Kansai Gaidai English II

I have a new blog!

2005-09-28T19:45:00.001-07:00

Hello World!

I have just started a new blog with my students here at the University of Calgary. I am now teaching for the LEAP program. That is the Learning English for Academic Purposes program (it's part of the faculty of education). It's a lot of fun, and my students are really great. If anyone is ever bored, they should have a look at my new blog and say hi to me and my students.

http://www.leapintoenglish.blogspot.com

Stay cool!

2005-07-18T02:48:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of me in the Tottori Desert. Holy cow was it hot. Luckily this desert is in Japan, and we could have a shaved ice before we died. I had a Japanese Pear shaved ice . . . it's famous in Tottori!

2005-07-18T02:19:00.000-07:00

It's a holiday today! I love long weekends. I haven't really done anything today, but yesterday I had an awesome day. I went to Tottori prefecture. My friend and I borrowed his Dad's car and we went to see the Tottori Sand Dunes. They were totally amazing. I felt like I was in the middle of the arabian desert or something After that, we went snorkling on the Japan Seaside. We snorkled along the coast through a lot of little islands, and I saw a lot of fish and other cool sea creatures. I was a bit freaked out at one point because we swam into an area that has a lot of jelly fish, but luckily none of them stung us. We also snorkled in some caves an a tunel along the coast. It was amazing. I wish we could have stayed on the Japan Seaside for a week, but we had to give the car back to my friend's dad. As a present to my friend's family we bought them a huge watermelon from Tottori prefecture and some shallots. They were really pleased, and they are going to lend us the car again next Sunday so that I can see as much of Japan as possible before I go. Stay tuned for the pictures of the Great Tottori Sand Dunes!

20 Things to Check for Writing a Better Essay

2005-07-10T17:17:00.000-07:00

Does your thesis statement adequately state your main idea?

Does the thesis statement contain an opinion about the main idea?

Does the thesis statement indicate the structure of your essay; that is, does it contain your controlling ideas?

Is the thesis statement the last sentence in your introduction?

Do your supporting ideas (topic sentences) show your attitude towards the main idea?

Are your topic sentences connected to the thesis statement?

Do you have good supporting details that are connected to the topic sentences and the main idea?

Do you have enough supporting details?

Do you need more examples?

Is there enough evidence in your essay to support your main idea?

Is the evidence you have used convincing?

Are your main body paragraphs long enough?

Are all the paragraphs logially connected to each other?

Do the sentences flow together?

Do you need transitions to make the sentences clearer?

Is the purpose of your essay obvious?

Are you able to convey your message to the reader?

Is your introduction interesting? Will it make people what to read your essay?

Does your conclusion start with a strong concluding statement?

Is your conclusion convincing?

Does your conclusion end with three or four added thoughts or comments that are connected to your topic?

2005-07-10T16:57:00.000-07:00

English II Final Essays

This is how I am going to mark your final essays.

Composition 5 points
- The student focuses on central ideas with an organized text.
-Paragraphs are well developed with topic sentences, supporting sentences and concluding sentences.
-There is an effective introduction that includes a thesis statement in the appropriate place.
-There is an effective conclusion that includes a concluding statement in the appropriate place.
-Ideas follow an effective principle of organization – e.g. least interesting to most interesting, smallest to biggest, less important to most important, etc.
-The ideas prove the writer’s thesis statement or topic sentence.
-The writer uses examples as appropriate.

Style 5 points
-The student has chosen appropriate vocabulary.
-The student has used a wide range of vocabulary.
-The student uses a variety of sentence structures.
-The student writes appropriately for his or her audience.
-The student uses effective transitions between sentences, ideas and paragraphs.
-The student uses formal academic English.

Mechanics and Usage 5 points
-The student uses standard word order.
-There are no run-on sentences.
-There are no sentence fragments.
-The student uses coordinators and conjunctions effectively.
-There are no awkward sentences.
-The student is able to use standard grammatical structures.
-The student is able to use standard word meaning.
-The student uses effective capitalization, punctuation, and spelling.

