Hello!
How are you? How was your Golden Week?
Today, I have two (2) things for you in this post - first, about Ainu greetings (アイヌ語の挨拶) and next, about writing a summary (要約).
About the Ainu
Who exactly are the Ainu? They are the indigenous people (先住民族) of Japan. Here is a map of Japan showing the original area, plus the widest places, where the Ainu lived.
As you can see, at one time they lived from the northeastern part of the Tohoku, all of Hokkaido, and the way up through Sakhalin Island (what many older Japanese call Karafuto「樺太」) and even up through the Kuril Islands (千島列島).
But now they only live in Hokkaido. Their numbers are small, and they have married mainstream Japanese people enough so that they do not look so different. But they are proud of their culture and traditions.
Activity
Let's look at these Ainu greetings! What do you think they mean?
Today, I have two (2) things for you in this post - first, about Ainu greetings (アイヌ語の挨拶) and next, about writing a summary (要約).
About the Ainu
Who exactly are the Ainu? They are the indigenous people (先住民族) of Japan. Here is a map of Japan showing the original area, plus the widest places, where the Ainu lived.
But now they only live in Hokkaido. Their numbers are small, and they have married mainstream Japanese people enough so that they do not look so different. But they are proud of their culture and traditions.
Activity
Let's look at these Ainu greetings! What do you think they mean?
Iramkarapte. (イランカラプテ) He. (ヘー)
E-iwanke ya? (エイワンケ ヤ？)
Ku-iwanke wa. (クイワンケ ワ)
E-re hemanta ya? (エレ ヘマンタ ヤ？)
K-ani anakne ____ ku-ne. (カニ アナㇰネ ____ クネ)
Check your guesses - were any of them correct, or close?
Summary writing
One thing that will become important for all of you in any research you do in English in life sciences is writing a summary (要約).
What is a summary? It's a short version of the content of a presentation, research paper, or a chapter in a book - like a unit of a textbook. You can think of it as a statement of purpose (SOP) about a presentation, writing, or reading topic. It should be a compacted version of every aspect of the topic.
Let's imagine that a person is preparing a presentation or report, or even reading in a textbook unit, about DNA. Let's also imagine that the focus in the topic is about the genetic relationship between dogs and wolves (which is a chapter in our textbook we will read later).
Each of these moves
are then brought together to make the full summary.
Homework
Now read this section about summary writing again. Read it as many times as you need. Then in the summary section of your worksheet, write a practice summary about today's textbook topic on language.
Bring it in next week (5/18) and we'll go over them!
Now here are the board notes for today's (5/11) class:
Extra activity (for 5/18)
Now here is a short video about the Ainu language. It's a chant that in a way tells the story of the Ainu. Here is only one question about it:
Summary writing
One thing that will become important for all of you in any research you do in English in life sciences is writing a summary (要約).
What is a summary? It's a short version of the content of a presentation, research paper, or a chapter in a book - like a unit of a textbook. You can think of it as a statement of purpose (SOP) about a presentation, writing, or reading topic. It should be a compacted version of every aspect of the topic.
Let's imagine that a person is preparing a presentation or report, or even reading in a textbook unit, about DNA. Let's also imagine that the focus in the topic is about the genetic relationship between dogs and wolves (which is a chapter in our textbook we will read later).
Here would be one example of a good
summary about this topic:
DNA evidence has shown that dogs evolved from wolves, and over time, dogs have became one of the most popular companion animals to humans across many cultures. But there are still arguments about exactly when dogs genetically separated from wolves, and how and why they became domesticated by humans. This presentation/report/textbook unit shows the origins of dogs, and proposes some different ideas about how they became companions to humans.
DNA evidence has shown that dogs evolved from wolves, and over time, dogs have became one of the most popular companion animals to humans across many cultures. But there are still arguments about exactly when dogs genetically separated from wolves, and how and why they became domesticated by humans. This presentation/report/textbook unit shows the origins of dogs, and proposes some different ideas about how they became companions to humans.
A
good summary has a short background about the topic, with a tighter focus
towards the end of the background. Then it goes into the focus of the
presentation itself, sometimes with an additional comment about something
unique, or else of note about the topic. Let’s look at this:
Background to the topic:
DNA evidence has shown that dogs evolved from wolves, and over time, dogs have became one of the most popular companion animals to humans across many cultures.
Focus on the topic:
But there are still arguments about exactly when dogs genetically separated from wolves, and how and why they became domesticated by humans.
Focus on what the presentation will be about:
This presentation/report/textbook unit will trace the origins of dogs, and show some different ideas about how they became companions to humans.
Background to the topic:
DNA evidence has shown that dogs evolved from wolves, and over time, dogs have became one of the most popular companion animals to humans across many cultures.
Focus on the topic:
But there are still arguments about exactly when dogs genetically separated from wolves, and how and why they became domesticated by humans.
Focus on what the presentation will be about:
This presentation/report/textbook unit will trace the origins of dogs, and show some different ideas about how they became companions to humans.
Homework
Now read this section about summary writing again. Read it as many times as you need. Then in the summary section of your worksheet, write a practice summary about today's textbook topic on language.
Bring it in next week (5/18) and we'll go over them!
Now here are the board notes for today's (5/11) class:
Now here is a short video about the Ainu language. It's a chant that in a way tells the story of the Ainu. Here is only one question about it:
How similar do you think the Ainu language is to Japanese, or other Asian languages you know or have heard? What's your feeling about it? (If you watch and listen to this video directly on YouTube, you can turn on Japanese subtitles (字幕). Try it!)
Write down what you think.
I hope you find this video interesting.Write down what you think.
See you next time!
(Answers to Ainu greetings at top of post)
Image: Top - by Ponting, Herbert George, photographer - Library of
CongressCatalog: https://lccn.loc.gov/2009633363Image download:
https://cdn.loc.gov/service/pnp/cph/3a30000/3a31000/3a31100/3a31148r.jpgOriginal
url: https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2009633363/, Public Domain,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=67741998/Geographic map - by Arnold Platon - This vector image includes elements that have been taken or adapted from this: Japan on the globe (claimed) (Japan centered).svg (by TUBS). - Own work (Vectorization), based on this map, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25364093
Content: Ainu greetings courtesy of Wikitravel.
