Comments on: How I nearly learnt Japanese

By: Alex Case

Alex Case — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:56:54 +0000

A: But he’s an MA qualified published TEFL teacher

B: No he’s not, he’s a very naughty boy

Actually, it was just my only possibly PC context in which to use “easy peasy japanesey”. I think I managed to semi-convince my wife that that British playground chant was because all British under tens thought Japanese girls are easy, and that’s why they ended up coming to Japan ten years later to teach, but that was in our early days when she still paid some attention to what I said…

By: Darren Elliott

Darren Elliott — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 09:00:41 +0000

See, I’m a bad person…. that was my whole blog post point….

I got level three though!

By: Alex Case

Alex Case — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 05:10:06 +0000

Level 2? Easy peasy Japanesey!

By: Darren Elliott

Darren Elliott — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:56:06 +0000

Alex – yeah, probably level two would be sufficient. But if you want the tenured jobs, you’ll need to do committee work and so on…..

By: Andy Mallory

Andy Mallory — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:31:45 +0000

For me – part of the attraction of living abroad is the detachment from the day to day trivia. I rely on the internet for news and my wife for any communicative needs. It might not be healthy in the long term but I’m wary of learning the language since I would then be obliged to hear what people are saying.

Friends in Korea often regretted being able to hear the racist drivel that Koreans (usually drunk and less than the brightest among them) would come out with as we walked past. For me it was water off a duck’s back since I didn’t understand it.

But motivation is key in language learning. These days I’m teaching small kids mostly and they’re motivated by fun games and being able to please the teacher!

Finding something about the culture you want to be able to understand is key to successful high level learning. How to inspire students? I think some can be inspired by catching a charismatic teachers love of football, music, comics or soome such. But often the students actually rebel and are turned off by such nerdy behaviour. Feigning interest in their interests is often a better way to motivate them to speak, and teaching learners to be able to take a genuine or not so genuine interest in the other people in the class has always been an important aim in my classes ever since I did my dip.

By: Alex Case

Alex Case — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:01:53 +0000

Really? You mean jobs that need JLPT Level 1 to apply?

By: Darren Elliott

Darren Elliott — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:05:02 +0000

Yes, I can understand the telly just fine… and there really is nothing worth knowing there. But how about career? Do you think you would have a better crack with better language skills? I know I would.

By: Alex Case

Alex Case — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:04:02 +0000

Well, Sandy, that’s all very well for you teachers with personality…

By: Sandy

Sandy — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:19:18 +0000

I was nodding my head in approval, Alex, until I hit that last sentence. I couldn’t disagree more – I long ago gave up teaching by typical methods, and now attempt to do so AND motivate the students through my classroom persona alone.

And I think it might be working…

By: Sputnik

Sputnik — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:25:11 +0000

Hmm, surely inspiration can be more subtle too. Your dedication, as evinced by your many worksheets and general mastery of your subject, is bound to be an inspiration for the hard slog that is learning a language. People usually have a reason for learning a language, but what they don’t have is a model for what it takes to learn a language – that patient accumulation of knowledge which is a long way from the fireworks of the more traditionally-conceived inspirational lesson.

By: David V.

David V. — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:09:52 +0000

You’re not the only one, see this kind of related thread at the forum…

http://eltworld.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2909

Nick, I agree. I find that I just don’t want to be involved in most of the Turkish conversations I could be a part of. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it.

By: Nick Jaworski

Nick Jaworski — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 07:53:13 +0000

I really feel you on this one Alex. While my Turkish is quite good, it could be much better. The problem, like you said, is finding interests in the language. TV shows here are pure drivel, the news is as idiotic as any in the US and more of the tabloid variety than anything. All the Turkish lit I’ve picked up either didn’t interest me or was not well written. People never talk about anything interesting. Discussion topics are inevitably food, football, or your family.

Do I inspire students in the class? I’m not sure I’ve ever gotten my students hooked on a band or lit that they weren’t already into. I do make them laugh a lot and throw some challenging topics at them that keep them up nights. I think that’s the best I got. It seems to work though, so no complaints.

Don’t be so hard on yourself and besides, you’re teaching kindy now. You don’t have to worry about being inspirational for another 10 years at least :)