Presentation 5 points
-The homework is presented in an acceptable manner.
-The homework is not crumpled or folded or smudged.
-The student uses A-4 paper.
-The homework is typed.
-The homework is double spaced appropriately.
-The student uses appropriate formatting (paragraphs with indentation, correct margins, title, name, class, etc.)
-The student uses correct citations where necessary.

Content 5 points
-The information in the essay is interesting and relevant.
-The information is factual.
-The information used is appropriate for the text.
-The topic is interesting and well developed.
-The essay tells the reader something.

Total 25 points

I just erased my last post!

2005-07-07T19:08:00.000-07:00

Hello world,

I just erased my last post, but if you didn't read it, don't worry about it! It was all about how I was going to mark my students' essays, but I have changed my mind, and now I am going to do it a bit differently. Basically, it is going to be based on composition, style, usage, presentation and content for a total of 25 points. I can't wait to read the essays, it sounds like some of the students are going to be writing about some very interesting topics. It's going to be great!

2005-07-05T00:50:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how soon this semester is going to be over! I guess time flies when you are having fun!

Holy cow, it rained a lot this past weekend. I'm leaving soon, so I am trying to visit all the places I think I should see before I go back to Canada. This last weekend was my weekend to go up Osaka Tower. It was really cool. There was a strange god at the top of the tower . . . Billiken. I'm not sure if he was a real god or not though. I thought maybe he might be a god just for the tourists. I wonder if people really pray to him. I did see lots of people throwing money into the box infront of him.

He's pretty scary looking, isn't he? Anyway, when I was up at the top of Osaka Tower, I saw a kind of park, and my friends told me it was Tennoji Zoo. I had never been there, so we all decided to go to the zoo after the tower. It was pouring with rain, but we still went. The animals looked a little bit sad in the rain, and I hated the cages that the monkeys were in. I felt really bad for them, because it was like a prison for monkeys, and they have never done anything wrong. I wish they could have had bigger cages. It's cruel. The penguins were okay though. They had a nice big enclosure, and they looked pretty happy swimming in their pool, but then again, I don't think it takes much to make a penguin happy . . .

Finally, I ate kushiage . . . it was so good. All you can eat for under 2000 yen! Yum!

It's too darn hot!

2005-06-27T03:07:00.000-07:00

So here I am, sitting with the air conditioner going full blast. I feel so guilty, like I am sucking all the energy out of the earth. I tried not using the air conditioner for so long, but in the end I lost :-(

I went to Osaka this past weekend, and I had the best okonomiyaki! It was so good! I went to Yukari, in Umeda, and I had the mixed okonomiyaki with noodles. After that I went to the movies to see the movie "50 First Dates". It was pretty good . . . in fact, it was so good that the two girls sitting beside me (I didn't know them) couldn't stop crying! It was supposed to be a comedy, but it got pretty soppy and romantic at the end. I guess I'm not romantic enough because I didn't cry. Anyway, the movie was pretty good. The next movie I want to see is Star Wars Episode III . . . I heared it's awesome!

2005-06-23T19:11:00.000-07:00

You know, I just don't understand computers. I am in the computer lab with class 3 right now, and we were all going to blog about our favourite songs or pieces of music, but half the class wasn't able to login to blogger.

ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGH!

Why not? That's what I'd like to know. It's especially weird because the class before me was able to blog with no problem. I must have offended some blogging gods somewhere and they decided to punish me. Oh well, now half the students are free writing in Microsoft Word, and the other half are blogging.

It's strange, because living in today's technological world, we just expect everything to work with no problem, but when something doesn't work it is always shocking. Anyway, I hope that this blogging problem sorts itself out pretty soon.

My Favourite Music

2005-06-21T20:43:00.000-07:00

I just told my students in class one to blog about their favourite piece of music or song. I am very curious about what they are going to write about. Usually I would never tell my students what to blog about, but today I broke my rule of never giving the students a topic. The reason I broke my rule was that I want to show the students a technique for helping them get an essay topic. Today's topic is: write about your favourite song or piece of music . . . but that can be very difficult to write about in a five paragraph essay. Therefore, I want all the students just to free write about their favourite song so that they can generate some ideas and start to think about the topic. After we have done this for about 10 minutes, I'm going to show the students how to narrow down their topic.

