Archive for April, 2015
April 14, 2005 – Expanded responsibilities
Posted by Barniferous in Teaching English on April 14, 2015
I have received a promotion of sorts at work. I am now the Voice co-ordinator at Mishima NOVA.
Voice is an open conversation classroom at NOVA that allows students of all levels to go and speak English. Most of the time the room is open to any type of conversation, but occasionally the branch will offer a special topic. I have done special topics on hockey, creating a resume, calling in sick, and some of the finer points of English grammar. Guess which of those I enjoyed the least…
As the Voice co-ordinator, it is my responsibility to make a plan for the next 6 months of special topics, and assign teachers to each of them. I had the same responsibilities when I worked at Kawasaki NOVA, but this time should be easier because I am now only scheduling 8 teachers instead of 23.
In other news: I somehow had another good kids class!?!?
April 13, 2005 – A good kids class!?!?
Posted by Barniferous in Teaching English on April 13, 2015
A good kids class!?!?
The English teaching gods are smiling on me today.
April 12, 2005 – Raising kids in Japan
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan on April 12, 2015
Today was another rainy day in Numazu. It literally rained all day. When you don’t have a car, rainy days can limit your ability to get around, at least if you are concerned about staying dry.
In the evening I went out for dinner at Bikkuri Donkey with The Penpal, one of her female friends, and the friend’s young son. The Penpal’s friend wanted to get her son some exposure to English from a native speaker. This is not uncommon – I have found that Japanese people put a higher value on the English they learn from native speakers, even speakers not trained as teachers, than English they learn from a Japanese teacher.
Over dinner, we talked about differences in how kids are raised in Japan and Canada. I was surprised to learn that in Japan it was common for children to share a futon with their mother from the time they are born until they start school. This would be very inconvenient for the father, and also very inconvenient for increasing the family size. I explained that in Canada, it’s common for children to have their own room, depending on the culture of the parents. This was surprising to both The Penpal and her friend, who had lots of questions about how a parent would know if child needs something. It was an interesting discussion for everyone except the young son.
Note to self: if I am going to raise children in Japan, have the discussion about where the children are going to sleep BEFORE making the children.
(2015 Update) As the proud parent of a 1 year old half Canadian, half Japanese boy, I can inform my wonderful readers that we came to a compromise on where our son would sleep. We are currently living in Canada, and sleeping in a nice, cushy queen sized bed. For about the first 6 months, our son slept in a bassinet in our room so we had easy access to him. After that, he moved to his own room across the hall to sleep in a crib. We can hear him easily from our room, and have a portable baby monitor for when we are anywhere else in the house.
I am sure our arrangement would have been different if we were living in Japan or sleeping on a futon, but I think we came to a good compromise.
April 11, 2005 – Rain on my day off
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan on April 11, 2015
Of course it has to rain on my day off. I call BS on this weather!
Steins;Gate The Game – A review
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Canada on April 11, 2015
A few years ago, my wife started telling me about a cool game she was playing called Steins;Gate. She described it as a dark sci-fi story about time travel from one of her favourite game companies; Nitroplus.
After watching the excellent anime version on Netflix, I found out there was an official English translation of the game available. I got it as a Christmas present, and dove in.
First off, Steins;Gate is more of a visual novel with some branching choices as opposed to an adventure game. You play Okabe Rintaro, an aspiring mad scientist in Akihabara. Rintaro spends his time hanging out with his friends (referred to as lab members), attempting to come up with new inventions and overthrow The Organization. The story revolves around the accidental invention of a time machine consisting of a cell phone and a microwave, but is driven by your interaction with your group of lab members. Everyone takes turns making small changes to the past, which end up having catastrophic effects.
Decision points are very subtle and all involve your cell phone: you can choose to answer or ignore incoming calls, you can choose to send or not send messages to the past, and you can choose if and how to respond to texts. There are 6 different endings based on how the story progresses.
What I found interesting about the game was the level of immersion. Because you are reading the story from the main character’s POV, you are really becoming the main character. You experience what he experiences. You have to make choices that could result in the death of your friends.
