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04 .27How Do You Watch Movies?
Who does not like a good movie?
“How do you watch movies?” That would have been a silly question 40 years ago. Of course, you go to the movie theater, buy popcorn, and sit down with other moviegoers to enjoy a film as a crowd. With the advent of the Laserdisc and the VHS (and Beta) videotape, people could enjoy a movie of their choice in the comfort of their home. From there, starting in the 1990s, more digital media appeared and the DVD dominated the market for years.
Then came Netflix. Netflix started as being an online rental provider, where customers went to Netflix’s online site and ordered DVDs that were mailed to the customers. As customers received DVDs in the mail, they returned the movies they finished watching and Netflix would send the next disc on their queue. From about five years ago, the business model has changed to the online streaming of movies. Now customers can watch movies anywhere, on a number of devices.
Many people prefer the convenience of watching any movie on demand. I prefer going to a rental shop and bringing home a physical disc and watching it instead of some streaming service. I feel the benefits of the ‘brick and mortar store’ (meaning physically there as opposed to all online) outweigh the inconveniences of the trip there and possible late fees if you do not return the disc in time.
I enjoy browsing the many videos of the store. There are many movies that I do not know about and I would never meet if those gems did not catch my eye while I was strolling down the aisles. I can talk to the staff and hear what they recommend or what is the latest movie news. Most importantly for me is the picture quality is better than what is sent over the internet. For people who consider themselves cinephiles (devoted movie watchers or knowledgeable about the cinema), they may enjoy the bonus content that is on the disc or the better sound played from the disc media.
Unfortunately, most consumers do not share my love for the rental experience.
According to the Digital Entertainment group, starting from three years ago, 2017 saw a significant drop in all forms of consumer spending on physical media. Income from subscription streaming services like Netflix or Hulu has almost doubled DVD/Blu-ray sales.
However, if you are thinking about improving your English, using a streaming service will help you to improve your listening skills at an attainable price. I do not want to change sides in my argument, but this is a blog, not an academic paper.
The more you practice something, the better you will be at it. The more you practice listening to English with the programs you enjoy, the more you will be able to recognize the nuances of English speakers. You will hear how speakers use ‘connected speech’ or speak quickly and smash words together. (for example, ‘wanna’ instead of saying ‘want to’) The more you meet speakers (characters in the show/movie) speaking that way, along with different accents and speaking with different emotions and situations, you will become a better listener. Not only that, as you become a better listener, please try to watch the show again with English subtitles. That could help reinforce your listening comprehension and may increase your reading speed.
I hope you will be able to enjoy English with your next movie or TV show streamed to your home or after you go to your local video rental shop. After that, come to the BBP and share with the staff your movie experience and which movies you recommend.
Photo Credit: JESHOOTS.com@pexels.com
Blog Quiz
1. What was NETFLIX's first way of business?
A. Selling movies from stores
B. Sending movies in the mail
C. Online streaming of movies
2. What is one benefit of going to a store to rent a movie?
A. There are late fees.
B. We can see movies that we did not know about before.
C. You need a DVD player to watch movies.
3. What are some benefits of watching English movies/shows?
A. You can practice listening to different types of speakers/accents.
B. You can practice speed reading using English sub-titles.
C. You can practice speaking with the BBP staff about the movie/show.
D. All of the above.
Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.
Quiz Answers
1. B
2. B
3. D
Scot Matsuo -
04 .20Avoiding Procrastination
Are you the type of student who does homework methodically or at the last minute? For example, if you have two weeks to write a 500-word essay in English, would you complete it over several days or within the final 12 hours? Based on my experience as a teacher, I estimate that at least 30 percent of my students fall into the group that begins essays only the day before they are due. If you are always racing to meet deadlines, then there is a strong possibility that you are a procrastinator. If you are not familiar with the word, Google defines it as “a person who habitually puts off doing things.” Does that sound like you?
Procrastinators are not necessarily lazy people; in fact, many procrastinators end up working extremely hard before a project is due. However, all procrastinators are poor at managing their time. Without a deadline set by someone else, procrastinators cannot get anything done. If you are a frequent procrastinator, I recommend making it a priority goal not to be one by the time you graduate.
There is a saying, “If you cannot manage your time, someone else will.” Put another way, it means that procrastinators will struggle to be leaders, inventors, artists, and entrepreneurs. While it is true that not everyone will be a leader, inventor, artist or entrepreneur, wouldn’t you like the option?
For people who struggle with managing their time, I recommend watching a funny and insightful presentation on Ted.com that is titled “Inside the mind of a procrastinator” (https://www.ted.com/talks/tim_urban_inside_the_mind_of_a_master_procrastinator?language=en) by Tim Urban.
