Sunday, July 29, 2007

Portable Shrine


Yesterday I just learned a new word. I didn't know how to call Mikoshi in English. My friend taught me that it should be called "portable shrine." That makes sense.

Friday, July 27, 2007

Good reading textbooks

Although there are a bunch of good ESL textbooks, I recommend some I really like.

1) Presenting Different Opinions by Richard McMahon, NAN'UN-DO

This is published by a small Japanese publishing company. However, this one is really good. If you are an ESL/EFL teacher, you should think about using this in your class. Reading passages are interesting. Since the structure of the textbook is really organized, students will be able to learn vocabulary and reading and thinking skills at the same time. And there are several good activities you can use for either a pair work or a group work. I wanted to use this textbook for my class, but my students' level was too low to use it. So, I used another one, which will be shown below.

2) PASSWORD by Linda Bulter, Longman

This is also good one. While reading passages and doing questions and activities in there, students can improve their vocabulary and grammar as well as reading skills. But, it is not as unique as Presenting Different Opinions.

Saturday, July 21, 2007

They look easy, but...

not necessarily, not always
even
rather
seldom, rarely
as far as vs as long as
as well
by no means
by all means
as good as
may want to

These words are supposed to be learned at school, but few Japanese people can't use them in conversation. They are just the ones I've come up with now. Maybe there's more...

Like terrorism? Ugh...

The dean of the school I'm working at seems to have compared his teaching policy to "a reign of terror" or "terrorism." In Japanese, the word was kyoufu seiji, meaning "terror politics."

But, nobody likes "terrorism," right? He believes that students follow the teacher by making them scared. I think that this is the worst way of teaching. I'm not following this style while I'm teaching. Therefore, I may be scoled by him soon. But, who cares? I will quit.

The learning place must not be the battle field.

Monday, July 16, 2007

Pat T. O'Connor

I found Patricia T. O'Connor's article in today's International Herald Tribune. She was talking about the usages of the word "like." This article is very interesting to English learners, I belive.

Recently, Ms. O'Connor wrote a grammar book for kids, which seems to be useful for English learners in Japan. I remember learning about English grammar using a book for kids a couple of years ago. You don't have to feel humiliated. A person I know used to tell me that he had been really shocked to know that the English dictionary he was using was for middle schoolers in England. Even if your vocabulary in English is limite to that of middle schoolers, it doesn't mean you are not more intelligent than middle schoolers.



According to IHT (Monday, July 16, 2007):

This upstart like is the new say, nad users find it a handy tool for quoting or paraphrases the speech of others,...

For example, like can introduce an actual quotation ("She's like, 'What unusual shoes you're wearing!'") or paraphrase one ("She's like, my shoes are weird!").

Or it can summarize the inner thoughts of either the quoter or the quotee ("She's like, yeah, as if I'd be caught dead in them! And I'm like, I care what you think?").

Like even lets a speaker imitate the behavior of the person being quoted "She's like..." and the speaker smirks and rolls her eyes).

This like is not to be confused with the one that sticklers see as a meaningless verbal tic ("The band was, like, outrageous!")....

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Au Revoir, Sayonara, and...


English speakers sometimes use foreign phrases instead of saying good-bye. Of many foreign phrases meaning "good-bye," I didn't like to use or hear "Ciao" because it sounded too light. But, recently I came to know that in Italian, "Ciao" is very formal and it almost means "I am your slave." Then, am I using this phrase? Nope. I always use "Take care" with no reason.

Friday, July 13, 2007

Despite the fact that I learned about it when I was in middle school,...

English grammar, which often rubs me the wrong way!
Yesterday, I taught a little bit about verbs. While preparing for class, I came across a problem regarding the present continuous (a.k.a. present progressive). Look at the sentence below:

Everybody was cheering.

What is a verb in this sentence? When I saw this sentence, I thought that there are three answers.

A) was
B) cheering
C) was cheering

This time I taught my students C) is the correct answer after taking with a couple of Americans. But, A) and B) are also possible answers. If you exclude helping verbs (a.k.a. auxiliary verbs), B) is okay. Also, if you think the past participle "cheering" is an adjective, A) is right.

It's just grumble.

Reading in English is a good idea for English language learners, but...

I have written many times about how terrible the school I'm working at is. Therefore, I'm not surprised by a small problem that frequently happens there. However, today I just want to tell you something that also makes me sure of how badly the English school is.

In the school, there is a book shelf that contains many books written in easy English so that students can check them out and have as much input of the English language as possible. Students are supposed to write a reading report every time they finish reading a book. They need to write 14 reports for a semester. The thing that made me sad is that some students told me that they can't enjoy reading the books because they always need to care about whether they are not behind the schedule of turning in reading reports.

