Monthly Archive for May, 2007

A New Perspective on Japanese Working Conditions

Published on May 29, 2007 in Culture and Education. 3 Comments

UPDATE: The article I linked to for this post is no longer working. I do apologize for that. I’m not sure if I can find a mirror to it.

I read an article in a business magazine a number of years ago about how a typical day at a Japanese office goes. From that point on I have been quite reactionary towards many of the customs I see at Japanese companies. It might have been the long working hours (60-80 hours), or the large number of people who never take their paid holidays that got to me the most. For me, a healthy balance between work time and home time was the key to a healthy mind and body. I could never figure out exactly why the Japanese would choose to submit themselves to such terrible working conditions.

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Grammer, Grammer, Grammer

Published on May 27, 2007 in Education and ESL. 1 Comment

Today was a rather amusing day for me. I was teaching a group of first grade junior high school students who had just taken their first really strict vocabulary test. They had to be mindful of capital letters and periods. They had practiced this already, but I was shocked to see just how many of them were missing periods and capital letters.

After they got their tests back, there was quite a bit of grumbling. The person I co-teach with in this class explained that English had some rather strict rules that needed to be followed, and this was the only way they would learn. I agree witht his sentiment. One student couldn’t believe it, and vocalized his anger. He uttered out what I thought to be the equivalent of “This is Madness!” to the teacher. I immediately tuned in, and could hold myself back. I just let it slip out:

“This is ENGLISHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!”

The class went silent. I went silent. I doubt they had any idea of what I was talking about, but I hope I didn’t freak em out too much.

Awesome Japanese Elementary School Secrets

Published on May 17, 2007 in Culture and Education. 1 Comment

Here are three things I bet you didn’t know about Japanese elementary schools.

1. In elementary school you can learn to ride a unicycle. I think I mentioned this before on the blog, but it blows me away every time. Usually, the girls learn to ride them. I assume it is to teach them balance, but I really have no idea why most elementary schools have them. Still, it’s pretty awesome.

2. Stilts. Yes, many(but not all) of the schools I’ve visited have stilts. Once again, I assume this is for teaching balance, but you’d think there would be better way to learn it. Did we ever have stilts in Canadian elementary schools?

3. Human Pyramid Making. I just learned about his yesterday, but it appears the students participate in human stacking projects. They do towers three students high, so they can be rather dangerous, but we aren’t talking “Cirque de Soleil” here. After thirty minutes practices, many of the students complain of sore backs and knees. Gee, I wonder why. The only time I’ve ever seen this in Canada was during cheerleading events.

There you have it. More bizzare and awesome things coming from Japan.

For the Love of English Language Education

Published on May 8, 2007 in Education and ESL. 0 Comments

First of all, I would like to apologize for the two week absence. Last week was Golden Week and I was traveling all over the place. I also had writer’s block. Now you know. And knowing is half the battle.

Today I came across an interesting idea that might make English Education even more awesome for those desperately trying to learn it. I’m looking for a few good definitions for the following words. This way, no matter how a student mispronounces a word, it will always mean something else. Here is the list:

Hanb – Why is there no meaning for this word?

Cip – Perhaps a new kind of fish?

Flox – Not a real word.

Fush – Like flush without the l.

Sot – I like the sound of this. Now it needs meaning!

There you have it. Now you have until May 26th to get me a winning definition. If you win I’ll invent a word for you.