The Gift of the Magi

Reference: http://www.onestopenglish.com/skills/listening/serialized-macmillan-readers/american-stories/the-gift-of-the-magi/

The Gift of the Magi: Part 1
http://www.onestopenglish.com/skills/listening/serialized-macmillan-readers/american-stories/the-gift-of-the-magi/the-gift-of-the-magi-part-1/551693.article
Part 1 of this story introduces us to one of the main protagonists, Della, who despite having little money, is desperate to buy her husband an extra-special Christmas present. In this lesson, briefly discuss the topic of gift-giving; listen to the introduction and familiarize yourself with the narrator’s voice and pace; listen to the first half of the story, focusing on the main events and information; listen carefully to a short extract and raise their awareness of pace and pausing; predict the events in the second half of the story and understand the scene between the two main characters.


The Gift of the Magi: Part 2
http://www.onestopenglish.com/skills/listening/serialized-macmillan-readers/american-stories/the-gift-of-the-magi/the-gift-of-the-magi-part-2/551749.article
Part 2 of this story concludes with Della and her husband, Jim, unveiling their gifts to one another. In Part 1, Della had sold her beautiful, long hair to buy a watch chain for Jim. In this lesson, recall the main events from Part 1 of the story and predict the events in Part 2; listen to Part 2 and discuss the moral of the story; listen carefully to a short extract and practise the intonation of lists; discuss ideas for an ideal gift and plan a modern version ...

Writing Activity:
Make an original story based on The Gift of the Magi
Consider th following elements in your story:
Characters/Location
Treasured possessions
Gifts

How to Make an Outline

When you are preparing for a presentation, it is recommended that you make an outline to help you: focus on your topic, clearly say your ideas, and effectively explain your main points.

Outlines have three general sections, which can be further sub-divided when needed. The three general sections are:

Introduction - Grabs attention, states the main idea, gives the purpose of the presentation.

Main Body - Usually about 80% of your presentation is the main body. This contains the main ideas and details.

Conclusion - Summarizes your main points, give general opinions, suggestions or recommendations.

Compare/Contrast Essays

Compare/Contrast Essay

Writing a Compare/Contrast Essay 
Here is some general information about writing this type of essay:
• A comparison essay notes either similarities.
• A contrast essay notes only differences.
• The comparison or contrast should make a point or serve a purpose. Often such essays do one of the following: Clarify something unknown or not well understood. Lead to a fresh insight or new way of viewing something. Bring one or both of the subjects into sharper focus. Show that one subject is better than the other. 
• The essay can present the subjects and indicate whether they will be compared, contrasted, or both.
• The same points should be discussed for both subjects; it is not necessary, however to give both subjects the same degree of development.
• Some common organizational structures include: (see note below) Block method (subject by subject) Point by point Comparisons followed by contrasts (or the reverse)
• Use detailed topic sentences and the following connecting words to make the relationship between your subjects clear to your reader:

Connectors That Show Comparison (Similarities)
In addition
Correspondingly
Compared to
Similarly
Just as
As well as
Likewise
Same as
At the same time

Connectors That Show Contrast (Differences)
However
On the contrary
On the other hand
Even though
In contrast
Although
Unlike
Conversely
Meanwhile

Reference: SBCC

Other topics for Comparison/Contrast essays:

1. Books vs. Movies

2. Living in the City vs Living in the Province (Inaka)

3. Organic vs Genetically Modified Food

4. Email vs SMS

5. High School vs College

6. Democracy vs Military Governments

7. Getting Married vs Staying Single

8. Digital Technology vs Analog Technology

9. Working Full-time vs Working Part-time

10. Having Children vs Not Having Children

Japan: Obon

on YouTube:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OFKADRlkoL8

Obon: Japan's Halloween by Ai Faithy Perez on Lifestyle

If you’ve been in Japan for a while, you may have heard the word obon floating around during these excruciatingly hot summer months. Obon (お盆) or just bon (盆) is a Buddhist custom held in honor of one's ancestors. During obon, families prepare to receive the ones who have "gone on," typically by returning to their hometown and visiting the deceased’s grave, cleaning the tombstone and bringing fresh flowers. 

Even though obon isn’t a national holiday, it’s not uncommon for the work force (who rarely take their paid holidays) to take leave during the second week of August to visit hometowns and be with family. The three days of obon depend on the area—if you live in Tokyo, Yokohama or in the Tohoku region you’ll have a Shichigatsu (July) Obon. In Shikoku, the Chugoku region and Okinawa, obon is called Kyu Bon (Old Obon). Elsewhere you celebrate Hachigatsu (August)Obon.

When I first heard of it being described as a celebration or festival, I thought to myself, surely it’s disrespectful to celebrate the death of one’s ancestors. Apparently, the Japanese are a glass-half-full type of people and rather see it as an opportunity to see loved ones again.

Obon has been celebrated in Japan for nearly 500 years, and traditionally people danced to lure the spirits of their ancestors home. This dance is called Bon Odori (盆踊り) or “bon dance.” The dance is a joyous one. You can’t help but smile when your hands are in the air, swaying from side to side, jostling with the random neighboring swayers. If I told you the story behind the bon dance, you’d mutter “uso!” (ウソ！), which literally means “lie.”

Bon Odori originates from the story of Maha Maudgalyayana (Mokuren), one of the disciples of Buddha, who used his supernatural powers to find his deceased mother. Upon finding her, he discovered that she was in the realm of the Hungry Ghosts and was suffering. Distressed, he consulted Buddha, who instructed Maha to make offerings to the many Buddhist monks on the fifteenth day of the seventh month. Maha bowed and obeyed. And upon his mother’s release, he put his arms in the air and did a victory dance, or rather, what we now know as the Bon Odori.

