class-5/27

It's already Sunday!! I can't believe how time flies.
I'm going to write about fridays class.

We first graded our PWT. I'm not really sure if its accurate but I did my best in writing it and grading it. After that Rab showed us some indymedia pages. I found some things about the president debate in class so I want to read it carefully later on. Rab also showed us 2 softwares to check our essay. We used the Sentencework in class. It does make mistakes but I think it is useful to get check before handing in an essay. It founded some parts that I used 'many' that I didn't realize when I was working on the essay. I still haven't done the homework using Criterion. I think I'll do it after I finish working on the presentation for the Introduction to Law class. Thanks for the google stuff its much easier to get ready for a group presentation. I'm really happy that I'm in Rab's class!

class-5/26

Rab couldn't come to class on Wednesday since his mother in law and his son Kiyo had a accident.I hope they get well soon.

We had Sylvan as our teacher instead of Rab that day. We did things about Birk and Birk. He showed us American attacking ads of the presidential election. It was interesting. Especially the one which used pink in every scene has surprised me. I wonder how much people in the US are seeing it with these kinds of information. I think that if it was shown in Japan, the people would just believe it. By seeing more of these videos it might help me get in the habit of finding assumptions and charging words.

class-5/25

Tuesdays class started with talking about the PWT we did last week. I don't really think that grading the tests by ourselves is a good thing. When we did the practice PWT, some sections had their tests graded by their teachers and got comments, so it might be easier for them to check their tests, but I think it will be hard for us since we've only checked our friends. I think that it is better to check our writings in the practice PWT, and then get the real PWT checked by the teachers. I think thats how tests should be. We should be examined by other people and learn how our efforts are seen by other people.

Well, after the explanation of the PWT we did rest of the presentations for our next essay. My turn came and all I did well was the greeting I think. The eye contact and delivery was not good at all. oh, I think didn't cross my legs during the presentation so I maybe did improve a little.

After that we described Rab's big black bag using slants and charged words.I would realize that the writer has a bias but believe some of it if that is all I see. I have to think more criticaly and get used in finding the writers view. And be able to use them in my essays.

class-5/24

I'm pretty behind with the blog post X(

Well, all I remember about Monday is that it was a very tiring day.
It was raining from the morning, I had the practice for the lacrosse club in the morning, I had a report that was due that day, and had a explanation for the teacher-training course which ended at 8:30. It was around 11pm when I got home. I got up 3am that day so it was a quite long day..

One thing that I'm surprised is that I didn't get sleepy at the NP that day. I usually get sleepy, except Rab's classes. Mike doesn't use technology, but he uses magic instead. I don't think that I can say that using magic can improve learning but it is true that it can keep the attention.

In Rab's class we did some discussions on the next essay topic in groups and then did a presentation in front of half of the class. It's interesting to listen to other people's ideas. I realized that I'm not a good critical thinker, since I don't ask questions. I only asked one or two. I have to be a better listener and be able to ask questions.

class-5/21

Friday we had the PWT. I really liked Yuji's idea about using the google doc. It really helped me since I could see the other members opinions at home. I hope our results can prove that technology can help improve learning.

In class we talked about the PWT and then Rab tricked us again. I was in the same group with Kaya and Yumi so I knew that Rab was going to do something, but if i were in a different group i would have been tricked as the other people. Talking in a confident way does make people believe. I would need to be able to speak with confidence when I am to do a presentation.

The twirling girl and the stereo grams were pretty fun. I wonder how that twirling girl works. It was so amazing. It tend to go the other way when I start to speak, so i might be using the different brain when I'm just looking at it and when speaking.
It took me some time to be able to see the stereo grams. I think I got what Rab wanted to say about the relation of stereo grams and Fisher. Seeing things in different ways is difficult but valid.

The next essay's going to start! I hope i can keep up with the other members!

class-5/19

I forgot to post a blog for wednesday's class.

We learned how to do a presentation. First Rab told how the structure is and then we practiced them. It wasn't so hard to look at everyone's eyes for 5 seconds if that was all I have to do. But when I had to do all the greetings and thanking stuff it was pretty hard to make I contact with everyone. I have to be careful not to cross my legs during a presentation and I actually tried not to this morning on the train but it was hard than I expected. I didn't know that I cross my legs so often. I also thought that I'm not good at organizing things in my head quickly. I really have to get used to many things.

class-5/18

Yesterday was Tuesday, which means the girls had P.E.and were late for class again.

