Hello, We are writing to you from a public high school in New York City. We are two graduate students at Teachers College at Columbia University in New York City. Ted Nellen is a high school teacher at Murry Bergtraum High School for Business Careers: http://mbhs.bergtraum.k12.ny.us and Masami "Emi" Egawa is a full time student at TC http://www.cc.columbia.edu/~me79/ We are interested in establishing a link between your school and our school in NYC. Please explore our school home page: http://mbhs.bergtraum.k12.ny.us Pay particiular attention to Internet Projects, Students' Work, and the Computer Club. It is through these areas we wish to make our initial contact and let it blossom into a full time project for later semesters sponsored by MBHS teachers who visited Japan last summer as an exchange program. If this is of interest to you please respond as soon as possible. Intentions are fine just so we know we may have a match. We are sending this letter to a number of high schools. Sincerely, Ted and Emi
Date: Wed, 13 Dec 1995 20:43:03 -0500 (EST) From: Ted Nellen tnellen@mbhs.bergtraum.k12.ny.us To: Yamauchi Yutaka yamauchi@gakugei-hs.setagaya.tokyo.jp Cc: Masami Egawa me79@columbia.edu Subject: Re: Successful in accessing to your homepage On Wed, 13 Dec 1995, Yamauchi Yutaka wrote: Hello Yutaka, There is so much I need to learn about your culture. Please excuse my ignorance if I offend with incorrect use of name or other faux pas. This will be a learning experience for both students and teacher. Thank you for responding so quickly. >Hello Ted, > Thank you for your message. > I tried to access to your homepage and this time it was successful. Great. We have a 34 computer classroom. It is networked and connected to the Internet through a Linux box. Currently we have a 28.8 but plan to add an ISDN line. We use Netscape 1.22 and plan to upgrade to gold wwhen it becomes available. The kids use Pine mail. Again with the next version of Netscape we plan to use Netscape exclusively. I have two English classes of 34 studetns each and a computer club of over 40 kids. We also have a social studies class and a deaf and hard of hearing class using the Internet. More classes are planned. What is your setup. You can see our room 439 if you go to Computer Rooms on our home page. > I think your homepage is one of the most sophisticated and >well-organaized homepages I have ever seen. We want to make the same type >of section in our homepage as your students section. We are now construct- >ing English homepage. After we finish it, we can connect ours with yours >just as you did with Tsukuba Fuzoku High School. Thank you. > I would like to begin our correspondence among our students and us. >Unfortunately this week is the examination season and our students do not >have chances to access to the Internet. But in the very near fututre I let >my students do that. When your students return tp the INternet have them look for a student with whom they would like to correspond by examining my student's work in the Students'Work section of the home page. Let's let them make the decision and then we can develop a cooperative project after initial contacts have been made. How does this sound? Tell your students that we wish them luck on their exams. Our students will be taking their exams at the end of January. Feb 1 will be the first day of our new semester, so whatever project we wish to undertake can begin seriously then. How does this sound to you? > I'm really glad to talk with TC students in NY like this. Since we have >the same background as TC students, our major is a little different though, >our project will be successful. It will be successful. > Yutaka (my given name) > YAMAUCHI Yutaka (Tokyo Gakugei University High School) > E-mail: yamauchi@gakugei-hs.setagaya.tokyo.jp > Voice: +81-3-3421-5151 Fax: +81-3-3421-5152 > Address: 4-1-5, Shimouma, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, 154, JAPAN
Date: Thu, 14 Dec 95 09:41:43 JST From: Tom Nagata nagata@hikarigaoka.okazaki.aichi.jp To: tnellen@mbhs.bergtraum.k12.ny.us Subject: Hello from Japan! Dear Ted, Greetings from Japan! I'm Tom Nagata, a teacher at Hikarigaoka Girls' High School. I teach English and computer here. I usually have a little over 70 students in 7 different classes who learn computer and key boarding. Thank you for your letter dated December 6th which arrived on 7th of December here in Japan. I wonder if the date line made this difference or not. I know e-mails usually take approximately a minute, sometimes even faster. The reason why I didn't write to you sooner is because you sent us your letter to our old mail box which we do not use now. I was thinking of deleting the box, but I was careful enough to re-examine all the letters in it. And I found your letter. My deep apology goes to you from the bottom of my heart. Our new e-mail address is: ------------------------------------- E-mail: nagata@hikarigaoka.okazaki.aichi.jp ------------------------------------- Please use this address next time you send us letters. Thank you. We thank you very much for your offer. We have been looking for a class or an individual who will help us regularly. We have a few schools helping us in the US., Germany, Canada, Portugal, Israel, the UK., and Sweden. Except for the US., most of the countries have difficulty in taking part in the e-mail, money-wise or machine-wise. In some countries it seems that they put heavy charge on those who use e-mails. In other countries, machines or the softwears are not really precisely formatted the way ours are done. Still in other coutries, perhaps because of the warfare, they fail to contact us for weeks. On behalf of my students, I am much obliged to your offer. Thank you again. I would like you to write me again and tell me what sort of things you have in your mind. Most of my third year student (year 12) are graduating from the school. However, my second year (year 11) are willing to exchange mails through computer. My classes will be ready by 15th of Jan. I'm looking forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience. Till then, take good care of yourself and may God bless you with His love! Warmest regards, Name: Tom Nagata E-mail: nagata@hikarigaoka.okazaki.aichi.jp Date: 12/14/95 Time: 10:02:05
