Assignments
Unit 1: My Weekends
My weekends are not usually busy, but they are enjoyable. On Saturday, I usually get up late and I don’t have breakfast. Sometimes I make dinner for my family. On Sunday, I go to my grandmother’s house and after that, I go shopping with my mother. Last Saturday was a little busy. I went out with my friends. They were my TCFL’s classmates. Mariko, Shiori and Yuri. We went to Favore and ate lunch. At 3:00, we went to a public bath. We enjoyed it and chatting. In fact, I haven’t decided to next weekend’s schedule yet. However, I want to go to karaoke with my friends. After karaoke, I want to have tea and talk about many things. I’m looking forward to next weekend.
Unit 2: My Friend, Mai
Mai is a friend from junior high school, and she is also my best friend. Mai is very cute. She is 160 cm tall. Her eyes are dark brown and her hair is brown, too. She likes casual clothes such as T-shirts and jeans. Mai has a great personality. She is friendly and can be a friend with anyone. She is talkative and always chats with her friends, so sometimes she is scolded by her teachers. She is sensitive, too. She thinks about other people’s feelings. Mai has many hobbies. She likes watching movies, especially action and comedy films. She likes going shopping and often goes to Marie. She spends much money to buy clothes. She also likes driving her car and often takes me somewhere. All of these things make Mai is a very interesting person.
Mai has a good future plan. She is going to graduate from Toyama University and get a nursing license. She will be a kind nurse. I know that she will be successful because she makes great efforts to realize her dream of becoming a nurse. She will have bright future, too.
Unit 3: Friendly Message
Dear Mary,
How are you? I am good. It is Friday afternoon and I am sitting in a cafe. It is a warm autumn day in Toyama. I am sitting at a small square table near the window of the cafe. I am drinking a coffee and thinking of you.
I had a very interesting afternoon. I went to an ice cream shop with my friend. It was a really hot day. Many people queued to buy ice cream. We were very hungry and thirsty, so we decided to eat a triple ice cream. I ordered strawberry, nuts and chocolate flavor. My friend ordered coconuts, green tea and cookies and cream. It looked really delicious. We walked out the ice cream shop while we were chatting. And then we tried to eat our desserts. However, when my friend tried to eat it, her ice cream fell and she caught it! She couldn’t eat it, and her hand was sticky with ice cream. Then, she was upset, but after a while, we laughed. Be careful having ice cream on a hot day!
I have good friends here, but I miss you. I hope you are well and happy. Do you enjoy your school life? When come to Toyama for a visit? I want to invite you and guide you around Toyama. Please write soon. write to me in English!
Your friend,
Shizuka
Unit 5: Shizuka’s School Festival
October 25th was the day of Shizuka’s school festival. She woke up early because she had to make 20 yakisoba rolls to sell at the festival. She could make the yakisoba rolls well. When she thought about the event, she was excited and nervous.
At 9:20, Shizuka arrived at TCFL and met her friends. They went to the food area and prepared to sell yakisoba rolls. One of her friends said, “I want many people to buy our yakisoba rolls.” Shizuka thought the rolls would be sold out soon, so she said, “I assure you that our yakisoba rolls will be sold out because they are very delicious!” At 11:45, she went to room 601 because she had to prepare for the Fancy Dress Contest. It was the first time for her to make up others, so she was a little nervous. However, she did her best to make up a male student. After that, she went to the atrium, and she acted as the MC of the Fancy Dress Contest. The contest seemed to succeed, so she was very happy. After the school festival, she went to a restaurant in Daiwa with her friends. The food she ate was very delicious. She chatted with everyone at the restaurant for 4 hours! She had a fun time there.
The day of the school festival was busy for Shizuka. At first, she worried whether the school festival would succeed, but in the end it did well. She was relieved and satisfied. She enjoyed the school festival very much. She wouldn’t forget that day.
Moving to Our Present Home
An event that has changed my life a lot was moving to our present home. When I was a high school student, our family moved to an apartment in Fuchumachi. It was a big change from living in a house all my life until then. There are some similarities between my life at our old house and my current life at our apartment, but there are many more differences.
I used to live in rural area of Toyama city with my mother and grandparents. Our house was in an inconvenient place. It was far from a bus stop or train station. There were a lot of rice fields around our house. It was very old big Japanese-style house that was built about 60 years ago. I had a cat named Myuu. I often slept with him. He was my good friend. While I lived at our old house, I had family and pet always around me. I miss them now living at my present location.
Although there are many things I miss about my life at my old house, there are many things I love about my life at my present place. I live in the same city, but our apartment is in a very convenient location. It is near a bus and closer to a train station. There is a very big shopping mall nearby. I can go there in 5 minutes on foot from my apartment. My room is smaller than my old room. Now, I’m living with my mother and apart from my grandparents and cat. However, I really like living here because it is very convenient place, and one of my friend is in the same apartment.
Unit 9: Barack Obama
Someone I’d like to know more about is the U.S. President, Barack Obama. About one year ago, I watched his speech on TV. His speech was very good, so I was impressed and got goose bumps. I think he is charismatic, and he can win the hearts and minds of the public.
Barack Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. His father was Kenyan and his mother was American. In those days, interracial marriages were rare, so their marriage was opposed by their family and friends. However, his parents got divorced. In 1967, he moved to Indonesia because of his mother’s remarriage. He went to an Indonesian school until he became 10 years old. And then, he returned to Hawaii. He transferred to Punahou School, which was a famous private six-year secondary school in Hawaii. When he was a high school student, he drank, smoked, and used drugs. In 1996, he became a state senator in Illinois. He served as state senator until January, 2004. In November, 2004, he became a U.S. senator from Illinois. He was the fifth African-American senator and he was only the incumbent African-American senator. On February 10th, 2007, he announced his candidacy for the Presidency in Springfield, Illinois. He won the Democratic Party nomination after a long and hard battle with Hilary Clinton. He named Joe Biden the Vice President candidate. He won in the presidental election on November 4th, 2008. On January 20th, 2009, he was inaugurated as the 44th President. To see his inauguration ceremony, about 2 million people came to Washington D.C. from all over the U.S.
I watched his inauguration ceremony speech. I liked this phrase: “A man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.” Maybe, his life as the President will be very difficult. However, I want him to do good things, not only for the U.S., but also for the world.
Sources
Opps! Where is your Unit 3 assignment? Please post that here as soon as possible.
Posted September 25, 2008, 7:47 pm