October 23, 2008

Directions: Read the following entry and answer the questions.

Hello students! So much has happened since last Wednesday. Last Thursday and Friday, the group spent the day learning about the Japanese educational system. Here are a few interesting facts:

1. Students prepare their lunches at school, and students serve and eat the lunches
   in their classrooms. This activity is done to strengthen the community ties.
   
2. Three objectives of schools are to promote intellectual, physical, and moral
   development.
3. Elementary and Middle school are required for all students. Even though high school is not mandated, 98% of students continue with their studies and go on to high school.
4. Teachers are required to move schools (on average) every 5 years.
5. In addition to regular school hours, many students attend “cram” schools so that they can receive high scores on their entrance exams and report cards.

On Friday, I listened to a Hiroshima survivor, Keijiro Matushima, give his account of the bombing. When the bombing happened, Matushima, who was 14 years old, was at school getting ready for his classes. He said he felt “a heat wave… flash, shock, heat wave” when the bomb dropped. The horrifying experience left him scarred for life, but he continues to tell his story to help prevent similar things from ever happening again.

On Saturday a few of us visited Kamakura. Some of my group members didn’t want to visit the famous Buddha statue, so to appease them we made sure to cover other sites.


The following day we packed our belongings and headed out to Miyazaki. We spent Monday visiting Miyazaki University. We talked to the Dean of faculty, professors, and students. At one point, each group member was randomly paired with a student. My student was studying to become an English teacher. I spent an hour asking questions about her courses and topics relating to educational policies. Based on her answers, I can tell she is very passionate about teaching. She was able to articulate her ideas very well.

Something about Japan:
In Japan it is customary to leave your shoes outside before entering a building. For example, when you enter someone’s home, you leave your shoes outside and slip into house slippers. You do this so that the home (inside) can remain clean. If you wear your tennis shoes inside the house, you are bringing dirt inside. The door is essentially the line between the outside (dirt) and the inside (clean). However, if you want to use the bathroom you must also change into bathroom slippers. This is because the bathroom is considered to be dirty. Once you leave the bathroom, you must wear your house slippers again.

Questions:

1. Search the web and find two facts about Japanese “cram” schools.
2. Find the dates when Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed.
3. Search the web to find the story of Buddha and summarize it in one paragraph.
4. What are some of Kamakura’s famous sites?
5. What SAT word of the day did Ms. Lucero use?
6. Search the web to find other Japanese customs.

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10/15/08

Hello students!
Directions: Read the following blog and answer the accompanying questions.

Before starting our trip, we (teachers and administrators) first met in San Francisco for an orientation. This time not only allowed us to meet other participants, but gave us time to prepare ourselves for the long flight to Tokyo. We spent the day introducing ourselves to one another and reviewing information about our trip. While some people were aloof, most were generally affable. I made enough friends to alleviate my worries about being lonely. During the meetings, I took tons of notes and tried to meet as many people as I could. One cool part about this trip is that I got to talk to my seventh grade music teacher, Mrs. Richardson! She’s the participant representing California. It was really weird talking to her again but at the same time fascinating. As part of our orientation, we met the Japanese consul who officially welcomed us to the program. We spent the evening talking and sampling Japanese cuisine. Soon after, we boarded our buses and headed back for the hotel for a well-deserved rest. On Monday morning, after breakfast, we packed our belongings and headed for San Francisco International Airport. I spent the day worrying about whether my bag was small enough to be considered a carry-on or not. It turned out to be a carry-on (pheww)! We arrived in Tokyo around 1:35pm on Tuesday, October 14. It was a very long flight and despite some turbulence, we made it on time. We didn’t reach our hotel until 7:30pm. Many of us settled in and rested for the next day. On Wednesday, we headed out to the National Diet of Japan. The ambiguous name is indeed misleading. In case you’re wondering, the place has nothing to do with the Japanese diet, rather it’s the place where the House of Representatives and House of Councilors meet to make decisions on laws concerning the country. There are 480 members of the House of Representatives and 242 in the House of Councilors. To be a member of either hous, you have to be at least 20 years old or older. The building took 17 years to build. After visiting the Diet, we made our way to Asakusa where we visited a shrine. The shrine included poles with ribbons. You’re supposed to hold the ribbon as you pray . Near the poles there was a fountain with metal spoons. This fountain was where people purified themselves before praying . You rinse your hands and mouth before entering the shrine to pray. Once you’ve completed these steps, you continue to make your way to the shrine. That was basically the agenda for Wednesday morning and afternoon. Answer the following questions to complete your classwork activity for the day. 1. Search the web to find at least 3 facts about the National Diet of Japan. 2. Identify the SAT WORD included in the blog. 3. Search the web to find samples of Japanese cuisine. List the names of and ingredients in each sample. 4. Who is Mrs. Richardson? 5. Search the web to find the answer to the following questions: How long is the flight from San Francisco to Tokyo? 6. Ms. Lucero will visit the prefecture, Miyazaki next week. Search the web to find at least 5 facts about Miyazaki. 7. What is the time difference between Baltimore and Tokyo?

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Practice post.

This is an example of a post that contains an image. Here comes the image:

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Media Center Day

Hello Students ,

Today we will practice accessing my blog. If you are reading this page, CONGRATS you’ve completed the steps successfully! Now, let us learn a little about what your teacher is going to be doing in the next couple of weeks. You have been given a worksheet to complete; review the worksheet and then visit this site. Read the web site in order to answer the questions.

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