That should not happen. Letting them read as many books written in English as possible is often called "pleasure reading." They have to enjoy reading the books, however most students feel submissive while reading them.
Reading must be fun regardless of what language you are reading in.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

The school is the place that freaks you out?

Is it real news? Although the school I'm working at is pretty much terrible too, I can't believe that a thing like the news item below happened to any elementary school in Japan. If it happened in a comedy show, it would be okay. Never in the real world, though.

The teacher in "School of Rock" was pretty much extraordinary, but Jack Black didn't hurt any kids in this movie. However, the teacher in the article below is stupider than Jack Black, and the school is more stupid than the school of rock.


According to JAPAN TODAY:

Kanagawa teacher reprimanded for putting 'I am an idiot' note on student's back
Wednesday, July 4, 2007 at 12:28 EDT

ODAWARA — The Odawara Municipal Board of Education on Tuesday reprimanded a male teacher who pinned a note saying "I am an idiot" on the back of a male sixth grader at an elementary school in Odawara, Kanagawa Prefecture in January of last year.

According to the board of education, the teacher, who is in his 20s, attached the note to the student's back as punishment after a female student complained that some boys were trying to sneak into their changing room. Without confirming the facts, the teacher accused the boy and made him wear the note which read: "I am an idiot. I tried but failed to sneak into the girls' changing room."

A guardian of the student complained to the school the following day, and the teacher and the principal apologized when they confirmed that the boy was not one of those who had tried to spy on the girls. Authorities said the boy did not attend school for about a month due to severe shock over the incident. The city of Odawara issued a warning to the principal and the teacher in June of last year.

"I deeply regret hurting the feelings of a child through such a careless action," said the teacher who is currently working at a different elementary
school.

http://www.japantoday.com/jp/news/411307

In any country, elementary schools should be chaos, but...

Sunday, July 08, 2007

Can we laugh them?

I just watched a TV dram named "Fashion House," which described the world of fashion industry filled with twisted human desires. I belive that real biz world is as dirty as this drama. Probably every business magnate has this kind of dark side, and they are suffering from lots of stress, which can't be understood by ordinary people like me. I don't understand why the life of Tomoni Kahala and Kenji Haga has been so wrecked or wrenched. It seems like they've been under the stress.

According to Mainich Daily News:

Fallen star hits rock bottom after meteoric demise

Tomomi Kahala, once labeled the Cinderella of Japanese showbiz because of her meteoric rise to fame, has just found out that the clock has struck midnight in her fairytale, according to Shukan Josei (7/17).

The 32-year-old singer cum variety performer has found her career in yet another crisis after she was axed by her talent agency late last month.

"She cancelled a rehearsal for a TV show on June 19, pulled out of practice for a concert on June 20 and then yanked the plug on a few scheduled radio appearances on June 21," a reporter for a sports newspaper says. "That was the final straw for her agency and they sacked her soon after."

Kahala has not only lost her job, she also seems to have lost control of herself.

"She's into drugs. Every time she has worries with her work or her love life, she starts popping all sorts of pills -- sleeping pills, tranquilizers, even cold medicine. She scoffs into the drugs like they're candies," a showbiz insider says. "All the stuff she takes is legal, but she's addicted. She can't look you straight in the eyes, has trouble walking straight and is often barely articulate."

Kahala made her debut in 1995. Shortly after, she was unveiled as the lover of music producer Tetsuya Komuro, then reigning as the king of the Japanese pop world, and the young diva was hailed as his queen. But when Komuro dumped Kahala a few years later, her fairytale turned into a horror story.

First she was rushed off to a hospital in an ambulance after being poisoned by gas from an oven. It was only the first of a series of bizarre, attention-grabbing moments. She has since taken three long sabbaticals from work, been hospitalized for an overdose of prescription medicine, announced an impending marriage and then retracted the announcement moments later. She eventually sought refuge with a long stay in Canada.

Kahala had another sabbatical from December last year until March, pulling out of a stage play, and had only just returned to work a couple of weeks before she was fired. She's also been in the care of the constabulary recently.

"She was found collapsed on the road in a drunken stupor in (the Tokyo district of) Nishi Azabu one night and the cops took her into their care before sending her off to a hospital for treatment," the sports newspaper writer says. "In June alone, the cops picked up her up being drunk three times!"

And it wasn't just drunkenness.

"She was found staggering around one night with her hair all done up and decked out in a flashy dress like a nightclub hostess, but hadn't noticed one of her tits had popped out," the showbiz insider says.

http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/waiwai/face/news/20070706p2g00m0dm003000c.html

It's easy to call her a pathetic girl. If you were her, what would you do?


