What's New at Kyoto NHK ESS?

Dear Kyoto NHK ESS members,

This is an announcement of the practice on July 9th.

Presenter: Kumiko Takada

Genre: Talk

Title: Let's talk about Animal Rights.

1. Killing Animals

When is Okay to kill an animal? When is not okay?
Tell the other members what you think and give a reason why.
ex. I think it's okay to kill an animal when it's causing a problem because......
it's not okay to kill an animal to get its meat because......

Would you kill an animal? In what situation?
What animals have you killed before?


2. Animal Rights

What rights should animals have?
ex. People must never use animals for scientific testing.
People must make sure their pets stay healthy.

Let's talk about Animal Rights

I hope you all enjoy the practice.

Thanks,
Kumiko Takada

京都NHK　ESSのみなさま
こんばんは。
スタッフの Moritaです。
６月のニュースレターを配信させていただきます。

6月4日
Mr,kawakami ：　Talk 【Interview by kindergarten child】
参加者 25名
6月11日
Ms,Inoue　：Talk 【fortune telling!】
参加者31名
6月18日
Mr.Uesugi：Discussion【Walden】
参加者　24名
6月25日
Mr.Yamamoto：Game【Bingo】
参加者　33名

＜NEWCOMERS>
6月11日Nishimura-san,Honjo-san,Koeda-san,Takemura-san
6月18日Horide-san,Shimizu-san,Takeshita-san
6月は７名の方が来られました。

＜TOPIC>
楽しい雨が続き、蒸し暑くなり、夏の入道雲が見られるようになりました。
皆様いかがお過ごしでしょうか。

土曜日の午後はこれからお寺で涼しく過ごせますね。
なんと、恵まれた環境で英会話ESSをすることができるのでしょう！
参加者も増える事かと期待してしまいます。

お寺様、素晴らしい環境を用意してくださって、ありがとうございます。

5月には桜の木は桜ん坊を実らせ私たちをお腹一杯にしてくれましたが、
6月の桜の木は、なんと！涼しい木陰を作ってくれていました。

周りは、白爪草が枯れ始め、ねむの木のピンク色のひげがしおれ、
少し突然の暑さに負けている様子です。
そのしおれた様子を愛おしく感じます。
しかし、春と同じ装いのすずめ達。
知らない間に衣替えしているのでしょうね♪

メンバーの皆様、蒸し暑さは大丈夫でしょうか？

すべては無常です。
美しい桜の木も変化し、周りの植物も変化し、
流れる川も変化し、私達も私達の心も常に変化しています。
一瞬たりとも同じではないのですね。

私達のやる気も英語力も確実に変化し続けているのですね！
気力が落ちても、やる気に満ちていても、それも無常です。
確実な事は、今一瞬の現実があるということ。

その一瞬を大切に、楽しく幸せなステキな時間になりますように。
7月も涼しいESSに参加して、充実したひと時を一緒に過ごしましょう♪
そして、楽しいサマーパーティに是非ご参加くださいませ。

Dear Kyoto NHK ESS members

This is an announcement of the practice on July 16th.

Genre: Talk

Title: Let's talk about your recommendation

Description:
1. Make some groups.
2. I will prepare a dozen topics for each group.
　 Here are the examples of topics.
　　・Something to help stay cool.
　　・Good way to know the latest news
　　・Emotional movie
　　・How to increase your money
　　・Good way to make friends with a nice guy
3. Each member of the groups, in turn, chooses an interested topic.
　 And let's talks about each member’s recommendations about the topic.

I hope you will enjoy this practice.
Thank you.

Mutsumi Kimura

Dear Kyoto NHK ESS members

This is an announcement of the practice on July 30th.

The theme of practice is 'THE WORLD HERITAGE".

1. Please read the "CONVENTION CONCERNING THE PROTECTION OF THE WORLD HERITAGE AND NATURAL HERITAGE"
and talk about this treaty. This is official document therefore is something stiff and formal.
But please try to go through it.( I will distribute it at the temple)

2. What is your most favorite world heritage site which you did not visit?
Please explain the name of the site and the reason to the other member of your group.

3. Please explain the world heritage site which you have visited.
Please try to explain how wonderful/beautiful/impressive the world heritage site is/are.
If possible add some background information or personal travel experiences to it.

4. Is there something which you want to add to the world/local heritage site or Intangible Cultural Heritage（無形遺産）?
Please recommend something which you recognize to be precious to the world/local area/specific group/yourself and why you think so.

Please enjoy talking on the topic.
See you at the temple.

Hiroaki Ishizaki

Hello, there!

This is an announcement of the ESS practice on August 6, 2011.
I hope you like it :-)

Cheers!

-- Masakazu Yoshida

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Genre: Group discussion

Title: Judgement and Choice Baiases

Description:

Life is a matter of choices. It always seems hard for me to make a good descision. Let's think about judgement and choice baiases through group discussion.

First, you will be asked to cope with problems from Gilboa's book [1]:
Read the problems carefully and write down your decisions if you were under those circumstances.

Then, let's discuss about your choices and share your insights:
Explain the reasons why you made your decisions and compare with others. Are there any differences or tendencies (biases)?

I hope this practice might be food for thought.
Thanks for reading.

References:

1. Itzhak Gilboa, "Making Better Decisions: Dennison Theory in
Practice," Wiley-Blackwell 2011.

2. Itzhak Gilboa, "Rational Choice," MIT Press 2011.
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