I have a new blog ↓ Please check here "EDUCATION JOURNEY"
お引越ししました!新しいブログのアドレスはこちらです↓
I have a new blog ↓ Please check here "EDUCATION JOURNEY"
お引越ししました!新しいブログのアドレスはこちらです↓
Every Friendays, I have a Japanese class to teach.
My student is an adult lady from China married to a man from Pakistan. That status already interested me enough and got curious what kind of person that is. What is she doing in Kobe? What sort of things is she interested in? Are we going to be good friends? Are we going to be able to share our beliefs and exchange opinions even we have such different "ways" of living?
KICC (Kobe International Community Centre) have a free Japanese lesson for foreigners who live in Kobe city for 6 months. This is a contract and even though it is a volunteer, Japanese teachers who are registered there are taking this very seriously and there are many new Japanese learners at so many different levels. Some are just beginners and will start their Hiragana and easy greetings and others will spend this class time talking about politics or business, or even to go over their graduation thesis, in JAPANESE!! Amazing.
So the first meeting was very nice. She looked very calm and peaceful and she was very relieved that I could use English so when she doesnt understand, I could help her out. We decided how we wanted to do this class, and agreed on "No textbook". She actually had studied her textbook but she had forgotten almost everything so she wanted to keep up with her everyday conversation skills.Well, i thought then it is better to "practice" than "learn" so i asked to
1.Come up with a question for me.
2.Write a short diary of what she has done that day or the week.
3.Review what we studied in class.
Thats all- and i used picture cards and picture dictionaries that KICC has. It is much more useful to use these materials than all "written" sentences with no illustration, it bores me out, and it bores me out so badly that i almost hate to teach.....
So this idea worked very well. and we are using "絵で見る日本語” picture dictionary in Japanese and the last lesson we did the page onはなしあう、 やくそくする。 and there are several senteances like やくそくどおり、のこさずたべる。
As we promised, he finished his plate.
so when we talk that in english it is so different so when we learn the language, it is so importatnt to THINK in that language as well, if we translate everytime, it takes time, and its waste of time.... so she really like my class so far and i love my student so far. We both love cooking. so we never run out of cooking topic. She wanted to know how to cook さといも、so i gave her the idea on 煮付け。 煮付け is a very common japanese dishes and you can almost 煮付け everything/ fish, vegis, meat, and she tried it and actually brought the potatos then after a lesson, i was off so she invited me to go to her friend's house with her.
At first i thought it was really nice and a very "foregin" way because a Japanese person would never ask to go with them to a friend's house without asking that friend first for a permisssion but i could tell she and this friend are very close and welcome new friends so of course i said "YES, i would LOVE to" so we walked and walked then went to se a new friend.
it was a family from Pakistan, and i met a lady and her three children. The youngest was just 2 months old and he was soooooooooooo adorable. A three year old girl, she was the most beautiful girl i had every seen in my life. She had such a beautiful eyes and curious look on her face "who is this new person who has been looking at me and smiling so big" i often told her "come here and play with me! do you wanna show me your toys?" and her mom was very happy that i liked kids and i was friendly with her. When i got invited in, i sat at the table and just relax, and the ladies started cooking in the kitchen. I was very comfortable. In Japanese houses, normally when you go in, you are to sit and pick what i wanna drink and just do nothing, but I also went into the kitchen and just had a casual conversation like we were friends from before. I felt so right and comfortable with them somehow even i dont know them and i just met them. It was a Japanese kitchen but it smelled different since there were different kind of spices and they were cooking Chapati, which is bit like Soft Taco shell, and just fell in love with this taste. and i ate and ate. This was the good thing about them too, because they offered me food and told me to eat a lot, and i took their words, and i didnt have to worry that I was eating too much or something like that, like i worry a lot at Japanese friends house. We talked a lot about education, and also told each other about ourselves, where they shop for gloceries, and all that. She also asked me what do I think of drinking the tap water after the Tsunami because of the radiation stuff, and I told her im not so sure since i have filter and its no problem but i would be extra careful with an infant, i mean its never too much to be careful^^
And after sometime, the three year old girl got used to me and she started to play with me. We played some lego, and i held a two month old baby and really felt "Oh my gosh, how would someone hurt this precious thing, i cannot believe the abusing/ Im holding a human being, and i would do anything, everything to protect him. love him. and care for him"
i could feel that to a friend's baby, and im sure I will be so spoiled to my own. hahaha!! but the three year old big sister, is not big enoigh, she came to me and wanted to cuddle. I felt it was so sweet and i cuddled her and sang to her. "You are the cutest girl ive ever seen, and you are the sweetest ive ever known, your eyes are so beautiful and i fell in love with them. you are the center of the world and only one...." and she was soooooooooo cuddly and i kind of senced that she was jelous, everyone is so cuddly and huggy with the baby but not a "big sister" and it makes her sad sometimes. I am an only child so i had never felt this way but as I have been teaching for years, now I know that the kids feel this way.
So we had a good bonding time, then now she didnt want me to go. I told her "i will come back and play with you more next time. So we became good friends today, right?" and she said "No"
I dont know how much she understood since she speaks her native language at home with her parents- but we actually didnt need words, i could understand kids, and kids understand me.... it was so sweet. She even told that she was coming with me!! haha.
Well after unexpected food and god conversation, we left her house and stopped by at the small foregin food store where you can buy different spices and veges. In front of that store there is a Muslim Musk where my friends visit often. I had never seen that or maybe didnt pay attention before.
