Today's blog is sponsored by Kojima.
Today we did an exercise in outlining. We used an essay called "Show Me Your Smile" from a student in last year's essay contest. It's a very nice essay. Here is my version of the outline. Yours may be a little different.
All assignments were due today. Last week's timed writing and today's outlining were the main "test". I found that your writing was the best way to check that you understand the content. We have done approximately 12 writing assignments. I think most of you worked very hard.
If you do not see your blog listed on the right, please take a moment to send me an e-mail. You should also be deciding the topic of your essay for the essay contest. Do some brainstorming and send me your best ideas, too, or post them on your blog. For example, my brainstorm may be these things that I am interested in or that I have been thinking about lately: Linux, Aung San Suu Kyi, Chinese human rights abuses, food security, ocean resources, solar energy, travel in Japan, wind energy, the causes of the economic crisis, English spelling reform, Lojban, eliminating nuclear weapons from the world, American politics, climate change, sea level rise, and so on. From this list, I could choose 1 or two and write a thesis statement that would work well for a longer essay. You should try to decide before you go into summer vacation mode! Please send me your idea, or write about it on your blog. Summer blogging will be counted as extra credit writing in the autumn.
Don't forget that if you don't have a computer, you can write messages to your blog using a cell phone! I think it's too hard to write with a phone keypad, but some people don't mind.
Next semester, we will start with the Essay Contest and 8 steps to writing an essay.
Have a good summer.
I have often admired the view of Mount Fuji from the upper floors of the buildings at Bunkyo Gakuin University. Of course, most summer days are not clear enough to see Fuji-san. Recently, I enjoy taking in the view via webcam. This site has a guide to some of the best Mt Fuji Webcams:
