Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Monthly Newsletter
Starting this month, the OC monthly newsletter includes a collection of funny and/or interesting quotes from students, taken from class. You never know what you're going to have the opportunity to hear when you arm kids with a new grammar point and some new vocabulary. This month we talked about jobs and careers with our elementary and preschool classes - kids have some enlightening things to say about their occupational dreams for the future! Check it out!
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
E-Kanji
Many of you know that I study Japanese sometimes in my spare time. My first year in Japan, I studied at least an hour every night - but lately I haven't been studying as much. I have been reading a few interesting things, though. One is a sports magazine from the 1980s I bought used. It's titled "The Truth about Rikidozan", and it has a big article on his life.
The other is a book about the histories and etymologies of various kanji, the Chinese ideographs which are supposed to make learning Japanese so difficult. I actually enjoy them more than many other parts of Japanese, though. For example, the character 妾 originally symbolized a woman with a tattoo needle. According to the book, in ancient China, a person who committed a crime had to get a tattoo, and a woman who had such a tattoo would probably become a servant. A lot of kanji are related to religion and war - two things that are rather taboo in modern Japan. To me, that just makes them even more interesting!
The other is a book about the histories and etymologies of various kanji, the Chinese ideographs which are supposed to make learning Japanese so difficult. I actually enjoy them more than many other parts of Japanese, though. For example, the character 妾 originally symbolized a woman with a tattoo needle. According to the book, in ancient China, a person who committed a crime had to get a tattoo, and a woman who had such a tattoo would probably become a servant. A lot of kanji are related to religion and war - two things that are rather taboo in modern Japan. To me, that just makes them even more interesting!
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Michael Jackson
People like to talk about how Michael Jackson "transcended race". This is one thing he symbolized to Americans that was perhaps even more important than his music or dance moves - that he wasn't clearly a member of "the black community" or "the white community". He was pretty much a community of one.
I was trying to think of people who bridge different groups the same way in Japan - but I don't really know any. I know there are a few Korean-Japanese or Chinese-Japanese entertainers and baseball players, but they usually choose one group to affiliate with instead of standing alone. Sadaharu Oh, for example, probably doesn't like to be called "a Taiwanese baseball star" or "an international star athlete".
Maybe the younger generation has some people who are "between" groups. I wonder what Becky or Yu Darvish would say if you asked them to identify their ethnicities?
I was trying to think of people who bridge different groups the same way in Japan - but I don't really know any. I know there are a few Korean-Japanese or Chinese-Japanese entertainers and baseball players, but they usually choose one group to affiliate with instead of standing alone. Sadaharu Oh, for example, probably doesn't like to be called "a Taiwanese baseball star" or "an international star athlete".
Maybe the younger generation has some people who are "between" groups. I wonder what Becky or Yu Darvish would say if you asked them to identify their ethnicities?
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Back to School
We're back from a week off. Nice to see you all again!
Why did we take a week off? Well, remember that we have 47 classes per year. There are 52 weeks in a year, leaving 5 weeks of no classes. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean 5 straight weeks off. It just means 5 each of Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Often, holidays fall on normal workdays for us, and we have to take those days off, and subtract them from the total number of classes for that day per year. If a national holiday falls on a day we always have off, Sunday or Monday, we have to take a day off some other time to get the total number of classes down to 47. This year, a lot of holidays fell on our days off, so we had to take another week in summer to bring the total number of classes for each day of the week to 47. That's how it works!
We have to figure this out every year around June so we can hand out the new yearly schedules before August. And why do we start our calendar in August? Because that's the first month the school opened!
Why did we take a week off? Well, remember that we have 47 classes per year. There are 52 weeks in a year, leaving 5 weeks of no classes. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean 5 straight weeks off. It just means 5 each of Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Often, holidays fall on normal workdays for us, and we have to take those days off, and subtract them from the total number of classes for that day per year. If a national holiday falls on a day we always have off, Sunday or Monday, we have to take a day off some other time to get the total number of classes down to 47. This year, a lot of holidays fell on our days off, so we had to take another week in summer to bring the total number of classes for each day of the week to 47. That's how it works!
We have to figure this out every year around June so we can hand out the new yearly schedules before August. And why do we start our calendar in August? Because that's the first month the school opened!
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