14718 items found.
This course is designed to help students become proficient in expressing and responding to opinion in discussions. There will be a lot of opportunities to practice inquiring and making suggestions as well so that at the end of the semester, students can confidently express and present opinions with another English speaker. Basic presentation skills will also be taught and practiced in class.
The topics selected for discussions focus on trending topics of interest to youth such as YouTubers, music, social media, fast fashion, etc. Each session begins with students taking turns to express opinions on an issue of their choice
This course is designed to enhance presentation skills through British/American plays which deal with contemporary issues. We regard a classroom as a rehearsal room for theatre. Students will practice overall English skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing) and non-verbal communication skills (body language, facial expressions, gazing, tone and pitch of voice, etc.).
Students will work in a small team. After selecting plays based on their interests, they will closely read them, making acting and directing plans for some scenes. Through this process, students will discover a theme to explore in their performance, and develop abilities to summarize and express their thoughts in appropriate English. Students will then practice acting in workshops and will perform selected scenes at the end of this course. This class puts an emphasis on students’ agency and creativity. You will also write performance reviews in English.
This course is designed to enhance presentation skills through the performances of English drama. Students will practice overall English skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing) as well as non-verbal communication skills (body language, facial expressions, gazing, tone and pitch of voice, etc.). Students will work in a small team. After selecting plays based on their interests, they will closely read them, making acting and directing plans. Through this process, students will discover a theme to explore in their performance, learn how to collect information about theatre production, and develop abilities to summarize and express their own thoughts in appropriate English. We will then practice acting in English in workshops. At the end of this course, students will perform plays in English (or selected scenes from plays). The performances will be recorded and made public after students edit them. This class sets great score by students’ agency and creativity. They will also write performance reviews in English.
Tabletop! Advanced Discussion using Role-Playing Games
This class uses Tabletop Role-Playing Games (RPGs) to simulate creative, collaborative, and advanced interactions in English. This class is designed to use narrative & collaborative story-telling in a game-like setting where students must use their listening, speaking, critical thinking, reading, and writing skills in English to (a) construct and participate in a group story with other users of English, (b) problem-solve and negotiate new and unique situations where language is the primary tool available, (c) explore the role of language and identity, and (d) critically evaluate strategies necessary for the completion of those tasks.
This class is designed for improving fluency, creativity, and pragmatic skills in speaking and listening. Academic English is not the goal of the class, though there will be opportunities to engage in formal and complex interactions.
This course is not recommended for GIGA students seeking to improve academic English abilities. Instead this class is designed to improve fluency and creativity.
*This course is NOT repeatable. If you have taken the Tabletop RPG class in previous Fall Semesters, you will be asked to register for another course (if you've taken the Spring Tabletop course, you can take this course)
Students on this course learn the negotiation process from the initial planning to closing deals. Role-plays, negotiation games, and full group business and UN model negotiations are used to develop both negotiation and language skills while developing an understanding of cultural differences when negotiating.
The focus for this course is the expanded contextual relationship of the arts to society, politics, culture and history, with a special emphasis on environmentalism and human rights. Supported by reference to Post War art & culture and through seminars and workshops, students study concepts relating to relevant creative expression and use this knowledge to present projects about art & context during the semester, concentrating on Artists Tackling Global Issues. In addition to the development of critical thinking skills, students develop the following English language skills: listening and note taking, reading, writing, seminar participation, discussion, debate and presentation. The course is best suited to students who are comfortable taking instruction and participating in class in English. Students who are interested in Architecture, Design, Urban Planning, and Media will especially benefit from this course.
Students learn academic writing structures and techniques to enable them to successfully write logical, well considered essays about relevant global issues in English. We focus on the five-paragraph essay format which includes: the introductory paragraph, three body paragraphs and a concluding paragraph. Special attention is given to writing convincing thesis statements and research questions. Students are also introduced to public speaking and learn how to suitably address groups, and to logically structure presentations in line with their research topics for their essay writing. Subject to approval, students choose their own topics: the only stipulation is that all topics must have some connection to relevant global issues and specific reference must be made the United Nation’s Sustainable Developments Goals.
Content can include:
• New technologies & concepts
• New and improved Products
• Examples of bad and good practices and processes
• Societal problems.
• Global and Domestic Issues
This course is designed to help students become confident in using their English to produce written work from paragraph length to essay length. Students will be exposed to initial concepts in how to write good sentences, expand and vary sentences, improve writing style and write in formal tone. Subsequently, students will learn how to organize and support ideas to build a cohesive paragraph. Students will practice to write various cohesive short essays throughout the semester.
This Project English course is about developing active listening skills. The course uses pre-recorded conversations as well as short video-clips as learning tools. Students are also introduced to basic elements of speechmaking and TOEIC skills.
Topics for class activities include sport, music and fashion. A typical class session of the course consists of listening comprehension exercises, short speech practices and interactive discussions.
In this class you will listen to a variety of authentic content and answer questions about it. The materials' difficulty is relatively high, but you can work at your own pace. Examples of content: English songs, news and entertainment, fiction/non-fiction stories, etc. aimed at native speakers.
In this class, you will read (in Japanese) and discuss (in English) some famous Japanese poets from the Meiji through roughly the Shōwa era. You will also write your own original English poems sometimes.
In this class you will listen to a variety of authentic content and answer questions about it. The materials' difficulty is relatively high, but you can work at your own pace. Examples of content: English songs, news and entertainment, fiction/non-fiction stories, etc. aimed at native speakers.
