Summary: You tried the IELTS practice reading test, and the students checked their answers. Your teacher will check your answers and provide your score during Communication Session 05.

For Stacey Vye’s Sessions, some students booked a time outside class to do a speaking test.

Homework is due at 1 p.m., one day before Session 05:

This homework is enjoyable and ongoing as your four-skills logs of self-study on the English subjects within the Free Rice Programme. Please get 4,000 points this semester. I recommend you finish your Free Rice Homework by Session 05 because you will start your ACS1 individual research and will be busy researching and taking notes.

Free Rice: The World Food Programme of the United Nations!
We can fight climate change, feed hungry children and families for free, and learn English, too!

Freerice.com: This United Nations project website has 60 levels of English vocabulary to learn and develop. For each correct vocabulary word comprehended, Free Rice will donate 10 grains of rice through the World Food Programme to help end hunger, so students can learn new words and also contribute to reducing world hunger at the same time. And the levels of difficulty range from low to very high, so it is also suitable for teachers. There are also various subjects to choose from, including English Grammar and SAT Test Preparation. And amusingly, the site warns that this game may make a person smarter! http://freerice.com/#/englishvocabulary/1424

Summary: You took the IELTS practice listening test provided by your teacher and reviewed the answers afterward. Your teacher will check your answers and provide your score during Session_04.

Homework is due at 1 p.m., one day before Session_04:

This homework is enjoyable and ongoing as your four-skills logs of self-study on the English subjects within the Free Rice Programme. Please get 4,000 points this semester:

Free Rice: The World Food Programme of the United Nations!
We can fight climate change, feed hungry children and families for free, and learn English, too!

Freerice.com: This United Nations project website has 60 levels of English vocabulary to learn and develop. For each correct vocabulary word comprehended, Free Rice will donate 10 grains of rice through the World Food Programme to help end hunger, so students can learn new words and also contribute to reducing world hunger at the same time. And the levels of difficulty range from low to very high, so it is also suitable for teachers. There are also various subjects to choose from, including English Grammar and SAT Test Preparation. And amusingly, the site warns that this game may make a person smarter! http://freerice.com/#/englishvocabulary/1424

Summary: You won the class lottery, congratulations! First, we got your online homework uploading sorted. Then I introduced you to language proficiency testing, mostly IELTS and a little TOEFL. Time permitting, we had a communication activity of what you shared in common or IELTS practice.

Finally, we discussed the homework below.

Homework is due at 1 p.m., one day before Session_03:

This homework is enjoyable and ongoing as your four-skills logs of self-study on the English subjects within the Free Rice Programme. Please get 4,000 points this semester:

Free Rice: The World Food Programme of the United Nations!
We can fight climate change, feed hungry children and families for free, while learning English too!

Freerice.com: This United Nations project website has 60 levels of English vocabulary to learn and develop. For each correct vocabulary word comprehended, Free Rice will donate 10 grains of rice through the World Food Programme to help end hunger, so students can learn new words and also contribute to reducing world hunger at the same time. And the levels of difficulty range from low to very high, so it is also suitable for teachers. There are also various subjects to choose from, including English Grammar and SAT Test Preparation. And amusingly, the site has a warning that claims this game may make the person smarter! http://freerice.com/#/englishvocabulary/1424

Summary: There was a course orientation that explained the documents below, including what is expected of you in our sessions, your homework, how to do well, and how to improve your English writing skills the most in this course. Lastly, an introduction to the IELTS test was presented:

IELTS Presentation_ACS1_Sessions 01-04Download

How will your grade be calculated? 

Homework (40%)

IELTS Practice Midterm (20%) -The goal is a 6.5 score, not a 9.0!

MLA Academic Presentation (20%)

Class Participation (20%)   

Total = 100% 

Finally, we discussed the homework below.

Homework is due at 1 p.m., one day before Session_03:

1. Please take 2 to 3 detailed pages of notes on: Click to access ielts-guide-for-test-takers.pdf (<– click this link), and include your notes, keywords, diagrams, drawings, and charts in your own words as much as you can. 

New Instructions: Then, take a picture or screenshot and input the photos into the Class 02 IELTS of your online document that your teacher provided for you.

Other students get to see your work and share it. Just doing the work will give you credit for the homework. Document attached also below. Here are two samples of IELTS note-taking:

Cambridge University Press & Assessment. (2025). Open up your world of opportunity: Your guide to IELTS.  Click to access ielts-guide-for-test-takers.pdf        

IELTS-Presentation_Vye_AEW1a-Class-02Download

 Click to access ielts-guide-for-test-takers.pdf 

Summary: Happy New Year! There were no make-up presentations, so the class merely did the course surveys. Those who joined for class 13 did their surveys remotely. I hope you have a wonderful break!

Summary: You discussed in pairs your synthesized notes for your Cycle 4 Presentation and then planned for it as well.

I would like to remind everyone that each slide should include an introduction, conclusion, references, and in-text citations. Also, I emailed your presentation back to you with corrections and feedback.

Please do not use your old draft PowerPoints while presenting. Please download the attachment with feedback, as I am trying to help you improve your presentations!