The other class, my students and I listened to the song 'Suzanne' by Leonard Cohen. I guess I am infatuated with Leonard Cohen. I can't believe that I even told the students that I used to hope that I was Leonard Cohen's love child. Hmmmm, sometimes teachers just reveal waaaaaay too much information about themselves when they are teaching. Anyway, I've always fancied myself as being a bit of a Leonard Cohen. I really identify with a lot of his music. I guess I have been listening to it for years now. I first discovered it when I was about 21 years old, and I have been listening to it constantly since then. It was like a light went on in　my head. It was simply amazing. Anyway, since then, I have noticed that if I meet someone who also likes Cohen's music, we instantly become friends. It is like we have this connection between us. I wonder how many friendships have been formed over the world because of Leonard's music. If I meet someone who knows Leonard's music, it is like we instantly share the same cultural and spritual space. We are already one because we have already had the same experiences. Hmmmm, I wonder if any of this makes any sense.

It's funny, over the years, I seem to have been finding more and more layers of meaning in the music of Leonard Cohen. It is like the music and me are both maturing together, and developing new subtleties.

Wow, I have written a lot. I think I will write more about this topic when I come into the lab with my class 3. Sorry class 2, but the lab was booked, and I couldn't get the computers for us on Thursday.

2005-06-18T15:05:00.000-07:00

It's Sunday today, but it totally feels like Saturday because I had to go into work yesterday. I was one of the teachers doing the oral interviews for students applying to study abroad in Australia, South Africa or Korea. The poor students! Some of them were so nervous in the interviews, I thought they were going to throw up. Another girl practically started crying in the middle of the interview. I think it's so terrible how all this pressure is put on the students. It's kind of hard to tell how well a student speaks English if they are so nervous. I wonder if there isn't a better way to choose the students who go abroad. Anyway, it was a long day yesterday because after the oral interviews, we (the teachers) had a big long meeting to discuss each student and decide if we would recommend that they go on and have the Japanese interview. It was so hard choosing who should go to the next interview. However, I just want all the students who didn't pass the interview not to worry. There are lots of other programs for them to apply to. Don't give up!

2005-06-13T19:32:00.000-07:00

Look! It's another picture of my sister's adorable dog. Her name is Georgie (the dog, not my sister). Isn't she great?

Wow, it's amazing how easy it is to add pictures to your blog using www.flickr.com. I hope all my students learn how to use it. It is a bit tricky at first, but once you get an account, it is easy. to put a picture in your blog, click on the picture that you want. Then click on "all sizes", then click the size you want. Then copy and paste the HTML that you see at the bottom of the page into your blog. Easy stuff! There is another way to do it too. You can even blog directly from flickr, but I'll let you all work out that for yourselves.

Have fun!

Georgie

2005-06-09T16:59:00.000-07:00

Georgie, originally uploaded by albertaroy.

This is my sister's dog! Isn't she cute? She is wearing the hapi coat that I bought her in Japan.

Wow, this is my first post to blogger using flickr. I hope it works. I think this might be an easier way to upload pictures into blogger.

2005-06-05T23:43:00.000-07:00

We're famous! I went to Ritsumeikan University in Shiga yesterday to do a presentation about using blogs with ESL students. The presentation focused mostly on the blogs that I did with my students last year (www.kansaigaidai.blogspot.com), but we had a look at some of the blogs that my students have been doing this year too. Ritsumeikan University itself was really nice. It felt so refreshing to get out of the urban wastland that exisits between Kyoto and Osaka! The air itself even smelled better. Sometimes I can't believe how much pollution there is here in Hirakata. I think the people who live in Shiga are really lucky!

Anyway, I got to meet a lot of really cool teachers from all over Japan, and they seemed to like what we are doing with the blogs. It's exciting to think about how blogging is taking off all over the world, and me and my students are a big part of all of this! Hmmm, I wonder if this semester's students like blogging as much as my students did last semester. I can't believe how many students I have from last year that are still blogging. It's great!

