I know many of you, my students, are interested in writing about your “favorite things”. In other words, you want to write about your interests. Well, I would like to show you a way you can do that better. Just follow these steps:

Step 1: Follow this simple four-part structure:

1. Introduction: Define your interest in a few sentences. What is it you are interested in?
2. Short history: If possible, give a short history of your interest.
3. How you became interested: Tell a brief story of when and how you became interested in this thing.
4. Current activity: What are you doing these days regarding your interest?

Step 2: Read this model and follow it:

Snowboarding

Snowboarding is a very popular winter sport. People who snowboard, called “snowboarders”, attach both feet to a single board and ride down the slopes at a ski area. There are two main types of snowboarding: freestyle, which focuses on jumping and doing tricks in the air, and freeriding, which is focused on finding and crusing on soft, powder snow.

According to the Wikipedia, snowboarding developed in the United States in the 1960s and ’70s out of surfing and skateboarding. Surfers and skateboarders wanted to do a similar activity on the snow, so the sport was born. It became an official Olympic sport in 1998.

I became interested in snowboarding in the late 1990s. I was introduced to the sport by my wife, who wanted me to join her in this exciting new sport. My first few times out were very stressful! I fell down a lot, and it took me a while before I learned how to turn, stop, and control my speed. Later on I found out that my first board was no good because it was too small for someone my size. This made my learning experience more difficult than it had to be. The following season I got a new board, and suddenly everything was much easier. I began to snowboard like crazy, often going to Ushidake, Hida Nagareha (in Gifu Prefecture), and Myoko Suginohara (in Niigata). I was hooked on freeriding- I LOVED the feeling of flying and floating on soft new snow.

These days I continue to snowboard each winter. Now my son is learning to ride. Last year my wife and I taught him how to snowboard at Ushidake. Here is a short video clip of that experience. My son had a hard time at first, but soon he was zooming down the slopes. He was six years old when this video was made, so let this be my message- snowboarding is VERY fun and quick to learn! Once you can turn, control your speed, and stop, that’s it! I hope you will give snowboarding a try.