Actor Kenji Haga failed in settlement deal before alleged blackmail crime

OSAKA -- Actor Kenji Haga, who is under arrest on suspicion of blackmailing a company manager in an attempt to evade about 400 million yen in debts he owed, tried to reach a 120 million yen settlement with the manager about 2 1/2 years earlier but his offer was turned down, it has emerged.

Osaka Prefectural Police suspect that Haga, 45, sought assistance from gangsters to blackmail the company manager after the settlement offer failed. It has emerged that Haga, whose real name is Mikio Toma, had played golf with gang-related people not connected with the crime over which he was arrested, and was on familiar terms with them.

Police accuse Haga of threatening the 51-year-old manager and pressuring him to accept 10 million yen in exchange for canceling his huge debts.

Sources close to the police investigation said that Haga received about 370 million yen from the company president in 2001, to purchase unlisted shares of a medical firm on behalf the president. However, the medical firm went under and plans to make money off the shares failed.

In about November 2003, Haga approached the company manager through a lawyer, offering him 120 million yen to settle the debt, but since he had promised to secure the loan the company manager refused.

Police said Haga discussed the issue with Jiro Watanabe, a former professional boxing world champion, and in June 2006 Watanabe allegedly threatened the company manager at a hotel in Osaka along with two other people including Toshikazu Kawakita, 69, a high-ranking member of a gang linked to the Yamaguchi-gumi crime syndicate. When questioned by police, Watanabe reportedly admitted that he was on close terms with the leader of the gang, who is a top-ranking member of the Yamaguchi-gumi. Police said they sent documents on four suspects including Haga and Watanabe to public prosecutors on Monday. (Mainichi)

http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/national/news/20070702p2a00m0na017000c.html

Although everybody takes the TOEIC...

In the last post, I introduced about the STEP. But, even in Japan, more and more people will take the TOEIC test and avoid taking the STEP because the STEP doesn't seem practical.

However, I have a little bit different opinion than most Japanese do. Is the TOEIC the best test to evaluate English learners' communication skills.

I have taken the TOEIC exam twice, but I felt an impression that the test can evaluate only learners' grammar and vocabulary. And the exam doesn't have any reading test that is enough long to evaluate their reading skills. So, basically the TOEIC doesn't live up to the expectation of Japanese English learners who tend to criticize English education in Japan because of their too much concentration on grammar. That is kind of sad.

In away, the STEP exam is a little bit more balanced. Therefore, the exam may become popular again in the future.

TOEIC or STEP ?

In Japan, most Advanced English learners try to get some certification regarding English language proficiency. The most popular one must be the TOEIC, which is also common in other countries, such as Korea or China. However, there is another learning language proficiency test. It is called EIKEN or STEP. But, few native speakers of English know the exam. Here is some information from their website:

The Society for Testing English Proficiency (STEP) is Japan’s largest testing body and a leader in international education. Established in 1963 in cooperation with the Japanese education ministry, STEP is a nonprofit foundation with a clear objective: to advance English learning in Japan by providing objective measures of proficiency.

Now in its fifth decade, STEP administers a wide range of English assessment tools for education and business, sponsors and conducts research into testing and language acquisition, and plays an active role in international conferences and testing councils.

http://stepeiken.org/

EIKEN Test Format: Two stages, four skills

EIKEN is administered in two stages. The First Stage is paper-based and consists of four main testing areas:

1. Vocabulary
2. Reading comprehension
3. Listening
comprehension
4. Writing

The Second Stage is a direct speaking component, designed to discriminate between examinees with interactive speaking skills and those who merely perform well on multiple-choice tests.


The EIKEN speaking test is

-Required for all examinees who pass the First Stage
-A personal interview conducted on-site by qualified examiners
-Administered for Grades 1, Pre-1, 2, Pre-2, and 3.

An examinee must pass both stages of a grade in order to receive qualification.

http://stepeiken.org/about/eiken-test-format.shtml

Sunday, July 01, 2007

Listening always comes first.

While taking a look at some books about learning English, they often say that the right order to learn English is supposed to be "Reading -> Listening -> Writing -> Speaking." However, I believe it is wrong.

It must be Listening -> Speaking -> Reading -> Writing.

Regardless of whether or not the learner is a native speaker or a non-native speaker, s/he must learn English in this order. And teachers need to create the curriculum that fulfill this order.

Woody and Scarlett

When I went to a convenience store today and skimmed a couple of weekly magazines, I came to know a little bit about this movie.
I haven't seen this movie yet. I kind of like Woody Allen's films and I love Scarlett Johansson. I gotta see it.
I have already seen "Match Point," by Woody Allens, starring Scarlett Johansson. That was pretty good.
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