Archive for 2014
October 5, 2004 – A bomb with skull and crossbones
Posted by Barniferous in Drinking, Friends and coworkers, Karaoke, Lux on October 5, 2014
Today was another rainy day in Kawasaki. Lux is leaving for vacation to Canada for 3 weeks on Wednesday. Before she leaves, Zoe and I decided to take her out for dinner at Gyukaku. Yum!
After yet another fantastic dinner of grilled awesomeness at Gyukaku, we went out to karaoke at a place close to Noborito station on the Tama River. I can’t remember the name, but it was great! The song selection was huge; I sang the theme from Sesame Street, 21st Century Digital Boy by Bad Religion, and Sugar by System of a Down.
The drink menu was also huge, with a very long list of different cocktails available. The ingredients for each were all written in Japanese. I could only understand about half of the menu, but one drink caught my attention. The picture showed a clear, bubbly drink that looked like a gin and tonic. However, there was a picture of a bomb with a skull and crossbones next to the drink. Taking this as a challenge instead of a warning, I ordered the mysterious cocktail.
For the record, I have never tried drinking industrial strength drain cleaner before, but I am pretty sure that it tastes better than the bomb cocktail. Blerg!
October 4, 2004 – The heater is on
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan on October 4, 2014
The temperature dropped about 10 degrees overnight, and it didn’t warm up at all today. I now have my heater on as I am typing this in my room. Since I don’t have internet in my room at the moment, I am creating blog updates on my PC, saving them to my memory stick, and then uploading them when I go to the internet cafe.
It was cold and rainy all day, so I really couldn’t be bothered to do anything other than watch a whole lot of CSI. I will try to do something productive tomorrow.
Probably.
October 3, 2004 – Mick Foley debates
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan, Teaching English on October 3, 2014
Today I did my first level check, and it was fun! The student seemed really nervous, but I would probably also be nervous if I suddenly had to speak a second language to a native speaker for 20 minutes.
After work I went to the internet cafe “just for an hour”. I caught up on a lot of old email, and then found a streaming video of pro wrestlers Mick Foley and John Bradshaw Layfield debating about the upcoming US election. No chairs or elbow drops were used. It was refreshing to see two wrestlers sounding intelligent and well informed, which is much different than the characters they play in the ring. The WWE gets a lot of grief from people, but they do a lot to encourage people to vote.
I ended up leaving after spending four hours in the internet cafe. Stupid entertaining internet.
October 1, 2004 – New textbook
Posted by Barniferous in Kawasaki Nova, Teaching English on October 1, 2014
I was not at my best after last evening’s festivities. Thankfully, my hangover headache went away just before my group kids class started.
Today was the first day of the new NOVA textbook. The new textbooks are currently only available for low level students, but we did receive a set of good lesson plans to use with the existing outdated textbook for mid and high level students. The new plans are a big improvement over some of the teacher created lessons that are currently being used. This should greatly cut down on lesson prep time and open up a lot of old lessons for students who are stuck in level.
So far there is a mixed reaction to the new textbooks and lesson plans. Students are not used to the new method, and don’t want to pay for new teaching material. Teachers who have created some of their own good lessons are not keen to follow a script in the classroom. Nobody likes change, but I think that when people get used to the new lessons they will like them.
September 30, 2004 – Beer and Food Factory
Posted by Barniferous in Drinking, Friends and coworkers on September 30, 2014
Today was Phoala’s last day at NOVA. He is returning to Australia in the near future. To celebrate, most of the teachers went out after work to a place called “Beer and Food Factory” in Kamata. You can get 1200 yen all you can drink if you order one or two small food items from the menu. As you can imagine, the English teachers took full advantage of this offer.
Like many parties in Japan, there was a second party afterwards. Since I had to work the next day, I decided to be responsible and go home instead of pulling an all-nighter. I somehow managed to find the station, return to Kawasaki, and then catch the last Nanbu line train back to Noborito.