Kansai Gaidai English II

2005-06-03T03:18:00.000-07:00

I'm going to Ritsumeikan University this weekend in Shiga to do a presentation all about blogs with my friend Janet. I hope everyone is going to like our blogs! I'm so proud of all of my students!

2005-05-30T00:22:00.000-07:00

I finally went to a karaoke box for the first time in my life! Can you believe that I have been living in Japan for almost two years now, and I have never been to karaoke? To tell you the truth, I thought I would hate karaoke. I have some horrible memories of drunken office Christmas parties filled people that I hate screeching off tune into portable karaoke sets. Ugh. I have even worse memories of my manager forcing me to sing when I would have rather have stabbed him with a pencil or something. So you can see that I had some really strong feelings about karaoke! Anyway, I thought I better go to a karaoke box before I go back to Canada, because it is such a typically Japanese experience. I LOVED IT! It was soooooooooooooo cool! We got our own little room, and we could drink as many soft drinks as we wanted for free (well, for 190 yen per half hour). In one hour, I drank something like 6 pops! We also ordered lots of dishes that were only 280 yen each. It was great singing and snacking. The first song I sang was "On Top of the World" by the Carpenters. I also did songs by Simon and Garfunkle and the Beatles. What a great time. Now I want to go to Karaoke all the time . . . it's too bad I'm leaving soon. I wish I had discovered karaoke earlier!

2005-05-23T20:05:00.000-07:00

If you have time, check out the pictures of anti-smoking messages I put up on my other blog:

http://www.gaidaiglobalissues.blogspot.com/

2005-05-22T22:37:00.000-07:00

I had the best meal the other day, and I can't really remember what the restaurant was called. It was in the gourmet museum below Hankyu station, and the food was really weird, but good. They had really reasonably priced set meals - won ton soup, mini gyoza, fried chicken and rice with little baby fish on top was only 680 yen, including a drink. I thought that was really cheap. Usually, I like to go to a chicken restaurant around the corner from Hep 5 - but lately I have been boycotting them because there are so many smokers in that restaurant, and it is only tiny, so the smoke gets really bad sometimes. Anyway, if you see a really weird kind of restaurant in the Gourmet Museum below Hankyu, don't be shy to try it. It's good!

You know, I had breakfast at McDonald's the other day (I know, I'm just asking for a heart attack), and I got so annoyed. I was sitting in the non-smoking section - and someone was SMOKING. ARGH. Usually I would say something, but I was so bloody annoyed, I was worried I would explode. Plus the guy smoking looked like some scarey yakuza pimp or something. I guess I am just a wimp. But, please, even if you are in the yakuza, please respect the non-smoking signs in McDonald's.

2005-05-17T20:13:00.000-07:00

phew! My blog is back. That was so stressful for a while. I was just going to make comments on some of my students' blogs, and maybe make a blog myself. I thought it was going to only take about five minutes, and I have been trying to get my blog to work for almost 30 minutes. Oh well, at least it's working now!

I ate soba for lunch . . . green, white and brown. It was so good.

That's all folks . . .

2005-05-17T20:10:00.000-07:00

Where's my blog? I can't see it. What's going on??

Aichi Expo Rocks!

