Practice makes perfect?

I have been thinking that it would be nice for students to have a place to practice writing English with no fear of making mistakes. There are many websites where that can be done.  I thought that my students and I could use this sleepy blog for that purpose.

This is how it would work.

Students, and anyone really, would be allowed to write comments to posts anonymously.  Anonymously means they would not have to give their name.  No names and no fear of making mistakes. 

Good idea?  Bad idea?

Busier than .....

Oh my god.  I have been so busy.  I have been busier than a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs!  Can you imagine that?  One thing that I haven't done recently is update this blog. I want to.  But I just don't have the time.  There is always something more important that I have to get done first.

Recently at the junior high schools, the 8th graders are studying the comparative and superlative forms. That always reminds me of all the interesting English sayings that make use of these forms. Like the one I introduced at the beginning of this post.

I am busier than a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.

To understand this, first you have to know what "busy" means.  This is an easy word.  It means that you have a lot of things to do.  It means that you can't sit still because you have to keep moving.  I am very busy because I have many lesson plans to make and other work to do.  My daughter is very busy because she can't sit still.  Next you need to understand what "a long tailed cat" is.  This should be easy, especially if you use a dictionary to look up any words you don't know.  Surely you can understand what a cat with a long tail is.  That is what "long tailed cat" means.  尻尾の長い猫.  You can say "a cat with a long tail" but you can also modify "cat" with "long tailed".  There is a rocking chair in the picture above.  Now imagine a room that has many rocking chairs.  Now imagine that all those rocking chairs are moving, rocking back and forth.  Do you have that image in your mind?  Now put a cat in there with a long tail and you'll understand how busy it would be.

Other phrases that make use of the comparative (比較級)

• colder than ice
• cooler than a cucumber
• faster than a bullet
• higher than a kite
• lighter than a feather
• slower than molasses
• hotter than hell

Well, does this give you any ideas?  Do you think you could come up with some of your own comparisons to make an interesting phrase or two?

Have fun!

Chocolate is so important!

organic dark chocolate, a photo by f10n4 on Flickr.

Everyone knows that I love chocolate.  The teachers that I work with know.  The students who I teach know.  And now I have another great reason to eat chocolate!

It turns out that something in cocoa, epicatechin, helps increase time to exhaustion in mice.  Mice who took liquid epicatechin can run 50% longer than mice who took an equal amount of water.  I read this on the New York Times Well blog.  You can find the article link here: How Chocolate Can Help Your Workout.

But here is the problem, we humans could possibly get a similar effect from just 5 grams of dark chocolate a day!  Just 5 grams a day!  Why not more?  If you take too much it doesn't help and may even hinder the effect.  

In another article from 2007, it was said that this compound epicatechin, which is  a flavonal, is so important that maybe it should be considered an essential vitamin!

OK.  I got it! I need to get some dark chocolate and have a bite whenever I go out for a run from now on!

ふくふく29%さんのブログに日本語の概要がありました。
一日5グラム：http://fuku29.seesaa.net/article/218658467.html

Getting Ready to Go

We have only two more classes left before we head for Australia!  I had meant to post updates all along about this but I just didn't have the time.  I guess it is better late than never.

Here is some interesting English phrases in both American English and Australian English with their Japanese equivalents.

I am copy pasting these directly from MS Word so forgive me if the formatting gets strange.

Australian English words and expressions.

She'll be right!: Everything will be fine!	大丈夫、よくなるよ
Take away food: Take-out food	持ち帰り
Tea: evening meal	夕食、食事
Telly: The television.	テレビ
This arvo: This afternoon.	今日の午後
Too right!: Absolutely	もちろん！そうだよ！
Strewth!: It's the truth!	本当だよ
Spunky: Good-looking, attractive as in "what a spunk"	カワイイ、かっこいい
Sport	くだけた「お前、あなた」
See you in the soup: See you around.	またね
Q: Thank you (mumbled).	ども（ありがとう）
Num-nums: Tasty food.	美味しい食べ物
Mate: This usually means a friend but it can be used to talk about or to anyone - even a total stranger.	友達に対して使う「お前、あなた」
Matey with: Familiar or friendly with.	（誰かと）親しい
Beaut	よい。よかった。最高。素晴らしい。
Bush	いなか
Dead to the world	ぐっすりと寝ている
Dekko	a look, ひと目 Go and have a dekko at it. 見に行ってごらん。
have a go at	try,　挑戦する、やってみる よくわからないけど、やってっみる Don’t know much about it, but I’ll have a go at it.

