All Things Christmas

This site has a bunch of online Christmas stories that are not too long. Most stories are not famous, however. 

Santa’s Secret Village

Here are some simple stories that have some pictures to go with the words. 

Check back to this page… I will try to keep adding sites until you all find a story!

Again, for first time visitors to this site, Voicethreads are online media albums allowing people to add comments in various forms, either by text, audio, or even video. Voicethreads can also be linked to and shared quite easily, as is demonstrated here. They are promising tools for English practice because they collect an entire group’s story in one place.

Suguru: Funny Engrish*

*Engrish is a word used to describe strange and funny English that appears in public places around Japan.

Keita: Chikara Taro

Here is Keita’s version of a traditional kamishibai folkstory, with pictures he drew himself!

Shizuka: The Grateful Crane

Here is another traditional kamishibai story.

Hitomi N: The Movies of Hayao Miyazaki

A great introduction to one of Japan’s most loved filmmakers.

Hitomi J: The Seasons of Japan

Some nice photos and commentary of commons sights during each of the four seasons in Japan.

Rina: Summer in Japan

Here are some photos depicting common summer scenes in Japan.

Mutsumi: Tips for surviving hot summers in Japan

Shiori: How to make okonomiyaki

Here’s what I want you to do:

1. Pick one of the following topics:
   1. Introduce & demonstrate a typical Japanese custom, such as taking your shoes off before going inside or using chopsticks to eat food.
   2. Introduce a famous Japanese folktale, such as Momotaro. Create your own kamishibai, or introduce a traditional one. Making your own pictures would be great!!!
   3. Introduce a Japanese poem that you like, such as a haiku (or write your own!).
   4. Introduce about Japanese movies that you like, such as Miyazaki films or ones by other directors. TV shows, animes, and dramas are are also very good ideas.
   5. Introduce a traditional Japanese art or craft, such as shodo, tea ceremony, pottery (togei), origami, making ramen noodles.
   6. Introduce a historical place. For example, you can find a statue or monument, then tell the story of what this is all about.
   7. Introduce a traditional Japanese game or sport, such as kendama, shogi, or kendo.
   8. Create a Voicethread about why Japanese architecture is unique.
   9. Introduce a Japanese festival, such as the Chindon matsuri, or the Owara Kaze no Bon.
   10. Your own idea!
2. Tell Jerry your topic choice.
3. After your topic is approved, collect your photos. You can take your own photos or grab some from the Internet. You can also scan photos from a book (check the TCFL library). If you are feeling very creative, draw or paint your own pictures! We can scan them into the computer. Oh, and you can also upload some short video clips as well. See Jerry for help about this.
4. Write a script. Short is okay- two or three sentences for each picture. Have Jerry correct your English.
5. Create the Voicethread as you did before: upload the photos, record the captions, share with Jerry and your friends.
6. Look at your classmate’s Voicethreads and leave some comments.

Kamishibai

The traditional story-telling practice of kamishibai is PERFECT for a Voicethread! Find (or create) a Japanese story, collect some photos or drawings, and you’re all set! Here is an example for you, created by some school children studying Japan:

Commuting (reflecting on life experience)

Here’s another idea for you: Create a Voicethread about your thoughts of some Japanese life experience. For example, you could talk about the morning rush hour, showing how people in this country get to work and school each day, like this person did:

To begin with, I created my own Voicethread as a demonstration project. I used this as a teaching tool to instruct students on how to create their own. My story was a simple narrative of a typical busy morning at our house: 

Here are the students’ Voicethreads. If you watch some of them, please leave a comment or two or three! The students will appreciate it. 

Asaji Keita

Sakabayashi Rina

Chaki Megumi

Shima Shizuka

Yamazaki Natsuki

Nakazawa Hitomi

Matsushima Takayuki

Jimbo Hitomi

Tsuda Suguru

Orikuchi Mutsumi

Voicethread is similar to Flickr, in that you can upload your photos and have people look at them and leave comments. However, Voicethread is unique because you are not limited to text-only captions. In fact, you can record your own voice or video talking about each picture! And that’s not all… People watching your slideshow can also leave audio, video, or text comments. This multi-media capability of Voicethread creates great opportunities to practice your English in a fun way. 

Here is what I want you to do for Project 2: Create a slideshow story using Voicethread. The deadline is next week, June 26th. 

Step by step: 

1. Create a Voicethread account. Hint: Use your Gmail username and password.
2. Upload an avatar, an image that represents you. This can be a photo of you or another image.
3. Hit the Create tab and then import your photos from your Flickr account.
4. Type in a title and description for your slideshow (called a “Voicethread”).
5. Record some commentary for each photo by clicking the Record button.
6. If you like how the comment sounds, click Save. If not, click Cancel and record again. 
7. Once you are done, share your slideshow with me (talandis@gmail.com) and your friends. You will need to add people to your friends list before you can share your VoiceThread with them.
8. Finally, enjoy watching the Voicethreads of your classmates. Don’t forget to leave comments!

The basic technique was to film as many people as possible saying the catch phrase, then editing it all together in iMovie ‘08.

• To practice taking good photographs (Don’t forget the Top 10 Tips!)
• To learn how to manage and upload the photos to Flickr
• To learn how to use Flickr in general
• To create and share a slideshow that tells a story with English
• To practice English by reading slideshow stories and leaving comments

Our Flickr slideshow stories (Don’t forget to leave some comments!)   

My Busy Mornings (Jerry Talandis Jr.)

Adventure (Makino Yui)