2005-05-17T03:27:00.000-07:00

It's Tuesday, and I think I am finally recovering from my one day trip to Aichi Expo last Saturday. It was such a great day! I got up super early, and met my friends at Tsuruhashi Station in Osaka to take the 7:36 Kintetsu Train to Nagoya. I was so sleepy, but I was too excited to sleep on the train. In Nagoya, my friends and I took a shuttle bus to the Expo site. Once at Expo, there was so much to do that I didn't know where to begin. The first thing I did was talk to a robot lady. It was amazing. I asked her, in English, what she recommended I have for lunch, and she told me to eat Miso Udon! Maybe her English is better than some of my students (ha ha - just kidding!) Then, I went to have a look at some pavillions. The first pavillion I was was Cuba. It was really tiny, with no line up, but it was still kind of interesting. I also saw: Turkey, Kazakstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Krygistan (all the stans), Saudi Arabia (I got a free music CD here). Basically, if there was no line up, I went into the pavillion! I also went to the UN too. The coolest thing was when I went to the Canadian Pavillion, I didn't have to wait in line! There was a one hour line up, but I got to skip it because I am Canadian. I went through the side entrance, and got a VIP tour of the Canadian Pavillion. I also got a pin too. It was so nice to see the Canadian Pavillion, I got really homesick! Everyone there was so friendly, and it was nice to chitchat with Canadians again. Some other pavillions that I went to were the electricity pavillion (we road around in a circus train), the transportation pavillion (it was a ferris wheel that was half inside, and half outside a building), and the JR Pavillion. The 3-D show in the JR Pavillion was really cool! It was like riding a train with no wheels at over 500 kms an hour! There was also a lot of cool food at the Expo too. I ate Miso Katsu and Kishimen because I wanted to try out traditional Nagoya food. I also got to eat Turkish Icecream. It was really chewy and weird, but I liked it. One of the best pavillions that I went to was the Japanese Pavillion. It was fascinating. I really recommend it to everyone, even if you are Japanese! Anyway, Expo was amazing, but I think I only saw about 25% of it. I came back that same day on the last Kintetsu Train at 9:30 pm, and I didn't get back to my apartment until about 1 am. I was so exhausted, but it was totally worth it. However, if you can, try and go for more than one day. Don't be crazy like me!

2005-05-08T16:47:00.000-07:00

I had another barbecue! It was so great. There were four of us all together on my balcony, barbecuing and having fun last Saturday. My Japanese friend told me that Japanese people don't usually barbecue on their balconies, but we do it all the time in Canada (well, in the summer, naturally). We barbecued lots of vegetables (zuchini, eggplant, sweet potatoes, cabbage, onions, carrots, mushrooms, pumpkin . . . . . . . . . ), and we also barbecued beef, pork, chicken and shrimp. It was all so good. I was totally stuffed afterwards. It was so fun because it was a little bit like camping, but without having to go anywhere or pee in an outside stinky toilet. The best part was after the barbecue when we just sat around the glowing charcoals and talked, sang and played the guitar. My friend Lori just bought a second hand guitar for only 3000 yen, and it is better than my Yamaha guitar I paid 30,000 for!

Ooooooops, gotta go teach!

Golden Week is over :-(

2005-05-05T17:16:00.000-07:00

Here I am at my desk in my office. Golden Week is already over, and I am so exhausted from my holiday, that I need a holiday because of my holiday! I hope my students don't notice how exhausted I am today. Golden Week was a little bit weird this year, because I had to work for one day in the middle of it. Because of that, it was like I had two mini golden weeks, side by side. For the first half of Golden Week, I didn't really do much because I had to work on the Monday. However, I did go on an amazing hike on the borders of Hygo and Osaka Prefectures. I went hiking up a mountain called Myoken-san (I think). There was a really amazing kind of buddhist temple at the top. It was totally modern. The mountain itself was really beautiful, and hiking back down, I hiked beside a small stream that gradually because a river. It was so good to get back out into nature and smell some fresh air.

The second half of my Golden Week holiday was the exact opposite of my first half. Whereas in the first half, I enjoyed lots of nature and traditional Japanese culture, in my second half I went to Tokyo on the Shinkansen. I totally love the Shinkansen! It is so fast. I was in Tokyo in less than three hours. I stayed in Tokyo for two nights and three days. Tokyo is amazing. I saw so many cool things while I was there. I even went to the top of Tokyo Tower. I stayed in Shinjuku, but my favourite part of Tokyo was Harajuku. I really felt like I was in a world class city. I could feel myself coming alive with the coffee shops, restaurants and tree lined boulevards. One place I must recommend to everyone is a little french restaurant I found in Takadanobaba. It is called "La Dinette", and it was simply amazing. For only 2100 yen, you get a three course authentic French meal. I was in heaven! I started off with a smoked mackeral salad. Then, for my main course I had the should of lamb. Perfect! To finish it all off, I had a creme brulee. I think it was the best meal I have had in Japan (hmmm, except for maybe Kani Doraku, but that was A LOT more expensive). S i g h.

