野菜！大切にムダなく使いきり４１２品

野菜!大切にムダなく使いっきり412品―50円100円で健康パワーたっぷり!カラダ元気に! (.../著者不明

￥880
Amazon.co.jp

I'm really happy to find this book. It's a fabulous cooking book with 412 recipes!
It's very easy to look because all dishes are categorized by vegetables.
I love it! I have to bring this book to Canada.

5 stars:

外国語学習の科学

「外国語学習の科学」(Science in Foreign Language Learning)

外国語学習の科学―第二言語習得論とは何か (岩波新書)/白井 恭弘

￥735
Amazon.co.jp

I'm glad to find this book. This is a good textbook for me.
The book is like a Japanese version of Lightbown & Spada and Ortega's book. It covers major second/foreign language theories with understandable stories/anecdotes.
It is very easy to read even for beginners, as the author explains the background behind the theories. I love this book because it is intended to Japanese readers interested in TESOL so the content of the books is very much situated in the Japanese EFL context.

5 stars:

Understanding Second Language Acqusition

Understanding Second Language Acquisition (Unde.../Lourdes Ortega

￥2,780
Amazon.co.jp

This is an excellent textbook for Master students who study TESOL methodology, I think.
It's very thorough and covers almost all language acquisition and teaching/learning theories. In the book, teaching/learning language viewed from various perspectives: For example, from the standpoint ofsociollinguistics, linguistic environment/background, cognition, motivation/attitude, and sociocultural matters. Although the book provides a link between theories and practice, its focus is more on research, compared with the Lightbown & Spada's book "How Languages are Learned." I like the summaries at the end of each chapter, which nicely summarize the main points in the chapter -Very convenient!

5 stars:

How Languages are Learned

How Languages Are Learned (Oxford Handbooks for.../Patsy M. Lightbown

￥2,641
Amazon.co.jp


This is an introductory book for TESOL learners and practitioners. It is very readable and many of famous language acquisition and language learning/teaching theories with empirical study are explained in a simple manner. I think this book is quite useful for language teachers when they reflecting their teaching styles -there are a lot of hints for improving your teaching.

By the way, I first read this book when I was a undergrad. I could understand most of the parts of the book.But I understand this book better now after studied in Canada. This is because some parts of the book include the empirical study on French immersion; thus you have to know about Canada's language education,language status and language policy to fully understand the book.


5 stars:

Heritage Languages: Development and Denial of...

Heritage Languages: Development and Denial of C.../Jim Cummins

￥1,111
Amazon.co.jp

This is an excellent book to understand the development and denials of Canada's heritage language eduction. It mentions both policy and education perspectives and described each province's approach to promoting heritage language education.

The only weakness of this book is outdated...
I want to read the updated version of this book with the recent trends of Canada's heritage language education.


4 stars;

Sociocultural Theory and the Genesis of L2...

I read this book as a textbook in one of my Master's courses.
("Sociocultural Theory and Second Language Learning" -by Prof. Merrill Swain)

Sociocultural Theory And the Genesis of Second .../James P. Lantolf

￥3,131
Amazon.co.jp

It's a great book for beginners to understand the basics of socilcultural theories but very very philosophical... I read the same sentences over and over to crack the meanings. But it will become fun once I understand.

3 Stars:

Yostuba ＆！

One of the books that I'm really fond of is this:

Yotsuba &! (Yotsuba to)

Yotsuba & 01/Kiyohiko Azuma

￥723
Amazon.co.jp


What pulled me in is the simple but heartwarming story about the main character girl, Yotsuba.

Yotsuba is a five-year-old adopted girl (from a foreign country?) who is energetic, cheerful and curious about everything. She is also ignorant about many things a child her age would be expected to know. Despite of this, she sometimes speaks a word that is very adult-like and most children wouldn't know.

I recommend this book to Japanese learners (intermediate-advanced) as well. This is because lots of everyday conversational words along with its simple story and drawings will help them improve their Japanese faster, I think.

So far, nine volumes are published -and I have all of them I make it a rule to buy Yotsuba every time I come back to Japan. I love you, Yotuba

5 star:

Treating Mental Illness by diets

I'm reading this book

「心の病は食事で治す」
"Treating Mental Illness by diets"
-by Satoshi Ikuta

心の病は食事で治す (PHP新書)/生田 哲

￥735
Amazon.co.jp



I started reading this book for the sake of my group project, "A Path Ways to More Healthy Life Style."
It gives us an easy explanation of the cause of mental illnesses, necessary nutrition to cure those illnesses, and recommended supplements. -Even I, who don't have medical or science background, can understand the book with ease

This book is greatly helpful for me, who suffered from a type of mental illness and have been seeking for a naturalistic treatment as opposed to rely too much on medication.

It was great to read this book in the summer course. I become more health-conscious and aware of the importance of well-balanced diets.


It's a shame that they don't have an English version...


4 star: