Introduction

Welcome. This site provides information about the various English classes offered in our department, and also has a range of very useful links. These links can help you improve your English outside of class, and they're all free! I hope you enjoy the site.

Best wishes, Mike Handford / [send Mike an e-mail]

Dept. of Civil Engineering, University of Tokyo

Regular English Classes

• Undergraduates' "International Communication I"
• Friday 8:30-10:00
• Lecture room #13, bldg.1
• Masters' (Postgraduates')
• various
• Room 236
• Internship students'
• seasonal
• Room 236
• Conversation Lounge
• Friday 14:00-16:00
• Room 236

Class Information

(underconstruction)

Basic English Class

Class for civil engineering students who are worried about their basic English ability. We will practise pronunciation and basic conversation.

Links::Reference

Cambridge Advanced Learners' Dictionary

Free and easy to use. UK and US English.

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/

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Merriam-Webster Dictionary

US English dictionary

http://www.m-w.com/netdict.htm

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Google Scholar

Specifically for academic searches: papers, books, abstracts etc.

http://scholar.google.com/

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Columbia Guide to Online Style

For referencing electronic sources.

http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cup/cgos/basic.html

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Harvard Citation Style Guidelines

For Harvard referencing.

http://www.lib.monash.edu.au/tutorials/citing/harvard.html

Professor's Profile

Michael Handford

Hi, I'm Mike and this is my third year at Todai. Before that I was teaching and lecturing on English at the University of Nottingham in England, where I am from. I chose to be an English teacher because I love language, and I like working with people. I really enjoy working here because the students are wonderful: we have a good international mix, and I don't have to motivate them very much because they are so motivated anyway. Seeing my students become independent language users is really satisfying. When they don't need me anymore I think I've done a good job!
As for my teaching philosophy, I think the concept of English as an international language is key to what we do in class: rather than attempting to be like idealised native speakers of English, the goal is to express our own selves, to understand what others mean, and to get them to understand us. As such, we look at negotiating meaning, meaning in context and developing in particular strategic, discourse and sociocultural competence. We measure success in class by effective co-construction of meaning. Everything else is secondary to that. If you don't understand any of this, then join my classes and find out! It's really quite simple.
I graduated from the LSE in 1993, where I studied Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method. After teaching in Japan for six years I returned to the UK to do an MA in English Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics at the University of Nottingham, which really inspired me, and opened my mind to language and teaching. I recently completed my PhD in Linguistics, also at the University of Nottingham. I analysed the language in business meetings, so if you have any questions about business English, please come in for a chat.

Undergraduates Class

Class Information

The main class for undergraduates is the International Communication class, which is on Monday morning at the lovely time of 8.30 a.m. This class runs for an hour and a half. Even though it is a big class, you will get lot of opportunities to speak in English becuase we do lots of small-group work and look at different topics. We also practice giving and responding to presentations.

These are some comments from last year's students:

Before this class I was feeling embarrassment when I was talking in English especially with Japanese students. But now, I don't hesitiate to use my poor English.

I feel my English competence has improved because there were many chances to speak English in the class

I guess this class was the most meaningful of all classes I took in this semester.

Masters' classess

Class information

Most of the classes I offer are for postgraduate students. In general, you will students three times a week, with each class lasting for one hour. Classes usually take place in the morning.

In class we practice mainly speaking and listening. You will get lots of opportunities to improve your presentation skills, discussion skills, and overall communicative ability. This is a comment from one student who took this class last year:

You always taught us not only English but also every aspect ofcommunication. Your
class were always exciting and fresh for me, who is good at TOEIC but not good at actual international
communication.

All levels are welcome. Think about it: a small investment of your time for a great future!!