Internationalization is....

"Internationalization is a process of personal growth. It is born in the conflict of persons, ideas and cultures. Therein ones eyes are opened to oneself, and to others, and a bond of personal responsibility is forged for the future. "

Going Abroad

In March, Makubetsu junior high and high school students have the opportunity to go abroad. The town will help pay for the expenses and take care of all the logistics. Once students arrive at their destination they will start a "home stay" at the home of a family with children close to their age. It is a great opportunity. A chance not to be missed!

However, many Japanese students and their families choose not to take advantage of this opportunity. They feel as if they could not return the favor. This demonstrates a big difference in the cultures of the two countries. I am under the impression that families in the home stay country are much less likely to skip out on such an opportunity because they wouldn't be able to return the favor of providing a student from abroad with the proper hospitality.

I can't claim to know all the reasons why Japanese families would feel that they could not take on a student for home stay. I know that the daily lives of the average Japanese student are probably quite different from those of their counterparts abroad. Japanese students seem to be extremely busy, or at least that is my impression. After school many stay at the school until 5, 6 or 7pm for various club and sports activities. If they are not at the school many of them are at cram schools called "juku" to study for high school or university entrance examinations. Some go to English conversation schools at night. They are away from home just as long if not longer than their working parents.

Not only are the students and their families busy, they feel as if their homes are too small to take on a guest. Contrast this to an American family. They might open up a bedroom for the guest or if they couldn't do that, they might invite them to sleep on the floor or a couch. This is something that I am guessing Japanese families don't feel they can do. But more than that, I imagine that it is because they take their children's education so seriously. I imagine that they think that there is no way they could fit taking care of another child when their own children are never home, always away for sports, clubs, or educational activities. Skipping those activities for a few days is probably not something that crosses their minds. It would put their children behind the others. Their children have to get the best scores that they can get on entrance exams so that they can beat out other applicants for limited spots available at the schools of their choice.

This makes Study Abroad programs between Japan and other nations rather difficult. Especially when it involves a reciprocal study trip to the Japan. These difficulties don't seem to stop them from happening however. It seems as if most cities and towns have some sort of international relationship and many of those involve some sort of international visits.

I want you, to want me!

This week the JHS 3rd graders are studying, or have studied, the following grammar.

My father tells me to work hard.

私の父が 私に　一所懸命動力して　と言います。

主語＋動詞　（tell, want, say, askなど）+目的語＋to不定詞

機能てきには人の言葉を伝えることです。「人に～してほしい」と言う

Recently I have been listening to music while I run. Usually I listen to podcasts where people are talking and not to music. I have been listening to a music podcast done by Adam Curry, a former MTV VJ. During one of the podcasts he played a song by the band Cheap Trick called "I want you to want me.". The grammar from this song is the same is the grammar the JHS 3rd graders are studying now. However, it is a little hard to translate the title "I want you to want me" directly into Japanese. The Japanese title is 「甘い罠」 wich would a direct translation back into English would render something like "Sweet Trap".


By the way, my children want me to play with them and not get angry. My wife wants me enjoy my life in Japan. My mother wants me to come home. She is always telling me to find a job in the USA. What do you want me to do? What do people want you to do? What do people tell you to do? What do they ask you to do?

Here is a link to Cheap Trick performing the song at the Budokan.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBQ9dm7zaQU

And here is a link to the band KSM performing a cover of the song. The girls in KSM are about 15 years old, by the way.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vQ9q3qMLMQ&feature=related


Enjoy!