My seminar

Today, I am going to write about my seminar, zemi. I am taking Yuji Sato sensei's seminar which is about famous speeches in America. We analyze the speeches by researching its historical background, figure of speech, the speakers, something like that. We did "I have a dream" by Martin Luther King, "Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation” by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, “Gun Control” by Charlton Heston and so on. Of course it is interesting to read the speeches and understand what they say, but I am also interested in researching the historical backgrounds of the speeches. Actually I don’t like learning history. I mean I hate learning history using text book and just reading them. However I realized that I like research the history by myself and understand what happened in the past. I had some research about American War of Independence which had been happening from 1775 to 1783. I had known the war was happened and the other things related to the war like Boston Tea Party, but I had not known the reason why these events happened or why people needed to do such horrible things. I am so glad when I find the historical things really make sense to me. So if you like history, I want recommend you to take this seminar. Also Sato sensei gives really useful advices to us at the begging of every class. These are about what we need to do in college, what we can do now for our future, how to do job hunting and many things! His experiences are so amazing so I like to hear his story. In addition, he has connection with so many people. I think taking this seminar is the right decision for me because I can learn so many things. (297)

BR-05 Saying Goodbye

It's going to be hard to say all these things, but I think it will be good. It will be a good way for me to say goodbye. (p.16)

I am going to introduce a kind of sad story, Saying Goodbye. A boy is dressed up because his mom says "Today is going to be a big day." He seems like he doesn't like formal style and his grandpa, who is gone, doesn't like him wearing such clothes. However, the day is the day for the funeral of his grandpa. He remembers a lot of memories he had with his grandpa. I think his grandpa was really nice because all of his memory is amazing and funny. I like the story telling that grandpa loves telling jokes and he can even do some magic tricks. I think if I had such a grandpa, I could have so much fun with him. But I so love my grandpa. He is 81 years old and is good at everything like ping pong, cook, fishing, singing, something like that. I don't want to go away from him, but I am planning going out of Kumamoto to get a job. I want him to be healthy and kind forever. He is always kind to me. He gives me some snacks every time I see him. He gives me some advice if I have problems. He is always thinking about me and sometime calls me because he wants to hear my voice. Sweet. I will take care of him unless I go somewhere far away.(259)

Reilly, Carmel ,Saying Goodbye,2007,South Melbourne : Thomson Learning Australia

BR-04 Tales of Amanda Pig

This story is about a pig family. There are Father, Mother, Oliver and Amanda in the family and something always happens around them. There are five stories in the book I read; Amanda's Egg, The Very Long Trip, The Monster, The Fight and Sleeping Time. And my faorite stories are Amanda's Egg and The Fight.

In Amanda's Egg, Amanda really doesn't want to eat her egg for breakfast because the egg looks weird to her. She wants to go out to rake leaves with Father and Oliver. They already had been done with their breakfast. But Mother says Amanda has to finish up her breakfast and then she can go out and play. I like the way Mother make Amanda eat the egg. She said like "I will count 10 with my eyes closed, and then the eggs will be gone." Actually Amanda doesn't eat the egg while Mother closes her eyes. She finally eats it when Mother looks at Father and Oliver raking leaves outside. She eats the egg like a magic, just disappear so Mother doubts of her.

Another my favorite story is "The Fight." This story goes like Amanda and Oliver play with each other, but they start to fight becasue Oliver says something Amanda doesn't want him to do to her. To solve the problem Father let them play separate for a while. So they play by themselves in their own rooms. However, both of them go to Father's place, saying like "I have nothing to do." and then Father says "Okay, play with each other then." Afterwards, they play with each other with so much fun. Father's idea is such a nice idea. If I have kids in the future and they fight each other, I am going to do the same thing. (298)



Van Leeuwen, Jean ,Tales of Amanda Pig,1994 ,New York, N.Y., U.S.A. : Puffin Books

My favorite song: Without You

Today, I am going to introduce one of my favorite songs to you guys. I love listening to music, especially Western music. So I think I will write about my favorite songs a lot from now on. Okay, today's song is "Without You / David Guetta ft. Usher."

This song was released on October 21st, 2011. What this song says is like "I can't do anything without you." First time I heard this song, I thought that its melody is amazingly beautiful and I totally liked it. And then I researched the lyrics and this song became my favorite song. Basically, I like Usher so much because his voice is amazing and is just cool. Also he is good at dancing so if you watch his music video, I bet you will never regret. David Guetta is also one of my favorite DJs. Every music he composed is really famous for everyone. Not everyone, but so many people. Every time I hear his songs, I feel like I want to dance with them. I will put the music video of "Without You" on this blog so please check it out. (190)

BR-03, Just Like A Movie

'Yeah,' I said. 'A sad story... That's life. It's just like a movie...' (p.32)