Using that fact Rab tricked us again. I did see him wink,and I thought he was joking at the first place but since he was talking about it longer than usual, I thought he was in a really bad mood. It's not comfortable to have someone angry near you even if its a joke. But Rab let us experience the importance of a nonverbal interpretations and again I felt that it is good to experience things by yourself. I like listening to the other people's answers because I can learn many words and sometimes find the exact word. I really want to be able to do it all by myself.

About the drawing psychological test we did yesterday, I think it wasn't wrong but the one we did the day before yesterday looked more accurate for me. If I were asked to draw the sun and the water before the greenery then I think my picture would have been pretty different. I wonder how these psychological tests differ in countries and cultures. Since it is said that Japanese regard harmony than themselves, would there be more people which draw the house in a non centered place than the western countries? It would be interesting to do the test on many people and analyze the result.

class-5/17

The retreat was much fun than I expected :)

I enjoyed talking over the night with the CB members. But because of the lack of sleep at night, I was sleeping all the time on the bus and on the train. I actually slept over my hometown station and went a couple station further.

Maybe because of the retreat and the morning lacrosse practice made me sleep half of the NP yesterday. I`m really sorry Paul.

Before the 5th period I was quite sleepy but when the class started I wasn't sleepy at all. The worksheet that Rab gave us was so difficult for me. I knew that I have poor vocabulary but it was quite shocking when I couldn't only answer 'lack'. It was very surprising to me that Shantonu answered them so easily. I have to get used to writing academically.

I enjoyed the later half of the class very much. I didn't think that it was a psychological test until he told us. I think that it was about 80% accurate.

Chapter 5:"The Bad Seed" OR "The other Boys Made Him Do It"?

I wrote this on May 15th and didn't post it because I thought I want to write more.
But its June 18th today, and can't remember what I wanted to write so I'll just post it.
Sorry for not having a conclusion x(


Chapter 5 was interesting than chapter 4 to me. I felt the importance of the introduction part of a writing. Chapter 4's introduction wasn't so interesting and didn't make me go into the book, but in chapter 5 the example of murder in China and the U.S. was interesting and let me read the other parts in a good rhythm. I would like to write an essay which can get the readers attention and make them read the body part without boredom.

In the "Casual Attribution East And West" there was an evidence that casual attribution differences mirrors the attention differences, comparing Hindu East Indians and Americans. I would explain as the Indians did if I were asked the same question. Well, this is not the main point I'm talking about this topic. What I was surprised was that "the children in the two cultures didn't differ in the the sorts of explanations they gave." In the very first ELP class, Rab made us do a discussion on 'nature' and 'nurture' and I said that nurture effects the people more than nature. But I didn't have any evidence and I wasn't really sure, so reading this I was very surprised.

Chapter 4: "EYES IN BACK OF YOUR HEAD" OR "KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE BALL"?

In the first page of chapter 4 Nisbett says "the different social realities might produce very different patterns of literally seeing the world."(79) When I read this I thought that this chapter might not be interesting. I thought it's not such a surprising thing to find different patterns of seeing the world. But after reading "Persons from the Unites States seem to hold this assumption of similarity more strongly than some other cultures do."(Barna, 5-2), I thought it might be fresh and surprising for the American and the other westerners to find differences in seeing the world. and this might be the reason he got so many awards from the westerners.

When I was reading chapter 4 for the first time, we were doing many discussions about demonstrations in the world. In chapter 4 there was a part saying "Surveys show that Asians feel themselves to be in less control than their Western counterparts. And rather than attempting to control situations, they are likely to adjust to them." (97) When I read this I thought that this might be the reason why Japanese don't do many demonstrations. Rab showed us pictures of demonstration which happened in Korea so I can't say this is totally right but I think the difference in the way Western and Asian think about controlling the world has an affect in doing demonstrations.

class-5/12

Today I'm going to write my blog before I get sleepy and forget about it.

This is what I first wrote when I started to write this post, but I got sleepy and 4 days has passed since the class. :/

In class, using the LBH, Rab gave us examples of fallacies. I think I have to look at my essay carefully about these fallacies AND have to memorize the names for the PWT. I hope can memorize them through checking my essay. After learning what fallacies are, we read an article "Deletion of English from Entrance Exams Urged" from the Daily Yomiuri and discussed about it in groups. When I was reading the article I thought "If the students dislike math more, then why don't they discuss about deleting math from the exams first." But Rab told us the reason having an entrance exam should be thought first. I would like to be able to realize those big problems by myself.

class-5/11

In yesterday's class we had a visitor from a publishing company. I was surprised when I entered the room after rushing from PE because a lady was sitting with the other students. From my experience I have a image that visitors sit in the back of the room. Thinking about it now this might be an assumption.

