Jean Of mArc

In recent posts, I have been noticing a dwindling amount of comments after a post. The last one, about food, hit an all-time low of 0 comments. As a result, I must admit that I am much less motivated to write a new post. However this time, I am going to be asking for advice, so I hope you, dear reader, will respond!

As you know- or if you don’t know I’m about to tell you- my current employment is as an English teacher, and I am very much enjoying this experience. It has its ups and downs, as most things do, but overall it is very rewarding to try and share my language with the students to help improve their foreign communication skills. For my classes, the situation is always different: some teachers prefer to do most of the teaching, asking only for help with pronunciation and to read scripts, while others would like me to come up with activities for the students to do, while others want me to explain concepts in English, which is then translated into Japanese.

The problem with the classroom environment, though, is that there are too many students all at once, so getting them to improve their speaking skills is very difficult. Whenever I get them to speak out-loud to me in class, they are understandably very nervous because of the pressures not only of speaking with peers listening, but of speaking to a native. Whenever I get them to speak to each other, it’s very hard to monitor their pronunciation, grammar, understanding of usage, etc. Also, they could just be speaking in Japanese and I’d never know. Also, no matter how the class is run, the material must either come directly from or be closely related to the textbook material. This limits the possibilities.

However, on Mondays after school, I run an English Club, and I consider it to be such a unique opportunity for the students: it allows them to get a chance to really try to improve their English skills because there are only a few of them, so they can try talking with each other and with me in English. Therefore, when I first started the English Club, I was quite insistent that we try only speaking English with each other. Also, I tried teaching them some common English sayings that are not textbooky: for example “What’s up?” instead of “How are you?” We also did some self-introductions.

I handed out a survey about what they wanted from English club, and the biggest response was that they wanted to watch English movies. Fair enough. However, I also was getting the impression that they were having a very hard time with the English-only instruction that was being given. I tried going slowly and speaking clearly, but I could tell by the puzzled looks that not everything was being understood. When I asked if they understood everything, I just got blank stares, which I took to mean “no”.

So the next week, we were going to watch an English movie. I brought 3 to choose from, and we ended up going with Stardust. In order to help them out, I thought it would be nice to put the English subtitles on too, so in case they missed what was being said, they could at least read it. However, they seemed quite shocked that I wasn’t setting the subtitles to Japanese. However, having watched Japanese shows with English subtitles and barely learning anything from it, I know from experience that if you can see subtitles in your own language, you can more or less ignore the language it is being spoken in. You might learn certain words when said in isolation (for example, if they only say “Let’s go!” and the subtitles says “いくぞ!” then it’ll be pretty clear what it is). However, as a whole, it’s very hard to actually learn a language that way.

Because this was so difficult, I paused the movie and tried to explain things at very regular intervals. However, I think that even a slow, paced explanation in English may have been too much. After the movie, I asked if they would prefer to try and continue working with this method, or just put on Japanese subtitles. The latter got the favour.

So, the next time we had English club, I’m sad to say that the number of attendees was much lower. I guess they found it too difficult. I brought some episodes of Full House (which my predecessor recommend that they liked) for them to watch. It was kind of funny watching them again because I used to watch it as a kid and it was strange to see it all over again. However this time there were Japanese subtitles. They had no problem understanding what was going on, of course, but I don’t feel like it was useful in improving English understanding.

I decided that the least I could do was make up a list of expressions that I heard in the show and give an explanation of how to use them. So I gave that to them the next week, and then we played some card games. However, they were very quiet games, because most of my attempts to initiate some English conversations were met with mostly silence, and there was very little chatting going on between them.

This past week, I tried something different: I booked the kitchen so that we could try baking some chocolate chip cookies together. I brought all the ingredients, but sadly, all the members had to back out that day, so we will be trying that again next week.

Anyway, I have to admit I’m at a bit of a loss. I feel like I know what to do for classes and such, but I can’t seem to find the balance between actually helping them learn some English while not making it too difficult for them.

I was talking to some other ALTs, and they have faced similar situations as well. One ALT, named Mark, is planning on sending me some ideas that I can try out. However, I want your advice too! What do you think I should do about this? Should I just choose non-language-related things, which end up being mostly silent, or should they be English-related, but then it’s very difficult and people don’t want to come? I don’t know.

