Big Changes to the Newsletter!
By Ryan
http://www.fia-first-hand.com/en/
We are planning to incorporate the newsletter with the website.
Well, a new era has begun. The era of Brian and Ryan. Thanks to everyone who elected us for PPC. This is our first attempt at the newsletter and as you can see, we have redesigned it.
After discussing with Brian, we really want to have connections with the website. You will be able to submit articles directly from the site.
We have also decided to add some reoccurring sections. Of course we will continue the Upcoming Events section and the reader’s articles. Here are a few more sections I was thinking of:
· FIATube ~ In this section we will feature a cool or useful online video. These will be Japan related, useful for the classroom or just fun for laughs videos. You will be able to submit videos from the website in the future.
· Monthly Poll ~ Exactly what it says. We’ll have polls about teaching, life and some you can ask your students. You will be able to submit your votes via email or the website.
· Website News ~ This section will tell all the latest news and updates on the website. Also updates on the current hot topics in the forum.
· Tech in the Classroom/Teaching Tips ~ Useful tips for the classroom. Advice, games and videos.
· Nihongo 101 ~ Learn a different word or phrase in Japanese. We plan to make it fun and hopefully useful.
· Culture Shock ~ Articles about things that make Japan unique.
· Food Review ~ A review of a new restaurant or food in our area.
Those are just a few sections we thought about. All sections will not be in every newsletter but we wanted some base to go by. You will be able to submit articles for all section via the website in the near future but until then you can email us directly.
We want an interesting read every month as I hope you do to. To do this we need your help. Please be active.
Tech in the Classroom
By Micheal
The Greatest Movie Ever Sold & Other Ideas For Lessons On Marketing
This OJT year, I have several students in high level business courses. That means teaching out of the Upper Intermediate Market Leader textbook. Those of you who have taught it before know that students at that level are usually have excellent listening ability and an impressive vocabulary to match. Recently, I've been taking advantage of those twin benefits over the course of the program and Ryan has asked me to share what I've been doing with you.
Most of the extracurricular activities that I've been using stem from Chapter Two, the section on marketing. If you're looking to grab the students' interest and have some wonderful business English discussions, there are two topics well worth exploring.
The first is the concept of guerrilla marketing. By now, I expect all of us have seen at least one video on YouTube of a flash mob, one of the most famous being in Central Station in New York. While there are certainly some excellent videos on YouTube that should provoke some discussion, there are also some excellent photo sites with guerrilla marketing ideas. Some will require a bit of explanation, the one about the vampire TV drama for example, but most of them are easy enough to understand and are quite engaging.
The other idea that I've been using is the recent documentary by Morgan Spurlock called The Greatest Movie Ever Sold. You might remember this guy for his documentary Supersize Me. In the same vain, this time Morgan explores product placement in movies and on TV shows by having the documentary itself funded by corporate sponsorship. It's an interesting look at something that we see everyday yet hardly ever discuss. In addition to discussions on the ethical side of topics such as "neuro-marketing" and advertising to children, the documentary also lends itself to discussions such as "what kind of brand are you?" and "which products would you or wouldn't you endorse?"
All and all, I've found that these are some good ways to peak student interest and break the monotony of textbook study. If any of you are interested in more information, send an email my way.
Upcoming Events, Website News, Polls, and More!
Japanese Girl Explains STAR WARS
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eCSHJINqCo
This is a Japanese girl’s impression of Star Wars (the first film) after seeing it for the first time. Obviously English is not her native language but the animation makes her explanation special. "Trust your Force. Strong!"
Goodbye Yahoo, Hello Google!
We’ve decided to move the PPC email to fiappc@gmail.com. We found Yahoo to be too confining and limited. Many features such as forwarding, POP, IMAP are turned off unless we pay. And their SPAM filter is not up to par. The Yahoo mail will remain active but please update your address books
Monthly Poll
Which Business Syllabus Text do you use most?
Getting Ahead Series
Market Leader Series
Business Objectives
IEP Materials
Business Contacts
Other Getting Ahead Series
Market Leader Series
Business Objectives
IEP Materials
Business Contacts
Other
Vote by email fiappc@gmail.com or visit http://www.fia-first-hand.com
Upcoming Events:
Dec 3rd - 11th Tokyo Motor Show (Odaiba)
Dec 5th - 16th Fire Festival at Akiha Shrine (Hamamatsu)
Dec 20th to Jan 31st Narcissus Festival (Shimoda)
Website News:
December 1st the electronic member survey will go live for those locations that volunteered to test out the on-line version.
Online Flashcards link has been updated with more picture flashcards. Give them a try in your class!
Supplementary materials section is really growing! Have a look for new ideas and games in your class!
Forget your username or password for the website? Send Brian W an email and he will get you set up fast!
We need more forum topics started so if you have something you want to bounce off your fellow trainers start a new topic!
http://www.fia-first-hand.com/ fiappc@gmail.com
Culture Shock
by Chris
Walking in Kameari
Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari Kōen Mae Hashutsujo "This is the police station in front of Kameari Park in Katsushika Ward” (Kochikame for short), continuously published in Weekly Shonen Jump since September 1976, is one of the longest running manga series in Japan. The series has also been adapted into anime and live action movies, a long running anime series, and a live action TV series. The story revolves around the police based out of the koban near Kameari Park in northeast Tokyo. The main character, Kankichi Ryotsu, is an undisciplined and rascally (but good-hearted) cop whose’ schemes always cause a lot of trouble when they backfire, but he still manages to save the day.
To celebrate the series, and encourage sightseeing in the area, 14 statues of different characters were placed around the area. One my first trip to Kameari in September 2010 I only knew about the Ryotsu statue outside the station. At that time I had another event to attend in the afternoon (see the September 2010 Monthly) so wasn`t able to walk around the area, but I definitely planned to return.
So when this November came around I had my chance to return to Kameari. Normally police and gaijin don’t mix, but this is the one time you actually want to talk to the police there as they have maps of the area that show the location and best route to get to each statue. There are 5 statues on the north side and 9 on the south. The walking tour map is pretty good. Although the order they suggest for getting to each statue might seem a bit odd, as trying to be clever in taking shortcuts to some of the outlying statues taught me...follow the bloody map!
Near a small shrine and statue, there is also a big display board showing scenes from the manga along with a map and pictures of the real locations.
Kameari is a typical ‘local’ Tokyo neighbourhood. it`s densely packed with stores and big buildings, and isn`t very pretty, but has a certain charm to it anyway. I was really impressed how the area embraced the series; apart from the statues, there are banners on street lights, and even some of the buses were covered in Kameari characters.
I was really fortunate that the weather was so nice. It was sunny and just a hint of cool breeze so, perfect walking weather. Getting there is a bit of a hassle as several train transfers are involved. The walk itself takes about an hour to an hour and a half. If you are interested I’d recommend trying to time it with the changing of the leaves in mid-November.
Congratulations
Anna Joyce born November 7th at 6:38 pm.
Congratulations to Brian & Mika Wendt on the birth of their beautiful baby girl.
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