Monday, May 31, 2010

This is the last day of May! I can't believe it. Time flies...

Today I really felt ill and had a headache and a stomachache. So I couldn't speak so much in today's discussion. Sorry...
Anyway, we discussed nationality today. I was surprised to hear about the man who couldn't get into the onsen and felt sorry for him. It was difficult for us to discuss nationalities since some countries emphasize blood more than the place of birth and some do not. How should we decide one's nationalities? I think this is a good research question for essays and worth discussing. We have to deal with this problem in the future anyway and I felt that I must think about it more.

After the discussion, we had a kind of short presentation and talked about our essays. My thesis statement is "Media should not reveal the real name of suspects in news reports". It's gonna be about media and I think I'll be in the same group with Tomoya, Saori, Izumi and Tomoaki. I have to start working on my essay!

Friday, May 28, 2010

Today we graded our own PWT tests. It was quite difficult for me to decide my own score but I tried to see my paragraphs from an objective point of view. After that Rab asked us a question; "Where can we find informations which have no bias or filter at all?" The answer was nowhere. I was a little shocked but Rab told us that there are some websites that have less bias and filter. These are the websites;

Indymedia Japan http://japan.indymedia.org/

Global Research.ca http://www.globalresearch.ca/

The Narco News Bulletin http://www.narconews.com/

The Electronic Intifada http://electronicintifada.net/

Fair http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=4

Information Clearing House http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/

Project Censored http://www.projectcensored.org/

In the 5th period we had some guests and we learned how to use sentenceworks and Criterion.

We used sentenceworks to find some mistakes in our first essays. I thought it was quite useful. After that we learned how to make presentations with google document. Rab's Banana presentation was really funny!

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

We missed Rab so much yesterday! I hope Rab's mother in law gets better soon.
And Kiyo! How cute he is! He's such an angel! I hope his face gets better soon too.

Sylvan came to our class yesterday instead of Rab. We watched some political attacking advertisement of Obama and McCain. I was very surprised to know that McCain could not use computers because he was tortured and got his fingers broken many times. Also I was surprised to see how they attack each others. They used so many charged languages. By watching these videos, I really felt that we should not believe advertisements without knowing their backgrounds otherwise we can make wrong decisions in important things, such as electing president.


Today I went to Rikkyo university to see the play and tap dance performance with Tomoaki, Miki and Natsuko. Tomoya's tap dance was so cool and I really enjoyed the play. Thank you Tomoya! Other guys in CB should better go and see it tomorrow :)

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

I am the best student in CB because I try harder than anyone else. I almost never forgot to write blog posts after each class and I've finished reading Geography of Thought faster than some other students. I never forgot to write a blog post on each chapter. Moreover, I always try hard to think critically when other students don't. They just don't think by themselves. I'm sure Rab thinks that I am the best student too.


Ohhhh I can't lie anymore...
Sorry everyone I think you guys DO think critically...
Well I tried to write this in the most biased, slanted way.


We had the P&D again today and we described Rab's black bag in good/bad ways in groups. Our group tried to say that Rab's bag is the most terrible bag in the world. We used so many charged words and it wasn't so convincing... I learned that we shouldn't use these charged words in our essays otherwise they will not be convincing.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Today we discussed our topics of our next essays in groups. It's really difficult to find an argumentative topic which the sources are easy to find in English. I thought that Kaori's essay topic about international marriage was really interesting. I can't wait to read her essay!

After the discussion, we did P&D on our essay topics. I had to try hard not to look up and take eye contacts with the audiences. I did a presentation on my essay topic today but I actually want to change my topic. I'll think about my essay tonight and have a discussion with Izumi in our dormitory!

Friday, May 21, 2010

Yesterday we had the first PWT test. I'm so relieved that no one was late for the test! Well I still can't understand why there were same questions in the test... I got really confused.

We discussed Fisher and saw many stereograms in class yesterday. I really wanted to see the 3D image but I couldn't manage to do it. WHY???? I was so surprised to see other students looking at the picture and seeing the 3D image so easily. I'm gonna practice it!

I haven't decided my second essay topic yet. I think it's gonna be about culture or perception...

Well I'll think about it during this weekend.

I'm really looking forward to going to Rab's house with CB members!

Wednesday, May, 19, 2010

Today we learned how to do P&D.

