Attention, English teachers in Japan! Are your young students suddenly disrupting your classes by doing something that looks like this? [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpr6vTGfbqo&rel=1] If so, blame this man: His name is Kojima Yoshio and, apparently, he’s a “comedian”. His shtick involves appearing in public clad only in a Speedo bathing suit. His act […]
The Acquisition of Language
Time Machines
Some pretty pictures from yesterday’s visit to The Open Air Museum of Old Japanese Farm Houses in Osaka …. On the way in – Paradise of Kids! All the world’s a stage …. A lovely afternoon of solitary wandering amid the pretty leaves … I’m one of those people who feels slightly bummed when summer […]
Things No Teacher Should Ever Have to Say
1. “I saw one of my students’ penises- AGAIN.” 2. “Today, a student ran up to me, grabbed my breast and shouted, “chichi*!”; adding “kirei**!” with a grin.” *titty! **beautiful! And yet … Needless to say, I refer to my 6 year olds, who delight in yanking down their underwear and now, apparently, complimenting my […]
Like Taking Candy from a Japanese Kid
After I returned from Thailand, “Halloween” was the buzzword at school. The spider gel gems are up on the windows, the pumpkins are out, and after each class, the staff members remind the kids and students that Halloween is coming soon and they should wear a costume to class! “Ehhhhhhhh????” grouse the students. Halloween exists […]
What’s Grosser than Gross?
The other day, a student told me that he feeds his 9-month old baby gruel. Had I not lived in Japan for 9 months and already come to realize that the Japanese use the oh-so-Dickensian term “gruel” to signify rice porridge – a popular breakfast food here – I might have been taken aback. Nope, […]
Sockfoot
Today, while I was setting up for class, two of my 7 year-old students stole my red shoes out of the kutsu bako, leaving me sockfooted and stranded in the carpeted classroom when it was time to go into the school’s lobby to shepherd my straggling little rapscallions into class. It was Miho who finally […]
The Tales of Genki
Despite the fact that Japan is the birthplace of the Samurai and the Yakuza – not to mention the perpetrators of the Showa period war crimes – many Americans view the Japanese as a peaceful people; hard to rattle, fiercely disciplined, respectful to a fault, beautifully friendly and above all, unfailingly polite. It’s not an […]
The Drawing on the Glass
On Saturdays, in Utajo, I teach two classes of kids. First come the 3 year olds, who are fresh and chubby – dripping snot as they play with alphabet blocks, wriggling in their parents’ laps and howling what they think are the words to the songs we sing. Next, there are the 7 year olds, […]
Hooked on J-Pops Worked for Me!
In 1976, my parents emigrated to the United States. In as much time as it took them to get through customs, they realized that their quickie Berlitz course (taught by Brits) had done little to prepare them for the realities of the American English-speaking world. My mother still tells the story of the day a […]
In Which the Bleeding, Liberal Heart Does Not Go On
Once the norm, corporal punishment is still a debated topic in today’s Japan even decades after it was outlawed. I, myself, as an American who grew up in the 80s and 90s, am terrified to even raise my voice to a child in the classroom. Imagine my shock this past week to discover not one […]