My weekends are sometimes busy, but I enjoy. They’re important for me. I usally get up early, and eat breakfast. After that, I usually go to part-time job, from 9 to 2. When I finish it, I sometimes meet my friends. I’m tired but it’s very fun during the time. If I don’t meet my friends after my part-time job, I ususlly listen to music in my room or watch TV, after I back home. I can relax the time. Before eat dinner, I usually do homework few hours. On Sunday, I usually eat dinner with my all family. Last Sunday, I was really busy. I went to shopping mall with my friend, during catch the train, we were talking. After we arrived there, we were shopping. Next weekend is going to go to be very exciting.On Saturday, I’m going to karaoke with my friends. We’ll may be there for a long time. After that, we’ll probably eat dinner. Next weekend is going to be busy, but going to be so fun.
Chisato Nakayama is a friend from elementary school, and she is also my best friend. She is very cute. She is 153cm tall. Her eyes are big and black, and her face is lean. Her hair is black and wavy. She wears long T-shirts and skirts everyday. She has great personality. She is a wise person, but she is also funny. She is a good student, and she gets good grades. She is polite and considerate. She has many hobbies. For example, she likes to watch TV or DVDs and listen to music, and also she likes going to pop concerts. Her favorite activity is shopping.
Chisato talks a lot of about her future. She is going to graduate after three more years. She wants to go work in Australia. I know that she will be successful because she always achieves what she decides to do. She will have a lot fun in the future, too.
Unit 3: Friendly Message
Dear Grandmother,
How are you? I am sleepy. It’s Sunday afternoon, and I am sitting in library. It is a wet summer day in Toyama city. I am sitting at a big square table near the entrance of the library. I am listening to music and thinking of you.
I had a very exciting morning. It was a really wet in this morning. I was going to the department store. There were many people there. A lot of them were coming with their families. Some young people were eating crapes. There was an event in the middle of the place. It was for an exhibision of new yukata designs. There were many beautiful and colorful yukatas. I was addicted to watching them. I wanted to get a new one, so I chose it. It was difficult to choose only one for me, but I tried to select one I liked. I decided one a red and printed flower one. I was very pleased. It was a very fun shopping experience.
I haven’t met you in a while. I hope you are well and happy. When will you come to my house in Toyama city for a visit? I want to meet and talk to you. Please write soon. I ‘m looking forward to meeting you somewhere.
Your granddaughter,
Shiori
Unit 5: Shiori’s First Job
Today was Shiori’s first day at her part-time job. She woke up early and stayed in bed a few minutes. She thought about the day, the drug store, and her boss Mrs. Yuki.
At 8:00, Shiori left her house. She and her friend went to the drug store. They were going to work there together, so she was relaxed but a little nervous. When they arrived there, Mrs. Yuki was waiting for them. She smiled, so Shiori and her friend relaxed. At 9:00, the job started. They were lectured about job responsibilities by their boss. They had to comprehend many things. Therefore, they worried if they could remember everything. Also, they learned how to use the cash registers. Shiori finished working at 5:00. She was so tired, but she could feel satisfied.
Shiori’s first day of work was great. She felt anxiousness because she didn’t know very much, but she was taught kindly by her boss, so she excited to work. In the end, it was fun, but it was difficult to wake up so early.
Unit 7: My life before and after playing volleyball
Playing volleyball has changed my life. I started to play volleyball when I was 10 years old. As I belonged to volleyball team firstly, I was feeling very nervous. Although I wasn’t interested in sports so much, my thought toward sports changed since I started it. After it, I love to play sports not only volleyball, but also other sports. There are some similarities between before playing volleyball and after playing it, but there are many more differences.
Before playing volleyball, I had only friends in same elementary school. My friends who learn something such as abacus, swiming or cram school after school had more friends than me not only same school, but also other school. I felt enviable it a little. My freetime often used to play with friends inside, for example, card or computer games and so on. But, I also used to play outside so much after school and weekends. I like to play with friends very much. I was nervous, therefore I wouldn’t like to learn volleyball firstly.
Since I play volleyball, My thought toward sports changed. Many parts of my life changed, but some stayed the same. At first, I was afraid of touching ball because it is painful. But, my volleyball skill developed day by day. It made me so happy. Also, Its volleyball team contains two elementary school students, therefore, I could made other school’s friends. I enjoyed to play with new friends on the day without exercises. We had to practice for game on the weekend, so there are exercises 4 times a week. It’s hard for me, however, I tried to do my best. As a result, my volleyball skill developed, and became team captain.
I was proud of myself since I started volleyball. It have changed my life in so many wonderful ways.
Unit 9: Hikaru Utada
Someone I’d to learn more about is Hikaru Utada. I knew her when I was 10 years old. She is a singer-songwriter, arranger and record producer in Japan. She also known by her fans as Hikki. She grew up in N.Y. therefore, her English is great.
Hikaru Utada was born on January 19, 1983 in New York City, U.S. to Japanese parents. Her father, Teruzane Utada, was a record producer while her mother, Junko Utada, was an enka singer, performing under the stage name “Keiko Fuji.” In 1993, She released the song “STAR with her father and mother in U.S. In December 1998, she released debut single “Automatic / time will tell” when she was 15 years old. This song sold over two million copies, and she bacame japanese top singer soon. In addition, she moved into Japan in this year with her family from United States. After that, she entered international school in Japan, so she has high level English skills. The success of Utada’s singles eventually lead the album ”First Love” to sell over 7 million units in Japan alone, becoming the highest selling album in Japanese History. In 2001, she released 2nd album “Distance”. It was highly anticipated among her fans, having the largest first-week sales for any album in Japanese music history, with over 3 million units sold. After Distance, Utada released a single that was dedicated to the female victim of a murder case in Ikeda, Osaka titled “Final Distance.” In April, 2002, it is diagnosed as an ovary tumor and takes an extraction operation. The art back rests for a while without physical condition being restored in a side effect of the medicine. In June, 2002, she released 3rd album, “DEEP RIVER”. It was sold 3.6million. On July 13, 2006, Toshiba EMI published a report stating that Ultra Blue had sold over one million copies worldwide and four million digital ringtones already making it one of EMI’s 10th best-selling album of the past year. On September 7, 2002 she married Kazuaki Kiriya, a photographer and film director who was fifteen years her senior and who had directed several of her music videos. After four and a half years of marriage, the couple announced their divorce, citing personal changes, different viewpoints on the future of their marriage, and lack of communication due to the nature of their jobs. The new English album, titled This is The One, has tentative release dates of March 4, 2009 in Japan and on March 24, 2009 in the United States.
I respect her because she succeed when she was young. She got over difficulty and always do my best. I want to be like her.