A successful presentation consists of 9 parts;

1-Greetings

2-Thank Audience

3-Self Info

4-Topic Info

5-Outline

6-Body

7-Conclusion

8-Q&A

9-Thank Audience

To make a successful presentation, we must not read any paper and we have to make eye contacts with the audience. Rab repeated this phrase; "If you read, you'll fail!" It was hard for me not to look up and make eye contacts for 5 seconds each of the audience during my presentation practice. However the practice was very fun. I felt really lucky to practice these kind of things since I've never done this before. I know it's difficult but I'll do my best to relax and be confident during my presentation.

Today we had a pizza party in my dormitory, zelkova house. Thank you Izumi for accepting the second floor members! Let's have another party again!

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Today was a busy day...

I had International History class in the 3rd period but I woke up at 10:50! I managed to prepare for class in 10 minutes and was almost late for class.

There was a meeting of the golf club in lunch time and I had to prepare my lunch in 15 minutes. I made some sandwich and was almost late for the meeting.

I had to go to the orchestra practice which started at 18:30. Since I had class in the 6th period, I had to eat dinner in 20 minutes. I ate tarako spaghetti and was almost late for the orchestra practice.

Anyway, today we did another psychological test in class. Rab told us to draw a house, greenery, water, sun and a path. I drew some small puddles for water, and was surprised to know that the water describes my father! I feel so sorry for him. lol

It was funny that Asami drew a huge house in the center of her paper. I know she doesn't think only about her self though!

Later in class we discussed Barna. It was interesting to discuss nonverbal communication. I really thought that the keigo thing is very difficult for foreigners to understand.

I have to read Fisher...

Good night everyone!

Chapter8 AND IF THE NATURE OF THOUGHT IS NOT EVERYWHERE THE SAME?

I felt that this chapter was a kind of summary or conclusion of the whole book. Nisbett mentioned medicine, law, debate, science, rhetoric, contracts, international relations, human rights, and religion as the domains of life in which Easterners and Westerners think and behave differently. Each of them were explained with some examples and the religion part was especially interesting. I think it's because it seems like religion reflects their spirits, which is the basic part of thoughts.

It was hard for me to think whether educators should give other cultures' skills to its children or not, since Easterners and Westerners have different ways of understanding materials. This made me think a lot. However I agree with the part that said these diverse views should be helpful for solving problems. That's because I think that when solving a problem, it is important to have flexible thinking and to look at the problem from different perspectives. I want more information about this... I want to read more about how these different views will help with solving a problem.

Well I finished reading Nisbett except the epilogue!

Good night everyone!

Monday, May 17, 2010

about today's class –

Rab gave us five worksheets and we learned how to reduce the informality of sentences. It was quite difficult for me to find verbs which make sentences more formal. I have to work hard on these worksheets, otherwise my essay will be so childish! Later in class we did a psychological test. Since we didn't know that they were psychological tests, the results of the test were so interesting; I want a partner that is cute, fluffy, warm, comfortable, and small...haha

about retreat–

I really enjoyed the retreat. I made lots of new friends and talked and played with them all night. It was the first time for me to visit Nagano and I really enjoyed the beautiful view of the mountains. Thank you to all the retreat staff members for planning such a nice trip!

AND about friday's class–

I forgot to write a blog post for friday's class... We used LBH and learned about deductive reasoning and inductive reasoning. I'm not sure if I can remember all kinds of those fallacies.

We discussed an article of Daily Yomiuri about English education. The writer said that English should be deleted from entrance exams. I thought it was not so persuasive because it had a big assumption in it and had little evidence.

Chapter7 "CE N'EST PAS LOGIQUE" OR "YOU'VE GOT A POINT THERE"?

In this chapter Nisbett described how Westerners and Easterners differ in logical thinking. He said that Westerners tend to avoid contradiction by thinking logically while Easterners don't care about contradiction and try to find Middle Ways. He proved this in many experiments.

I was interested in the result of the test that studied the consumer choices of European Americans and people from Hong Kong. When the subjects were first asked to choose one of three computers, Americans and East Asians were about equally likely to choose the immediate one. However when they were asked to give reasons for their choice, American moved to preference for extreme objects and Asian participants moved to preference for the compromise objects. I felt this was very interesting because it shows obvious difference between them.