However, now the holiday is over, and it's back to reality. There are only two and a half months left this semester! Wow, where does the time go?

2005-04-27T16:27:00.000-07:00

I finally have the internet again at work! My computer is now officially virus free. It's amazing how dependant I am on the internet for everything that I do. Lately, we have been talking about Canada in class, and I have to download all the materials from class off the internet, so you can imagine that the last few days have been kind of a pain without the internet. I wonder why people make viruses?

Anyway, things are back to normal now, and here I am blogging. As I said before, we are talking about Canada in class. I never knew this could be such a difficult topic. I don't know where to begin. How do you teach about an entire country in just three lessons. I have been inspired though. I think I need to write an ESL book just about Canada. But what is Canada? I guess I have been concerned with this question just about all my life. I can still remember when I was six years old, my Dad and his friends standing on the street corner where we lived talking about this same question. The year was 1976, and the Parti Quebecois had just come into power in Quebec. The Parti Quebecois are a separatist party, and they want Quebec to become an independant French speaking nation. We lived in an English suburb of Montreal at the time, and this wall all my parents and their friends talked about. To a six year old, you can imagine this must have seemed all very boring, but for my parents and their friends the future of their country was at stake. In the end, my parents decided to move to Alberta, and so far, Quebec is still part of Canada, but the question still haunts me "What is a Canadian".

Anyway, just prove to your that your teacher is particularly weird, here is something that I wrote after a trip I took across Canada in 1996 that tells you what I was thinking back then:

A Trip Across Canada - 1996

The mountains are always there on the edge of my vision. No matter where
I go, they are the boundary that I cannot pass. I wander through strange
cities filled with bizarre and different modes of life, but still the
mountains are there, fleetingly appearing in the corner of my eye,
constantly beckoning me to return - to return.

The land of my youth haunts me. I escape and still the undulations of the
fields and the straw yellows of the pastures call my name. Sloughs cry
out, using the voices of the ducks and frogs to call across the miles,
reminding me in my sleep, sounding in my ears as I walk that there is
somewhere that demands that it remain in my soul, form part of my body
and not let me escape.

The people filter in and out of my memory. The people - Mennonite stock,
German and Protestant farmers giving their produce to eat, and by
partaking in what they create, by incorporating it with my body it
becomes me - the soil nourishing the grain, the labour harvesting the
wheat, the skill baking the bread. It all comes together in a grand
communion where I eat the body of my land and mingle my life with the
cells of theirs.

But can I only belong to them? Why does my soul ache as I travel through
this land? How does the song about Newfoundland, sung by a barmaid on
holiday cut at my heart while we sit in the pub on the ferry from Sidney?
Where do the tears come from when I see the gnarled trees, stunted
ancient mountains and pools of misty water in Ontario. Que'est ce que le
spasme de vivre que j'ai que j'ai?

Every person belongs to me. In smoky bar cars on the train, biker chicks
with skull rings and silver bracelets are mine as they describe the last
fight they had and how useful it can be to have jewellery that can double
for a knuckle duster. She and her mother are going to West Edmonton Mall
to stay in the Fantasy Land Hotel.

The lady in Ottawa who clarified the difference between an American and
Imperial gallon and the metric standard presently employed is mine. Mine
as she turned around and joined the conversation Fabrice and I were
having on the street in Ottawa.

Chad is mine as he looks for a home moving east and west. Wanting to
leave where he came from and then go back again.

Mike and Karen belong to me. Giving free post cards to the travellers
buying eggs and the margarine Mike suggested because it cost less than
the butter.

Everyone at the Barn Dance we found in the middle of Cape Breton belong to
me. We shared something as we danced to the fiddle player and drank
Pepsi. Them dancing to forget the farms that could no longer produce,
the language that had died and the jobs that were not there. They dance
to forget that the young people were gone, leaving children and people
over 40 to play the music and pass on pieces of their lives to the
children before they couldn't.

The drunk in the pub on George Street is St. John's is mine. Mine as he
asked me and everyone else who would look at him to play pool, connect
with him through his drunken haze. His refuge in his Newfoundland accent
and Black Horse lager.

Jessie was mine as he told me from behind the bar in The Ship how St.
John's had the highest per capita of pubs in North America, 18 year old
drinking age, no more fish or work and the highest rate of alcoholism.

Do the people who mutter and scream to themselves as they walk through a
self defeated city belong to me? They cry out in different languages
hanging onto the lamp poles, wrapped in their own filth. They are mine,
but what am I to do?

Elizabeth has always belonged to me. The wind eating us from across the
Atlantic as we stand looking across to Ireland and Britain. Ancestors’
voices hopeful in the wind as they sweep across the ocean as the rocks,
the trees, the endless wildness, the new cities tenuously sprouting from
the earth ancient and enduring.

History began when Britain took Newfoundland. Elizabeth takes us up to
the top of the lighthouse where no other tourists may go. We look out.
History wells up in her voice, the echoes of her ancestors floating in
her vowels. The ghosts lighting the light. Bright flash 17 seconds,
darkness, two bright flashes 17 seconds, darkness. The fog horn booming
for hundred's of years.

Susan and the college boys playing soldier in the citadel in Halifax are
mine. They are with me as Americans look from the other side of the
glass and we remember the war of 1812.

Canada, Canada, what are you? Are you the chansonnier singing "Mon Pays"
in Les Deux Pierrots? Are you the dead on the Plains of Abraham? Are
you the drug dealer on East Hastings in Vancouver peddling hash to
natives who now speak a foreign tongue?

Where are you? I want you. I need to know what you are. The anomaly of
different coloured pebbles sliding around in a slowly decaying box. The
glimpses I have caught of you tell me only that I love you and I need
you.

The memories swell and crowd each other out inside of my brain.
Remembrances rush forward and others recede back, but they are there and
they are me.

The beer is the blood of my land and the bread is the body. I partake and
we are one.

The trains put it into perspective. A sudden city, then fields, then the
land. A land that stretches forever, populated by memories and escape.

Escape from America and revolution. Escape from poverty and exploitation.
Escape from the white man. Everyone who lives here has run away or has
had their home taken away. Because they came here, we come from broken
families. Because they stayed, we have become orphans.

Does the land cry or sing, or is it silent?

Scott Roy Douglas
1996

2005-04-25T02:04:00.000-07:00

I have so many viruses on my computer at work! Arrrrrrrrrrrrrgh! On Friday, my internet stopped working in my office, and when my friend ran an anti-virus program on my computer, there were something like 15 viruses on my computer. eep. We deleted all of them, but the internet still doesn't work on my computer. This isn't just happening to me. The internet has shut down on my officemate Linda's computer too. I can't believe how many viruses there on are the Kansai Gaidai Mail Server. I wish they would hurry up and fix it. Now, everytime I need to use the internet, I have to go home.

Anyway, beside my annoying computer troubles, I still managed to have a really good weekend. I finally got to use my new barbecue. Some friends and I had a barbecue party. We make pork, chicken legs and chicken wings. Plus, we also had a cheese salad and garlic toast too. Mmmm, I'm getting hungry just thinking about it. I definately want to have more barbecues this spring. What will I barbecue next . . . . .?

2005-04-18T16:48:00.000-07:00

Once again, I should be working or something, but I just have to get this off my chest. This morning as I was reading The Japan Times, there was article after article about Japan's poor relations with its neighbours. The article that upset me the most, more than the riots and claims and counter claims for tiny islands was the article about how certain school trips have been canceled that were going to South Korea or China. The reason I am so upset is because, in my opinion, one of the key ways to bring about peace and mutual understanding is through communication and cultural exchange between ordinary people - especially youth. If young people can meet and talk to each other, then that would be the first step towards understanding. The tragedy of what is happening right now is that the opportunities for exchange and communication between young people is being cancelled at a time when these kinds of trips and programs should be increasing. I hope that more trips won't be cancelled.

