Oct 29

Intercultural Halloween Event

Oct 29

English Lounge Forum 7 – AI and Language Learning

Oct 11

EL本棚紹介(Special Edition) Oxford Reading Tree Series

[This is a special edition of the EL Bookshelf Introduction series]

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Oxford Reading Tree is a series of books used for extensive reading (多読). The books are meant for children and are very easy to read. You can read one book in one minute. You should write down all of the books that you read, and read as many as you can. They have nice pictures, too. You will feel good when you read a lot of books. You can read the whole series.

『Oxford Reading Tree』というのは多読専用のブック・シリーズです。この本は本来、子供向けでとても読みやすいです。一冊は一分もかからないくらい短いものです。読み終わったものを記録するがいいし、できるだけたくさんを読みつくしましょう。きれいな挿絵もありますよ。たくさん読み終わるとモチベーションも気持ちも上がります。シリーズ全体の完読を目指しましょう。

These books may not be taken from the English Lounge. You can read them at the table or on a sofa.

残念ながら、このシリーズは禁帯出とさせていただきています。イングリッシュ・ラウンジ内のテーブルやソファーで読んでください。

Each book has a “yomiyasusa level” (YL). You can see it on the back cover, along with the word count. Use these to keep track of your study progress. Now you can check the YL, word count, and CEFR level on many books in the English Lounge. This will help you find the right books for you.

全冊に「読みやすさレベル」（YL）がシールに書いてあります。裏表紙にYL及び総語数が確認できます。この情報を使って多読の進歩を記録しましょう。今学期からいろいろな本のYL、総語数、そしてCEFRレベルをシールで確認できるようになりました。これらを参照しながら自分に合った図書を探しましょう。

My two cents: Although these are children’s books, they use some interesting British English which may be new to you. Also, there is a lot of research which suggests that if you start reading these simple books, your English and motivation should improve a lot.

Oct 11

EL本棚紹介(95) The Story of Doctor Dolittle, by Hugh Lofting

[Welcome to the EL Book Introductions series. These posts are all short (<180 words) introductions/reviews of books in the EL library. They focus on telling you what we think will be interesting for you, a college student and English learner, so use them to help you find the right book for you. You can also use the tags to find books about topics you might be interested in.]

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Have you ever wished that you could talk with your pet? Doctor Dolittle is the story of a man who learns to talk with all sorts of different animals. He works very hard to help animals around the world, and has many adventures with them. This novel begins with the dedication “To all children / Children in years and children in heart / I dedicate this story.” It is true that Doctor Dolittle was written as a children’s story, but it is a literary classic that adults can enjoy as well.

This is the first book in a series of novels. It has also been turned into many movies, beginning with Doctor Dolittle in 1967, and most recently Dolittle in 2020 with Robert Downey J. in the lead (https://www.imdb.com/video/vi267763481/?playlistId=tt6673612&ref_=tt_pr_ov_vi).

Doctor Dolittle was written in 1920 in England, and so there are a few old-fashioned words. However, there is a glossary in the back of the book to help you. Also, you can read about the main characters in the back of the book before jumping into the story.

My two cents: This is an interesting example of a recent trend in publishing. The story is very old, and originally had some racist scenes. Today, the publisher has chanced a little bit of the text and illustrations so that they are not offensive.

Sep 02

English Lounge September Schedule

MON 月TUES　火WED　水THURS　木FRI　金
23456
 Closed ClosedClosedClosedClosed
910111213
Closed14:00 – 17:00(Brian Birdsell)

Talking about the USA

14:00 – 17:00(Brian Birdsell)

Talking about the USA

14:00 – 17:00(Joshua Solomon)

English through Games and Conversation

14:00 – 17:00(Reik)

English through Games and Conversation

1617181920
Closed13:00 ~ 17:00 ** 特別使用 **14:00 – 17:00(Megumi Tada)

TOEIC Practice

14:00 – 17:00(Joshua Solomon)

English through Games and Conversation

14:00 – 17:00(Megumi Tada)

TOEIC Practice

2324252627
Closed13:00 ~ 17:00** 特別使用 **14:00 – 17:00(Reik)

English through Games and Conversation

14:00 – 17:30(Joshua Solomon)

English through Games and Conversation

***

TOEFL ITP Practice test (事前登録必須) 16:00-17:30

14:00 – 17:00(Reik)

English through Games and Conversation

2024 summer schedule (1)

Jul 19

EL本棚紹介(94) The Canterville Ghost: The Graphic Novel, by Oscar Wilde and Sean Michael Wilson

[Welcome to the EL Book Introductions series. These posts are all short (<180 words) introductions/reviews of books in the EL library. They focus on telling you what we think will be interesting for you, a college student and English learner, so use them to help you find the right book for you. You can also use the tags to find books about topics you might be interested in.]

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What do you think of when you hear the words “ghost story”? A ghost attacking people? Murder and blood? How about humor? The Canterville Ghost is a famous and enjoyable story because it is not what you expect. The first part of the story is very funny. The middle of the story is sad. The end of the story even has some romance. It is not a stereotypical ghost story.

The Canterville Ghost tells the story of the Otis family who comes from America to live in the big old Canterville house. Sir Simon, the Canterville ghost, has been “living” in the house for hundreds of years. Everyone knows that the ghost is real, and he works very hard to keep his reputation as scary and horrible. However, the Americans are not scared of the ghost, and treat him very differently. The boys of the family are mean and play tricks on the ghost. Only the daughter, Virginia, cares enough to listen to his sad story and help him in the end.