Cycle 4 Presentations on 12/08/2025 and 12/15/2025: (Order decided in class today:)

I recommend that before you start to create your slideshow, restate your five research questions based on the five sections below and then categorize your notes based on your references:

1. Basic Information
2. Causes
3. Cases or Further Examples
4. Effects
5. Solutions

* Students who present in Class 11 can share their presentation via email attachment on Friday by 1 pm before Class 11, and I can make edits and recommendations and send them back to you.

Synthesizing-Your-Issue-on-4-A4-PapersDownload

Summary: Guidelines for your Presentation, in addition to the information in the presentation of your issue document:

1. Your talk should be about 7-8 minutes and then 2-3 minutes for questions, comments, and answers.

2. It is good to practice your presentation several times (even recorded on ZOOM) so you can focus on your timing and gain confidence. 

3. There are usually 12 to 16 slides.

4. You’ll have a References or Works Cited page to show where you got your work from. Please include the author’s name, date published, the organization or publisher, and the URL link.

5. In the slideshow, please write and say where you got the information from in the form of in-text citations for APA such as (Miller, 2020, para. 3). You can also do narrative in-text citations such as Suzuki (2020, p. 5) suggested that… If you use the author’s exact words, you need to use “quotation marks,” but you do not need quotes if you summarize the keywords. 

6. Here are three free websites where you can download free and beautiful images and pictures:

Creative Commons

Irasutoya

Pixabay

7. Samples of Chuo Students’ IRD PowerPoint Presentations

Homework due on Friday for students in Class 11: Please share your presentation via email attachment by 1 pm on Friday, before Class 11. I will then make edits and recommendations and send them back to you.

Summary: In the class and also in research pairs, you focused on discussing your most current homework, but you also spoke and reflected on your past work on your issue, including the basics, historical information, data, the causes, effects, and possible solutions, or at least some relief to the situation. Afterward, you learned about strategies to synthesize your notes in one place as a template or an outline for your upcoming presentation. Synthesized notes are also known as a structure map in Alex videos or a graphic organizer.

“A kind of synthesis, but with some elements that perhaps you wouldn’t have expected in advance. I always like that when that happens, when something comes that is more than the sum of the parts.”~Evan Parker

Class_09_Synthesizing-Your-Issue-Structure Map-on- your Google Doc

Homework due at 1 pm the day before Class 10:

1. Please write your four or five questions related to your topic that you are researching and categorize your notes on six articles on three A4 papers as shown in the sample images and the downloadable “Synthesizing Your Issue on Your Google Doc” PowerPoint above.

2. Then, use your research questions to categorize your notes into four or five sections in three pages of notes. The research questions become your paragraph topic thesis statements in your paper. Each section should have at least two citations and note the paragraph numbers and pages, especially your quoted material, so you can remember where you got the information from to make the paper easier to write with the necessary in-text citations.

2. Please include your references in the document APA style on the fourth page, and type at the end of your current working Google Document you are using with your notes. Please provide the details of the author’s name, date published, the title, pages (if needed), and the publisher (or organization). We have already formatted many of your references in your photo notes in the A4 Word Google document, so refer to the edited format provided for your references and use that content.

Note: Your reference section should be in alphabetical order based on the author’s last name or the organization if there is no author.

Summary: Students focused on speaking with two different pairs about what cultural awareness means to them, related to the specific issue they chose for Cycle 4. Since each theme is different, ideas and reflections will vary.

Note: For Cycle 4, NO NOTES for your presentations. The display is part of the notes.

Homework due on Sunday, November 16th at 5 pm (Special late time).

1. Cycle 4: Please research and take three to four pages of notes on an issue related to Identity, Language, and Culture. Then, take photos of your notes and insert all the images into your Google Document under the titles “Research Articles #3 and “Research Articles #4 for cycle 4. Other students get to see your work and share it. The goal is to gather more information about the causes of this issue.
2. Type the APA reference of your research below the photos: As best you can, please try to type the American Psychological Association (APA) formatted references typed in the document above your notes for Research Articles #1. You can download the APA 7th Edition Quick Guide below for your reference.

You can search outside these search engines for Cycle 4 in English, but they are nice starting points gathered by Chuo Law Professors. Please research the same unifying issue for all of the homework for Cycle 4, including the page, paragraph number, or time stamp:

1. Aging Societies and the Elderly
2. Children and Youth
3. Citizenship
4. Discrimination
5. Education
6. Global Citizenship
7. Globalization
8. IDPs, Refugees, Statelessness
9. Indigenous Peoples
10. Languages
11. LGBTIQ
12. Persons with Disabilities
13. Slavery
14. Social Justice
15. Urbanisation
16.  Finding information in English on Japan 

The details needed are:

Last name, initial. (20??). Title of the article. Publisher. https//:…..

Note-taking Sample on the Internet and Privacy Issues:

Shahbaz, A., & Funk, A. (2020). Freedom on the net 2020. Freedom House. https://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/2020-10/10122020_FOTN2020_Complete_Report_FINAL.pdf 

Note-taking Sample on the Connections Between Child Labor and Poverty:

Congdon Fors, H. (2012). Social globalization and child labor. University of Gothenburg: Working Papers in Economics 533. https://core.ac.uk/reader/16333210