Oh High School, glad to see you never change

Hi guys,

So as many of you know, I've been part-time teaching English here in Japan since it's by far the easiest way to get a visa.  Usually, I teach business English in one-on-one lessons, but occasionally I do other things.  One day a week, for instance, I teach an hour-long English class at a private high school--which is very different indeed from one-on-one with adults.  But I manage

One interesting note about teaching English is that it's always a good idea to keep in mind the first language of all the students (in this case, Japanese, duh).  For instance, take the concepts of articles and plurals:  A/the pencil, an/the eraser, the scissors.  This is no problem for Spanish speakers, because those concepts exist in Spanish: Un/el lapiz, una/la goma, las tijeras.  They do not, however, exist in Japanese--every noun has a single form no matter how many there are, and there are no articles.  It makes sense when speaking, you just always have to make sure to use the other words to contextualize

Thus, concepts like the definite versus the indefinite article (adding in the fact that there is no indefinite article for plurals), go from being whisked past on the first day of class to actually somewhat advanced.  Well, not advanced, but certainly worth reviewing to make sure they have it (because hell, I have problems with this concept with my adult students)

My point is that going through simple sentences like "I have/want/like _____" shows up even in high school classes, where they have a pretty good command of the language due to the past man years of taking English classes.  Anyways, that was just background so that you can fully appreciate my latest work of Art.  Inspired by true events, I've written a one-act (one-scene, really) play entitled "High School Humor"



"High School Humor"

A play in One Act

by Noah T***

Inspired by true events

SCENE 1

[Many desks are arranged in a circle.  TEACHER stands at the head of the classes, with STUDENT A, STUDENT B, STUDENT C, and chorus seated in the desks]

TEACHER:  "Ok, so we'll go around.  Everyone make a sentence with 'I want' and then anything you want.  STUDENT A, you go first"
STUDENT A:  "I want . . ." [thinking]
STUDENT B:  "A girlfriend!"
[all laugh]
STUDENT A:  [still thinking]
STUDENT C:  "A boyfriend?"
[all laugh much harder]

CURTAIN



It's comforting to know that some things don't change.  Not just the subject matter, but the fact that managing to make a joke in foreign language class turns even the meagerest of japes into a Wildeian witticism.  But mostly the picture-perfect format of this conversation that could happen probably in any language in any country in the world

By my estimate, I am 10 years, 5,000 miles, and 3 lifetimes away from that fateful first period Japanese class.  So long ago.  But the point is, I'm pretty sure that joke would have gone over just as well.  Hell, I wish I still had the ability to ask for confirmation, because there's a decent chance we had pretty much that exact same exchange.  If I had to guess, I was probably STUDENT B

Noah out