We did some discussions on What Went Wrong? sheet Which Rab gave us. It was interesting and I enjoyed the class very much. I don't think there was a big difference in the daily class and yesterday's class but maybe I was thinking more because the visitor was in the group. The point is the more I think, the more I can take part in discussions, and the more I can enjoy the class. I was quite late to realize... but it's better to than not to. I'll try to think harder in today's class.

I thought that if we don't know anything about the topic then it would be hard to find an assumption. It actually was hard to find them. I only knew a little of the historical backgrounds of Saudi Arabia. I felt the problem of ignorance again in Rab's class. I really like Rab because he tells us about things that I've never thought about (including the technology).

class-5/10

On Monday we first checked our partner's the practice PWT using the LBH. It was easier to check it using the LBH than just reading. We learned what is good and what is bad for the opening and the conclusion. It surprised me when Rab told us that emotional perspectives can be used as a support. Rab also changed my way of thinking on assumptions. I was thinking that there should be no assumption (even its hard to do) and didn't realize that it depends on the audience whether the assumptions are valid or invalid. So, from the next writing I'm going to think about the reader when finding assumptions.

class-5/7

Yesterday we first had a practice PWT. 15 minutes was shorter than I thought, and even I had a discussion on the questions before, I don't think I answered the question properly. I hope Kana doesn't have a hard time with my paper.

In the later half of the class Rab showed us a dvd. The title was "This is what democracy looks like." It was really shocking. What the police did surprised me so much. I can't believe that they could do such a thing, for example taking off the protestants mask and spraying gas to their eyes. I wonder if the police knows why the demo was happening. The power of the media was surprising too. I thought I understood the bias of the media in Rab's NP but after watching the movie in class, I didn't understand it enough. This time I felt it really necessarily to examine the news by myself. I felt my ignorance and also felt that I wouldn't change if I were just watching the news programs in Japan. My teachers in high school and junior high told me to watch the news, so I thought that the news was telling the truth. But from now on, I will examine the news and find the truth by other ways. If Rab hasn't done this class (and NP) I would have been believing what the media says. I think there are many people that doesn't know these things so I'm going to try to start telling it to the people around me to make things better.

Chapter 3: Living Together VS. Going It Alone

First of all I thought that chapter 3 was easier to read compared to chapter 1 and 2. I think it was because there were many episodes which I can agree as a Japanese. Especially when an expression that I knew was introduced it made me say "ahhh". For example "The peg that stands out is pounded down."(48) I don't actually know when this expression was made but I think its old. I think its old enough to say that Japan's way of thinking hasn't changed for years like China or the western countries. I thought this way of thinking has some relation to the attitude toward demos in Japan. If the expression is true then most of the people would try to be the same with the others. So if only few people takes part in a demo than the other peoples would just be watching. On the other hand if the people know that many of the people moving then they will move too, like the vote which DPJ has won. I think that the people who cares other people so much could be easily moved by the media. So we have to be very careful. That's what I thought during reading chapter 3.

Chapter 2:The Social Origins of Mind

I think that I'm the last person to post the blog about chapter 2 x(

I read it in the week we had to but I didn't post a blog... and its May already, and I have to write about 4 more chapters!! I might be quite lazy than I thought.

Chapter 2 was difficult to read as chapter 1. Nisbett's writing did not interest me so much. His bias can be seen in many places and it makes his writing weak. I can't agree with Nisbett when he says "lack of curiosity was characteristic of China"(4o) or "there has never been a strong interest in knowledge for its own sake in China"(40). It might be necessary to use strong word when you want to persuade people, but I don't think it was a good choice to use "never" in the sentence.


4 more posts are waiting...

class-4/30

In class we peer reviewed our essays in the essay group. Reading other peoples essays was a very good opportunity to learn what a good essay is. The essay I wrote this time was the 5th one that I wrote in English in my life, so I felt the difference in level so much. I think that I have to work really really hard on my essays to catch up to the CB members.

After doing peer review Rab showed us some videos of demos which happened in other countries. I thought that the Japanese should be more democratic but I don't know where to start from. I don't know much about politics so after doing some research I'll post my opinion of the way Japan should change.

class-4/28

I haven't posted a blog from Wednesday.

Well in Wednesday's class we did worksheets which Rab gave us. I thought doing a worksheet is a good way to make us think in reality and check if we are really understanding things. I think that I understood the structure of an paragraph but I can't say I did it well through writing my essay. I hope my writing skills gets better.