Rocking in Hakata

Michaels - Yeah, the bragging rights may have some small bit of influence. But I dunno how much it will sway them. Still, I'll add it to my bag of tricks. Thanks. :-)

Haha, you think I'm kidding don't you? This was actually an anecdote my french teacher told me, of the time he taught English in France. Admittedly he does still work, but he got a ruddy good hiding for that "American Hick" stunt, especially the wife/sister bit...oh dear. :P

Ok, I'll say something useful: remind them of the bragging rights that come with fluency in another language. Like Nick said, remind them of famous bilinguals that they might look up to, or of English speaking countries they may like to visit. Remind them that Michaels speaks English.

At least then you'll have done your speech, it's up to them to want to learn.

Oh, and Michaels does not have friends, Michaels has fans (zinger x2).

Nicole - Wow...I'll be cheering you up as much as possible when I see you. :-) Look forward to it. Try not to punch anyone till we've done some corrective laughing. Ok? Ha ha.

Nick - That's true to some degree. I do need to connect their interests to English. I just can't help but remember my high school French class - taken because it was compulsory and the only choice of a foreign language at my school. It's probably really similar... But you are correct, sir.

Michaels - I'm worried by two things. 1) You have friends who teach. 2) You have friends. (OOOH - zinger.) :-)

Remind them that English is the language of the Gods, and Michaels.

Or do what my friend did: tell them it's their duty to be an international citizen and represent Japan in the wider world. Then scare them a bit: get a picture of an American hick, point to it, and say "do you want to be the Japanese equivalent of this?".

Yeah, he didn't last long in teaching... :P

They may not be interested in English, but I better they are interested in the English world. Maybe Hollywood movies and their stars, sporting leagues such as the NBA or English Premier League and their stars, or even Japanese living abroad such as Ichiro. Don't ask me how, but you've somehow got to connect their interests to the language.

Nick Ramsay's last blog post: Pikachu and Bicycle Bells

PS - See you next week!!

Nicole's last blog post: I?m A Ten Year Old Child. Where?s My Blanky And Juice?

I like to continuously punch them in the face until they offer up an answer. It motivates them to answer, speak some english and stop the searing pain from my metallic fists of STEEL.

I had a mediore day today. Can you tell?

Nicole's last blog post: I?m A Ten Year Old Child. Where?s My Blanky And Juice?

Hey Julian -
You've got a really good idea there. I took part in a camp in a place called Nametoko. What you described is really close to what I experienced there. I'll definitely include it as a real life example for motivation to learn English. Excellent suggestion, thanks. :-)

Hi,

I took part in a workcamp near Nagano (Shiojiri). Our goal was it to motivate students to want to learn English. The campmembers were mostly non-native speaker (like me) and we presented our country to the students and they had the chance to ask questions. The camp had Japanese staff as well to help with the communication. Doing this once a year motivates students to be able to communicate in the following year. Of course a lot of games were involved and most of the time we did "cultural exchange" stuff. Another possibility is to establish letter exchanges between countries. The students or teacher+students write letters (alone or together). Again, it might be better not to exchange letters with native speakers (because people tend to get tired of the whole thing once they don't need to put effort into writing the letter - ultimately the programm will fail in the other country).
Anyway, the Japanese workcamp organization was called "NICE" and you might want to contact them.

Good luck,
Julian

Ha ha ha, Lost in Ube, you think that would work. But it's the other way around. My kids have all resigned themselves to never leaving the prefecture. They'll all be mikan farmers, fishermen, boat builders, or whatnot. Blah. Therefore, they have no interest in English. Like I used to imagine - why do I have to study algebra if I'm not going to be an engineer? :-) At least I understand that feeling.

If you learn English, you can get the heck out of rural Japan?

lost in ube's last blog post: Who is the strongest!?! Sportsman No. 1 XXXVII 最強の男は誰だ！壮絶筋肉バトル!!スポーツマンNo.1決定戦XXXVII　

You can ask Peter Payne, he's the owner of JList and some time ago was an English teacher in a rural area of Japan.

[Edited to remove hyperlinks...the guy was a teacher, but he's more known for JList now. And JList has a large adult section. That's not quite the motivation I was hoping to impart to the kiddies. ;-) Thanks anyway, Fabio. I appreciate the thought. -Deas]

The inspirational speech I did on the announcements seemed to help for at least a day (you can find it in December archives at my site). So I try to motivate by example I guess.
The education system be broke, though...

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Give 'em cash. That'd be motivation enough for me to study.

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