Tuesday February 14, 2012

MeAndroo's past comments

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    MeAndroo

    I work in Hyogo and this came up at our morning meeting. It's really scary to think that any one of the kids I see running around could be gone at any moment. Truly a tragedy.

    I can't speak for every school, but one of the first things kids have drummed into their heads is that they only have one life, and that they have to do what they can to protect it. Punishment in elementary school that I've seen tends to basically involve a scolding and commands to reflect on their actions. I regularly have to pull kids down off of things that they shouldn't be climbing on.

    It isn't just schools either. I often see a lackadasical attitude towards safety taken by parents as well. Mothers talking obliviously while their 4 year olds jump off 4 foot planters, letting kids STAND on the front seat of the car while driving. All kinds of stuff...Americans may be paranoid, but some of these Japanese are absolutely careless.

    Posted in: Young girl dies after falling out of window at school

  • 0

    MeAndroo

    I want to see both Sherlock and Robin Hood, but it's hard to getting to movies out here in the Japanese countryside. Heck, I'm finally seeing Alice in Wonderland next week.

    Also, thanks for the spoiler about the ending in Sherlock Holmes. Appreciate it.

    Posted in: 'Robin Hood' star Strong proves good at being bad

  • 0

    MeAndroo

    Starting next year, per MEXT, 5th and 6th grade elementary school kids will need to have 35 total hours (1 hour/week) of 外国語活動. Typically the language chosen is English, but this leaves the door open for anything. I teach at 3 public elementary schools, and I can say that not only do most NOT have dedicated teachers (for example, in my prefecture, only 2 cities have their ES currently being taught each week), most do not have English coordinators or teachers posessing any kind of proficiency in the language.

    But that doesn't matter at this level. Our goal isn't to pound English rules into the heads of these children (that's what JHS and HS are for!), it's to get them to broaden their horizons, see past a person's appearance, and do something new. I'm a 3rd generation Asian American from Los Angeles. I've studied Japanese for a total of about 4 years, and speak well enough to conceal my status as a foreigner in every day life. 80% of English class is done in Japanese. The rest is chanting words, singing songs, playing games, and occasionally using full phrases in a form of conversation. No child, I repeat, NO CHILD, ends up with perfect pronunciation because I am there. They do, however, get a chance to hear what normal, fluent English sounds like and that is invaluable.

    The gov't of Japan made 英語ノート for those ES that have no ALT. Having used it, I can say it isn't the best resource, but it would certainly allow a Japanese speaker to operate an English class without the presence of an ALT. I like teaching the extra stuff, the classes about Halloween and Easter and 4th of July and all the other cultural differences. Those are the things I find impossible to replace without a "native speaker."

    Posted in: Do English teachers at schools have to be native speakers? Can non-native English speakers do just as well or better?

  • 0

    MeAndroo

    I saw Gu-tan last night too and since I didn't know who she was before, imagine my surprise to hear normal English come out of her mouth. Even if it's not a big deal for them, anyone who's bilingual gets points from me.

    Posted in: Jun Hasegawa capitalizes on 'haafu' look

  • 0

    MeAndroo

    Looks like Kuwabata is starting to get back a little of her pudge. The transformation she made was remarkable, but you can't backslide!

    Posted in: Sayaka Isoyama to try Core Rhythms diet method

  • 0

    MeAndroo

    Anybody hear about Mickey D's paying folks to stand in line, claiming it was "quality monitoring?" Some of the early posters were right it looks like.

    Posted in: Hundreds line up for an hour at Osaka McDonald's for Quarter Pounder debut

  • 0

    MeAndroo

    Yeah, the Mega Mac is probably larger than the QP. The difference is supposedly in the size of the individual patty. Hell, they have a double McRib in my town.

    That said, it's Japan. Of course they lined up for it. Japanese people love standing in line.

    BTW, they queued up for Kripy Kreme in southern California when that opened as well.

    Posted in: Hundreds line up for an hour at Osaka McDonald's for Quarter Pounder debut

  • 0

    MeAndroo

    Around forty is gairaigo-ed into araundo footi...abbreviate that and you get arafo. There's been the subsequent use of the term arasa (around thirty) as well.

    Posted in: 'Arafo,' 'gu' voted most popular words for 2008

  • 0

    MeAndroo

    According to the news this morning, Hoshino was actually IN a show that they did...don't think they mentioned Kojima doing the same thing. If you've ever seen Blue Man Group, it's the part where they're eating at the table with a guest from the audience.

    And yes, Kojima is boring and Hoshino is nothing but eye candy...They should trade clothes, that'd make things a lot more interesting.

    Article Unavailable

  • 0

    MeAndroo

    Gu is indeed a bastardization of the word good. Apparently Edo's English teacher used to say good after every phrase, including the thumbs up. She took it to it's logical Japanese conclusion.

    Posted in: 'Arafo,' 'gu' voted most popular words for 2008

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