And if your advice is to try and find out what THEY want, I’ve already tried that… but I’m not really getting much response about it. In general I find that if you suggest an idea, students are willing to go with it, but it’s because you are the teacher and they are the students and they think they should do what it is the teacher wants. How they actually feel about it is a bit of a mystery, even when you ask about it…

Anyway, this is by no means a complaint, but rather a request for some advice about how to find the balance between actually learning some useful English, while not making things too difficult. Many ALTs say that English Club should be relaxing and fun, but I find that even the “fun” things aren’t getting an enthusiastic response. So, I’m a at a bit of a loss. What do you think?

One of the most interesting and unique things about visiting different countries is the particular palette of food that is offered there. This includes what you find in the grocery store, what you get from chain restaurants, and what you get when you go to a locally-owned restaurant run by a man who thought it was a good idea. It’s also a good topic to discuss, because everyone likes food. Whenever you don’t know what to talk about, food is a good choice. Even if you’re not talking about, the suggestion of going out to eat is something most people think is a good idea.

So, I thought that it would be interesting for everyone else to read about some observations I have had regarding the food here in Japan.

First of all, I’m pretty sure I know what you’re thinking: Japan? Food? I’m already an expert. You eat sushi day in and day out! Well, the short answer to that is: no, actually, I don’t. In fact, in Hirosaki there aren’t that many sushi places to choose from (but thankfully, the ones that ARE here are quite good). In fact, sushi is NOT an everyday thing to eat here. Yes, you can get it pre-packaged freshly every day at any number of combini (convenience stores) or suupaa (grocery stores). But then again, in Canada, you can get pre-packaged cut-up fruit trays… but how many of those do most of us eat in a normal day? The truth is, sushi is treated here more-or-less the same way that it is treated back home: something that you say “Hey I know! Let’s go out and eat some sushi!” And everyone says “Yeah! I haven’t had that in a while!” Of course, they don’t say “Ewwwww raw fish!!” because it’s delicious… and you should like it too.

On the topic of sushi, the sushi here is (as expected) very good. However, I was surprised to find out that it tastes very similar to the kinds I’ve had back in Canada. I figured since “Chinese food” in Canada is kind of a joke compared to the real thing, that sushi would be the same, but it’s actually quite similar. Some choices are the same: tuna, salmon, egg… but of course, many of the choices are quite different: back in Canada you could get some with cream cheese in it, or (my favourite) the dragon roll with has tempura bits in it and is wrapped in avocado (I’ve been told you can get that here, but I have yet to see it). Here in Japan, most sushi concentrates on one main ingredient: seafood on top. You can get fish, like at home, but also squid, eel, octopus, shrimp, scallop, etc. Of course, most of it is raw, and most of it I can’t eat due to allergies, so I just stick with the safe bets.

Sushi here is served via conveyor belt. The chefs put sushi on a plate and place it on the belt, and it goes around to tempt the customers. If you want it, just take it off the belt and enjoy. At the end, they count your plates and you pay accordingly. I’ve seen this in Calgary, but it’s not as common in Canada overall. In some restaurants, the sushi chefs are in the middle of the circular belt, chopping up fish, shaping the sushi, using wasabi to stick them together, etc. If you want a particular order of sushi, just yell out the name of it and it’ll be coming right up!

So what do the Japanese people eat on a normal day? Well, like back home, there is a lot of variety: you’ve got Japanese food (duh), Chinese food, Korean-style BBQ, Italian food, “American” food (ie. McDonald’s), Indian food (the real deal!), etc. But on a regular day, I often see these 2 things:

A) Bento – a boxed lunch. These are cheap, are all the same, and are changed everyday. The cafeteria at our school allows staff to order them before 11:00, and at 11:30 comes to the office to deliver them to whomever ordered them. The cost is 450 yen (or about 5.00$ Canadian). These usually have a good mixture: something salty, something meaty, rice, a little dessert, a little garnish, and some soup.

B) Curry Rice – This is a very common dish here, except that the Japanese curry is very different from Indian curry: it is darker, sweeter, less spicy, and thicker than Indian curry. Honestly, I like both Indian curry and Japanese curry a lot, but I can’t decide which I like better: they are so different that they are hard to directly compare. So I guess it depends more on my taste-buds for each day.

But, by far, the dish that I see people eating the most up here in Hirosaki, and the dish I eat the most:

RAMEN!!

