.

Right, here's what I want you to comment on:

In Japan men and women are equal. Women have an equal position in society, at home, and in the workplace. There are very few examples of men and women not sharing equal rights. In fact, there are many occasions that men are discriminated against more than women. Men often seek shelter because of domestic violence. Men are often forced into sacrificing their careers for starting families and moving to new areas of the country. There will be a time where men will earn as much as women, but this is not going to happen in the foreseeable future.

Please comment on this and on each others' comments.

Have a great weekend.

See you Tuesday!

The CEP-Team

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We hope you are all enjoying the wonderful Spring weather! Let's hope it stays that way for the sports events tomorrow

Well done again for your efforts on the speaking test. It was a good start for the newbies - excellent. In fact, I was very impressed everyone used so much of what you had learnt through the 1st module (lots of good native fillers). Please keep up the good work

As for the second module, we have started to look at how men and women are represented in society. This is an especially good subject for debate. Please feel free to express your ideas openly in class whenever possible. Practicing this now will help when expressing yourselves in English in the future, guaranteed. Also I want you to remember that there are no right or wrong answers, just opinions. With this in mind, I hope you will feel confident in exploring this subject deeply.

Right, that's the heavy stuff out of the way. I have just sorted out the technical difficulties for the 2nd podcast. Please find it in the audio section. Enjoy!

See you all on Friday!

The CEP-Team

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Well, I thought today was very productive indeed. I'm glad to see that you are all enjoying the opportunity to really test your English skills! Ah, on the subject of tests, we have our first speaking test this semester tomorrow afternoon. As there are several new students in Advanced CEP, I would like to offer some advice - this will help the more experienced of you too in some ways - to help you to prepare. Think of the following when you are preparing for the test:

Test questions will be based on themes from the module we have been studying - NEETs Freeters etc.

Try to use some of the langauge that was introduced yesterday and today, especially 'fillers' when you want to buy yourself some time in the test (This will make you sound a lot more natural too)

Be calm and confident

Review the materials that we have used and read through this blog for any vocabulary to fill out your answers

Be active and ask for other people's opinions

Use natural gestures and keep eye contact when appropriate

OK, so now you should be ready to go! Good luck!!

See you all tomorrow. Paul

p.s. please check this blog later for the second installment of the CEP-pod

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http://pokya.jp/japanpodshow/

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Well done today. I know that it can be quite uncomfortable recording your voice - a big "well done" for that! - but it will sound great once we put our podcast together. Actually, I was quite surprised that few of you knew what a podcast was. This will be a great opportunity to become familiar with the term. Here are some examples of podcasts made by foreigners living in Japan:

http://planetjapan.org/

http://japantalk.org/ (this one is finished but there is some good stuff on it)

http://metropolis.co.jp/podcast/

Here's a couple of podcasts that I listen to regularly:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/drkarl

http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/kermode

So, what are we going to do? First, I want you to write THREE questions as COMMENTS on this blog, and then I will take the best 10 and create a survey. On Tuesday, we will organize some questions and answer practice and we will decide who will be in the first podcast. If you don't have the confidence this time to answer questions, don't worry, there will be a lot of opportunities in the future for more podcast fun!

So, please send me your questions first. Please remember that our topic was Youth in Japan, especially focusing on NEETs, Freeters, and the general state of young people living here. Please stick to this criteria.

Have a great weekend!

See you all Tuesday.

The CEP-Team

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Hope you are enjoying your Golden Week holiday

Last week we were talking about various survey questions relating to NEETs and FREETERS in Japan and what could be done to help. Thank you for your hard work and contributions. There are a lot of varying opinions on this topic, and we hope that by being more aware of the existing debate you will start to form your own objective views. As it affects many young people in Japan today, it is at this stage that it is important to consider this problem in more depth.

Next lesson we will be creating our own surveys based on the views of people your age in Japan. Please come prepared with ideas of questions you would like to ask. We will be preparing surveys in class and will be doing extensive group work to hone our surveys into workable formats.

Thanks again for all your hard work!

The CEP Team

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As we've learned in classes, among young people, there are so many NEETs and FREETERs in Japan. This is one of the most serious problem in these years. It is said that they have to be dependent of their parents. Ofcourse I agree with it, however I think we have another way to solve these problems. I know they have to change their way of thinking, but their parents also do have to change. NEETs and FREETERs shouldn' be blamed every time.

We can care for them, give some oppotunities, and support their mind. For granting them, we have to understand their situations. Finally, If we all could understand and admitt their difficulties, Japan would be a great country!!!

Kyo

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What a beautiful day for a CEP lesson!

Was a damp and dreary weekend so not much to report from Niigata central. Where's Spring?! Oh, just seen it out the window

Yumi Tanaka posted a really nice CEP group party from last summer on facebook. I'll post it here if anyone would like to take a look.

Anyway, see you a little later.

The C-Team.

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Thanks for a great blog launch today! A very positive start from everyone

We hope that you get lots of good experiences from this. We will be organising it so everyone gets a chance to write a blog entry, so please start thinking of some things you would like to write about. There are also opportunities for posting photos and videos so lets spruce this blog up, Cepper style!

Anyway, have a great weekend.

Looking forward to chatting with you all soon.

Paul and Mike (The CEP Team)

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