Cummins, Jim

  Cummins, Jim is  professor James Patrick Cummins who is one of the world's most influential researchers in bilingualism studies. He was born in Dublin, Ireland whose language is on the verge of extinction, so he learned to revive an endangered language.   His research has focused on many aspects of literacy development in multilingualism school contexts. Especially, he studied the relationship between L1 and their developing proficiency in the dominant languages of instruction. We learned L1 in the class of teacher Yoshii, so I remembered a little. I think we learned as follow. the further and further the distance between L1 and L2 is, more and more difficulty we have in study .
   In this material, the them is about the benefit of learning different languages and minority language in bilingualism. There were contradiction among studies about the benefits. In the early studies, researchers pointed out the negative cognitive and academic consequences associated with bilingualism. However, in more recent studies, researchers reported the potential cognitive benefits of bilingualism. But, he resolved it by proposing two achievements of students.
1) to avoid the negative effects  associated with instruction through a weaker language
2) to experience the enhancement of cognitive and linguistic functioning that knowledge of two or more languages confers on the developing child.
   Then, he referred to some studies to correct the recognition about minorities. Minorities students are not different from majorities. However, minority students ad been unfairly tested and labeled  as deficient in terms of their capacities, background, and environment.
These are so difficult for me, but when I knew the meaning, I thought how interesting the world of education was.

English teaching method:

Absorbing many vocabularies makes our working memory strong

 An apple a day keeps the doctor away... I didn't know this phrase, so I had to construct the sentence after I heard the word. But, after I remembered it completely, the sentence changed into a word. So, When I tried to say "an apple a day keeps the doctor away" for the first time, I had to remember 4phrases. an apple/a day/ keeps the doctor /away/ But, After I remembered the proverb, I had to memorize 2 words when I said "I think an apple a day keeps the doctor away. So, "I think "was one phrase and "an apple a day keeps the doctor away"was another phrase.
 The longer the sentence, the fewer I have to memorize...This is like a magic. I was amused at it, and I introduced it to one of my friends who doesn't take this lecture by LINE.


I: Hi, 〇〇〇,  I have a question.


B:なぜ英語？？（Why English??)


I: What do you think makes people easier when it gets longer and longer?


B: 急に始まった！？(Something stared suddenly)

　

I：What???

B: えー... Chopsticks?? (Well...Chopsticks?)

I: No, the answer is sentence.

B: なぜに。(WHY?)

 After that, I explained it to her, and she understood. She had never thought like that. But, if we memorize words more and more, our working memory is better and better. That fact will be a big motivation for us. In fact, I have been shocked and tired in the endless problems of memorizing vocabularies: more and more I tried to memorize words, more and more I have some new words. But, I changed my mind. More and more I know some English phrase, easier and easier I can make lomg and complicated sentences. Now, we have a fun in memorizing English vocabularies.





Henry Ⅷ and his six wives

Will they only remember him because he had six wives?(p. 2)

  Since I was a high school student, I am weak at the world history. So, before I read this book, I was no nervous. I prepared my dictionary and a history text book of my high school on the desk. Then, I started reading. This book is written in the style where a main character tells letters to her maid, Margaret. the letters were from the wives of Henry Ⅷ. so, the readers can be Margaret and know the story of the famous king. Therefore, this book is easy to read and interesting!

 King Henry the Eight of England was famous for many thing, especially for two things. First, he is so famous for the religious reform. He founded the Anglican Church to divorce his first wife. Second, he is famous because he had six wives. This book mainly talks about it.
   His first wife was Katherine of Aragon. She was Spanish, and she came over to England to marry Henry's brother Arthur.　But he died, and she married Henry then. She became his wife and queen for twenty-four years. But, Henry wanted a son for his heir. Katherine gave him a daughter, Princess Marry.  Henry divorced her and was in love with Ann Boleyn. Of course, the Pope of the Catholic Church didn't agree to the divorce. So Henry broke with the Pope and the Catholic Church, and that's how the Church of England began. He became Head of the Church, and the Pope was very angry. That made a lot of trouble both in England and Europe. at that time, there were a lot of fighting and killing, and that was such a terrible time. Henry wanted a son a lot not to cause such a thing again after his death. He must have a son, and he decided to marry again. However, she only game him a daughter, Princess Elizabeth. And he was tired of her because she was a strong and tried to tell Henry what to do. He beheaded her on the grounds that she had lovers. Just ten days after Ann's death, Henry married Jane Seymour. Henry loved her and she gave him a son, who is know as King Edward now. Henry got a son at last, but Jane died after she gave the king a son. Then, after Queen Jane died, Henry was very sad and lonely. He wanted a new wife, and he wanted a second son. Children can die at any time, and Edward wasn't strong. So, everybody looked for a beautiful woman and Ann of Cleves was recommended at that time. Henry didn't see her for himself, ans his artist Holbein was sent to paint a picture of her. He painted a fine picture of Ann and sent it back to Henry. The picture was so beautiful that he was surprised when he saw her really. She was different from the pretty picture. He divorced her soon, but she didn't protect against that. Then, after that, he still wanted to have a son, and he married Katherine Howard. He was in love with the young and beautiful girl. But, Katherine had a lover called Thomas Cuipeper and met him secretly. Henry knew that and got very angry, so sent her lover to prison, and killed katherine. Then, the last wife Parr, the main character of this book. Margaret hear the story her lade married the king.  At that time, Henry didn't want a wife but a mother for his children. Catherine was nice to the children, but she was nearly killed by his husband. But she could be forgiven and can say the story to her maid then.
  When I read this book, I was Margaret. And I was so shocked. The letters from his wives are so surprising and miserable. After all, even if we know the history, the person's feeling  is only known by themselves. You will be surprised at the difference between the historical knowledge and the letters!


Hardy-Gould Janet. HenryⅧ and his six wives(1996). Oxford University: England

Hollywoods

What do you think of when you hear the word 'Hollywood'?(P. 1)

    

     When I read the first sentence of this book, this book asked us what 'Hollywood' is. In my case, I thought that Hollywood is about movies. But, it is not true. Hollywood is not only famous for films. It is an important place for the music, television, and radio. Therefore, if you group Hollywood as films, you will get new knowledge through this book.

     Hollywood is a place in California in the west of the big city of Los Angeles. It is a big city, and about 2 million people live there. The word "Hollywood"points to not only  the place but also films, movie stars, and movie industries. That is, the definition of "Hollywood" is wide! But, in the early 1900s, Hollywood was a small village and not famous yet. In 1910, the first film maker visited Hollywood and studio are opened. By the 1920s, Hollywood was more famous for movies.
     So, the history of "Hollywood" is so old. The time when moving picture was invented dates back to 19 century. Many company competed in the field, and who could watch this moving pictures was limited. So, "movie" was special and particular still at that time. It was the late nineteen century when Movie had generalized. When many people got to be able to watch movies, the popular movie was silent movies. One of the most famous silent movie acts was Charles Chaplin. I like "Modern Times", and I know him. But this book says that very popular silent movie character of Chaplin was "The Tramp". I didn't know the movie, but I thought that Tramp must be an attractive character because Chaplin played the role. And, as time passed, silence movie were replaced by talkies. In 1927, a movie attracted people's attention. Across the United State, film directors and newspapers mentioned it, and everybody wanted to see it. What do you think it is? It is a big Hollywood movie, "The Jazz Singer". People who went to see it could hear the actor's voices. So, voices is important point. It was one of the first 'talkies' and changed the movie world. Many producers stopped making silent movie since then. It was a big pinch for silent movie actors. Many actors lost their jobs. Then, color movie like "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs"appeared and the world of movie had changed again.

     Like this, the movie world has changed so many times. And now, we rarely see silent movie. As I said before, I like "Modern Times". The movie has no voices but it conveys many messages through actors and actress to us. So, I hope more silent movies are made. By the way, Do you see Friday Roadshow? I sometimes enjoy it. I often see works of Studio Ghibli. I am so happy when I can watch them on TV, but I think that sometimes silent movie should be on air.

     Of course, the history is also important, but the present  also should be referred to! Now, many people enjoy experiencing the world of movie. Have you been to Universal Studio? It is a working film studio near Hollywood and there are many things to do and see. Families and tourists visit there and sit on a little train and then go through different places from famous movies.

     Oh, I realized that I can not stop writing after knowing Hollywood. So, I want yo to read this book. If you know Hollywood a little, you can get a lot of information. Even if you are familiar with Hollywood, you can miss old movies of Hollywood, I think.　Hollywood" is a truly lovely and wonderful place for a film!

Janet Hardy-Gould. Hollywood. (2014)  Oxford University:England



The location of Hollywood



 

 

London

Big, beautiful, noisy, exciting-that's London. (cover)

   London is the capital of England, ans it is a big city. But, London was a small village, two thousand years ago.The Romans built a town by the River Thames, and people lived there. So, the name of 'London' comes from the Romans.Romans came to a small city, and many people lived there, and it was a rich and important, which made London the big city. Now, many people know that London is a big city, but among them, most of them might not imagine that the big city was a small villages before. So, there are many histories in London, and it have changed London since the period of small one. What history changed London? Please read this book, and you will be surprised at the large change. In London, there are many historical museums, so you can learn the history of London.

  Through this book, what you can know is not only the history. There are many information about parks and garden, museums and sport, and shopping and eating. For example, you can buy anything in London and you can eat almost everything in London. Many of the most famous shops are in the street of London. The most famous shop in all of the city is Harrods.And some people say that Harrods is the most famous in the World. Some people visit there and buy something very small. They only want the bag with the famous Harrods' name on it. And you can eat anything in London. London has restaurants from nearly every country in the world, and not all of them are expensive. So, if you get hungry, you don't have to worry about whether you have something to eat.

And, what people imagine when they here London is, maybe, Sherlock Holmes. There are The Sherlock Holmes Museum at 221b Maker Street. Of course, the address is not really, but many people visit there and enjoy the world.

  So, there are many places to visit in London. I can not write them all here. So, if you want to know more about London, please read this book.

Escott john. London. (1995).Oxford university:England

The Magic of Music

Some scientists think that people used music, and moving to music, as a way to feel the same emotions and work together.(p.7)







   When you are tired studying, or when you don't feel like studying, what do you do? Give up, or forget it? Or try to do by force? In my case, none of them. When I don't want to start or continue studying, what I do is to listen music. By listening some music, I develop my motivation, and I don't have any suffering of studying! Therefore, the power of music is so enormous, and I need not to explain it. That is, most people know that.
   And you know the reason I chose this book. I was attracted by the title: The Magic of Music. Before I read this book, I intended I have already known what the title meant. I though that this book would tell about the charm points of music. But, after I read this book, I noticed that I had had some stereotypes about music. What do you think when you ask about music? I imagined the sound made by instruments or human voices. For example, J-POP, K-POP,Western Music, etc.　However, the range of "music" is so vast. For example. a rhythm which is made when a mother hold her baby is also included in "music". The mothers in every country who speak different language make the same music when they hold their own babies! It is so interesting. Then, animal rhythms are also music. Animals compose songs, too. Bird songs can have the same rhythm and pitches as human music. They sing to give information, to tell other birds when there is danger, and to find love. when I read this, I remember studying by listening beautiful nature's sound, like the wind or rain or bird singing on YouTube. That is, I know that animal rhythms are one of the music, although I forgot it...
   But, it is natural to imagine sound which have melody and lyric when you hear the word of "music", right? So, this book give readers a chance of thinking about minor music. Plead read it.


Genevieve Kocienda. The magic of music. (2014). Cambridge University:Cambridge

Ⅱ-14: The dark side of the city

 The name is Nat Marely. I've been a private investigator in New York for over ten ears. Before that, I was in the police.(book cover)


  King's Day on January 17. A man named Curtis Wilson comes to Nat Marley, a private detective who has an office in New York. Wilson's sister Dionne recently notices something strange with her husband Ellis Freeman. Therefore, it was a request to find out what happened. Ellis, who is originally cheerful, seems to be scared of something these days. At first, Marley visits a pet shop which Ellis manages, and he gets information that Ellis delivers pets for customers.Next day, he and his former colleague Joe wait in front of the pet shop in the car. They see Ellis and two other young men cramming paper bags into a delivery van. Then they chase the car and find the men delivering them to an apartment where pets are banned. After that day, the incident happens. A resident who lives in the apartment dies because of cocaine. Marley breaks into the pet shop to find out what's in the paper bag in the van. Then, he discover...
  The main character, Marley find the dark side of the city during searching the incident. There are many problem in our city, for example, criminal act, black market trading, homeless and so on.  The readers are probably not a detective, but they can think of the solution of the city problem. Therefore, please think about such a problem when you read this book!

Battersby Alan.(2012). The dark side of thr city. Cambridge University: Cambridge