My two cents: Like the rest of the “Classical Comics” series, this book makes a fun piece of classic literature easy to read and enjoy. Do not skip this book just because you do not like the so-so art style.

Jul 19

EL本棚紹介(93) Dracula: The Graphic Novel, by Bram Stoker and Jason Cobley

[Welcome to the EL Book Introductions series. These posts are all short (<180 words) introductions/reviews of books in the EL library. They focus on telling you what we think will be interesting for you, a college student and English learner, so use them to help you find the right book for you. You can also use the tags to find books about topics you might be interested in.]

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Like all of the titles in the “Classical Comics” series, Dracula is based on a very famous piece of literature. There have been countless film versions of Dracula, and the title character is an important cultural figure in the English-speaking world. Dracula also made a lot of rules about vampires famous, and they can now be seen in many television shows and movies, like Buffy the Vampire Slayer (also available in the English Lounge).

Dracula is the name of a vampire lord who travels to England, attacks young women, and tries to turn them into his vampire brides. Mina Harker and a group of men who promise to protect her fight back, chasing Dracula back to his home country and saving England in the process. The original novel was written in “epistolatory” style, meaning that the whole book was a collection of letters, diary entries, and notes. This comic version keeps some of the letters and diary entries, but most of the story is told directly. The end of the book contains a vocabulary list and background about the novel. It also has an interesting short explanation of how the book was written.

My two cents: I think that this is worth checking out if you are interested in vampires and horror. However, it felt like there were a lot more words per page than Frankenstein or A Christmas Carol, so it may take you longer to read the whole thing.

Jul 12

EL本棚紹介(96) The Borrowers, by Mary Norton

[Welcome to the EL Book Introductions series. These posts are all short (<180 words) introductions/reviews of books in the EL library. They focus on telling you what we think will be interesting for you, a college student and English learner, so use them to help you find the right book for you. You can also use the tags to find books about topics you might be interested in.]

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Almost everyone likes Studio Ghibli movies. If you do, you may be interested in The Borrowers, which is the basis for the movie The Secret World of Arrietty (借りぐらしのアリエッティ). This is a classic story and the beginning of a long series of books. It is about a tiny girl called Arrietty who lives with her family in an old house. They borrow things from the humans who live there, but they must never been seen.

This story was originally written in 1953, but the language is not too difficult. It is an adventure story, and something interesting or exciting happens in every chapter. The author does a good job of worldbuilding, too. “Worldbuilding” means teaching the reader all about the fantasy world. You won’t just learn about Arrietty and her family, but you will also learn about different types of little people, their different cultures, and their attitudes.

My two cents: I had known about this book for a long time, but only read it recently. I was surprised by how creative and detailed it was, even though it is still pretty easy to read.

Jul 12

EL Game Theories (04): Are Video Games OK?

日本語バージョン

[Welcome to the EL game series. These posts are all short introductions to games you can play in the EL. Because learning to play games in English can take a long time, some posts will explain how to play simple versions of games. Other posts tell you why you should use games to practice English. You can also use the tags to find other posts you might be interested in.] 

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When I was a child, the term “educational video game” meant a “game” that was boring, poorly designed, and full of vocabulary or math questions. But when it comes to second-language learning, regular video games can be helpful…if they are used correctly. 

If you choose a video game to play in English, you can practice “head fake learning” or your “English habit,” like I described in a previous post. But video games can also help with “learning what you already know,” which I have mentioned in a few book reviews on this blog before. 

I think that “learning what you already know” is a very useful way of learning language. It simply means using English related to something you already know in Japanese. If you’ve played Pokemon or Final Fantasy or Zelda, etc., in Japanese, you can play it again easily in English because you already know the story, characters, and items in the game. This is the same reason that I strongly encourage students to set their computers or Microsoft Word program to English: if you already know the menus in Japanese, you can learn to use them in English pretty quickly (in fact, I set my computer to Japanese when I started learning Japanese in college, and still use most things in Japanese language myself). 

Finally, a word of caution. Many video games, especially action games (shooting games, fighting games) do not require any reading or language skills once you learn them the first time. Do not trick yourself into thinking that playing Smash Brothers in English is “studying,” any more than watching English movies while reading Japanese subtitles is. Choose a game where reading or listening is necessary, and I think there is some value for your English learning. 

Jul 01

EL本棚紹介(92) A Christmas Carol: The Graphic Novel, by Charles Dickens, adapted by Sean Michael Wilson

[Welcome to the EL Book Introductions series. These posts are all short (<180 words) introductions/reviews of books in the EL library. They focus on telling you what we think will be interesting for you, a college student and English learner, so use them to help you find the right book for you. You can also use the tags to find books about topics you might be interested in.]

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“Classical Comics” is a series of comic books made by the English textbook company, Heinle. The comics are adaptations of famous classic stories, and the English Lounge has a whole collection of them. Because these books are meant for English learners, they include helpful information in the back: a vocabulary list, information about the author, character lists, etc. In addition, the English is changed to be easier to understand than the original, like a Graded Reader.

A Christmas Carol is based on Charles Dickens’ short book of the same name. It tells the story of Ebinezer Scrooge, a rich and greedy old man whose heart has grown cold. This story is so famous that if you call someone a “Scrooge” it means they are being greedy. Christmas is coming, but he hates the holiday. Then, he is visited by a series of ghosts who show him Christmas past, present, and future, including his lonely death. He learns the meaning of Christmas, love, and God, and promises to change his life.

My two cents: “Classical Comics” do not have great art. However, I think that A Christmas Carol has some of the better and more creative drawings in the series, especially the use of black and the colors of the three different ghosts.