In this 14-minute video, Mr. Urban shares his personal struggle with procrastination using the example of his process for writing a thesis while in university. I don’t want to say much about the video, because I don’t want to spoil it; however, I will say that it uses simple, humorous images and analogies to shed light on why people procrastinate. It also provides insight and advice for overcoming this tendency.
Among the tools that Mr. Urban shares for dealing with procrastination are life calendars. Unlike typical calendars, that show just twelve months, these calendars span 90 years— the length of a long life. By using these calendars, it is easier to set deadlines and get things done. These calendars can be found on Tim Urban’s blog (waitbutwhy.com).
So procrastinators, don’t put it off. Check out those websites today!
Photo Credit: Pixabay@pexels.com
Blog Quiz
1. A person who puts off doing something is a/an ________ ?
A. Debater
B. Informant
C. Manager
D. Procrastinator
2. Which of these words is different?
A. Cutoff
B. Deadline
C. Pass out
D. Time limit
3. What animal does Mr. Urban say is in his brain? (You will need to watch the video to answer this question.)
A. Cat
B. Hamster
C. Guinea pig
D. Monkey
Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.
Quiz Answers
1. D
2. C
3. D
Robert PERKINS -
04 .06BBP Blog Update: How to Use the New Style of Blog on the BBP Website
Hello everyone and welcome to the updated BBP blog! I hope you are all getting acclimated to the new 2020 school year. In this post I would like to explain some changes this year to the BBP blog. These changes have been implemented to make the blog more useful as an English language study tool for both students and instructors.
If you are visiting the BBP website for the first time, let me explain a few things about the BBP blog. Every week throughout the whole calendar year (sometimes twice a week), a blog post written by a Ritsumeikan language facilitator from one of the three Kansai campuses will be posted here. These blogs cover a wide range of topics such as language learning tips, stories from daily life, travel recommendations, food, hobbies and interests, advice and much more. If you are interested in a specific topic, you can use the Category function near the top right of the page to find postings within that topic.
This year we have added two things to the blog to make it a more useful study resource both for students to self-study and for teachers to use as a classroom/homework assignment if they wish.
First, we have added a short quiz to each post. Starting this week, all blog postings will be followed by three questions about the post. Users can answer the questions from memory or refer back to the reading to find the answers. The answers to the questions can be found by scrolling down to the bottom of the page, so users can check their understanding of the post themselves.
Second, we have added a Level function. Starting this week, all blog postings will be put into one of three levels (Beginner, Intermediate, or Advanced) according to the difficulty of the English and the quiz questions in the post. Next to the Category function near the top right of the page is the Level function. This Level function allows users to choose posts that better fit their reading ability or the reading ability of their students.
We hope that students and teachers will find the updated BBP blog useful for their language learning practice. The blog is open to anyone who wants to use it at any time. Good luck with the new academic year and feel free to visit the blog anytime to practice your English reading skills!
Blog Quiz
1. How often are new blog posts put on the website?
A. once a week
B. once or twice a week for 12 months a year
C. every week during the semester
2. What is new this year on the BBP blog?
A. a quiz answers
B. a level system and a quiz
C. a category function and a quiz
3. Who are the new changes on the BBP website for?
A. Ritsumeikan instructors
B. Ritsumeikan students
C. Everyone
Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.
Quiz Answers
1. B
2. B
3. C
Brett Morgan -
02 .11Motivation Versus DisciplineDuring my teaching career, I have had multiple students ask me questions along the lines of ‘What are good ways to learn English?’ and I often used to answer that having some form of motivation, be it intrinsic or extrinsic, may help. Yet over the years, I have come to believe that discipline is a much more important and beneficial quality for learning, not only English but many things in life. So let’s look at why this is so.Motivation is a wonderful concept to take advantage of when it occurs. It gives us unusual powers of focus and productivity. So we should definitely use that when it’s around but motivation is finite, so when you’re looking to change something in your life: Let motivation inspire you, but don’t expect it to stick around. Focus on building disciplined actions around those things you want to learn. Get specific in what “discipline” will look like for your specific targets or aims.Humans are generally creatures of habits and we often create routines and rhythms in our daily lives. By understanding how we establish and practice habits each day, we can figure out how to implement beneficial ones (and lessen burdening ones). By this I mean when we begin something new, we must focus a lot of our brainpower on it because it’s out of the ordinary and we are learning how to do that thing. But as we repeatedly do it, we need to devote less and less conscious brain activity to it until it eventually becomes second nature. An example of this is walking. As infants when we learn to walk, our brains focus on trying to put one foot forward then the other and it takes effort, but gradually, because we do it repeatedly and from small steps first, we no longer have to think about those actions. It becomes second nature and frees up our brains to focus on new activities.So when studying the same principles can be applied: creating discipline and routines can be very important. Even, at first, if it is just a simple activity for two weeks of sitting yourself down at a desk and just opening a book and reading for 5 minutes, then we gradually increase the intensity of time and effort, and these actions will become routine. Then you will find yourself automatically doing these tasks as time goes by. The key is the discipline though, we have to make the time to do these activities regularly and consistently, then eventually improvements will be made.Motivation is good at inspiring us to start something, but discipline will be the quality that keeps us pushing towards our goals.Photo Credit: Plush Design@pexels.comAndrew Dowden
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12 .24Some ideas for delivering an effective English presentationHow do you feel when you are assigned to do an English presentation in front of the entire class? Feel anxious? Get nervous? Want to escape from it? If you haven’t had much experience presenting even in your native language, it might be extremely tough just to stand in front of people, let alone presenting “in English.” An English presentation assignment could put a lot of pressure on you.I know exactly how that feels because I went through the same difficulty myself when I was studying in high school in America where I was assigned to present something in front of the class almost every day. For the first few weeks, all I could think of was to finish my presentation and get back to my seat as quickly as possible. I wasn’t confident about my English and felt extremely embarrassed just to stand in front of the class and to make eye contact with my classmates. However, looking at my classmates speaking confidently and cheerfully every day, I started to wonder, “Is it really okay for me to remain shy like this?” Well, the answer was obviously no because it was clear that I wanted to enjoy presenting like them. I still remember the feeling I used to have then. I was feeling: “I need to change and I want to change!”So I gradually started watching and imitating my classmates’ performance and exploring how I can capture people’s attention with my presentation. “What do I need to do to communicate and deliver my message more clearly and effectively?” was what I used to think a lot about and I learned many effective delivery skills from that experience. Among them, there are three ideas on delivery that I found especially important in giving any type of presentation. I hope they will be helpful for you too.1. Think about an attention getter How you start your presentation matters. You want your audience to be interested in what you are going to present, so the first thing you say is very important. You can start with your own personal story that could also be familiar and interesting to your audience. You could begin with a famous quote or a rhetorical question that would stimulate the audience’ mind. Also, starting with a magic word “Imagine” can successfully invite your audience to take part in your presentation. I remember that one student used this word in his presentation (“Please imagine that you are now in…”) and it grabbed everyone’s attention in less than a second!2. Show your confidence and enthusiasm through speaking How you speak matters. If you speak in a small, unclear voice, your audience may feel that you don’t really want to share with them what you are presenting. They may also get the sense that you are not confident about what you are saying to them. If you speak too fast, they may find it difficult to follow what you are trying to deliver. And if your voice sounds flat and monotone, they may get the sense that you are not so interested in what you are saying. After all, no one wants to hear a presentation that lacks confidence or enthusiasm, right? So showing your confidence and enthusiasm through speaking is very important. You can start with trying to speak in a loud, clear voice. You don’t have to shout or yell, but you need to make sure that your audience can hear you effortlessly. You can also try to change your speech volume, speed, rhythm and intonation, depending on what you want to emphasize in your presentation. Having vocal variety helps your audience understand what you want to deliver through your presentation.3. Use body language How you use body language matters. When you give your presentation, do you use body languages (e.g., eye contact, gestures)? I’ve noticed that when making a presentation many students tend to stand still in front of their PC and present everything with just words—without using body movements. Quite often, such attitudes make it difficult for the audience to be interested in your presentation or understand your main point. For example, I’ve seen many people looking at their PC screens the whole time without making any eye contact with the audience. I’ve also seen people explaining a figure or a table on the screen without using hand gestures. Eye contact can help the audience feel included in your presentation and one single hand gesture can actually make a big difference in making your presentation clearer. If you haven’t tried it yet, please think about incorporating body language into your presentation.The ideas above are probably nothing new but might help stimulate your thinking about your next presentation. If you find them doable, please give them a try!Photo Credit: Christina Morillo @pexels.comThe BBP Staff
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12 .03Remembering Names
As a teacher, I have to try and remember all of my student names. Teaching at Elementary school and Secondary school (combined Junior and Senior High school), it was a lot easier to remember students’ names, particularly my form (home-room) students. I spent a large part of each week with the same students. I got to know their personalities, interests and hobbies. I knew which students hated which foods and I knew their parents and family life. More than 10 years after I left that school, some of my former students recognized me in London and said hello and I could easily remember their names.
