6/15 last class

Today was the last class of Rab's SE.
This class was harder that i had thought, but that is probably because I worked on the extra-curricular homework such as finding the look-alike of ELP teachers.
But anyway it was good to legally use a computer in class!

I have already used Google Trends because I was in Rab's class last year.
It's very useful for me to show when Japanese people got interested in TPP. I will use the data as the introduction part of my essay.

Concerning whether Google Chrome is popular or not, I'm not so sure how many people are using it. But I think it is a good thing to introduce it to those who have never used it because it is incredibly faster. Also, the new version of Firefox for Win is crap. I installed it on my computer yesterday and was surprised what Mozilla did with it. I think I just have to change a few settings to make it like the previous version. But most people usually don't like such a trouble. So it is great to inform students of Google Chrome, which is almost perfect by default.

Thanks for being a good teacher, Rab. I hope you will teach a even greater class next year.
Please email me if you find any good drama series or movie. Bye!

6/13

Today we visited TED and iTunesU, which are both among my favorite!

TED is the website where professionals (mainly authors of upcoming books?) talk briefly about their theory. TED takes you to the leading edges of topics which interests you. The important thing is each presentation takes no longer than 18 minutes. We can also learn the techniques of delivering fine presentations.

iTunesU is a tool which provides you with a way to watch lectures at famous universities like MIT, Harvard and UCB.

The concept is like TED's, but since the length of lectures are not limited to 18 minutes. I think that maybe we will not have to go to university anymore in the near future.

Concerning Rab's question about this class, I don't think we should work on different topics than TW topics. But I'm regretting that I should have taken TW class in Spring because if I had taken, I think maybe, maybe I could have started working on my topic earlier than I did. Or maybe now I was suffering in the same way as I am now;)

6/8

We spent most of the class time on constructing our websites.

I changed my topic to the problems of TPP. I think TPP could make the situation much worse since we are still suffering from the damages of earthquake. Most people simply think TPP is bad for Japanese agriculture but that overall it is good for Japanese economy. However, this is wrong or, at least, could be very wrong. I will examine what the consequences might be and hope everyone to think more carefully whether we should take part in TPP.

We also visited the three websites designed to help students write better. I will consult them when I don't know what to do in writing.

6/6

Today Rab introduced websites which provide many tools and useful information.

On one of the websites, Google labs, I found Google Reader Play.

This tool shows some of the most popular pages on the web at the time you visit. It will be very helpful when you want to kill time.

I've got what I think is cold and I have a relatively high fever now.

So maybe I can't make it to tomorrow's class. Even if I can, I will keep silent, but don't think me angry. Actually I've been lying down all day. But I have to work on my final project for SE because I'm going to change my topic. There's too many uncertainties about bin laden's kill and I doubt it will be so fresh as now when I work on my real essay in Winter.

6/1

Today we learned how to edit movies on imovie.

Imovie gives a way not only to cut and past part of movies but also to add a caption and BGM on it. I think I will make one for my website, so this technique will be useful when I use a similar software.

Now I'm very much worried that I can finish the task by the due date. I have so much to do like I did in last term. Why can't we poor humans learn from failures? It seems that's the biggest reason we still have hungers and wars on this planet. I hope someone in ICU will change the situation. I wish I could do it myself but I don't have such a high motivation. Sorry. It's better I just live in one of the suburbs and curse stupid politicians. That's all I can do. So please change the world!

Who's your look-alike?

Today we learned how to use iphoto and collected photos for it.

This kind of tool reminded me of my childhood, when I frequently scribbled on everything.

While I played around with it, I came up with an interesting idea. I thought it interesting to find someone who look like ELP teachers including Rab. So I searched for them and here's what I found. I hope you enjoy!

Chris Hale(DJ, ELP teacher)

Joe Satriani(guitarist)

Chris Hopkins(ELP teacher)

Elton John(musician)

Miguel Sosa(ELP teacher)

Oompa Loompa (in the movie Charlie and the chocolate factory)

Paul Wadden (ELP instructor)

Earl in My Name is Earl (just kidding)

Ged O'Connell (ELP lecturer)

Eric Clapton(guitarist)

Christopher Gallagher (ELP lecturer)

Matthew Macfadyen(English actor)

Bill Harshbarger(ELP teacher)

Father Christmas

Robert Homan (ELP lecturer)

Superman

Noah Benett in Heroes

Steven Engler (ELP instructor)

Stone Cold Steve Austin( professional wrestler and actor) ※This idea is originally Rab's)

And finally , we have Rab!

Paul Krugman (Nobel-winning economist)

It took me over two hours to find these people...

I hope it was worthwhile!

5/26

Today we received a lecture on prezi by Shantonu and Saori. Both the way they presented prezi and prezi itself were fantastic. Prezi seemed not so simple for me, but their lecture helped me understand it. I was surprised they were so familiar with many functions prezi has. I don't think I could explain even in Japanese so well as they did in English. It's not just about the English skills. They must have been prepared for it very much. Thank you Shantonu and Saori! I want to do a presentation with prezi someday. Maybe I will for my essay.

Next class is on iMovie. I think I'm going to make a movie for my presentation even though I have never done that, so I look forward to it.