So last Friday was such a worthwhile for me, people who have different believes and background cam come together and sit at the same table to eat same food. I know its not that simple- but even for a shor time, it was a Shrink of "world peace". To understand them, by listening to them, look in their eyes when you talk to them, share your ideas without being scared of judgments. they live their life in their own way with respects and they find happiness in that. I get curious to their life and have a peek, ask them questions and enjoy the conversation. When people are ignorant, they go ahead and judge people without knowing the truth, or even without trying to know the truth. Thats wrong. It doesnt mean we have to think the same way. I can respect their lifestyle. I dont have to copy it. I dont have to judge it. Just KNOW that there are this type of lifestyle.
I hope my friendship will last forever and more and more people will be friends no matter what situation. everyone wants to be happy, that is to all religion, all races, all spieces I think.
I learn so much by teaching. and this time, its not only by teaching children. I teach Japanese to an adult, that means I am kind of representing Japan. but i hope she will learn "me" through a "maybe Japanese" glass. Someday I want to invite them to my home. That would be so nice.
When a shop cleark say "good morning", do you say "good morning" back?
I was talking to my friend last night about it.
It seems like here in Japan, the relationship between a shop cleark and a customer is different from the one in America....
when someone says "hello"or "Good morning" in America you get an answer but here you dont...
Its like customers are paying to be "Bossy" and they dont have to say a greeting to a worker. i think thats wrong, i mean i was raised by my parents to say "hello" to people, so when i go into a shop and bought something, if they said "Thank you" i say "thank you" too....
What do you think?
There was an intresting newspaper article i wanted to share on education.
"Dialog is a very important opportunity to discover new things"
In everyday life, parents can use words such as
"Thank you for ......" "It really helps me that you are helping me"
Kids will be more confident with themselves :)
★ If your child hates studying or never do their homework until you force them..... "Prasie something other than academic matters"
That they are so gentle, strong, good at sports, and so on.
in Addition it is important to
ask for kids oponion, even if it seems difficult for them. They will feel that they are part of the conversation rather than they are left out. Even if they are little, they have opinion!
You dont have to correct a child and ry to make her/him someone thats not!
A human has good and bad.If you try to change that bad habit, sometimes the good also dissapears with the bad. You could close one eye and ignore it for a while, if you see things in a long run, you would think "Why did that bother me much?" Noone is perfect.
Educational Coach- Maki, Eto
Wrote "50 words to motivate children to study"
My dad, 83 year old Granma and I went to Wakayama for a DAY trip.
お父さんと、おばあちゃんと3人で和歌山に日帰り温泉旅行にいきました!
行ったのはひいなの湯、難波から1時間ほどでいけるので手軽な「たび」でした。
結構ばたばたするかとも思いきや、私は結構ゆっくりごはんのあとも昼ねする時間があったくらい!とってもいい場所だったので是非お泊りでも行きたい場所です。次もしいったら釣りか海水浴したいな!笑
I came up with this plan since my dad and my work schedule is a bit hard to coop (??) and if its a day trip, even we guessed it would be a litle rush, we can make it a good one.
If we came in summer time we could go swimming, near the hotel there is a beach and we actually saw some schoolkids playing around at the beach and also men fishing. It looked nice.
The food, and the onsen, room stay from 11am-4:30pm, bus ride from the station - hotel is included and it was around 20000yen for 3 of us!!
3人で20000円ちょっとでした★ これは日帰りプランで、温泉、昼食、部屋に4時半まで、そして駅までの送迎が込み! もちろん、温泉には入り放題。私達は1度しか入らなかったけど!
この温泉は、っとっても肌がつるつるになったのですごいラッキー♪な気分でした♪
i felt so much better after the onsen, and our skin was sooooooooooo smooth. even my granma felt so!!!! and great view, everything was so good!!!! woohoo!!!!!!
前に一度観た事があったけど、先日またUnited93という映画をみた。
Twintowerにつっこんだテロリストをのせた飛行機のほかにも、テロに成功しなかったというもうひとつの飛行機がUnited93 で生存者がいなかったということはその映画の中身の内容は
残ったものや記録とそのほかは想像なんだろうけど
その中でも得に印象に残ったのは 乗客がもう助からないと思ったときに
次々に家族や愛する人たちに電話をするシーン。
親切な人がこれであなたの家族にも連絡しなさいと電話をかしてあげる場面とかも
2回目なのに号泣;;
ほとんどの人が I just wanted to tell you I love you very much.
「ただ、愛してるってこと伝えたかったの。」 と言うの。
もし、自分が、「もう助からない。」って思ったとき
私は 誰に電話をかけて、何と伝えるんだろう?
って考えさせられたり。 アメリカ人って、「もういいって。」っていうくらいi love you って言うんだけど危機管理の概念っていうかいつなにがあるってわからないから、電話切る瞬間にi love you っていう習慣、いいなぁって思います。 yeah....
いつ 死ぬかわかんない、、、、でも そんなこと考えたくないけど、でも、だから、普段から
電話とかして連絡とって 自分の想いを伝えておきたいなぁって思う!
そんな話を昨日してたら今日mom が
いきなり昼電話してきて
「いま、仕事。 それじゃぁねー」
って。なんだ今の電話は?
って思ったんだけど、その後電話して話したら
「あの映画があったしさぁー。いつなにがあるかわからないからね。」って。
確かにそうだそうだ!
Thank you mom!
後からの後悔っていやだよね!