Since I'm in my last week of being in Okinawa I've been trying to get those last bits of my favorite things in like tiramisu parfait at Bikuri Donkey and Mos Chicken. I've also been enduring the hardship (not really) of an endless run of soubetsukai (farewell parties). Friday was yakiniku at Yakiniku Jack with the other ALT at my base school and my coordinator. After yakiniku we went to karaoke. Fun! Fun! Fun! This was soubetsukai, part one, at my base school since my ALT buddy left last Saturday for a two week trip to see his family.
The other reason we, as a department, couldn't celebrate all together that Friday was because the teacher test was on Sunday. In the English department alone, we have five substitute teachers at the moment. All of them were cramming last minute studying in while we were grilling meat and drinking beer and singing until we lost our voices. Zannen. So to make up for it, for soubetsukai, part two, we went to OmoroHouse in Shintoshin. Oishiiii!! The maguro sashimi was especially delish. Seriously, how can raw fish be better at one place than any other. It's just raw fish, right? Everything else was really yummy including the somen champuru and ume budo, and that was probably the last time I'll get to have those two foods for a while. Zannen. :( I even had some awomori just to make sure I covered all my last of the last Okinawan bases. I still like it, but I think I might like to try it with some cranberry juice and lime, perhaps. Throw in a little soda... Mmmm. That might also explain away any questions you might have about why this post is kind of rambly. I'm not hung over so much as just really sleepy and mellow and ready for a nap. Yep. Definitely. Zzzzzzzzz...
;)
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Español Mezclado con Nihongo
There is a new teacher at my visiting school. She teaches Social Studies. She came up to me to introduce herself and asked if I spoke Japanese to which I replied, "chotto." She started telling me that her English was not very good but stopped herself and asked if I spoke Spanish to which I replied, "sí." We then had a conversation in Spanish where she told me she speaks Spanish and has friends from Bolivia that she has lunch with often and so gets to practice her Spanish. It was also during this conversation that I realized I'm going to have a really tough time when I return home and am faced with a situation where I need to speak Spanish as my Spanish has become very mixed up with my Japanese. I had a really hard time speaking to her in Spanish only. I kept throwing in Japanese words here and there. Perhaps it's because it was so discombobulating to speak to a Japanese in Spanish. I hope that's the case. I'll find out when I get home, I suppose.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Baseball Game Lesson
I work with a JTE who loves baseball, and I thought wouldn't it be great if I could come up with a way to play baseball and make it a lesson, so I did. Here's how it works.
Each row in class is a team. Give each team a name. I like them to pick the names of their favorite baseball team. Write the names on the board with a row for points next to it. You also need to keep track of strikes and outs. I don't keep track of balls and fouls as that's just unnecessarily complicated and drags the game out longer than it needs to be.
I stand at the front of the room while the JTE stands in the middle to throw the first pitch. (If the JTE wants to, s/he can pitch the whole game. If not, the student who catches the ball can pitch so the pitcher changes often getting more students involved.) The pitcher can throw under or overhanded and as fast or slow as they want, depending on the class and students and, of course, the JTE.
I start with the first team on my right. I call the first batter to the front of the room and hand them a bat. At my base school I use a kid's plastic bat. At my visiting school I use a bat I made out of a PET bottle and B4 poster board and lots of tape. Then I wrapped it in brown construction paper and labeled it Little Slugger. The ball I use at my base school is a very soft foam ball that looks like a baseball. At my visiting school I made an origami boulder and wrapped it with tape. (FYI, the reason for the differences is that a boy at my visiting school just got in trouble for breaking a window with a soft baseball and I didn't want to take a chance of that happening again due to my lesson.)
The JTE throws the ball toward the batter. The batter hits the ball and the students in the class try to catch the ball. Whoever catches the ball stands up and answers a question. I have a box of questions ranging in difficulty and, therefore, point value. Some examples of the questions I prepared are:
Each row in class is a team. Give each team a name. I like them to pick the names of their favorite baseball team. Write the names on the board with a row for points next to it. You also need to keep track of strikes and outs. I don't keep track of balls and fouls as that's just unnecessarily complicated and drags the game out longer than it needs to be.
I stand at the front of the room while the JTE stands in the middle to throw the first pitch. (If the JTE wants to, s/he can pitch the whole game. If not, the student who catches the ball can pitch so the pitcher changes often getting more students involved.) The pitcher can throw under or overhanded and as fast or slow as they want, depending on the class and students and, of course, the JTE.
I start with the first team on my right. I call the first batter to the front of the room and hand them a bat. At my base school I use a kid's plastic bat. At my visiting school I use a bat I made out of a PET bottle and B4 poster board and lots of tape. Then I wrapped it in brown construction paper and labeled it Little Slugger. The ball I use at my base school is a very soft foam ball that looks like a baseball. At my visiting school I made an origami boulder and wrapped it with tape. (FYI, the reason for the differences is that a boy at my visiting school just got in trouble for breaking a window with a soft baseball and I didn't want to take a chance of that happening again due to my lesson.)
The JTE throws the ball toward the batter. The batter hits the ball and the students in the class try to catch the ball. Whoever catches the ball stands up and answers a question. I have a box of questions ranging in difficulty and, therefore, point value. Some examples of the questions I prepared are:
- What's your name? (1 pt.)
- Translate eraser. (1 pt.)
- Correct the sentence: I be going to the store. (2 pts.)
- Arrange the sentence: me/uncle/bike/my/bought/month/a/last (2 pts.)
- Make a question using the word "what" (or who, when, where, why, how, which). (3 pts.)
- How do you make taco rice? (4 pts.)
The questions really can be about anything. I randomly pick a question and ask the student who caught the ball. If the catcher can answer, then the batter is out. I usually give them five seconds once I know they've understood the question. If they can't answer, then the batter gets a chance to answer. If the batter answers correctly, his/her team gets a point and gets to go to a base. I make first, second, third, and home plate cards and post them in the room in an approximate diamond shape. One point questions are singles so they go to first base. Two point questions are doubles so they get to go to second base. Three point questions are triples, and four point questions are home runs. If a batter makes it around the bases to home plate, then the team gets an extra point. (This rarely happens since many of the questions are so easy.) If the batter can't answer the question, then I ask if anyone in the class can give the answer. Whoever does earns a point for his or her team.
They get three strikes and three outs. It works pretty closely to the way American baseball is played. For example, if someone is on first and the next batter correctly answers a three point questions, then the first student gets to go to second, third, and home earning an extra point for his/her team, while the second student stops at third base.
I've played it with several classes now and I think I've tweaked it to about as perfect as I can. If you have any suggestions, let me know by commenting.
Enjoy!
Monday, July 6, 2009
Earthquake
Today at 7:35 this morning there was an earthquake 95 miles south-southeast of Naha, and, unlike the one earlier this year, I felt it. O.o I felt the the earth move under my seat. (Yes, I was sitting down at the time.) Fortunately no sky tumbled down. Unsure as to whether what I felt was real or not, I checked outside and everyone was going about their daily business as though nothing had happened. I thought either it was an earthquake or a very strange aura for an oncoming migraine. Since there was no damage, I'm glad it was the former.
When I got to school I checked on this website to verify what I felt. http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/quakes_all.html#DISCLAIMER
It's hard to believe just how many earthquakes occur during the week. I guess that's because the news only reports when massive damage and deaths occur, which, fortunately, is not too often.
When I got to school I checked on this website to verify what I felt. http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/quakes_all.html#DISCLAIMER
It's hard to believe just how many earthquakes occur during the week. I guess that's because the news only reports when massive damage and deaths occur, which, fortunately, is not too often.
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