The essays, activities, exercises and extension tasks in East Meets West: An American in Japan--A Cross-Cultural Reader of Personal Essays have been designed to challenge Japanese students to read for context without depending too heavily on a bilingual dictionary.

 

The MAIN ESSAY introduces the theme of each chapter with an interesting and thought provoking essay.

 

-Section 1: VOCABULARY BUILDING: DEFINITIONS AND EXAMPLES, culls the more unfamiliar vocabulary words and phrases from the main reading and delineates them with definitions and sample usages.

-Section 2: COMPREHENSION CHALLENGE: QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS, requires students to reread the main essay in order to correctly answer a series of Short Answer/True and False questions.

-Section 3: WORD WATCH: MEANING AND UNDERSTANDING, recycles key vocabulary words from Section 1, and introduces them in a Matching activity and Fill-in-the-Blank exercise.

-Section 4: DICTATIONS AND DIALOGUES: LISTENING AND SPEAKING, challenges students to listen and write down sentences taken from the Main Essay; and then to create and practice their own personal dialogues with a partner.

-Section 5: POWER PLAYS: OPTIONAL EXTENSION TASKS, further motivates students to think about the chapter's topic in fun and challenging activities.