It has not been so easy to remember my students’ names in Japan. Firstly, Japanese names often have a very similar pronunciation meaning that knowing the Kanji can be quite important. When I first arrived in Japan, I could not read any Kanji characters at all, so this did not help much. Secondly, in English class, we often do not use a person’s family name. This is a result of how using a person’s family name in English indicates relative social status, which creates a social distance. Historically, teachers were seen as being extremely scary because of the way in which they exerted their social status through language. We use first names because we want our students to feel less intimidated and less anxious about speaking. Thirdly, I am teaching at university now where I see my students once or twice a week. I have very little chance to get to know my students.
These three facts did not help when I was faced with my first class of Japanese students, but I did learn their names. Even now, many years later, I do remember their names, and I do remember their faces. They even send me New Years cards every January. Their names were Tomoko, Tomoko, Tomoko, Tomoko, Tomoko, Tomoko, Tomoko, and Mariko. Unfortunately, in the first few lessons, I could not remember who was Mariko. As I got to know them better, I could remember as I connected their personalities with what they did and said in class.
Like most people, I remember the names of people who I have most communication with. Sadly, this often means that I remember the really good students and the really not-so-good students. Those students who are quiet and try to avoid speaking in class tend to be the most difficult to remember. I try to remember their names by using {the story method [https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/link-and-story-method-infographic.html]}. By creating a story and linking together interesting things, it becomes easier to remember things. As a teacher, I can help refresh this in my mind by taking a roll-call at the beginning of class, but this technique does help. Eventually, I can remember everyone’s names, but then the semester ends and I have to start all over again.
(Photo credit: )
Dominic Edsall -
11 .01How to memorize English vocabularyPhoto by Paul Chilson https:www.pinterest.com/blueump/
Have you ever had trouble remembering new English words, particularly technical terms? When you try to remember new words, how do you usually do that? Here’s one possible effective way of memorizing new words. Let’s have a look through examples of medical English terms.
Before starting, I’ll talk about “Morphology.” In a nutshell, morphology is the study of words. Morphemes are the minimal units of words which have a meaning and cannot be subdivided further. Morphemes have two main types: free and bound. Free morphemes can occur alone and bound morphemes must occur with another morpheme. For example, there’s a word “unimportant.” Can you see this word consists of two morphemes? That’s “un” and “important.” Now, which morpheme is free and which is bound?The answer is:
Free morpheme: important
Bound morpheme: un
“Un” is bound because it cannot stand alone though it has a meaning. It must be attached to another morpheme to produce a word. Like “un,” affixes are often the bound morpheme and they will be a key for remembering new words. The popular affixes are prefixes and suffixes. A prefix is added to the front of a word and a suffix is added to the end of a word.
Examples:
Prefix: dis- , com- , re- , mis- , tri-
Suffix: -able , -ness , -er(or) , -ish , -less
If you have deep knowledge of prefixes and suffixes, it can be a big help to remember new words and increase your vocabulary size.
This is a common strategy for remembering words and it can be applied to storing technical terms as well. Here, technical terms mean “medical English terms.” Medical English terms have a feature, that is; a frequent use of morphemes specialized in the field. Therefore, it can be a shortcut for memorizing medical terms efficiently to know affixes including a prefix and suffix used frequently in the medical field.
Basically, a medical English word consists of:
Prefix + Root + Linking Vowel Sound + Suffix
Because medical English terms are composed in this manner, many of them are long. Therefore, it can be very difficult to remember a meaning without following a pattern. It’s much easier to remember words by breaking a word down into each morpheme.
Example: ar – rhythm – ia
ar- (prefix) rhythm (root) -ia (suffix)
un-, in- heartbeat state of illness
So, arrhythmia means an irregular heartbeat.
In medical English terms, it is often said that prefixes generally show numbers and positions. Roots, which are a core part of a word, generally show body parts including organs. Then, suffixes generally show condition and symptoms. Here are some examples of each morpheme. They are all popular in the medical English terms.
<Prefix>
Meaning
anti- against
dys- difficult, bad
hyper- above, excessive
hypo- under, below
mal- bad, wrong, ill
<Root>
Meaning
abdomin- belly
cardi- heart
dent- tooth
neur- nerve
derm- skin
<Suffix>
Meaning
-gram drawing
-itis inflammation
-oma tumor
-pathy disease
-rrhea flow
It is of course important to have a lot of knowledge about roots as they are core parts of a word but even having knowledge about prefixes and suffixes will help you memorize new words. Moreover, the knowledge about them helps you guess meanings when you face new vocabulary. Here, I showed the examples of medical words, but you can make your own morpheme list based on the field you’re interested in. I hope the way shown in the blog helps you remember new words!The BBP Staff