One organization that I admire is The Asian Youth Forum. Here is more information about them: http://www.asianyouthforum.org/ They organize meetings between young people from all over Asia. It's times like these that we most need organizations like this.

Here I am Again!!

2005-04-17T19:48:00.000-07:00

Hello World! Here I am again in the computer lab with my students. This is the last time that I am going to be coming into the computer lab with my students for a long time. From now on, they are on their own! However, I am not at all worried, because I think everyone has really got the hang of blogging already. Some of my students have even start posting pictures already. It's so cool!!

Right now, I am in the computer lab with my English II - 2 students. They are all blogging about their goals for this course. As I have already blogged about my goals for English II, I thought I would try blogging about my goals for my life. I am so confused right now! I am going back to Canada in August, but I am still not sure exactly what I want to do. I could teach at the University of Calgary, and I could study for my Ph.D. in Education, but I am not sure if that is exactly what I want to do. Part of me wants to go back to Calgary because it would be really good for me to get my Ph.D. I'd be "Dr. Douglas" :-) But then again, part of me wants to go to Vancouver to live, well, because Vancouver is just so amazing, and Calgary is just so, well, cold. However, if I go to Vancouver, what would I do?? I guess I could try and get a teaching job, but the money wouldn't be very good, and I wouldn't have a very good lifestyle, not that money is everything, but it helps. I have even heard of teachers in Vancouver who have quit teaching and now they are working in Starbucks because they can make more money managing a branch of Starbucks than teaching. Hmmmm, what the heck should I do with my life?? I have given myself until the end of the month to decide, and in the meantime, I'm going to keep doing my best at Kansai Gaidai :-)

2005-04-16T20:02:00.000-07:00

Holy cow, it is such a beautiful day today! Actually, the whole weekend has been just amazing. I wish I could tell the world that I had gone out hiking or done something exciting this weekend, but actually I pretty much just stayed home the whole time. Why? My apartment was such a mess! It was driving me crazy, but I have finally cleaned up my entire apartment from top to bottom. You could eat off of my floor :-)

So now, here I am looking out my window at how wonderful it is out there, but I have to still stay inside and do work for school. s i g h. That's okay though, because I can always blog. 's offically work, but it's kind of fun :-)

Acually, I did do one exciting thing yesterday. I bought a BBQ! I can't wait to eat delicious Canadian style BBQ chicken. Yum.

Blogs can be so frustrating

2005-04-14T20:12:00.000-07:00

I just made an entry into my blog, and it messed up my entire blog page. I was so unhappy. This is a test to see if my blog is still working.

Missing Students!

2005-04-12T21:46:00.000-07:00

Here I am in the computer lab with one of my English II classes. I was so worried today because when the class started, there were no students in my class! The registrar's office had forgotten to post the change in rooms on the bulletin board, so no one knew where they were supposed to go. It was really confusing. Luckily, one of my students came to the computer lab, and she went to the classroom to find all of the other students. I was so happy to see them when the finally arrived. I was worried that we weren't going to be able to have a class today. Anyway, we are all finally blogging, and so far it seems like everyone has managed to make a blog. I can't wait to read everyone's blogs tonight. I am sure that they are going to be very interesting.

I'm going to help my students now . . . b y e !!!

Welcome to English Two

2005-04-05T00:34:00.000-07:00

Hello World!

This is my first blog of the semester. I am very excited to be teaching English II at Kansai Gaidai. I can't wait to meet all of my students. I hope they enjoy blogging as much as I do. I have been blogging for over a year, and now I think I am addicted! If anyone is interested in my old blog, they can check it out at www.kansaigaidai.blogspot.com.

For anyone who doesn't know me, I have been teaching at Kansai Gaidai for a year and a half. I really like living in Osaka. I especially like tacoyaki and okonomiyaki. I am really going to miss Japanese food when I move back to Canada. I am moving back to Canada in August, so this is going to be my last semester at Kansai Gaidai. I am sure that this is going to be a really great semester, and I am sure that my students and I are going to learn a lot from each other.

Talk to you later!!!!!!!!!!!!!!