In this class, you will read some of Japan's representative poets from the modern age. You will improve your English speaking, writing, and translation skills by discussing and translating Japanese poems into English. We will cover modern haiku and tanka, and jiyūshi. Every week we will have classroom activities in which you will discuss the poems with classmates and translate them in groups or on your own.
This course is designed to enhance oral communication skills (listening and speaking) through watching movies (online materials), and making your own movies in English. Students will get to practice their reading and writing skills, as well, by script reading and writing. We will watch video series together to learn common phrases and expressions in context, then answer Q&A, and conduct discussions online. There are some phrases that have embedded meaning as well as literal meaning. For example, what does it mean by ‘Get out of here!’ when the speaker had the smiley yet surprised expression on his face when he said it? Do you really need to get out of the room? Or did the speaker mean something else? These acts are called ‘indirect speech acts’ and students will learn by experiencing them and other types of discourse techniques via role plays. The focus will be placed on learning by ‘speech act’ (such as ‘apology’ and ‘sarcasm’) but other patterns of pragmatic markers will be covered such as discourse markers, y’know within conversation. Students will also study our original films (several skits made by English speaking SFC students) and compare their own skits with the model interactions. After learning useful expressions and phrases within context, students will be expected to develop their own scripts, and make their own movies in a group, utilizing what they learned in class. Attention should be paid to not only linguistic but also paralinguistic features such as tones as well as non-verbal ones (facial expressions, gestures, gazing, and body language). They are expected to learn autonomously online and in class interactively engaging with the instructor and the classmates in English.
In this class, you will read (in Japanese) and discuss (in English) some famous Japanese poets from the Meiji through roughly the early Shōwa era. You will also write your own original English poems sometimes.
Tabletop! Advanced Discussion using Tabletop Games
This class uses games-based learning to engage in advanced, pragmatic discussions in English. Through the use of Tabletop Board Games, this class will engage students in a rich, task-based environment to focus on pragmatic discussion and listening skills. Students will work in groups to (a) learn, understand, and negotiate complex rule systems of the games, (b) cooperate and coordinate with fellow players to complete specific tasks within the games, and (c) critically evaluate strategies necessary for the completion of those tasks.
The focus of the class is on developing oral fluency, pragmatics, and problem-solving abilities in English. Because of this, students are recommended to have a strong foundation in listening and reading. As fluency is the one of the goals, this course is NOT recommended for GIGA students seeking to improve academic English abilities.
*This course is NOT repeatable. If you have taken the Tabletop class in previous Spring Semesters, you will be asked to register for another course (if you've taken the Fall Tabletop RPG course, you can take this course)
Students learn techniques and skills to enable them to successfully deliver presentations to audiences in English. We focus on presentation formats including; objects, processes and problem & solutions. Students focus on delivery, research and multimedia use. They are introduced to public speaking and learn how to suitably address groups, use non-verbal communication, project the voice and logically structure presentations. Subject to approval, students choose their own topics-the only stipulation is that all topics must have some connection to relevant global issues and specific reference must be made the United Nation’s Sustainable Developments Goals. During the semester there are two group presentations and one individual presentation. At the end of the course, students should be able to give well structured, media assisted presentations in English.
The focus of this Project course is sustainability. Learners will have the opportunity to explore and apply sustainability concepts in real life contexts. We will look especially at sustainability in the marine environment and coastal communities.
Learners will have the opportunity to explore and apply sustainability concepts in real life contexts. We will look especially at sustainability in the land environment of coastal communities.
This course is about consolidating the techniques of academic presentations. The course takes place in the spring, meeting once a week and face to face. The two main components of the course are speaking and discussion.
Topics for presentations mirror critical issues that are ongoing either in the wider society or in the field of academia. Discussions that follow these presentations are an important part of the course. They do play a role in the overall grading as they are meant to strengthen students' ability to communicate objectively and to maximize interaction with fellow learners.
The focus of this Project course is on providing ample opportunity to improve your writing for academic or work purposes. Learners will have the opportunity to explore several self-directed learning courses and apply the concepts in their own writing. There will also be chances to do timed writing and vocabulary building exercises.
This course is about consolidating the techniques of academic presentations. Students of this course meet face to face; and they are introduced to strategies that further strengthen their ability to communicate objectively and with conviction. Key language components of the course are, thus, speaking and discussion.
The course is taught in English; and it uses a step-by-step method that goes from basic speech techniques to those that are academically more advanced. Discussions that follow individual presentations are an important part of the course. They are designed to let students maximize interaction in the English language. They also play a role in the overall grading.
The focus of this Project course is on providing ample opportunity to improve your writing for academic or work purposes. Learners will have the opportunity to explore several self-directed learning courses and apply the concepts in their own writing. There will also be chances to do timed writing and vocabulary building exercises.
This course is about consolidating the techniques of academic presentations. The course takes place on campus and runs only in the Spring semester. Students are introduced to strategies that help strengthen their ability to communicate in an academically-convincing manner.
The course is taught in English; and it uses a step-by-step method that goes from basic speech techniques to those that are academically more advanced. Discussions that follow individual presentations are an important part of the course. They also play a role in the overall grading.
The focus of this Project course is on providing ample opportunity to improve your writing for academic or work purposes. Learners will have the opportunity to explore several self-directed learning courses and apply the concepts in their own writing. There will also be chances to do timed writing and vocabulary building exercises.