After that somewhat sentimental post figured I should keep things light hearted. So hear are some of the one liners students have threwn my way. Engrish 101 - many more to come:
Middle aged woman looks me square in the eyes during a role play and says "Let me do you"
- translation - "Let me do it"
Business man and I doing an airplane role play and he says "Can you drink me"
- Translation - "Can you get me a drink"
Pretty young lady telling me about her hobby, some sport she started in high school and she keeps mentioning her "physical teacher"
- If I had the ability to blush that would have been my moment. (ps. Translation - "physical education teacher")
Ah the life of a teacher...
Tuesday, 27 January 2009
Random ramblings of a "teacher"
I'm the first to admit, I'm not a teacher by nature. I'm not really built for it or my mind doesn't work in that way or some other perfectly logic explanation.
Luckily I don't really teach English. Instead I teach one on one English conversation. Now for a guy who likes to chat to people (in general) that's a fairly attractive compromise. My client base is pretty diverse, well as diverse as you really can be in Japan, but it's safe to say I've got a rather colourful collection of clients.
There's the middle aged women who seem to want to just stare at me and listen to me say, well just about anything. Now I'm not going to lie that freaks me out a bit - it's kind of like the chick in high school who you were just never into but always seemed to be around...always. That said there are the occasional entertaining characters who want to learn English so they can watch Desperate Housewives with no subtitles or to go shopping on Fifth Ave with no problems. At first I viewed these as, um, interesting goals but as time goes on you begin to appreciate the level of dedication everyone is putting to get to there personal finishing point.
Then there's the business men and women, university students and professors. They like to talk about things that I can pretend to know about like financial terms and economics (note I said pretend). They are generally quite fun to teach, have very specific needs and tangible goals. Always looking for new ways to express themselves. It's great when you teach someone a phrase or a word and just watch their eyes light up - almost like they're thinking that's exactly what I wanted to say.
Next there's the prospective MBA students. They really make my day. Doing mock interviews with someone, looking over CVs and applications, having debates about serious or hypothetical topics it's all fun. But the real prize is when someone makes it through to the next round and gets one step to achieving their dream. You really feel like you are part of it all, the joy is both theirs and yours - it's something truly special.
I recently taught a client who had muscular dystrophy. It was a shock at first, mainly because I didn't click for about the first minute and just thought he was taking the piss. Then I couldn't really hear what he was saying for a few minutes which made me somewhat nervous because I didn't think I'd be able to correct anything he was saying which is pretty much the point when you're an English conversation instructor. I found myself literally sitting there wishing away the minutes till the end of the lesson, half feeling bad, half feeling helpless. Then it all became clear, I suddenly could hear everything. Every syllable of every word was once suddenly audible. Now if you're reading this and thinking he miraculously got cured, this is not one of those type of stories. It was more of just getting my ear into the groove of his speech patterns (I think). Anyhow I digress. This lesson was particularly amazing because he turned out to be by far the most interesting client I've ever spoken to. Everything from potential improvements in the model of Western aid to the developing world to failures in the transfer of political power in Africa - he had a profound viewpoint on it all. I found myself speechless, again, just taking in all he was saying to me.
Now the moral of the story (figured I'd give you a moral seeing as there were no miracles) is the effect living here has had on the way I perceive people in general. Speaking to people every day and hearing what's on their minds and how they see the world starts to make you look at things differently. Watching people give up large portions of their very limited free time in pursuit of their dream, regardless of how trivial you may think it is, teaches you something about determination.
So many experiences had and lessons learned. Some tangible, some irritating, some awesome, some cubersome - all worth every moment. So to all the Nihon-jin (Japanese people) who pay me to teach them, I owe you so much more.
Domo arigato gozaimasu (どもありがとございます)
Luckily I don't really teach English. Instead I teach one on one English conversation. Now for a guy who likes to chat to people (in general) that's a fairly attractive compromise. My client base is pretty diverse, well as diverse as you really can be in Japan, but it's safe to say I've got a rather colourful collection of clients.
There's the middle aged women who seem to want to just stare at me and listen to me say, well just about anything. Now I'm not going to lie that freaks me out a bit - it's kind of like the chick in high school who you were just never into but always seemed to be around...always. That said there are the occasional entertaining characters who want to learn English so they can watch Desperate Housewives with no subtitles or to go shopping on Fifth Ave with no problems. At first I viewed these as, um, interesting goals but as time goes on you begin to appreciate the level of dedication everyone is putting to get to there personal finishing point.
