Updated: ESL Reading Calendar for Week of Jan. 14

Monday, Jan. 14. “Changing Maiden Names”
Preparation: Do Before You Read, p. 7, and the Reading (p. 6) and Scanning. Re-read if necessary and then do the After You Read, p. 7, B and C. Bring vocabulary notebook to class with new words added for this first chapter.
In class: We will go over your answers on p. 7 and do A together in class.

Wednesday, Jan. 16. Lab assignment due. (See below)
Preparation: Do Lab Assignment 1 to hand in. Do the Vocabulary expansion crossword on p. 8. You may do it in the book. We’ll go over it in class. Bring your vocabulary notebook up to date and bring it to class.
In class: Review of vocabulary and main ideas in the readings for Unit 1.

Friday, Jan. 18. No afternoon class: Homecoming. I will return your books and lab assignments at the end of Suzanne's writing class, about noon today in Mannerheim 121.

This weekend is Heikinpäivä, the Finnish-American celebration of Mid-Winter. See the schedule at http://pasty.com/heikki/sched.html
See Michele if you want to take some photos for the blog or write about one of the events. I will need photos of the Polar Bear Dive for Keweenaw Now, too.

Lab assignment for reading: Due Jan. 16

You have each been assigned a reading in your book, a library book, or on the Internet (those whose books have not arrived). Write a short summary of these pages and make a list of at least 8 vocabulary words you learned. On your paper, for each word, copy the sentence containing the word and write what you think it means, based on the context. If you can’t figure it out, check the English-English dictionary. Write D next to the word if you had to look it up in the dictionary.

Hand in the book and your paper Wednesday, Jan. 16, in class. I'll return the book on Friday so you can continue reading. Be sure to indicate which pages you read. If your reading was on line, be sure to put the exact URL of the pages on your paper. Feel free to read more than the pages assigned.

Conversation class presents puppet shows

The ESL Conversation class recently presented three puppet shows based on folk characters and fairy tales. Instructor Suzanne Van Dam said students worked together making the puppets as well as playing the roles of the characters in teams of two. Here are some photos of the project.

Kumiko and Fumiya presented Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Kazuki and Mickey (Toshi) dramatized a Japanese tale about Hachiko, a very loyal dog.

Kumiko and Fumiya made these puppets and presented the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Cassie Van Dam, Instructor Suzanne's daughter, donated the puppet theatre for the ESL Conversation class puppet show. (Photo by Nick)

Nick and Kana chose the story Clever Tom and the Leprechaun for their puppets, seen in the photos below, with cutlines (captions) by Nick, and Michele's mini-videos.

When Tom took a ramble he found a Leprechaun behind a hedge. The Leprechaun was hammering on the heel of a fairy-sized shoe. (Photo by Michele Anderson, ESL Reading instructor)

Finally Tom reached a place where the leprechaun had buried a treasure, but then Tom didn't have any tool to dig so he tied his garter on the bush as a mark. (Photo by Michele Anderson)

Tom finds the place where he thinks the treasure is buried. (Video by Michele)

Tom returns with a shovel and digs for the treasure, but to no avail. (Video by Michele)

After the event Tom always carried his spade and he'd tell children (played here by the seven dwarfs) how he nearly found the gold. Hachiko, the loyal dog, and his master listen to the story as well. (Photo by Michele)

Please post your comments on our puppet shows!

"St. Nick" visits foreign language students' Christmas party

Finlandia students of foreign language and their instructors celebrated an early Christmas on Nov. 28 with a skit and dramatic reading of "'Twas the Night Before Christmas," the singing of Christmas songs in Finnish and English, a gift exchange and a Christmas buffet of goodies. The basement of St. Matthew's Chapel on campus took on a festive atmosphere during the party, organized by Anna Leppanen, instructor of Finnish and ESL.

Finlandia students and instructors of foreign language enjoy a potluck feast during their Nov. 28 Christmas party in St. Matthew's Chapel basement on campus. Pictured clockwise from left are Suzanne Van Dam, ESL instructor; Angela Book, German instructor; Anna Leppanen, Finnish and ESL instructor; Kumiko Takahashi; Kazuki Nishiyama; Fred Knoch, student of Finnish; Fumiya Kobashi; Toshiyuki Mita; and Takaaki (Nick) Niikura. (Photo by Michele Anderson, ESL instructor)

St. Nick --Takaaki (Nick) Niikura, left -- boards his sleigh, pulled by his "tiny reindeer" (from left), Suzanne Van Dam, Finlandia ESL instructor, and students Fumiya Kobashi, Kumiko Takahashi and Toshiyuki Mita during the students' performance of "'Twas the Night Before Christmas." Not pictured is Kazuki Nishiyama, who did the dramatic reading of the poem to accompany the skit during the ESL Christmas party Nov. 28 in the Chapel basement. (Photo by Anna Leppanen, ESL instructor)

St. Nick's reindeer play dual roles in the skit as Kazuki Nishiyama reads the poem. (Video by Michele Anderson)


Here's "St. Nick" -- Takaaki (Nick) Niikura -- ready to deliver his bundle of toys. (Photo by Michele Anderson)

St. Nick and his reindeer take off for Hancock ...

