6. Presentation on July 18th

1. Each presenter talked about their own topic.

2. Presenters
(1) Mako
Mako talked about her reading. According to her, she was not good at reading because she was guessing the meaning of word unknown to her and this made it slower for her to read. However, when she was a second-grade pupil, during the summer holidays, she read one book again and again, and as a result, her reading problems were solved, and this made her find enjoyment in reading. When she was a high school student, she belonged to a brass band, so she didn't have enough time to read books. And then she decided to read editorials of some newspapers for her university entrance examination. 
Now, she adopts some useful ways of reading like this. Firstly, after reading a book, she picks up some points about the book and reread it answering her questions. Secondly, she compares its story with other books or movies. She finds several advantages in these steps, and she is thinking of making use of the skills that she has been developing through her reading. 

When I asked her a question "Do you read any newspapers now?", she answered that she reads some articles on the Internet, and she has decided to read newspapers in Chinese during the coming summer holidays. This is really amazing. I also read some article on LINE application, but she makes full use of the opportunities to read something. So, I was inspired by her presentation. Like her, I will try something after the final exams.

(2) Kenya 

He talked about one-sided love.

He met a girl May in Cebu, spent his enjoyable time with her and loved her, but she demanded money from him, so in the end, his love for her ended. According to him, 60 percent of teenagers in 2017 like someone and 67 percent of them don’t have a girlfriend or boyfriend, which is a one-sided love. He seemed to have come up with 5 methods to get a girlfriend.

1.     Always smile

2.     Send messages opportunely

3.     Send messages frequently

4.     Praise your girlfriend casually

5.     Appeal yourself

Also, he told us some features found in men who don't have a girlfriend. And then, lastly, he introduced a movie which features one-sided love. 

I'm sorry to hear that he was not able to get a girlfriend in Cebu, but he started his presentation by telling us his own experience, so this drew attention to himself. I agree with some of his ideas, but always smiling is not always a good way to attract a person because I think smiling naturally is the best one. Just my two cents. 

(3) Rie 

She talked about a split family (Unit 20).

The summary of the Unit: A high-school student Kenny lives with his dad for one month and then with his mother for a month because they got a divorce last year. Because of it, Kenny is too confused to feel like studying, and his grades have gone down. He wants them to live together again. 

She introduced a movie that can be about a split family. And then, she told us some precautions against divorce. Firstly, a couple has to live for several years before they get married. Secondly, they have to cherish each other's self-esteem to cement relationships. Divorce is not always bad, but if a married couple has a child, they have to make a decision carefully and be responsible for it. 

As Rie told us, if a married couple has a child, either the husband or wife or both have to take good care of him their child not to make a child lonely. Some divorce cases are inevitable because either a husband or wife has a serious problem or there is domestic violence, so divorce is not always wrong, but first of all, prioritizing a child is necessary. 

(5) Nanako

 She talked about the problem of unborn babies, abortion. According to her, compared to Japan, abortion in China and Russia is more common because it is permitted there. In Japan, abortion is not regarded as a good decision because people feel worried about it. Also, especially teenagers do not try to take the contraceptive pill. This is a serious problem. 

She thinks deepening the knowledge about abortion is important.

 I think adopting abortion is virtually equal to killing a baby, so I don't think it is the best means, but contraception of both men and women is the most important thing, and taking the contraceptive pill is also important if they don't want a baby then. We have to respect for human rights of unborn babies. 

Let me give a supplementary explanation about abortion. For most Christians, abortion is a virtual murder. Besides, most religions regard abortion bad. Surprisingly in America, 11 states have the law that severely prohibits women from abortion, which I think deprive women of their rights. 

(6) Yoshika  

She talked about wordplay. She started the presentation by asking us the question, “What ant is the largest?”. The answer is “Giant”. She went on telling us wordplay like this. “Which is strong Thursday or Sunday? The answer is Sunday because Thursday is a “weekday”(weak day). A bicycle can’t stand on its own because it is “two-tired” (too tired). 

She thinks the benefit of wordplay is not only an icebreaker but also good for people to express they want to tell. Machines, Google Translation or Artificial Intelligence cannot always understand jokes or wordplay. Only human beings can understand them and jokes and wordplay are useful to have a lively conversation. 

I love "Eggcelent" (Excellent) that she mentioned. As Yoshika told us, wordplay can be useful to express what people want to tell and their personality. Wordplay is one of the communication tools enjoyed only by humans. She mentioned some ENGLISH-style wordplays, so they were new to me and very entertaining.

3. My presentation

I talked about the rights of immigrants. Firstly, I agree with the idea that immigrants without citizenship should have the same rights as citizens. Of course, if immigrants without citizenship were permitted to have the same rights as citizens in Japan, Japan would probably be overcrowded with people. However, even if that is the case, I think the same rights of immigrants without citizenship should be granted through completing formal procedures and learning Japanese. Japan has a lot of social problems like aging population and decline in birthrate, and some countries like Japan face a shortage of workers, so better conditions of living and working in Japan would attract people outside and this can make the economy go well and be benefits for each other. 
Secondly, I told the audience what immigrants without citizenship should have the right to do. I think they should have the right to go to vote in the election because fewer and fewer people over 18 go to vote, and people's ideas are not reflected on the government, so I strongly think a variety of ideas should be reflected.
Now, the population in Japan is about 124,000,000, but according to an estimate made by the Japanese government, in 2050, the population would be about 95,000,000, so the lack of labor would be a more serious problem in the future. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe never says Japan is an immigrant country, but as some people say Japan is already such a country, and I bet it will be. 

Giving a presentation about the topic, “The rights of immigrants” was difficult because they are different in each country and I was worried whether I could say only about Japan. And I thought without materials, it would be difficult for the audience to understand my presentation, so I prepared some and spent a lot of time researching immigrants, but I didn’t memorize the script or practice showing the materials, so I had much difficulty in it. I noticed a lot of points for improvement even in the last presentation for this cemester.