U for "Use It, or Lose It."

Use it, or lose it.
This is very true, especially when you are talking about language. I've seen so many returnee kids who are losing their English ability. I'm now in the environment which I rarely use English as a communication tool. (I speak English in the lessons, but that is not really the communication I mean. I'm talking about the situation which English is essential for everyday life.) Am I going to lose the ability to understand this language some day? Thinking about that scares me. If I lost my English and couldn't understand what my friends say, I would feel like I had left valuable assets behind. So, I really appreciate my friends who talk to/chat with/write to me in English. This journal is one of my effort to keep my language skill present.

Speaking of kids' English, I regret to say as a teacher but it is impossible for kids to be able to speak a foreign language with just taking a lesson twice a week, however long they keep studying. Many mothers, and even I would if I had a child, expect their sons and daughters to be able to communicate fluently in English after a year or so, but in reality, that doesn't happen. Well, they may be able to read, write, and understand what the teacher says, but speaking always comes last and requires lots and lots of input and determination. Adults might be able to achieve the goal by their patience and passion, but for young learners, they must be put in the environment where there is no choice but using English to understand mutually with instructors and pals.

When you learn a new language, this question always bothers me: whether you should learn it through your mother tongue or immerse yourself in that language. My former work place in Canada has an English Only policy in teaching, so I used to believe in it. But now, I'm kind of in between, especially for adults. This is probably because I learn new vocabulary with Japanese translation, and it works quite well. But I'd like to add that I have spent more than 10 years to learn not to translate English directly to Japanese, or vice versa.

T for "Talking to a Baby"

*I intentionally wrote this entry in "writing test" style*

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Have you ever heard of "baby sings"? This is the title of a hand sign language for babies who is in the stage before they pronounce words and talk. This method was invented in the U.S. and is becoming popular in Japan. I think this invention is very practical for relieving mother's stress, strengthen the parent-child bond, and developing babies' communication skills.

Many moms are stressed when parenting toddlers partly because they don't know what they want and why they cry. Baby's cry makes not only a mother but people around them irritates or annoys. The parent wants to stop the baby screaming, but the child has no means to tell that she is just hungry. That creates enormous amount of stress on the caregiver. If the kid could tell what she has in her mind, it would make parenting much easier and more efficient.

It is heart-breaking to hear about mothers abusing or sometimes taking the life of their babies. In many cases, those parents would say, "That violence was a part of discipline." How could hitting a child to death be discipline? I consider that those incidents the result of lack of communication and bond between parents and their kids. Babies can only make some meaningless sounds and cry, but they are trying to convey their emotion through those signs. Probably mothers who currently can not have enough affection toward their young children were not able to decode their babies' signals to understand who they are. Baby signs would definitely help moms in this trouble.

Moreover, babies' sign language will draw kids' attention to mingle with people around them. These days, I see quite a few people have communication problems. They do not know how to carry on the conversation or sometimes talking to others itself makes them feel uneasy. I assume that those people do not have a chance to experience the joy of communication. Baby signs will develop toddlers' interest in "talking" to others and let them feel the enjoyment of being able to "say" what they want to say. This experience will help kids to keep progressing their skills of conveying their thoughts even after they shift into actual language.

From those points, I will conclude that baby signs are the effective method to understand children who are premature to talk verbally. They will let mothers free from a part of parenting stress, enhance love between mothers and young children, and help babies to positively learn how to communicate.
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....ah, I used to like writing compositions, but now, I don't. I failed Eiken 1st grade, and that was hugely because my essay was terrible. I obviously need more practice.
Anyway, I just wanted to tell you how cool "Baby Signs" are. My friend told me that she and her 1-year-old son went to a class to learn these signs and they started to use them in communication. It was amazing to see that the baby son shows the sign of "elephant" when he saw a picture of an elephant. He was learning how to do "horse" at that time, and he started using it as well. According to the website, this "language" helps mothers to understand why their babies are crying or bad tempered, and allow moms to give a necessary help to their children. I didn't even know that before-talking kids can actually communicate with sign language. It must be a great fun for parents if they can "talk" to their little sons and daughters. I was really impressed and awed by a human wonder.

S for "Swimming Pool"

Hi there :)

I got a gym membership the other day. I've been thinking of getting it for a long time, but couldn't make up my mind. I was lured by their New Year campaign (no registration till Jan 31st) and finally invested in my healthy practice. Now it's all up to me whether I make use of it.

To begin with, I went swimming to the gym today. When I registered, the lady at the reception told me that not many people use the swimming pool, and I would be able to enjoy swimming without feeling crammed. She was right. At 7:00 pm, there were less than 10 people in a 25M, 5-course pool. I found a vacant course and ended up occupying it all by myself until I get tired 30 minutes later. The water was clean and warm. The changing room was quite nice with some long lockers(the ones you can hang your coat without touching the bottom). I should be determined and come here at least once a week. I'm not a great swimmer, and I admit that swimming alone for 30 minutes is pretty boring. But for some reason, swimming is one of the few exercises that are doable for me.

They have various programs in the studio, so I'd like to participate in a yoga class some day ;)

It seems that I can expect a full-time work shift from April. There's no signed document, yet, but I'm pretty sure I can!!