 

Bon Odori photos by Guilhem Vellut; cemetery photo by Emran Kassim.

October 19 UPDATE

l

Presentation TODAY is CANCELLED, instead today will be an additional day to prepare for your presentation. Please improve your slides, add more pictures, double-check your spelling.
A few suggestions for your slide presentations:

1. Put your names on the Title Slide.
2. Our topic this time is about JOB HUNTING, you may use charts, and graphs, to help you easily explain your data.
3. The last slide is usually a "Thank you" slide. You may write "Thank you for listening." Or if you have a last message for your listeners, you may put that in your closing slide.

Presentations will be NEXT WEEK (October 26, 2016). Please use the extra time for preparation. Feel free to email me if you have any questions.

Job Hunting Suit

I'd like to focus on one part of this list though, and that is suits. Recently there has been some controversy about this and a lot of raging has occurred on the Japanese internets.

It all started with an article in the "Weekly Toyo Keizai" titled "Choose a black suit for shuukatsu job hunting! – Do not try to stand out with clothes". This was published on October 28, 2014. According to the article, 90% of recruits wear black suits so it suggests that other applicants should follow the majority to be safe. As an example, they compared the reactions of what an interviewer might think if you wore a "unique" striped suit versus a normal black one:

What would an interviewer think if you wore a stripe designed suit for an interview? The reaction of the interviewer will be one of three types.

1. They'll evaluate it as a positive, as in "a striped suit is better because it's different from others."
2. They are not interested in a graduate's clothes, so they don't take it for a positive or a negative.
3. They evaluate it as a negative, as in "he/she doesn't know manners, wearing a striped suit for a job interview is too flashy to make a good impression."

We don't know which reaction is likely because we haven't researched it, but let's assume that each case has equal possibility – a three in one chance. In that case, if you wear a black simple suit to an interview, the interviewer wouldn't react in any particular way since most applicants wear a black plain suit anyways. It's neither positive or negative, but neutral, so it can be said there is no risk if you choose a black suit.

However, if you wear a striped suit to an interview, an interviewer could get a negative impression of you one-third of the time. It's quite a big difference, isn't it? You don't need to take any risks intentionally. Instead of standing out by appearance, you should try standing out by who you are and impress the interviewers with what you say.

What's the point of this article? A country where recruits wear "uniforms". I deliberately want to say that this is a worthless and pointless article. It's stupid. Adults who do or say such things are just idiots (regarding "choose black suits for shuukatsu job hunting!"). – @kenichiromogi

There are a lot of meaningless rules for appearances in Japan – @ys1dream

This article is really stupid, isn't it? Is it saying not to demonstrate personality? When I was job-hunting, it took me a while to get a job offer. I ended up hating both the look and wear of my suit and went to an interview in jeans and a jacket with a pair of sneakers in the end… then I got an offer. Wearing casual clothes makes you relaxed, so I recommend it." - @mii_sang3791

I think it's correct not to join a company which decides who to hire only by the color of their suits. - @mizutamabeat

Shoji Kokami, a Japanese playwright, director, and filmmaker, agreed to Mr. Mogi's tweet and stated his opinion in three tweets.

For example, imagine if there was a child who doesn't want to use a satchel and his/her parents persuaded/begged/commanded/encouraged the child to use it. In that case, I respect parents who can tell their child not "you won't be bullied if you use the satchel" but "this country doesn't allow diversity, but hopefully it will change when you will become adult." I never ever want to be a person who confidently tells a child "when you graduate from university, you will have to wear a recruit suit, which is a satchel for adults, or else you won't be accepted. It's all for your benefit." Instead, I want to be someone who can talk about my true feelings about the recruit suit – containing opinions about both those who agree with the black suit and those who are not comfortable with it. That would be a steady step, though it's a small step, to reduce this country's stuffiness and light a fire of hope. I think an adult who can do such things is a wonderful adult. - @KOKAMIShoji

Of course, there were counterarguments to the counterarguments. Things are really getting heated! All just for the color of a suit!

Freelance writer Tomohiro Akagi wrote a blog post with his opinion. Aft first he took it for granted that there are people who feel uncomfortable or question if using black suits is the right thing to do after reading Toyo Keizai's original article. He said that if a recruit asked him what was best to wear for a job interview, he would tell them to choose a black suit because the purpose of job-hunting is not to wear a colorful suit but to obtain a job offer. If there is a risk in wearing a unique colored suit, then the best advice certainly would be to follow the majority. After making these introductory remarks, he took up the main subject, which is "where do Mr. Mogi and the others' angers come from?"

Akagi assumed that they got upset with the fact that an individual person with their own personality is treated in a uniform manner because they grew up in the period when people made a strong appeal not to wear school uniforms but to wear whatever they like in their school days. He concluded that their opinion comes from believing that accepting a variety of clothes equals accepting a variety of personalities.

Then he pointed out that graduates who were currently job-hunting were very used to wearing school uniforms so they know how to take advantage of it. Especially "high school girls", who have become a sort of icon, which means they benefit from a consumer society, which equals having their value recognized by society. Because of that, they don't have any doubts about wearing the same black suit like everybody else. This means that the "worthlessness" or "stuffiness" that Mr. Mogi and the others insist on only exists in their own generation and there is a high possibility that such ideas don't exist at all among the current recruits.

In that way, it clears up why I doubted their anger. I guess whoever feels worthless or stuffy from the sight of all applicants wearing black suits are only Mr. Mogi or Mr. Kokami. Therefore, I think the truth of their anger is that they are using recruits as chessmen in a proxy war to fulfill their self-respect.