ds-eics.com Blog » Commentary http://ds-eics.com/blog2 ds-eics.com Tue, 04 May 2010 05:40:42 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 JULY 4TH AMERICA’S INDEPENDENCE DAY http://ds-eics.com/blog2/2009/07/02/july-4th-america%e2%80%99s-independence-day/ http://ds-eics.com/blog2/2009/07/02/july-4th-america%e2%80%99s-independence-day/#comments Thu, 02 Jul 2009 03:19:01 +0000 Administrator http://ds-eics.com/blog2/2009/07/02/july-4th-america%e2%80%99s-independence-day/ The second great summer outing for most Americans is the day we celebrate winning our freedom from the British Empire. After the War of Independence, the United States could govern itself as a separate entity and no longer was subject to rule by the King of England or liable for taxes or other tariffs imposed by the “mother country”. These days, Americans generally celebrate with outdoor bar-b-cue parties and plenty of fireworks. Of course, our fireworks display don’t begin to compare with those we can witness at Tsuchiura, but we have plenty of fun and often churn ice cream in old fashioned tubs. Sometimes we have silly games like pie eating contests or watermelon seed spitting contests. This is an official holiday and if it falls on the weekend, the Friday before the 4th will be a holiday for most employees or the Monday following. This is another one of our “long weekends” when we relax and enjoy our family and friends.

Director
]]> http://ds-eics.com/blog2/2009/07/02/july-4th-america%e2%80%99s-independence-day/feed/ 0 WHY I STUDY ENGLISH http://ds-eics.com/blog2/2008/02/02/why-i-study-english/ http://ds-eics.com/blog2/2008/02/02/why-i-study-english/#comments Sat, 02 Feb 2008 04:10:08 +0000 Administrator http://ds-eics.com/blog2/2008/02/02/why-i-study-english/ I’m a nurse, and I often meet foreign patients in my hospital. I want to understand them and make them more relaxed. I think English is the most widely used language in the world. I want to make use of English in my job. That’s why I began to study English in this class.

K.S

]]> http://ds-eics.com/blog2/2008/02/02/why-i-study-english/feed/ 0 TASTING LESSON http://ds-eics.com/blog2/2008/02/02/tasting-lesson/ http://ds-eics.com/blog2/2008/02/02/tasting-lesson/#comments Sat, 02 Feb 2008 04:08:41 +0000 Administrator http://ds-eics.com/blog2/2008/02/02/tasting-lesson/  How did you enjoy the tasting lesson? We practiced how to describe the taste and texture of food while eating different foods. More advanced students also used this opportunity to learn which adjectives have comparative and superlative forms. They practiced using other adjectives that must take the form “more or most” when comparing the taste or texture of one food to one or more similar foods. Followings are examples of adjectives we studied:

 

sweet      mushy     salty           fresh

 

sour         crunchy   burnt          rotten

 

bitter       crispy       raw            stale

 

hot           delicate   tangy         delicious

 

spicy       smooth    hard           tasty

 

sticky       lumpy      soft             tasteless

 

dry           chewy      fishy           bland

 

juicy         bubbly     pungent     creamy

 

CAN YOU GUESS WHICH ADJECTIVES NEED MORE OR MOST?

 

Any students liked this lesson. One intermediate student who often entertains foreigners when they visit his company said, “Now, I can be more talkative when I have dinner in restaurants with foreigners. This kind of lesson was very helpful for me”. We plan to have other lessons like the tasting lesson in the future. We have been requested to do an encore of this lesson again in March. We will add an additional program to coincide with the tasting party that will focus on dinner conversation with foreigners and how to start a conversation with someone you have never met at a party.
Director

]]> http://ds-eics.com/blog2/2008/02/02/tasting-lesson/feed/ 0 THE TOWER OF BABEL http://ds-eics.com/blog2/2008/02/02/the-tower-of-babel/ http://ds-eics.com/blog2/2008/02/02/the-tower-of-babel/#comments Sat, 02 Feb 2008 04:07:41 +0000 Administrator http://ds-eics.com/blog2/2008/02/02/the-tower-of-babel/ Have you noticed the latest addition to our puzzle collection on the center back wall of the classroom? This is a replica of Pieter Bruegel’s depiction of the Tower of Babel story taught in the Bible. According to this book, the people of ancient Babylonia were trying to build a tower that would reach to Heaven. When God saw what success the people were having, He decided to confound their language so no one would understand each other. At this time, according to the Bible, all the people on earth spoke one language. God stopped the building of the tower by giving everyone a different language. If you are interested in this story, you can read more about it in the Bible in the first book of the Old Testament. You will find the story of the Tower of Babel in Genesis, Chapter Eleven. I chose this puzzle for the school because I enjoy Bruegel’s work and it seemed a fitting theme for our language school. What do you think?