I read "Just Like A Movie" and thought this story was so sad. I think Brad is such a nice guy and he just had a too big dream; he wants to be a rich man, marry Gina and have a beautiful house in Paris. He meets Gina in the cinema because they both are crazy about movies and that makes them together. Gina, the girl who is going to marry Brad, is such a nice and smart person. I like her way of think about the conditions of marry. All she wants is just a love, not money. I totally agree with her. But Brad tries to get a lot of money by killing another girl. I don't know why he thinks that way, but it is clear that the idea is not the best one. And I feel sorry for Carrie because she just wants a love from someone, but what she gets is not a real love. What I learned from this story was that we shouldn’t trust guys too much and girls can pay them back somehow so that we are going to be happy. I want everyone to read this book and recognize guys can be stupid if they are in love. (222)

Leather, Sue, Just Like A Movie,2000

BR-02, Sam Runs Away

Sam is upset because her Mum and Dad keep arguing with each other. She runs away to the secret room and doesn’t want to go home again.

This book is much more touched than what I expected. I recommend you to read this story when you have conflicts between you and your parents. I can understand how Sam feels. I believe everyone has felt bad when parents did something not okay with us. Then, the best friend helped us by just being with us and listening to our story. In Sam’s case, her close friend, Ben, had some candy and stayed with her until they finished eating everything. I think sweets help us when we feel bad with thinking about things we hate. Anyway, I am glad that she has such a nice friend and at the end of story, she finally has got a good relationship with her parents. (153)


Alexander, Jenny(2001),Sam runs away, Harlow : Pearson Education

Review of Kung Fu Panda

There is a panda whose name is Po in the Valley of Peace in China. He is dreaming　that he would become one of the Furious Five, composed of Tigress, Monkey, Mantis,　Viper and Crane. They are a group of Kung Fu masters who receive respect from the　citizens in the valley.
Po gets up in the morning and his goose father asks him what he dreamed about. Po lies and says that he dreamed he is going to sell noodles like his father. His father is so glad to hear that because the dream is a sign which means he would take over the noodle shop. However, Po wants to be one of the Furious Five, not a noodle seller. At that time, Oogway, an old tortoise, holds a ceremony to identify the legendary Dragon Warrior, the one Kung Fu master worthy of receiving the Dragon Scroll. Po really wants to see the Kung Fu masters so he is trying to enter the ceremony. Accidently, when Oogway points to the person to receive the Dragon scroll, Po has landed in front of him, so that Oogway picks Po as the legendary Dragon Warrior. Afterwards Po begins training to be a Kung Fu master.
I like Po so much because he works as hard as he can to make his dream come true. Even though he is lazy and too crazy for food, he tries to catch up with the other members of the Furious Five. Even though Shifu tried to get rid of him many times, he comes back with a more powerful spirit. I believe his efforts let the others consider him as one of them.
It is also interesting to me that the voice cast of Po is Jack Black. I think he is similar to Po in appearance and character. So I enjoyed this movie not only the story but also Po's voice. (314)

The Terminal

Today, I am going to write about one of my favorite movies, The Terminal.

This movie is about a guy who is from Krakozhia, Viktor Navorski, tries to go to America, but his home country gets revolution so that he cannot only enter to America, but also go back to his native country. All he can do in the JFK airport is staying there. He does a lot of things in the airport to live. First thing he does is learning English from things around him such as TV shows, books and etc. He tries to understand what the TV news show says by reading subtitles because information about his own country is the most important for him at that time. Then he uses the words he learned from TV in conversation with Customs and Border Protection officer Dolores. She is always at the room to judge if people can enter to America or not. Victor is no exception. He goes to the room to get an "acceptable" seal. One time he goes that room, he says like "You have two seals; green and red. So getting out of here is half and half." Actually I don't remember exactly what he says, but he says something like that. And then she smiles beautifully. At the moment they are talking, a guy are looking at them. He is Enrique Cruz who likes her. He comes close to Viktor to ask about her. And he makes a deal with Viktor exchanging meals and information about het. This is how Viktor gets his every day food with no money at the airport.

There is one story I want to talk about. That is a guy from another country comes to the airport and he has medicine but doesn't know he needs a prescription from a doctor. He speak Russian, not English so tries to attack people who disturb him and injure himself by a knife because he doesn't have any choice. Everyone wants a person who can speak Russian and persuade him so Viktor is made come there. They talk in Russian for a while. The guy claims the medicine is for his father - his dad needs that medicine seriously. Once he is caught by police, but suddenly Viktor says that medicine is for goats not human. He knows there is a low about medicine. And then the guy goes free and thanks for Viktor a lot. Since this happened, he has been famous all around the airport.

There are so many things I want to tell you, but if I write everything I want, its gonna be too long to write at one time. So I'm gonna stop it here. I just want to say this is an amazing movie so you should check it out! (466)