Ramen is what we back home would call “noodles”, except that the dish tastes are so different it’s almost an insult to call what we eat in Canada ramen. The ramen they serve here is delicious! First of all, the sauce is often home-made, not from a packet. The most common flavours are miso, salt and shouyu (soya). Second, they usually have a number of different spices, vegetables and other garnishs in them. Finally, they usually have some sort of substantial extra in them, such as slices of cooked pork, slices of egg, etc. It is served piping hot, and is intended to be slurped down as loudly and quickly as possible. Of course, I don’t like to rush my eating, so I take my time with it.

My favourite ramen shop is actually right at the corner of the school I work at. It’s called “Mendorak”, and is run by a man and a woman (perhaps married). Neither of them speak any English (or if they do, they are avoiding it well), which is good because it gives me a chance to practice my Japanese. The woman is very nice, and finds everything I do funny (probably because I’m a foreigner and am probably doing everything wrong), and the man is pretty quiet but always busy preparing dishes for people. They usually know what I’m going to order, because I usually order the same thing: Saishoku to Nyuu Tantanmen. It’s absolutely delicious. Roughly translated, it is “Vegtables and Milk Spicy Ramen”. I’d never thought of having something that was both spicy and creamy before, but it’s an amazing blend, and it is the restaurant’s specality: they invented it. It comes loaded with carrots, sprouts, celery and some other stuff that I don’t recognize. Here is a photo of the delicious dish itself:

One of the best things about this particular restaurant is that the longer you stay there, the more side-dishes that you get for no extra charge! The woman will just had you some pickles, or some pumpkin, or whatever else she decides to give you! And she’s discovered I really like iced coffee with milk in it, and since then she’s almost always given me a free glass of it at every visit.

Speaking of service, Canada has a lot to learn from the Japanese: the service you get in Japan is far beyond what I’m used to. Of course, it’s a bit of a show: they don’t ACTUALLY think the world of you just because you’re a customer, but still, it is nice to be treated like someone who is paying money to them to run the business.

The most noticable example of this is if you go to a fast food kind of place. In Canada, this is considered kind of a low-end beginner’s job: you don’t expect much of the service, and the service doesn’t expect much of you. However in Japan, working for fast food is actually kind of prestigious because you are working for a big company, and that’s a bigger deal here. To give you an idea of the difference, let’s compare a Canadian fast-food donut shop (ie, Tim Horton’s) to a Japanese fast-food donut shop (ie. Mister Donut):

Tim Horton’s: You enter, wait in line, and get up to the counter. The staff member at that point finally notices you exist, and says “Can I take your order?” to which you list everything off. You drop a penny on the ground, and you say “oops” and pick it up. They tell you how much your order is, you pay it, they give you the food, and you are forgotten about.

Mister Donut: As you enter, you are welcomed from behind the counter to the shop by the staff. You get in line, which is usually short, and when it’s your turn, you begin listing off what you would like. You drop a yen (ie penny) on the ground, and the employee runs from BEHIND the counter to your side, picks it up, gives it back to you, and then runs back behind the counter again. You only want a coffee and a donut. They tell you how much it is, you give the money, and they ask you to sit down. Within a little bit, they come to wherever you’re sitting and bring you your donut on a plate with your coffee, and a glass of ice water on a tray. As you’re enjoying your food, your coffee starts to get low, but loe and behold there is already a staff member behind you, ready to refill your cup. You simply hand it over, they refill it, and you continue to enjoy your stay.

This is EXACTY what happened to me when I visited Mister Donut once. There are disadvantages to this: the staff welcoming every single guest is quiet loud and over-whelming, and in general the food is more expensive (126 yen for a donut), but you can see the difference! Of course, this will not be the same EVERYWHERE you go, but in general the service is of a much higher standard here.

Finally, getting back to food, another commonly-served dish here is Okonomiyaki. Basically “however you like it”. It’s probably the Japanese equivalent of a pizza, since it has a flat, circular base and is served a number of different ways. The base is sort of like a pancake, made with soy wheat, cabbage and yam, held together by an egg. It is then topped by special sauces, which I can’t remember the name of, and you often put fish flakes on it (though, that makes them dance a bit, which turns some people off). The beauty of this is that you can go to restaurants which let you fry them yourself, so you get a bowl with the ingredients and you can cook a number of small, fresh ones, and eat them all differently. Also, Japan seems to be a big believer in giving you a cup and letting you go pour your own drinks from a selection, and you can do it endlessly until you leave.

Well, this certainly isn’t an exhaustive list of the foods and services available in Japan, but it is an introduction! I’ll probably have to talk more about it in another post, but for now this should do juuuuust fine. I hope you’re feeling hungry now! Go eat!

Gochisosama Deshita!