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| Votes are in |
The hot topic last
week was the Scottish independence referendum, although picking my students’
brains for their thoughts and opinions proved largely fruitless (some were even
unaware there was a referendum whilst the rest weren’t really too bothered either way), I did
come across this little gem: “I hope Scotland don’t become independent or
Scottish whiskey prices will be higher”.
I was in for quite
the surprise when I received a phone call from Yukari on Friday morning, just
as I was setting off for my midday class at Daiichi High School, requesting if
I could prepare an impromptu demo lesson discussing the recent Scottish
independence referendum for a slot on the evening news for ABN (Asahi
Broadcasting Nagano). I was a little taken back, especially since this gave me a 30 minute window after my midday class to get back to Luna, have lunch
and prepare! Despite the unfavourable situation that I found myself in, I
decided to give it a shot and make the most of it. It’s not often do you get
the opportunity to demonstrate how you operate in your working environment. But
I assure you I was in no way calm and collected as I am making myself out to
be, to be honest I was terrified at the prospect of conducting a lesson in front of
a camera with little to no preparation. What if my students didn't know that Scotland is a country, let alone identify it on a map.
I
motored back to Luna after my class in order to clear my mind so I could set about how I was going to tackle the demo class starting in less than half an hour. However, when I
arrived at Luna I was greeted with yet another shocking surprise. The demo
lesson plan had fallen through, since we were actually unable to get enough students together at such short notice, so as an alternative ABN wanted to interview
English nationals on their opinions of the referendum. Here’s the
catch: the whole interview was going to be in Japanese. Definitely not part of
the job description when I joined Luna! My head was spinning from just trying
to keep up with the day’s antics, I hadn’t even sat down to have my lunch yet. I
guess there wasn’t an abundance of potential candidates to choose from either, as they
settled on me as an appropriate interviewee. Luckily we also had our friend
Mark, who teaches over at Shinshu University, join us for the debate. Thanks
for joining us on such short notice Mark!
I
barely had the time to digest the news, and what lunch I could shovel into my
mouth, before the crew arrived on set a la Luna. The camera was so big I didn’t think it
would fit in my classroom! After brief introductions and usual pleasantries we
got straight down to business, the footage was going to be aired in less than 4
hours after all. I was greatly amused by the "voting batons" that had been
prepared for us to show whether we were for or against Scottish independence;
they were the epitome of Japanese ingenuity and craftsmanship. They had
essentially taped on a red circle and blue cross onto plastic tea stirring spoons.
They had the last laugh however as me and Mark both had to reluctantly hold up
our chosen "baton" for the entirety of the interview, Mark tried to put his down
several times but to no avail.
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| Chewing the fat |
I
was a little tense before the interviewing process due to my limited Japanese vocabulary. I
thought I would come across as simple and uneducated, which may not be too far
from the truth, but I didn’t want people tuning into the news to know that!
Having a massive camera sitting right in front of me didn’t help with the nerves either. Once
we started though, my fears and worries quickly faded and I quite enjoyed myself. I
jokingly mentioned that my biggest relief for Scotland rejecting independence
was that we get to keep the Union Jack, as it meant I wouldn’t have to re-teach
what the Union Jack represents to all of my students. You wouldn't believe how many people thought the Union Jack was the flag of England.
But
alas the referendum has passed, I had my shot at fame and stardom and the Scots have decided to stay united, for
the time being at least. Back to
business as usual I suppose. I wonder what old Nessie would have made of Salmond’s
plans of an independent Scotland…
She paints a lot of illustration of books, too. (ex, Andersen) She
painted some illustration of war. But she didn’t paint the scene. She
painted facial expression a lot. So her paints were very impressive for
me. 
I like shopping! Because I like looking many things for clothes,
grocery, shose, etc.. So i like looking something but also buying
something. When I buy new things, it makes me happy and excited. My
favorite place is Karuizawa outlet and Isetan, which is famous
department in Shinjuku. 
1 a tent: We can be out of winds and rains in a tent. And if we will
sleep outside without a tent, it will very dangerous!
I went to Italy and France with my friends after the graduation from the
university in 2005. It was good for me to have two weeks trip with the
cheap price as we were still students.
Importantly, we do not ask our teachers to prepare a finely crafted demonstration that has been rehearsed and drilled down to the last minute; this used to happen when I was an assistant language teacher at Fuzoku junior high school. Every last detail of the class was choreographed (even down to which students would be asked which questions...). Our teachers' brief is to "get on with it", teach a class as usual and highlight how/what the kids can do as well as how you 'do it' along the way - don't play to the gallery.
Obviously the children behave differently with mums hovering, but they quickly forget the audience once engaged with class tasks and it's business as usual. Some issues of course with distractions (little brothers & sisters, mostly) but time flies and a high quality lesson delivered smoothly means no one was watching the clock/surprise that it's already time to wrap things up & set homework.