Date: Thu, 14 Dec 1995 00:38:39 -0500 (EST) From: Ted Nellen tnellen@mbhs.bergtraum.k12.ny.us To: Tom Nagata nagata@hikarigaoka.okazaki.aichi.jp Cc: Masami Egawa me79@columbia.edu Subject: Re: Hello from Japan! Hello Tom, No apologies necessaary. It is fortunate that you did take care in deleting those letters to find mine. I am working on this project with a fellow Teachers College classmate. Her name is Masami "Emi" Egawa. > We thank you very much for your offer. We have been looking > for a class or an individual who will help us regularly. We have a > few schools helping us in the US., Germany, Canada, Portugal, > Israel, the UK., and Sweden. This sounds great. If you look at our home page at the Internet Projects, you'll see we have a link with a Swedish school. Perhaps we can create a three school project? > On behalf of my students, I am much obliged to your offer. Thank > you again. I would like you to write me again and tell me what > sort of things you have in your mind. I suggest that your students begin by examining our kids home pages, which you'll find in the Students' Work section of our home page. They can read some of the kid's work a select some to one to write to. Do your kids have home pages? Certainly a project should entail the joint construction of web pages. I'm also trying to establish a MOO. How do these ideas sound to you? > Most of my third year student (year 12) are graduating from the > school. However, my second year (year 11) are willing to exchange > mails through computer. My classes will be ready by 15th of Jan. This is good. Our students, 11th graders, will be starting the second semester Feb 1. We can begin something at the end of January until June 25 for us. How about you? Cheers, Ted & Emi 8-)
Date: Thu, 14 Dec 1995 20:19:37 -0500 (EST) From: Ted Nellen tnellen@mbhs.bergtraum.k12.ny.us To: Yamauchi Yutaka yamauchi@gakugei-hs.setagaya.tokyo.jp Cc: Masami Egawa me79@columbia.edu Subject: Re: Questions about your schedule Hello Yutaka, > Dear Ted, > I will try to let my students access to your pagepage today or early >next week. Could you tell me when your school come into Xmas holidays and >when it begins next year? Are your students able to access to your homepage >even from their houses? This sounds great. We start our holiday on the 22nd and resume the 3rd. Some kids have access from home, but not very many. How about your students? > In our case, our winter holidays begin on 23rd and the third term >starts on 8th next year. Our students have not got their own e-mail >addresses but in the very near future they will be given. It is not so >tough because we have our own server, Sun Micro Workstation in our school. We, too have our own server. Perhaps a project we can consider would be a collaborative project which involves the creation of web pages. Students could work in groups and create pages in a distant learning style. How does this sound? I am an English teacher and if you view the Log in the Cyber English section of Internet Projects you will see what I plan. In addition the booklist has Interent related books from which students chosose for reading. What do you teach? Is a syllabus on line for viewing? This is great I think we are off to great start. Cheers, Ted & Emi 8-)
From JCH00531@niftyserve.or.jpMon Dec 18 00:27:48 1995
Date: Sat, 09 Dec 1995 10:40:00 +0900
From: =?ISO-2022-JP?B?GyRCSiFFRCEhPz8/TRsoQg==?=
JCH00531@niftyserve.or.jp
To: tnellen@mbhs.bergtraum.k12.ny.us
Subject: RE:kon'nichiwa
Kon'nichiwa, Ted-san:
I am so glad to hear from you again and am pleased that you remember me.
>Makoto,
>I do not know if you remember me or not. I am writing from a NYC public
>high school. We are interested in working with a Japanese high school.
>Can you help us?
What can I and the students help you with this school work? Unfortunately,
currently I don't have the IP connection with the Internet so I cannot
see your school work. Could you send me some sort of information about it?
>We are interested in making contacts now in preparation for working in
>February 1, 1996.
Are you going to conclude the school work by Feb. 1, 1996?
I hope to hear from you soon about these questions.
"Ja mata" (means "see you" in Japanese)
Makoto Fukuda
Taragi Senior High School
1212, Taragi, Taragi-machi
Kuma-gun, Kumamoto, 868-05>br>
Japan
P.S. Can I have your school snail mail address just in case that I might
need it?
I have some colleague teachers of the Eglish language who are interested
in e-mail or the Internet in use for the language classes of them.
Date: Wed, 13 Dec 1995 23:11:00 +0900
From: =?ISO-2022-JP?B?GyRCSiFFRCEhPz8/TRsoQg==?=
{JCH00531@niftyserve.or.jp>
To: tnellen@mbhs.bergtraum.k12.ny.us
Subject: Thank you for reply
Kon'nichiwa, Ted-san,
Ogenki desu ka? (Are you fine?)
I see. Our students must be interested in correspondence with your students
but our students don't have email accounts and each doesn't have a home page.
But I can be an email carrier for them istead that they write to you, anyway.
> The project would start now and go until June 25, 1996.
I am so glad that the project will last longer than I expected. But our
school will end at the end of march and April is going to be the first
month of school year in Japan. Just in case you might not know this.
> This is exactly what we are looking for. I'm an English teacher and the
> other teachers who would be involved are language teachers.
I am so happy to hear that. What kind of foreign language classes does
your school have? Is there any Japanese language instruction at your
school?
> Will you have Internet connection soon?
I have already had some accounts out of the Internet Providers in Japan.
But I didn't set up to access as an IP access right now. Soon I will have
it.
> Do the kids have access?
No, they don't have for themselves. But I can be a medium to send and
receive messages between students in the both countries.
Have a good holiday season!!
Ja mata.
Makoto Fukuda
ESL teacher
Taragi Senior High School, Kumamoto, Japan