Then there's the business men and women, university students and professors. They like to talk about things that I can pretend to know about like financial terms and economics (note I said pretend). They are generally quite fun to teach, have very specific needs and tangible goals. Always looking for new ways to express themselves. It's great when you teach someone a phrase or a word and just watch their eyes light up - almost like they're thinking that's exactly what I wanted to say.
Next there's the prospective MBA students. They really make my day. Doing mock interviews with someone, looking over CVs and applications, having debates about serious or hypothetical topics it's all fun. But the real prize is when someone makes it through to the next round and gets one step to achieving their dream. You really feel like you are part of it all, the joy is both theirs and yours - it's something truly special.
I recently taught a client who had muscular dystrophy. It was a shock at first, mainly because I didn't click for about the first minute and just thought he was taking the piss. Then I couldn't really hear what he was saying for a few minutes which made me somewhat nervous because I didn't think I'd be able to correct anything he was saying which is pretty much the point when you're an English conversation instructor. I found myself literally sitting there wishing away the minutes till the end of the lesson, half feeling bad, half feeling helpless. Then it all became clear, I suddenly could hear everything. Every syllable of every word was once suddenly audible. Now if you're reading this and thinking he miraculously got cured, this is not one of those type of stories. It was more of just getting my ear into the groove of his speech patterns (I think). Anyhow I digress. This lesson was particularly amazing because he turned out to be by far the most interesting client I've ever spoken to. Everything from potential improvements in the model of Western aid to the developing world to failures in the transfer of political power in Africa - he had a profound viewpoint on it all. I found myself speechless, again, just taking in all he was saying to me.
Now the moral of the story (figured I'd give you a moral seeing as there were no miracles) is the effect living here has had on the way I perceive people in general. Speaking to people every day and hearing what's on their minds and how they see the world starts to make you look at things differently. Watching people give up large portions of their very limited free time in pursuit of their dream, regardless of how trivial you may think it is, teaches you something about determination.
So many experiences had and lessons learned. Some tangible, some irritating, some awesome, some cubersome - all worth every moment. So to all the Nihon-jin (Japanese people) who pay me to teach them, I owe you so much more.
Domo arigato gozaimasu (どもありがとございます)
Sunday, 18 January 2009
Nihon - a land of contradictions
Japan (aka Nihon), or at least the parts I've seen of it, is to put it mildly a land of contradictions. Almost every other day one is confronted by a situation that makes little to no sense but that's just the way it is.
For example take ATMs. For many of you an ATM may be nothing more than a 24 hour cash dispenser - but around here it could be an entire logistical mission to find the 7 Eleven with an ATM that accepts foreign cards or the end of an otherwise exciting evening if you haven't timed your withdrawal properly. You see many ATMs in Japan keep banking hours. Yes that's right banking hours like they need to um, rest at night. Why I find that particularly baffling is because you can have biometric security over and above the conventional PIN, but god forbid you try to get some of your cash out after like 9pm.
Then there's cell phones or "ketai" as they are called here. Probably the most advanced mobile communication system in the world with 3G as the absolute minimum standard but good luck trying to find a handset with predictive text in English.
I've mentioned the space age toilets, complete with on board processors. But you still see hordes of middle aged men urinating in bushes, in view of main roads and a variety of other public places.
Just yesterday I watched a high school student board the train and he was positively resonating attitude. He had the outrageous bed head look (which I'm guessing is in contravention of some school regulation or another). He looked over the occupants of the carriage with a sense of utter disdain, menacingly eyeing each passenger. Just then his phone rings and he pulls out a bright pink mobile which even had shiny little bits and stickers on it. So much for Mr Tough Guy...
I could go on but I think you get the gist...
For example take ATMs. For many of you an ATM may be nothing more than a 24 hour cash dispenser - but around here it could be an entire logistical mission to find the 7 Eleven with an ATM that accepts foreign cards or the end of an otherwise exciting evening if you haven't timed your withdrawal properly. You see many ATMs in Japan keep banking hours. Yes that's right banking hours like they need to um, rest at night. Why I find that particularly baffling is because you can have biometric security over and above the conventional PIN, but god forbid you try to get some of your cash out after like 9pm.
Then there's cell phones or "ketai" as they are called here. Probably the most advanced mobile communication system in the world with 3G as the absolute minimum standard but good luck trying to find a handset with predictive text in English.
I've mentioned the space age toilets, complete with on board processors. But you still see hordes of middle aged men urinating in bushes, in view of main roads and a variety of other public places.
