Travel - a links post

One of my hobbies is to travel. I took each of the photos here while I was in each of the 5 native English-speaking countries. Can you tell which photo comes from which country?

When I was younger I spent a lot of time in other countries, experiencing the different lifestyles and cultures. I went to many non-English speaking countries, too. Unfortunately, these days I have less time to travel and visit exotic places. However, I still like to dream, and some Internet websites help me to dream of far-off places. Take a look at these websites and start dreaming, too.

I haven’t been to China even though it is so close to Japan. I have heard that travel in China is quite tough, but that it is getting easier every year. With the Beijing Olympics being such a success, China will become more popular as a travel destination. The photos here are truly wonderful and will make you want to jump on a plane right now.

If it is Europe that inspires you, then you may want to take a look at these photos from various parts of Europe. Europe is so diverse. I have visited many of these countries, but it is always good to rekindle memories.

Bridges are wonderful things. What will we find on the other side? Bridges set people’s imaginations racing – not only the architects that build them, but also the people who cross them. I have one friend who spends midnight of every New Year’s Eve on a different bridge somewhere in the world. Japan, of course, has lots of great bridges, but look at the wonderful architecture of these bridges from around the world.

If you have a few spare moments and you want to dream of expensive hotels, shopping in exotic locations, lying on a sunny beach, going on a cruise, or many other holiday possibilities, you could go to this website which has great photos of so many holiday destinations.

All of these websites help me to escape from everyday life. They remind me that the world is a big place, and that it has a never-ending supply of wonderful places to visit (or dream about).

First class questions

1. Pretty easy.

2. A little difficult.

3. Easy.

4. hjdshdghsg

5. dshgdjasgdg

6. hhdgasdgasgdjsgdsg asddggdsgdjsgf sjcgsjhだsjgdじゃsgdjksさdgsdgdfgsdjgcfjksdgfｈｓｇｄｊｇｄｊｈさｇｄｊがｇｊｈｓｇｈｓｄｇｆｄｊｆｊｋｄｈふぇｒｈじぇｈｒげｒｈｈれｇ。

Creating a Blog

To set up your blog you need to do the following things:

1. Visit http://www.blogger.com (you can use the Japanese website or English)

2. Follow the instructions to set up a gmail account (on paper you must write down important information such as your email address and password - you will need these, so don't forget your address and password!)

3. Follow the guide to set up your blog - you will need to create an account; choose a "handle name" (your real name or a nickname is fine) choose a name for your blog; choose a blog URL address; and choose a template.

DO NOT FORGET YOUR BLOG TITLE, BLOG ADDRESS, AND HANDLE NAME. WRITE THIS INFORMATION ON PAPER. YOU WILL NEED TO TELL ME THIS INFORMATION.

In future you will login to blogger using your account information (account name & password). Don't forget your password! 

Settings

On the left side of the page you will see a list that includes settings. In the basic section, change “Add your blog to our listings” and “Let search engines find your blog” to NO. This is so that we keep our blogs for this class as private as possible.

Practice Post

When you have set up your blog, please write a practice post. Click “Create” or “New Post”. Copy these questions and answer them very simply. Then publish the page. This is just to check your blog is working properly, and to let you get used to publishing posts.

1. Was it easy to set up this blog?

2. Have you ever read people’s blogs before?

3. Have you ever written a blog before?

4. What are some of your favorite Internet websites?

5. How often do you use the Internet?

6. Write a short blog post/message about anything you want.

If you have some time today, please familiarize yourself with the blogger software. Read how to change the layout of your blog; how to use bold, italics, and underline; how to add links from webpages; how to add photos or video. 

One blog that I visit regularly is Omniglot . It is all about the languages of the world. Why don't you visit Google's blog search and search for some interesting blogs on themes that interest you.

Welcome!

Welcome back!

I hope you had a good summer.

I am John Herbert and this is my blog for this Reading and Writing (4) course.

Our second semester course is a little different from the first semester. We will be using blogs. Blogs have been pretty popular for quite a while now. People create blogs for many different reasons. Some do it because they want to show very important information to the world; some do it to keep in contact with family and friends; others just do it for themselves. We are going to do it for our reading & writing course this semester.

In this class, you are going to create your own blog and you are going to write a variety of assignments (blog posts). Some of the assignments will be obligatory (4 blog posts), some will be optional. You will also spend time reading other students' blogs and making comments on them (also obligatory). You will find a list of other students' blogs on this teacher's blog in the near future.

Writing Assignments

The obligatory assignments will be:

1. A links post

2. A review post

3. A list post

4. A comparison post

The optional posts can be anything that you want to share with your classmates, and can be informal, but should still show good writing skill.

Writing Process

As you know, for any writing you need to (a) plan, (b) write, (c) check and edit, before (d) submitting (publishing on your blog). This is the same for this class. Please write first using Microsoft Word and save your work. Then you can move it to the blogger website and publish it (with links, pictures etc).

Each blog post should have an introduction, a body, and of course a conclusion.

Writing Quality

For each of your blog posts, the quality of the content is important. You need to:

1. think about your audience (me and other students in this class)

2. write about your ideas and opinions

3. explain with reasons why you have those opinions

4. write something interesting! (for your audience)

So, to sum up, each of the obligatory posts should be well planned with an introduction, body and conclusion. It should be clear, well edited, and interesting! And it should be a minimum of about 200 words.

Grades are based on: 1. your written work/your blogs (including comments on others' blogs); and 2. attendance/participation in class.

Please bring to class: pens, paper, USB memory stick (to save your writing)