R for "Resource pooling"

As I couldn't come up with the title with "r", I asked my friends to give me some ideas. Thanks to all my resourceful friends, now I can write an entry :) I got several words, so I'll try to use as many of them as possible in this journal. (Thank you, T, G, F, JC, JS, and S for brilliant words!!!)

Nowadays, my weekly routine includes more events. I've got two new tutoring students from this month, and I started to work on Saturdays. I found myself enjoying tutoring a lot. It is not very efficient to prepare for only one person, but you can focus on the student's development rather than maintaining the class atmosphere. My current challenge is a 6-year-old boy who doesn't really know ABCs. I teach young learners every week, but by the time I took over the classes from the previous teacher, they had already learned almost all the alphabets. Now I know how hard it had been to let them become familiar with all 25 letters. The boy I'm teaching is rambunctious, so I should direct his energy toward some kind of fun ABC game that he is willing to try. Since I forced him to do activities with alphabets for three lessons, I decided to introduce animal vocabulary today. He has known a lot of animal names already, so it was easy to let him remember ten words. Last night, I stayed up late to prepare a "monkey glove"(a brown glove that has a monkey face on each fingertip) and pictures of animals. My effort totally worked out. He enjoyed "Five Little Monkeys" song, tried to sing with me even though he didn't understand much of the lyrics, and liked the paper craft. Whew... I didn't spend much time on ABC today, but the most important thing is that he feels happy after the lesson. So I would call today's lesson a success.

Yesterday, I read a book about an educational method that was established by a Japanese day-care centre president. Although I thought not everything was true or effective to all the kids, it was very interesting. The president said that every children is a genius and has countless possibilities. I often see recalcitrant kids in my classes, but according to this book, it doesn't seem to be the kids' fault. Parents should never force their sons and daughters to learn. They should be strict, recognize their achievement, and let them think so that their children will learn by themselves. If you force your kids to study, they will hate to study. If you spoil them, they will never be independent. That is what the author says. This method solved one of my inner conflicts. I often lose control of my young students, but I didn't know how strict I should be. Now I know.

Now, I have to tell you about the English exam that I took the other day. I mentioned this some entries ago. This test is made in Japan and used by elementary school students to adults as a certificate of their English ability. I tried Grade 1, the hardest. (It starts from Grade 5, which is the easiest.) The Grade 1 test is famous for its maniac and impractically difficult vocabulary. When I first saw the vocabulary section, I thought it was totally ridiculous. Yeah, it was my fault that I didn't study much, but even my Canadian friend agreed that some of the words are not for everyday use. I could hardly understand any questions in that section, so I just believed my "sense." Considering that I took decent marks in the reading and listening section, my tasks for the next time will be vocabulary building and writing practice. Oh, and I should read newspapers to have my own opinions about social issues. By February 14th, I will know the test result. All I can do now is to keep my fingers crossed.

It's very cold here, but it might be nice to take a small trip to some part in Tokyo. I found very nostalgic looking cafes in the guidebook the other day. The pictures of old wooden floors of the cafes, redolent of good old days, drew my attention. I haven't explored the city for a while. It's about time I went out. It would make me feel rejuvenated and refreshed while so many things make me feel OLD these days!

Q for "Queer Dreams"

I have no idea why I often see very strange dreams. If I wrote a dream diary, it would be quite interesting, although most of the episodes make no sense. It started recently. This morning, I was moving into a new apartment with my family in my dream. I seemed to like the new room, but the dream itself didn't have cheerful atmosphere. The stories I see in my sleep are neither nightmares nor uplifting ones. I even got a dreamcatcher so that I can be free from those unexplainable dreams. Probably, it's working during the night, and I dream in the morning, just before I wake up. That's why those queer factors are not stopped by the catcher and come to my mind!!

P for "Photos"

I realized that I hardly put photos on this journal. There are some pictures that I took during my winter trip, so enjoy the scenery of Vancouver :)

O for "One Click"

Did you notice that I've changed the picture behind the title? This is a piece of Tarte Tatin that my mom made. I don't know how many times she's made this cake, but I remember her first try. She's improved to the perfection! Look at these beautiful amber coloured apples... It tasted good, too. A bit too sweet to be honest, but I suppose that's what it should be.

I've heard some people say Amazon is dangerous because you buy items just by clicking the icon without knowing how much money you are spending. So I'm trying to be careful when I shop online. But today, I finally decided to push the "Go to the Cashier" button after a good amount of consideration. The decision-making factor was a music of Concertino by Cecile Chaminade. This is a piece for flute that I really like. I know it's too difficult for me, but it's nice to have a visible goal, right? You can check out what it sounds like from the following link.
James Galway (The golden flute!!) Concertino for Flute and Piano by Cecile Chaminade
And I bought 8GB memory card and The Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. (New book for less than 300 yen!) See? My choices are pretty...um...good use of money. Now I look forward them to arrive :)

I tutored a 6-year-old boy for the first time. I expected him to know all the alphabets since he had already learned English for several months in English classes. However, all he knew was A-E. OK, I'll launch an Alphabet Bootcamp for him for the rest of this month...