Director

]]> http://ds-eics.com/blog2/2008/02/02/the-tower-of-babel/feed/ 0 MY VISIT TO AMERICA http://ds-eics.com/blog2/2008/02/02/my-visit-to-america/ http://ds-eics.com/blog2/2008/02/02/my-visit-to-america/#comments Sat, 02 Feb 2008 04:06:20 +0000 Administrator http://ds-eics.com/blog2/2008/02/02/my-visit-to-america/ There are many differences in Japan and the USA. When I was staying there, I attended a Middle School – like Junior High School in Japan. I was shocked when I got there how many gangs there were and that graffiti was everywhere in the schools and in public restrooms. Terrible things were written all over the walls. I lived in a safe place and attended a nice small school. About 400 students ages 12, 13, and 14 were there and I had two Japanese friends who also went to the school. We were lucky because there were not too many drugs or guns – but there were some at the school. Most kids just got in trouble for graffiti, starting fights or bringing cigarettes or alcohol to school. Also in America kids aren’t required to clean the schools like we are in Japan. If kids had to clean in America, and they saw how much work it was to clean, I think graffiti would stop. American children need to clean up after themselves.

Another thing that is very different in school in the US is the lunch menu. In Japan, we get nutritious meals with many different food groups. In America, they offer a variety of things that are not healthy. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays we were served hamburgers and French fries. On Tuesdays and Thursdays we got pizza and a little bit of fruit or vegetables. Also, I thought it was very strange that the cafeteria had many vending machines. There were candy, soda, and chip machines, and unfortunately most of the students spend their money on junk food and snacks. I am happy to be back in Japan and eating a healthy school lunch again.

Anonymous

]]> http://ds-eics.com/blog2/2008/02/02/my-visit-to-america/feed/ 0 JULY 4TH AMERICA’S INDEPENDENCE DAY http://ds-eics.com/blog2/2008/02/02/july-4th-americas-independence-day/ http://ds-eics.com/blog2/2008/02/02/july-4th-americas-independence-day/#comments Sat, 02 Feb 2008 04:05:44 +0000 Administrator http://ds-eics.com/blog2/2008/02/02/july-4th-americas-independence-day/ The second great summer outing for most Americans is the day we celebrate winning our freedom from the British Empire. After the War of Independence, the United States could govern itself as a separate entity and no longer was subject to rule by the King of England or liable for taxes or other tariffs imposed by the “mother country”. These days, Americans generally celebrate with outdoor bar-b-cue parties and plenty of fireworks. Of course, our fireworks display don’t begin to compare with those we can witness at Tsuchiura, but we have plenty of fun and often churn ice cream in old fashioned tubs. Sometimes we have silly games like pie eating contests or watermelon seed spitting contests. This is an official holiday and if it falls on the weekend, the Friday before the 4th will be a holiday for most employees or the Monday following. This is another one of our “long weekends” when we relax and enjoy our family and friends.
Director

]]> http://ds-eics.com/blog2/2008/02/02/july-4th-americas-independence-day/feed/ 0 GUAM http://ds-eics.com/blog2/2008/02/02/guam/ http://ds-eics.com/blog2/2008/02/02/guam/#comments Sat, 02 Feb 2008 04:04:59 +0000 Administrator http://ds-eics.com/blog2/2008/02/02/guam/ I visited Guam with my friend for my summer vacation last September. It was the first time for us to visit the southern country and we were so excited. Of course, we wanted to enjoy a ‘foreign country’ using English. When we arrived at the airport in Guam, we saw many ads written in Japanese. We thought a lot of Japanese visit there. Indeed, we didn’t need English all the time. At the coffee shop, I ordered in English,”Two cafe au lait, please.” The waiter said to me in Japanese, “Dai, chu, sho doredesuka?”. At the department store, I asked the clerk by showing a shopping card, “What is this for?” He answered, “Hosho no tamedesu.” That was really a strange conversation. I enjoyed my vacation so much, but I didn’t recognize that Guam was a foreign country.
H. K