... where Anna Leppanen, Finnish and ESL instructor, receives one of the first gifts St. Nick has to deliver. Pictured in the background are, from left, Toshi (Mickey), Fumiya and Suzanne Van Dam, ESL instructor, who organized and directed the skit. (Photo by Michele Anderson)

Special guests Angela Book, German instructor, and Fred Knoch, student of Finnish, relax and enjoy St. Nick's antics at the party. (Photo by Michele Anderson)

Toshi (Mickey) comments on this photo he took: "When we each exchanged presents, Santa Claus (Nick) gave a present to Kumiko. What is in the present?" Also pictured in the background are instructors Suzanne, Michele and Anna. (Photo by Toshi Mita)

Toshi also took this photo, noting, "When we were in the chapel, there was a Christmas tree. It 's cute !!!!" (Photo by Toshi Mita)

We welcome your comments on our Christmas party!

Fashion Show a success!

The ESL Reading class organized a fashion show as one of their lab assignments in November. Each student wrote a creative description of his or her partner's outfit and read it during the show. ESL Conversation Instructor Suzanne Van Dam was the judge, and visiting photographers Karen Johnson and Gustavo Bourdieu took photos of the occasion. Students received a grade for the description and for modeling the outfit. Here are some photos with excerpts from the students' descriptions ...

By Kumiko: I'd like to introduce Mickey (Toshi). He is wearing a brown jacket, a pink checked shirt, a watch which has a black leather watch band, black trousers and leather shoes. Thanks to this outfit Mickey will look more stylish. I think he will be able to get more love from his girlfriend tonight. (Photo by Karen Johnson)

By Mickey (Toshi): Her name is Kumiko. She is wearing this outfit to a friend's birthday party. The jacket is a zip-up jacket, and she is wearing a red halterneck camisole under the jacket. The belt on her black pants is decorated with a pink flower in white leather. Her light brown boots are brown swede with 4-cm high heels. (Photo by Gustavo Bourdieu)

Here Toshi models his outfit as Kumiko describes it. (Video by Gustavo)

By Nick: Kana's fashions are economical. The gray overalls are corduroy and she bought them for $2. The colorful muffler is made of wool and acrylic. The colors -- bright and light pink, blue, black and ocher are attractive to men. (Photo by Karen Johnson)

By Kana: Nick's jacket is by Timberland. It was made in Bangladesh, and it's made of polyester and duck down. Its cost was two hundred and fifty dollars, so the jacket is so warm! (Photo by Karen Johnson)

Nick models his jacket as Kana describes it. (Video by Gustavo)

By Kazuki: Kazuki is playing the role of a British student in the daytime. He likes drawing something. He is wearing sunglasses, a checked jacket, a red sweater, a striped shirt, a black tie, black pants and white sneakers. (Photo by Karen Johnson)

By Kazuki: Fumiya is dressed for a London night club. He is wearing a green wig, black sunglasses, big head phones, a polka dot hooded jacket, an oversize white shirt, colorful spandex pants and white sneakers. He can dance very well! (Photo by Gustavo Bourdieu)

Kazuki describes Fumiya's outfit while Fumiya hams it up! (Video by Gustavo)

ESL Instructor Suzanne Van Dam, assisted by visiting Japanese students, announced the winners of the fashion show as follows: Toshi and Kumiko for the “funniest dialogue,” Nick and Kana for "best acting" and Kazuki and Fumiya for the "most creative outfits."

And here are the winners! (Photo by Karen Johnson)

By the way, Kazuki is becoming famous as a fashion model. See his photo taken at the Mall of America in Minneapolis during Thanksgiving break: http://vita.mn/story.php?id=1594315

Post your comments on our fashion show!

About "Noh"

Editor's Note: Students attended the recent Finlandia production of At the Hawk's Well, a play by Irish poet W. B. Yeats. It is an experimental play based on a fragment of ancient Irish mythology and patterned after Japanese "Noh" drama. Students were reading about body language in class and made the following observations on the body language of the actors in the play.

By Kana Ito

“Noh” is composed of some instruments, singers, narrators, actors.

The narrators wore all black costumes. The singers and the players wore all white costumes. One actor wore white clothes, and I saw a shabby man. One actor wore brown clothes, and I saw a vigorous man. One actor wore black clothes and put wings on both hands. She played the part of a bird.

I think body language expresses the actor’s thoughts. And if the actor doesn’t say anything, we can understand what is in the actor’s mind.

