Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Too soon?
Hi everybody, happy Heisei 20. Something totally crazy happened this morning at school and I had to tell somebody about it, so I decided to tell Everybody on The Internets.
First, some necessary background information. At one of the six schools I work in, we use a little warm-up exercise called "My Name Game" to start each class. Everyone gets in a circle (students and teachers both) and someone introduces themselves by stating their name accompanied by some kind of gesture/action and a word or two. Since it's an English class, people tend to pick simple English words like "gorilla" (after pounding on their chest or dragging their knuckles on the ground) or "baseball" (after miming a home run swing). Then everyone repeats what just happened. It gets everybody up and moving, plus it helps everyone remember everyone else's name (especially me, since I have hundreds of other students I see each week).
Today's game went along without much of a hitch until we reached the (arbitrarily chosen) last boy. He introduced himself, stuck his arms out and started "flying" around the room. My first thought was "he's going to say airplane" since that's a word we had discussed once or twice before. But he kept "flying" as he made his away across the circle towards his homeroom teacher. He lowered his head, bumping into his teacher and then loudly "crashed" as he fell to the ground. Quickly, he stood up and said tero, the Japanese word for "terrorism."
This kid's warm-up pantomime was a cutesy re-enactment of September 11th. I was so taken aback I couldn't stop laughing.
Of course, before I knew the entire class "flying" around just like he did, because that's how the game works. The resulting chaos went on for what felt like an hour. I simply didn't know what to say or think, aside from a quiet realization that I had just witnessed another "Only in Japan" moment.
As a total aside, I'll be spending this upcoming weekend in Hong Kong. It's my first ever visit to China and I'm very much looking forward to it. I just hope the century of British rule has left behind an English language-friendly environment because neither Mako nor I speak any Chinese. I'm also hoping that decades of action movies have lied to me, because if anyone leaps through the air using two handguns (or performs any kind of flying kick) my head will explode.
First, some necessary background information. At one of the six schools I work in, we use a little warm-up exercise called "My Name Game" to start each class. Everyone gets in a circle (students and teachers both) and someone introduces themselves by stating their name accompanied by some kind of gesture/action and a word or two. Since it's an English class, people tend to pick simple English words like "gorilla" (after pounding on their chest or dragging their knuckles on the ground) or "baseball" (after miming a home run swing). Then everyone repeats what just happened. It gets everybody up and moving, plus it helps everyone remember everyone else's name (especially me, since I have hundreds of other students I see each week).
Today's game went along without much of a hitch until we reached the (arbitrarily chosen) last boy. He introduced himself, stuck his arms out and started "flying" around the room. My first thought was "he's going to say airplane" since that's a word we had discussed once or twice before. But he kept "flying" as he made his away across the circle towards his homeroom teacher. He lowered his head, bumping into his teacher and then loudly "crashed" as he fell to the ground. Quickly, he stood up and said tero, the Japanese word for "terrorism."
This kid's warm-up pantomime was a cutesy re-enactment of September 11th. I was so taken aback I couldn't stop laughing.
Of course, before I knew the entire class "flying" around just like he did, because that's how the game works. The resulting chaos went on for what felt like an hour. I simply didn't know what to say or think, aside from a quiet realization that I had just witnessed another "Only in Japan" moment.
As a total aside, I'll be spending this upcoming weekend in Hong Kong. It's my first ever visit to China and I'm very much looking forward to it. I just hope the century of British rule has left behind an English language-friendly environment because neither Mako nor I speak any Chinese. I'm also hoping that decades of action movies have lied to me, because if anyone leaps through the air using two handguns (or performs any kind of flying kick) my head will explode.
Feedback:
When leaving comments, please don't remain Anonymous. Click on "Other" and pick a name!
Be sociable! No sign-up is required!
Hi there Feitclub. I'm a special agent, and as I'm sure you're aware.. we're always on the lookout for new terror cells.
So, thank you for being an Ameri-CAN and sharing your intel with us.
I already have a ICBM with your kiddie's school name... I mean training camp name on it.
After the smoke clears, I'm sure the locals will make a god statue of you or something for helping them from under the oppressive thumb of the Brave Shogakkusei Brigade of Furiidomu Warrior.
Bet you feel great about your lil' trip to HK about now. The Peking duck is delish there.
So, thank you for being an Ameri-CAN and sharing your intel with us.
I already have a ICBM with your kiddie's school name... I mean training camp name on it.
After the smoke clears, I'm sure the locals will make a god statue of you or something for helping them from under the oppressive thumb of the Brave Shogakkusei Brigade of Furiidomu Warrior.
Bet you feel great about your lil' trip to HK about now. The Peking duck is delish there.
# posted by 
: 24 January, 2008 14:46
: 24 January, 2008 14:46
don't even tell your sister you started writing again!?! speechless on the 'tero' thing...wow. LOVE your writing...please continue! Oh, and, answer my emails...
コメントがあります？ Type something, please. It's less work for me.
When leaving comments, please don't remain Anonymous. Click on "Other" and pick a name!
Be sociable! No sign-up is required!
unpaid advertising...I'm no sell out!