]]> http://ds-eics.com/blog2/2008/02/02/guam/feed/ 0 FATHER’S DAY http://ds-eics.com/blog2/2008/02/02/fathers-day/ http://ds-eics.com/blog2/2008/02/02/fathers-day/#comments Sat, 02 Feb 2008 04:04:04 +0000 Administrator http://ds-eics.com/blog2/2008/02/02/fathers-day/ The third Sunday in June is Father’s Day. Mrs. John Bruce Dot, a resident of the state of Washington in the United States, started this tradition to recognize fathers after Mother’s Day was established in 1908. Her father had raised his six children by himself after his wife died. To thank her father, Mrs. Dot tried successfully to establish the same tradition for her own dad and finally Fathers Day was recognized in 1916.

In America, men usually get off work between 5:00 and 6:00 p.m. In the summer, due to daylight savings time, it doesn’t get dark until about 9:00 in the evening. Children have three months vacation from school and there are many children’s sports activities. Fathers can go to see their children’s baseball or soccer games after work. When I was working in America, I was surprised that my American manager often left the office to see his son’s hockey games in spite of serious work situations where others were inconvenienced by his absence. Which do you prefer, the traditional Japanese work ethic or the “American way”? Why not discuss this topic in class with your teacher?

S.R

]]> http://ds-eics.com/blog2/2008/02/02/fathers-day/feed/ 0 VIENNA http://ds-eics.com/blog2/2008/02/02/vienna/ http://ds-eics.com/blog2/2008/02/02/vienna/#comments Sat, 02 Feb 2008 04:03:20 +0000 Administrator http://ds-eics.com/blog2/2008/02/02/vienna/  ”It has been a long cold winter till April in Vienna. Then every park is filled with flowers and every square is crowded with many young people and old women and men. Saying it is good to see Vienna only in this season is not correct, one of my friends who lived there said to me”. Just like the season of four years ago, I was there to present a paper for an international conference entitled ” Nuclear Safety Culture ” sponsored by both the ASME and the IAEA. It was one of the most prestigious meetings for all nuclear engineers like me and it had been my dream to do so. I needed about a month to prepare it. A native speaker had rewritten my draft for more accurate English expressions and made a tape for practicing my oral speech. I don’t remember how many times I rehearsed it. He pointed out that you should say the most important words using a strong, slow tone. Other, less important words, can be spoken with a weaker voice and at a faster pace. Actually I tried this, but it didn’t work out exactly as I had planned and I felt sweat moving on my face.

Having meals, especially a dinner with my colleagues at an outdoor restaurant on a main street, and visiting a nuclear power plant in Czechoslovakia where Madam Curie had worked were really enjoyable experiences after I had finished my presentation. Studying English has given me the opportunity to enjoy the best in life. It was not only the good view of Vienna I could see, but the sense of satisfaction I felt in doing work in a foreign country using my English skills.

O.A

]]> http://ds-eics.com/blog2/2008/02/02/vienna/feed/ 0 MEMORIAL DAY http://ds-eics.com/blog2/2008/02/02/memorial-day/ http://ds-eics.com/blog2/2008/02/02/memorial-day/#comments Sat, 02 Feb 2008 04:02:41 +0000 Administrator http://ds-eics.com/blog2/2008/02/02/memorial-day/ Memorial Day, a national holiday in the United States, is the last Monday of May. The history of Memorial Day dates back to 1868 after the Civil war between the North and the South. At this time it was called Decoration Day to honor those who had died in service of our country because many people decorated the graves of fallen soldiers with flowers. The South refused to acknowledge Decoration Day because they had lost the war and southerners honored their dead on a separate day. In 1882 the name was changed to Memorial Day to honor all soldiers who had died in any war. We Americans particularly enjoy this holiday because this is when we unofficially start the beginning of our summer fun and vacation season. This is a long weekend when we can go on our first camping trip, hike our favorite trails, organize boating and water-skiing outings or simply bar-b-cue with friends in our backyards. This Director hopes to introduce the idea of a summer fun kick off when we have our school picnic and bar-b-cue the last Saturday of May at the Kujigawa River Park.. More information about this event is on page 2 of this newsletter.

Director

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