If you make a profound statement and no one is around to understand it, is it worth it?

After a layoff of a few weeks with my English Club, we got together again today after school. This time, the "real" teacher who heads the English Club was there too. He is the "real" teacher because he has access to the club's money and decides in general, what the club should do. He is also the "real" teacher because he hardly ever shows up and hardly ever tells us what to do. He is extremely nice and has invited me to climb Mount Fuji with him in November. As a side note, Mount Fuji has lost much of its clout amongst the other mountains. In fact, there are ramen shops all along the trail, and the smog and urbanization of Tokyo and the suburbanization of the surrouding areas has diminished its once fantastic views. I have this picture of me struggling with my pick-ax at 10,000 feet, face bloodied, body battered, clawing and scraping for every inch to the plateau. And when I finally get there, Ronald McDonald is waiting for me with a Happy Meal, as are the 10 children who climbed it faster than me.

Any way, back to the English club. Today, this teacher, Shunichii Sensei, told me that he would like the English Club to "challenge the TOEFL." TOEFL is the Test Of English as a Foreign Language. It is also no walk in the park. People who pass have a pretty good working knowledge of English, and they are expected to be able to comprehend slightly scholarly or technical articles. Basically, it is way harder than anything we teach at high school. I was immediately worried. In the span of three months, I have to try and get six girls who say things like, "What kind sports are you the play?" to be able to understand and answer questions about a paragraph on Sophacles.

After reading a couple books and looking at sample tests online, I decided that vocabulary is the component that we need to focus on the most. Many of the test questions revolve around understanding the meaning of words in context in a paragraph, and many of the other questions just ask for definitions straight away. Those kinds of factual questions mightily overpower analysis or reasoning questions. And that makes sense. This test just wants to see if a non-native speaker can understand what is being said. What they do with the facts is irrelevant.

I explained to them today our plan to attack vocabulary, which is 15 words per week, grouped according to similar words. For example, today we did "act." Then we did "action," "reaction," "react," "active," and another few I can't remember now. But, they all had "act" somewhere in them. In one of my first real teaching breakthroughs, I got them to understand that one can dissect English words just like one can dissect kanji. One can gain a general meaning of a word, or capture some insight, by knowing just one of the kanji of a string. For example,

自転車

The last character, by itself, means vehicle. And the first one means self. So, you can understand that the word has something to do with self vehicle. In fact it is a bicycle. A self powered vehicle. They understood my analogy, and I was ecstatic. So, 15 words a week turned into about 4 roots per week. I wasn't done there, though. I was feeling the teaching spirit, so I kept riding the metaphorical train.

"Memorizing words is not enough though! You must learn how to use them, and how to understand them. You must make them your own. That's why we need to read news articles and have discussions and write our own compositions. You need to become familiar with the English language. That's what it will take to pass the TOEFL. What do you mean you don't understand what I'm saying? [silence] Ok ok ok. Look at it like this. You have this pen. [Derek picks up pen] This pen is one word. No, wait. Ok, I got it. Let's say you have one hundred pens! [Derek spreads his arms wide] BUT! You don't know how to write. What good are your pens then, I ask? The pens are useless! [Derek throws pen down and small Japanese girls flinch] You can have red pens, and blue pens, and green pens, and purple pens, and orange pens...But if you don't know how to write, it doesn't matter how many colors you have! So, the pens are words. You can memorize all the words you want, but if you don't know how to use them to get your point across, they are useless. You must learn how to use your words just like you must learn how to use a pen for it to be any good. BUT! Its a two way street. In order to paint a great picture, you must have many colors. Understand?"

An odd silence followed, with puzzled faces around the room. Then, a look of realization spread across Rika's face. She got very excited and said to her fellow English club members, in Japanese, "He wants us to use different colors for our words. That way we'll remember them better!"

I learned, today, that one victory is enough for one day. Don't go for broke out of the gate or else you'll have nothing left to finish with. At least the flashcards will be colorful.

Here are some pictures that have nothing to do with what I wrote about. Enjoy.

Hanamaki Festival from a couple of weeks ago

A shrine thanking the Gods for a good harvest. I carried one for 3 hours. They are certainly heavy.

A mixture of co workers, ALTs, and people I met at a bar.

Mom, please do not worry. These beers were purchased solely for artistic exploration. (A few of these make any picture look good.) Dad, and fellow frat bros (E beth included), please do not worry. No beers were harmed in the making of this picture.
Jon, if you can zoom in, please notice what it says on the mug. "For a relaxing time..."