Rocking in Hakata

Today’s September 11th. I’ve not forgotten the tragedy that took place in New York early on this morning in 2001. I’m still waiting for the towers to be rebuilt.

Deas Customary Drivel

I figured it was about time to learn my school song. That way I can belt it out alongside my kids at every school ceremony / sporting event that comes around for the rest of my time here. To that end, I asked the music teacher for a copy and spent the last hour or so figuring out the kanji and whatnot. Some of them had funky readings indicated. I had to manually draw a lot of these kanji into the ATOK input system here at school because they’re not commonly used nowadays. I’ve checked this with some 国語 (こくご / kokugo / Formal Japanese) teachers, though, and am pretty sure that it’s right. Below you’ll see the full kanji version. Then I’ll put up a pronunciation guide and a translation. Ha ha. Anyway, I hope you find it interesting. I was surprised at how poetic the lyrics are.

愛媛県立伯方高等学校の校歌

一、
燧の磯にさす潮の
香も豊かなる生を享け
求めし知恵のいぶきせる
平和の鐘を打ち鳴らし
啓蒙に立つ我が学徒

二、
旭日露と映ゆるとき
学びの園に集い来て
文あきらかに修めたる
使命を常に讃えつつ
実践励む我が学徒

三、
宝股山頂の霧晴れて
空清朗に澄み渡り
色濃き松の雄々しくも
若き心に幸いし
理想果たさん我が学徒

Read more…

Deas Customary Drivel, 日本語

I’ve been correcting more essays this week. Something that I find incredibly frustrating is that I am asked to provide the corrections, but I am specifically told not to bother sending the corrected draft back to the student. (The one I mark up with a red pen, that is.) In short, I’m being asked for a perfectly rewritten essay, but that’s all. They don’t want to know why I changed what I changed. That bothers me. I don’t understand how the students are going to learn anything from that. Especially when they might not even have written it in English by themselves in the first place…(see the second half of this post for more on that ridiculousness). Anyway, I thought I’d give you a snippet from an essay that made me giggle. The essay is actually quite good, so don’t let this excerpt mislead you.

So, I will study English hard. Then I will find these “How large the world is. What a small man I am.” It may drop me into the hopeless world. When I understand how hopeless I am. I will be fed up with my self. I want to know the world to come true my dream. Like this, through English, I want to gain a little by little. Thank you.

Pretty deep stuff for a high school kid. Bleak, yet hopeful. Now, imagine correcting a full page of that. Ha ha. Fun. I just wonder if the student will learn any English at all from having a pristine paper handed back to him without any hints about why the corrections were made. I don’t understand this system. Sigh.

Deas Customary Drivel

I teach English in Japan. If you thought that English education in Japan was lacking, check this story out and weep quietly to yourselves. Yes, it’s true. English education in America has reached a new level of shameful.

Let’s play a game. What’s wrong with the following sentences, other than the fact that they were uttered by real, living English teachers in the state of Arizona?

1 – “How do we call it in English?”
2 – “You need to make the story very interested to the teacher.”
3 – “My older brother always put the rules.”
4 – “Sometimes, you are not gonna know some.”
5 – “If you have problems, to who are you going to ask?”
6 – “Read me first how it was before.”

(Answers are below for those who need them, and those from these Arizona public schools.)

Some teachers’ English was so poor that even state officials strained to understand them,” the assessment found. “At a dozen districts, evaluators found teachers who ignored state law and taught in Spanish.

Here’s the hat tip chain. Ready? Bryan at Hot Air found it via Mark Krikorian at National Review Online’s The Corner, who referenced Alan Wall at VDare, who linked to a different article about it.

Answers to the quiz:
1 – How do we say it in English?
(What do we call it in English?)
2 – You need to make the story very interesting for the teacher.
3 – My older brother always set the rules.
4 – Sometimes you will not know the answer.
5 – Who are you going to speak with if you have problems?
(If you have questions, who will you ask?)
6 – Read me the original sentence, please.
(“Read the beginning of the story to me.” <- This would also work if the topic isn't grammar, but the plot of a story.)

Deas Customary Drivel, Unsolicited Commentary

Not even funny. You’ve got to be kidding me. Seriously. No, really seriously. I’ve had my computer back for a few weeks. It’s dead again. Same issue. Same flashing file folder. Same dead machine. I’m so angry with Apple right now I could scream. I think I will, actually. AAAAAAAAAaaaAAAAaGH!

On July 25th, I issued an RIH Red Alert, due to the sudden inability to post from home. By the 26th, I’d spoken to the Applecare people and scheduled a delivery guy to come haul my computer off to Apple’s facility somewhere over on Honshu, so I gave you a Mac Update. After a whole lot of hassle, a new 750 GB hard drive and single replacement stick of memory, I got stabilized again and started using my 10.5-month old Mac to post from home again. One of the first things I posted was about Applecare in Rural Japan. I guess I get to do that all over again.

What really infuriates me is that I just sent “I’m not dead, just got sorted again” emails to a lot of online contacts. I’ve been made a liar, apparently. And I just finished installing my programs yesterday because I waited until I felt like it was “safe.” HA. Well, learned that lesson too, I suppose. AND I just finished RE-EDITING the HUGE video that I was putting together on Japanese language use in the show Heroes. I even promised to release it this weekend. Guess that’s out too. I can’t believe it. I’m going to be lucky to get that thing re-re-edited and published before the 2nd season premieres, for crying out loud. At this rate, who knows. I am so angry. I think that’s understandable. Apple, I paid you a huge sum of money for a computer that worked, and paid extra to insure that it would be fixed if there were ever a problem. Having my computer shipped off for weeks really removes a lot of the value for me. You’ve got a really bad track record right now. I’m disappointed. I love you when you work, but when you fail to deliver, I am not willing to excuse you just because I like your products. GET ON THE BALL.

The delivery guy comes on Friday. My computer may or may not come home by Friday next. (That’s the 14th, for those who are confused.) And there’s no guarantee that it won’t remain an uber-expensive paper weight. Until then, I apologize for fewer, text-only, slightly boring entries. Ugh.

Deas Apple, Customary Drivel, Unsolicited Commentary

This is my response to NPR’s Intelligence Squared U.S. debate on the proposition: “Beware the Dragon – A Booming China Spells Trouble for America.” Just thought I’d throw it out there. You can grab the podcast of the last season even though it’s over already. I’m not particularly knowledgeable about China, though I am interested in its history and the way that popular culture and digital media especially are aiding its economic growth and boosting its quality of life. Since I’m not a China scholar, I hope you’ll go easy on me if I come off as incredibly naive. I’m learning. This is just something I thought was interesting. Below, I’ve sort of paraphrased what I got from each speaker. Then I’ve responded after that. Feel free to respond. Read more…

Deas Customary Drivel, Politics, Unsolicited Commentary