Well I was surprised when I read the part that he wrote "Asians tend to do much better in math and science than Americans". Is that true? His reasons for his idea were quite convincing but I can't believe this because he doesn't give use any evidence.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Today Rab gave us an interesting worksheet; "What Went Wrong?"
We discussed which assumptions were made in these examples on the worksheet. I was soooo surprised to know the historical background of the law of Saudi Arabia that prohibits women to show their faces and bodies. Also I was surprised to know that Italian women don't shave their legs. Why do Italian men prefer legs with hair than shaved legs?? I can't understand. However I guess there are much more cultures and customs that I cannot understand in the world. I want to be tolerant and will do my best to adapt and adopt to their cultures because I want to be in good relationships with them. I think it's important to respect their culture if we want to be in good relationships with foreign people.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Today we learned how to improve our PWT paragraphs and essays by using LBH.

I checked Shantonu's practice PWT paragraphs and his writings were well written. I carefully checked it and found that it was very easy to understand. Although I'm not good at finding assumptions in thesis statements, I thought that he used almost no assumptions in his writings.

After that we discussed Parenti and Cromwell. I felt that it was much easier for me to discuss education than discussing media and propaganda...

Anyway, LBH is so useful! I really want to improve my essay by using it.

Chapter6 IS THE WORLD MADE UP OF NOUNS OR VERBS?

I've never imagined that language makes a difference to understanding of the world and the way of thinking! I was so surprised and impressed by Nisbett's ideas. His experiments were quite interesting and the results of these tests were even more interesting. Since I understand both Japanese and English, the part he wrote about Japanese and English languages were easy for me to understand. Even though he concludes that there is an effect of culture on thought independent of language, he says that the language probably plays a role in helping focus attention and in stabilizing the different orientations throughout life. By reading this chapter, I got very interested in language!

Well.. After reading chapter4, I started to wonder which nature or nurture causes the differences of Westerners and Easterners. I first thought nurture was more influential but in chapter4, there was a result of an experiment which showed that even infants had these differences. So I started to think that nature had some effect on these differences. However, by reading chapter6, I changed my mind again that nurture plays more important roles in causing them because there were so many examples in this chapter that showed the differences of Eastern and Western parents trying to educate their children. In his experiment, American mothers used much more object labels than Japanese mothers when playing with their children. Japanese mothers engaged more in social routines of teaching politeness norms. So they had differences even when they communicate with their little children. I think these differences made the differences of infants written in chapter4.

Friday, May 7, 2010

I was very shocked by the video of democracy which we watched today. Many people didn't stop protesting even when the police came and shot the gas-spray to them.

By discussing the video, I noticed that I am so ignorant about these things. I didn't even know that WTO was not democratic. I had no knowledge about these protests at all. Maybe because I had no interest to them, but I think it is because of the media. We tried to discuss how we can change the media to tell the truth of protests but it was too difficult for us to think.

In Rab' s NP, he said that the media tells biased informations so we should find informations in the internet. However I thought that there are so much false informations on the internet... Well I really felt that it is important to look at both the media and the internet critically and not accept everything it says.

Chapter5 "THE BAD SEED" OR "THE OTHER BOYS MADE HIM DO IT"?

In this chapter, Nisbett showed some examples to indicate that the different worldviews of Easterners and Westerners are associated with different kinds of causal explanation for the same event. It was very interesting to know that American newspapers and Chinese newspapers actually emphasized on different kind of causes to the same event.

Nisbett's explanation of the attribution error was quite difficult for me to understand.

I understood that Westerners emphasize on objects while Easterners see the context by reading the part that he showed many experiments and examples.

It was also interesting to know that Asian Americans showed the middle way of Americans and Chinese/Koreans in many experiments.

Chapter4 "EYES IN BACK OF YOUR HEAD" OR "KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE BALL"?

This chapter was very interesting because it showed so many results of experiments.
I was somehow not so surprised to know that Westerners see objects separate from their environments and Easterners tend to see background events. However I was very surprised to know that Westerners tend to think that things don't change so much while Easterners believe that things change and will not remain in the same situation for a long time. I always think in the Eastern way of thinking which means that I'm a typical Easterner...

In page 82, Nisbett says that the difference between Americans and Japanese appeared even on infants. Does this mean that the difference between them attribute to nature instead of nurture? By reading page 80, I first thought that these differences depends on nuture. In this page Nisbett describes a Western father asking questions to his son about certain objects. He says that these questions are unusual to Easterners because they have cultural differences in perception and cognition. I thought these differences are caused by the differences of the way of raising a child like the example of page 80. hmmm Well I think both nature and nurture are causing these differences.