Make no mistake, this game gets dark. One possible ending involves Okabe reliving the same few days over and over to avoid having to let anyone die. Eventually he / you start considering all of the horrible things you can do and get away with. One possible timeline involves a homicidal little girl bent on revenge. And most plot lines involve watching your close friend Mayushi die over and over again despite your best efforts. Your character does not die, so all of the endings have you living with the results of your choices.
Even though it gets pretty dark, the game itself is very interesting. It’s very well written, well translated, immersive, and even comes with a glossary of otaku words and science terms. By the time you get to any of the endings, you will feel like you have spent weeks in Akihabara on a grand adventure.
If you like well written sci-fi, Japanese geek culture, or time travel stories, play this game. It’s worth your time.
April 10, 2005 – Pick it up
Posted by Barniferous in Teaching English on April 10, 2015
Today in my NOVA kids class, my 6-9 year old boys decided to empty the garbage can on the floor and run around in circles instead of doing anything that resembled learning English. When the bell rang to end the lesson they all rushed to the door. I stood in front of the door holding the garbage can, made my most serious face, and then told them sternly “pick it up”. The kids looked at me like I was from another planet. I pointed at some of the garbage on the floor and again said “PICK IT UP”. Finally they started getting the idea, and reluctantly picked up the garbage. Nobody got to leave the class until every last scrap of paper was in the can.
If you are ever unsure about having children, I encourage you to teach English to a group of other people’s kids overseas. It is a great form of birth control.
April 7, 2005 – Flu or bad pub food? Also, Wrestlemania
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan on April 7, 2015
Not sure if I am fighting a flu or just ate some bad pub food last night, but I felt like death today and was not able to teach. I spent the day sleeping, trying to calm my stomach, and watching Wrestlemania 21.
Wrestlemania is usually a good show, and this year was no exception. The Money in the Bank match was an exciting stunt show, and Kurt Angle vs. Shawn Michaels was simply fantastic. The downside was a “sumo match” between Akebono and The Big Show.
Akebono is a household name in Japan. Born Chad Rowan, he moved to Japan to compete in the professional sumo ranks. He was very successful in sumo, largely due to his massive size. After nearly 8 years as a Yokozuna, injuries caught up with him and forced his retirement. A failed restaurant left him in debt, so he became an (unsuccessful) MMA fighter to make some money. Even though his best days are behind him, he is still well known and easily recognizable in Japan.
I have no idea what the WWE thought they were going to gain by staging a fake sumo match between Akebono and the Big Show. Sumo is not popular in America, Akebono is largely unknown, and the match itself was not very interesting. It really didn’t make much sense at all.
Also, The Big Show in a sumo thong didn’t do a whole lot to settle my stomach!
April 6, 2005 – Welcoming the new guy
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan on April 6, 2015
After work we took a new teacher out to Ryuu for cheap sushi and beer to welcome him to the team. Usually cheap sushi and beer is a great idea, but I started to feel pretty awful after I got home.
April 4, 2005 – Happy Birthday to my Sister!
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan, Visitors on April 4, 2015
Happy 25 to my sister! Check out some highlights of her adventures in Japan from last summer here:
Memorable Student – Mr. Three Times Marriage
Posted by Barniferous in Memorable people on April 2, 2015
During my three years in Japan, I met many memorable people. Today’s post is about Mr. Three Times Marriage.
Mr. TTM was one of my most memorable students from the Kawasaki area. He was a middle aged businessman who was in the second lowest level. In a group class he would always introduce himself as “Mr. Three Times Marriage”. On one occasion another student of equally low English level said that she didn’t understand the name. Mr. TTM asked me to help with the explanation. I explained it like this:
“He wasn’t married one time. He wasn’t married two times. He was married THREE times!”. I did this while counting on my fingers, Booker T style.
On another occasion, Mr. TTM gave some further explanation to one of my female coworkers. He explained in English that his first two wives had “escaped”, but his third wife was very strong. I sincerely hope he was just making an unfortunate choice of words from a limited vocabulary, and that none of his wives actually needed to escape.
All the best Mr. Three Times Marriage!
Drinking in Japan 
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