Category Archives: Education
The Nishimura Family 西村家
On Saturday night, I went to have a final dinner with the Nishimura family. I used to live next door to them in the inaka (countryside) outskirts of Nakatsu during the first year that I lived in Japan, before I … Continue reading
Inheritance 相続 – the story of an atypical day in the life of a JET
Inheritance 相続 Don’t get too excited. I didn’t inherit anything. “Souzoku” (inheritance) is just the Japanese word-of-the-day. Read on to find out why: I had a rather atypical afternoon at work today. I spent it translating Portuguese legal documents into … Continue reading
Filed under Education, Japan, Japanese, Language, Personal, Portuguese, translation, Uncategorized
Quote of the day
I came across this quote today. It pretty much sums up my own life philosophy. “Own what you can always carry with you; know languages, know countries, know people. Let your memory be your bag.” -Alexandr Solzhenitsyn
What is Japenglinese?!
Japenglinese is a new blogging side-project that I started. The goal of this experimental project is to assist in the mastery of Japanese and Chinese vocabulary words. Basically, this blog will function as my personal learning notebook that will chart … Continue reading
Filed under Education, Japan, Taiwan, Uncategorized
Aerobics + English Lessons = Zuiikin Gals
Total Physical Response!!!
Filed under Education, Japan, Uncategorized
Student Teacher Demonstration Lesson
Yesterday, we had a student teacher, a university student in Education from a nearby university who is doing a week-long practicum at one of my junior high schools, teach a demonstration lesson to the first grade class (7th graders in … Continue reading
Filed under Education, Japan, Uncategorized
Japanese Educational Reform – Part 2
This quote from the New York Times article has been troubling me for the last day or so: “Japan has become considerably self-centered, meritocratic and egotistic,” said the principal, Kenji Tamiya, 72, a former Sony executive. Ok, so I can … Continue reading
Filed under Education, Japan, Politics, Uncategorized
The Future of Japanese Education – Patriotism and Militarism
There was an article in yesterday's New York Times (June 11, 2006) entitled "Japan's Conservatives Push Prewar 'Virtues' In Schools." The article talks about a new public school teacher training center in a middle-class ward of Tokyo run by conservatives, … Continue reading
Filed under Education, Japan, Politics, Uncategorized
I have a Chinese student!
I don’t know why this is blog worthy, but I found out today that I have a student from China in one of my first grade junior high classes (the equivalent of 7th grade in the U.S.) It guess it’s … Continue reading
Filed under Education, Japan, Uncategorized
inside a Japanese school
http://www.tcp.com/~mink/highschool.html Some essays written by an American woman who attended high school in Japan. These events took place over 10 years ago, but many of the observations are still relevant to my experiences working in Japanese schools.