I have never seen “Noh.” And I didn’t know anything about “Noh.” So this is the first time for me.

By Kazuki Nishiyama

A young man who is a hero of Ireland goes to the Hawk's well to look for the water. This young man wore a mask and had a sword. With masks, the actors can play the roles without showing expressions on their faces. The water is a legend. If people drink the water, they can live forever.

When he arrives at the Hawk's well, there are a old man who is lying on leaves and a girl who is defending the well from other human beings. The old man, who also wants to get the water, prevents the young man from getting the water. When the young man is speaking about himself, he sticks out his chest and he puts both hands on the side of his waist. However, suddenly, the girl changes into a hawk after two men heard hawk's crying. The hawk flies away and the young man runs after it.

By Toshiyuki Mita

This story has three characters: an old man, a young man and a girl. The stage has a few leaves of trees, and sometimes one can hear a hawk's chirping. Alone a girl defends the well. The well gushes out miraculous water. If people drink the water, they can get eternal life. It seems legendary.

The old man was believing the legend. Then the young man also came there. He also believed the legend. The old man feared that the young man would steal water. So the old man tried to guard the well from the young man, but the young man wouldn't listen to the old man's talk. Then the girl figure changed into a hawk.

By Kumiko Takahashi

I saw the play At The Hawk's Well Saturday night, and now I'd like to describe the guardian of the well. In the play, the guardian of the well is a woman, and she was wearing a hawk-like mask. At first, she was entirely covered by a black cloak and she said nothing at all. When the old man and the young man were talking about the water of eternal life and a cry of the hawk, suddenly she started moving and threw off her cloak.

And then, she was dancing around the young man. The dance was powerful, and she looked like a hawk. She danced as a hawk fluttering its wings. This action made the play more dramatic. I have never seen Japanese "Noh" drama, so I couldn't compare the play with "Noh" drama. But the atmosphere of the theater looked like "Noh."

ESL Reading: Calendar, lab for Nov. 14-28

Wednesday, Nov. 14. Unit 7, Culture. "Adventures in India."

Preparation: Write your answers to the questions on p. 49 and do the vocabulary exercise at the bottom of the page. Look up the English meanings of any words you don’t know and write them on your paper. Do Before you read, Reading (scanning), p. 51. Then do ex. A, p. 51, after you read p. 50.

In class: We’ll go over your answers and we’ll do ex. B and C, p. 51, together.

Friday, Nov. 16. "Body language in the United States."

Preparation: Do Before you read, Reading (scanning), p. 53. Then do ex. A and B, p. 53, after you read the text on p. 52. Try to observe the body language (gestures) of some American students in your other classes or in the dorm, cafeteria, etc. Do you notice anything different from body language in Japan?

In class: We’ll finish p. 51 and go over your answers on p. 53. If time permits we'll do ex. C, p. 53, together.

Lab Assignment for this week: Attend the Finlandia play At the Hawk’s Well this weekend. It will be presented Friday, Nov. 16, and Saturday, Nov. 17, at 7:00 p.m., and Sunday, Nov. 18, at 2:00 p.m., at the Finnish American Heritage Center. The play is free for Finlandia students with your I.D. You can attend it at any of these times.

This play, written by Irish poet William Butler Yeats, is an experimental play patterned after Japanese "Noh" drama. The minimalist play features one main and one companion character, the use of masks and faces painted to resemble masks, chant-like singing, and minimalist scenery.

Set during the early medieval period, the story concerns a young keeper and an old keeper of a well from which springs the water of eternal life. The keepers are tricked by the Guardian of the Well into missing the water when it finally flows. Instead of continuing to wait, the young one goes to do battle, while the old one stays by the well.

After you see the play, write a paragraph about one of the well keepers in the play. Describe the aspects of "Noh" drama as seen in this character (Does he or she wear a mask or face paint to resemble a mask? If you know something about "Noh" drama, you may compare this play to any you have seen.) Describe the body language of the actor or actress playing the role of this character. How or why is it effective? (How do the gestures help tell the story?) You may wish to take a few notes during the play or jot them down right after you see it.

Monday, Nov. 19. "Cross-cultural differences."

Preparation: Do the Before you read, p. 55, and the Reading (scanning). Then read the whole text on p. 54 and do ex. A and B on p. 55.

In class: We’ll go over your answers and do ex. C, p. 55, together. We’ll also discuss the play. Hand in your paragraph on the play (lab assignment).

Thanksgiving Break!! Have fun!

Monday, Nov. 26.

Preparation: Do the Wrap-up, ex. A and B, p. 56, and bring your vocabulary notebook up to date for Unit 7.

In class: We’ll go over the Wrap-up and review vocabulary of Unit 7.

Wednesday, Nov. 28. Vocabulary review and Quiz on Unit 7.

Bring your vocabulary notebook to class.