Pain at the Pump

So we just got a new (used) car.
The mileage for our new car as turned out to be 11kpl (kilometers per liter). I've heard that the price of gas will be going up to about 186yen per liter. Our old car had a diesel engine and got a little better than 12kpl. Our new car is going to cost us more to own, not to mention the cost of buying it.

Have you done anything to try and save money since the price of fuel has risen so much? We are driving less and trying to drive as economically as possible. By changing my driving habits I have increased the mileage of my work vehicle from 9kpl to over 12kpl. I usually put 40 liters of gas in the tank when I fill it up. That means that I can drive about 480km on a tank of gas. Before I could only drive about 360 km on a tank. That is a difference of 120km! It works out to about 600yen difference per tank of gas at current prices. I usually use 12 tanks of gas a year. So that would work out to about 7200yen a year in savings, not to mention the reduced CO2 emissions. That also means that I can travel 1440km more per year using the same amount of gas.

This has made me think that it should be required that everyone learn how to eco drive. Especially public employees who are using vehicles bought and maintained by public money. They should be required to learn how to drive economically and they should be required to drive that way, keeping logs of fuel economy with fuel economy targets for each vehicle. We are shutting the lights off and turning down the airconditioning and heating. Why not? There is a hybrid vehicle in the office fleet. I never drive it but I asked one guy what it's gas mileage was. He said 13 or 14kpl. ???? Only 13 or 14kpl!? My 1989 Mazda Familia is getting slightly better than 12kpl! Obviously the people driving it are not concerned with fuel economy.

Congratulations!

Congratulations to all the junior high school students of Makubetsu, Satsunai and Churui who graduated! You will now start a new period in your life. Make the best of it!

I had the privilege of being able to view Satsunai Higashi JHS's graduation ceremony. Many of the seniors and their juniors too were in tears as they gave their speeches of gratitude and talked about the three years spent at junior high. I have known all of them through class for the past three years and some of them I have known for longer. I didn't cry but I can tell you that I was filled with pride and sadness as they walked by in their processions in and out of the gym. I'm sad to part with them but happy to see them growing up and moving on.

From last week and continuing on into this week, graduated jhs students have been coming and going from the teacher's room to announce their acceptance into a private or public high school. They came to say thank you to all the teachers who taught them over the past three years and especially to their home room teachers and others who helped coach them for interviews and entrance examinations. Many of them were in tears of joy.

So once again, I say congratulations and good luck in your new endeavors.

Noelle Climbs

IMG_7843
Originally uploaded by mr_caffeine74.

Noelle climbs tables, chairs, trees, stairs, people and cat jungle gyms!

Here Tetsuya is trying to convince her to come down off the gym. You can see she can touch the ceiling from there! She loves climbing that thing and I usually stop her. It's hard to imagine a two year old climbing like she does. No fear. I wonder what she'll be like in 10 years or 20?

IMG_7843

Second Language Learning

I have started reading some articles about Second Language Acquisition and Second Language Learning by Greg Thomson. I have found them on a site called Language Impact's Language Learning Website. I have just finished reading Thomson's What? Me Worry About Language Learning? article. In it he talked about his experience and trails trying to learn new languages. In particular he talked about his experience and how he went about trying to learn Blackfoot. He also talks about why some people may be better at learning languages than others and why some languages may be more difficult for one person than another. It was very interesting for me and enlightening. The main gist of the article, other than being a primer for one who is thinking about starting to learn a new language, is that you have to have a good strategy. He says that a good strategy would include

• a time commitment,
  
• making yourself accountable,
  
• ways to keep improving your conversational ability, and
  
• a way to develop lots of relationships with speakers of the language you want to learn.

The first two should not be too difficult for most people to accomplish. The second and third strategies seem a bit more difficult. What if there are no or very few native speakers of the language you want to learn?

Well, anyways, I hope that this new insight into language learning will help me develop better activities and methods for teaching English. Although one of the things that he repeatedly stresses is that it is extremely difficult to learn a second language in a language class. 頑張るぞォ

It's a boy!

It's a boy!
Originally uploaded by mr_caffeine74.

Introducing Aspen Ross Lane. Born 12:54 in the afternoon. Weight 3594gm.
Ryo felt labor coming on at 6:30am and he was born that day at 12:54, just after noon. There were no complications. A few seconds after he came out he started to cry. I cut the umbilical cord. He started looking for a drink right away. Both mom and baby are doing great. They will be in the hospital until Friday.

Testing hurdle for international students

The link is no longer valid but I first read about this at http://www.cnn.com/2005/EDUCATION/09/23/english.test.ap/index.html. I have a print out of it.

The article is about the TOEFL - the Test of English as a Foreign Language. It is a test that international students hoping to study in the United States can take to prove their language skills so that they can be admitted to a university.

The test has been changed to include a speaking component. Students will be asked to listen to some English and then read a passage and then speak about both. The organization the administers this test, the Educational Testing Services, hopes that the test will encourage a change in English education around the world. And I hope it does!

I have been looking for a good book to use in a short run English class for students going abroad. In my searcehs I have seen many books with titles like "Why Japanese can't speak English"and "What's wrong with English Education in Japan". There are many, many books like this that have been published. Many of them are quite old. Many more are published ever year. If everyone knows that there is something wrong, why is nothing changing? This is one of my biggest questions. It is a lament that I hear native English speakers teaching English in Japan and Japanese teaching English in Japan express all the time.

This reminded me of the article about the TOEFL.

So what IS wrong with English education? I don't know, but I think spending more effort on creating your own English is a start in the right direction. What I mean is, it is important not just to read and listen and memorize, but to try your hand at creating your own sentences. All the time. Just do it! Do it in your head. Do it on paper. Do it in class. You must practice making your own English sentences. You must practice making English your own.

And that is all I have to say about that.

bakudan

bakudan
Originally uploaded by mr_caffeine74.

This post marks the spot where a bomb from a "grandmother" bomber was dropped in Makubetsu Japan. I don't know what a "grandmother" bomber is. This spot is right next to the Makubetsu library. The US bombers were aiming for a factory nearby, the Nitta factory. This landmark is not very visible with trees standing in front of the post. I doubt many people see it and considering the fact that this hole was made over 60 years ago, I doubt many people remember it.