Just yesterday I watched a high school student board the train and he was positively resonating attitude. He had the outrageous bed head look (which I'm guessing is in contravention of some school regulation or another). He looked over the occupants of the carriage with a sense of utter disdain, menacingly eyeing each passenger. Just then his phone rings and he pulls out a bright pink mobile which even had shiny little bits and stickers on it. So much for Mr Tough Guy...
I could go on but I think you get the gist...
Yasukuni-jinja (ゃすくにんじゅ)
Given the amount of controversy the place seem to generate, I thought I would brave Tokyo's dreary chill and pay a visit to the infamous Yasukuni-jinja - Japan's Shrine for Establishing Peace in the Empire - dedicated to the war dead since 1853.
You may have seen pan-Asian popularity for prime minister after prime minister, from the ever flamboyant Junichirō Koizumi to the short lived Shinzo Abe, waning after a visit to pay their respects at the shrine on 15 August (anniversary of the WWII defeat). The belief in Japan is and has been for ages that the spirits of fallen soldiers live on, almost like deities, protecting villages, towns and the Empire and guiding the nation along the path of righteousness. The only problem is that a group of Class A war criminals are also enshrined at Yasukuni, and to put it lightly Japan were a fairly bad ass warring nation back in the day. (if in doubt please consult the Koreans, Chinese or Indonesians for further information).
After walking around the shrine itself I headed over to the adjacent museum, a well put together collection of Japanese war memorabilia from more or less medieval times to WWII. Don't get me wrong, any museum dedicated to telling the story of a nation is bound to have some degree of bias . But that said it was still a very interesting place to wander around. For example they have a letter from a Japanese General (I think) to President Roosevelt justifying Japan's actions at Pearl Harbour as an act of defence from the national self destruction they were being forced into by the US.
I also got to see an actual kaiten (aka kamikaze torpedo) which is pretty much a human driven torpedo. Given that I had never even heard about these before it was pretty awesome. By the by, did you know that kamikaze meant "divine wind"? Apart from the vast quantity of war related propaganda there were also some great bits of war memorabilia including what looked like medieval feudal warlord battle regalia.
So if you ever find yourself in Tokyo with some time to kill. Why not head over to Kudanshita and check out Yasukuni and the surrounding area. Its certainly worth a visit and my guess is it will look amazing when the sakura (cherry blossoms) are in bloom.
"Bodies may perish. But spirits never die.
They remain in the realm between the heavens and earth for all eternity.
Valiantly guiding us along the path of righteousness."
- Fujita Toko (1806 - 55) "Ode to righteousness"
You may have seen pan-Asian popularity for prime minister after prime minister, from the ever flamboyant Junichirō Koizumi to the short lived Shinzo Abe, waning after a visit to pay their respects at the shrine on 15 August (anniversary of the WWII defeat). The belief in Japan is and has been for ages that the spirits of fallen soldiers live on, almost like deities, protecting villages, towns and the Empire and guiding the nation along the path of righteousness. The only problem is that a group of Class A war criminals are also enshrined at Yasukuni, and to put it lightly Japan were a fairly bad ass warring nation back in the day. (if in doubt please consult the Koreans, Chinese or Indonesians for further information).
After walking around the shrine itself I headed over to the adjacent museum, a well put together collection of Japanese war memorabilia from more or less medieval times to WWII. Don't get me wrong, any museum dedicated to telling the story of a nation is bound to have some degree of bias . But that said it was still a very interesting place to wander around. For example they have a letter from a Japanese General (I think) to President Roosevelt justifying Japan's actions at Pearl Harbour as an act of defence from the national self destruction they were being forced into by the US.
I also got to see an actual kaiten (aka kamikaze torpedo) which is pretty much a human driven torpedo. Given that I had never even heard about these before it was pretty awesome. By the by, did you know that kamikaze meant "divine wind"? Apart from the vast quantity of war related propaganda there were also some great bits of war memorabilia including what looked like medieval feudal warlord battle regalia.
So if you ever find yourself in Tokyo with some time to kill. Why not head over to Kudanshita and check out Yasukuni and the surrounding area. Its certainly worth a visit and my guess is it will look amazing when the sakura (cherry blossoms) are in bloom.
"Bodies may perish. But spirits never die.
They remain in the realm between the heavens and earth for all eternity.
Valiantly guiding us along the path of righteousness."
- Fujita Toko (1806 - 55) "Ode to righteousness"
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