It’s that time of year again. It’s the time that teachers both fear and look forward to depending on how they feel about their current school and co-workers. At this time of year, Japanese teachers will find out what schools they will be teaching at next term. About half of the teachers at any given school will stay and the other half will be transferred.
I don’t know how to explain this one. If I wasn’t there filming it, I wouldn’t believe it was real. Alex, Misako, Fumiyo and I were at the bowling ally in Nakatsu. Before bowling we decided to try some of the arcade games. One game involves you kicking a punching bag as hard as you can. The game will then display your score. We were having a good time with that and decided to film it with a digital camera. Misako’s turn came and I captured an incredible aerial trick. As amazed as we were by what happened we were not nearly as shocked as my students who were bowling at the time and just saw this shoe come from nowhere. It’s now about four months later, but they are still talking about it. They say “Shoe! Slam dunk!”
I was so excited about the potential of the English Training Game for the Nintendo DS. This title has been in the top 10 best selling games list every week since its release. This made me very happy, kids and adults were studying without being forced and appeared to be enjoying it. But as you can see from the above screen it’s not perfect. During the training sessions, after the warm-up, the words “Let’s Training!” flash on the screen to let you know that the main game is about to begin. Keep in mind that these words are not being specifically taught to the player, they are just on a menu screen, but in a software package aimed at teaching proper English it is very disappointing to see. People trust that what is found in these games is correct grammar and many will take it as read that this is correct. This “let’s” thing is very common “Japanese-English†and I always have to remind my students to not say, “Let’s English study†or “Let’s reading a book.†If you translate these phrases directly, it makes sense in the Japanese grammar system but sounds bizarre in English. I can’t believe “Let’s Training!” Made it through quality control. It’s sad to see that people are being misled, but I suppose it’s good for my job security as an English teacher. I won’t be replaced by a video game anytime soon.
Japan, for me has always been a land of surprises, but one of the most surprising things I have found here is a land that looks anything but Japanese. I am talking about the Dutch theme park known as Huis Ten Bosch. Huis Ten Bosch is what Europe would look like if it were all in one city, cleaner and populated by the Japanese. The fact that this place even exists is amazing enough, but let’s explore it a bit, shall we?
My birthday was on the third and when I went to my Eikaiwa class I saw some of my students giggling behind the chalkboard. I asked them what they were doing and they said “just a moment”. After what turned out to be several moments they turned the board around and revealed the above drawing. I was so touched that I didn’t even notice at first that they had written “March 3th”. First I thanked them for their drawing but I knew there was a lesson to be taught so I explained that it should be “3rd” rather than “3th”. They asked my why it wasn’t 3th and I had to agree with them that it would make a lot more sense if it did follow that pattern. I just told them that if that were always the rule, then “second” would be “tooth”, and I pointed at my teeth. Yes, it was a lame joke, but perhaps that will help them to remember it.