(2014 Update) The last train out of somewhere like Shibuya is usually lively and crowded, full of energetic young people. The last Nanbu line train leaving Kawasaki is full of business people (and English teachers) who look like they are already regretting their choices for the evening.
September 29, 2004 – New teaching method
Posted by Barniferous in Kawasaki Nova, Teaching English on September 29, 2014
I got training on the new teaching method today. NOVA is switching their system as of Friday. There will be a lot less preparation time with lessons, and also a lot less flexibility. This should ensure an even quality of lessons with different instructors, and a lot less thinking for us teachers. I am not sure how I feel about the change yet, but I am optimistic.
(2014 Update) The NOVA teaching method was long overdue for a change. The old method was based on an English textbook from the 1980’s used to teach English to immigrants in America. The pictures and dialogues were hilariously outdated. One lesson in particular was based around a letter written to a hotel to make a reservation in the future. Who makes hotel reservations by letter?
There were 40 lessons per level. Teachers were supposed to find some target language in the lesson material (usually grammar or vocabulary) and invent a situation where the student would use that language. The lesson often had little to do with the textbook material. Coming up with a situation and building a lesson around it was not always easy to do. Lesson quality and difficulty could vary wildly depending on the experience and creativity of the teacher.
The newer system was based on teaching a variety of language for a particular situation. The situations are usually common like choosing a restaurant, asking a friend for a favour, or hotel complaints. The lesson would introduce some vocabulary and sentences that could be used in the situation, and provided a chance to practice the new language. At the end, students were given different parts in a role play situation and had to use the new language.
The new lesson material was created by a team of experienced teachers, and provides templates and all needed material for better lessons. Since the lessons matched the textbook material, students could review outside of the classroom. It was a huge improvement for both teachers and students.
September 27, 2004 – VCR Clue
Posted by Barniferous in The Penpal on September 27, 2014
Today The Penpal came to visit. She was pretty excited about my upcoming transfer to her part of Japan. Living in Numazu will allow us to see each other much more often.
We hung out and tried to play the Clue VCR Game. This was a favourite from when I was a kid. Similar to the classic board game, the goal was to solve a murder faster than the other players. To play, you watch some scenes featuring the Clue characters, and then draw some cards with clues on them. For example, the card will say “the character who ate beef at dinner is the killer”, or “the weapon that Professor Plum had in the library is the murder weapon”. It is a pretty cool idea, but like many VCR games from the 80s, the execution left something to be desired.
The English was a bit too challenging for The Penpal and I to play the game together, but we did enjoy watching the video and laughing at the over the top acting. In the evening we went to Gyu-Kaku for dinner, because Gyu-Kaku is awesome.
Interesting note: today was the first time that it has ever rained when The Penpal and I spent time together. Every other time it has been sunny or the rain just finished before we met. For a country that gets a lot of rain, this is pretty impressive.
September 26, 2004 – Digital Camera
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan on September 26, 2014
This is the 8 megapixel version of my new camera!
Today I finally went out and bought a digital camera! I went to the big Yodobashi Camera near Kawasaki NOVA and bought a Canon IXY 4 megapixel camera with a 256mb memory card. I was looking for something in the 4 megapixel range with optical zoom that was point and shoot. This camera met all of my requirements, and the price was pretty good too.
I managed to make the entire purchase using Japanese. Very simple Japanese, but I still felt pretty proud of myself. The salesperson was very polite and patient. Yodobashi Camera rules!
September 25, 2004 – Birth control
Posted by Barniferous in Teaching English on September 25, 2014
Teaching English to children is a very effective form of birth control. Some days they are HORRIBLE.
September 24, 2004 – Japaniversary!
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan, Teaching English on September 24, 2014
Today is my one year Japaniversary! I can’t believe I have been living in Japan for a year already!
Even more exciting, I got official notification of my transfer. As of November 1st, I will be living in Numazu and working at NOVA’s Mishima branch. Woo hoo! More information as I get it!
Drinking in Japan 
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