Today’s lesson for 11 year-olds was spelling. Spell cat. Spell dog. Spell hippopotamus. Spell platypus. Spell your name. Spell Shunsuke’s name. Spell Keiko’s name. Spell my name. A ha!!! I turned to my desk to pick up a sheaf of papers and when I turned back, I saw this on the whiteboard: Shunsuke is hamusuta. […]
The Acquisition of Language
Hawt Dawgs for Tawts
This is what my children’s classes would be like – in an ideal world. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leQIbx8BKqk&hl=en] But I can’t jump that high. And the dazed, tiny toddlers barely realize they’re alive, let alone how much fun it would be to follow my lead. And I’ll probably never be Japanese. I do think, however, that I pulled […]
Type “A” is for ….
Adult students at our school have profiles attached to their text books, listing their level of language ability as well as some personal facts including age, full name, occupation and city of residence. At the end of each class, each teacher must write a few encouraging remarks in this space, as well as something helpful. […]
Round Two
The new school year has begun, and my two strongest impulses of the week were to, first, kidnap my extremely tiny, waddling 2 year olds to keep as pets and, secondly, to string the sock monkey puppet up by his neck with a sign attached to his chest reading: “Goodbye, cruel world.” There are brand […]
Hmph
To the men in the train station who come to me and, even though I’m wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase (i.e., obviously not a clueless tourist), ask if I need help working the self-explanatory ticket machine … where the heck are you when I need help getting my ADSL switched from one address […]
If I May …
… for a moment be a tad less cynical: from Reisuke, Kazuyuki and Ren. Adorable Reisuke was my most zealous 4-year old depantser, the one who so uncannily reminded me of my brother at that age that I often had to keep myself from patting his bowl-cut. As the year has gone on he […]
Like Ships Passing Through the Night
It’s the last week of classes for this school year, which means we are in the midst of a company-wide schedule shuffle. In many cases, this means we will no longer be teaching at certain schools, which, in turn, means that farewells are in order for both staff and students. Teaching three days a week […]
Changes
The train doors always open to intense blasts of yaki nikku-perfumed air in Kankokumura Station; the rich, spicy aroma of charred Korean barbecue that used to delight and taunt me as I rode my bike through Kankokumura on the way to work is now the delicious smell of home. If my pocketbook is on the […]
Not Much to Brag About?
At last, my JLPT results: And a word about the 4-kyuu – not on behalf of those who passed it, like myself, but on behalf of those who didn’t, as I’m sure that there must have been some who did not. Though it is the lowest level of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test, the 4-kyuu […]
Chow Chow
“It is my meaning,” announced Bogey this morning, “to turn your Japanese speaking into true Kansai-ben!” Bogey is my highest level student. We have had classes together for months but only recently has he caught on that I am studying Japanese with some success. My lust to learn creates a whiff around me and I […]