c45: Jobs and Duties

five days a week our lives here are separated into eight sessions of imaginative role play. the idea of teaching English through conversation and need based language is very effective if students are willing to do their homework and study grammar at home. need based language, or survival language puts a priority on daily tasks and politeness rather than continuous present tense versus simple present, for example. we don't focus on why students should say, "Could you please help me?" rather than "You help me?" it is not part of the company's curriculum to explain the technicalities of modal verbs to low level students, just to teach them as pattern sentences -- just as we teach our children.

that said, there are seven levels of skill in the company's program. students in the first level may not even know how to read English and they usually have little or no knowledge of English vocabulary. students in the highest levels can communicate in everyday conversation with some confidence and have little trouble understanding native speakers in most situations. each level of text consists of 50 situational topics. these often include ordering in a restaurant, traveling needs, requesting home repairs, inviting someone out, and asking about weekends. so 5 days a week, 8 lessons a day, 7 levels of text, 50 lessons per level, about 5o weeks of teaching to date. you do the numbers. that means that if we were able to do a different lesson for each consecutive class we would be repeating lessons about every eight weeks. after 50 weeks of teaching we would have done every lesson almost six times by now.

not bad. however, as you can imagine, things are not so evenly distributed. most students are midlevel students placed in the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th levels. studying English here is a hobby and like most hobbies, interest wanes. new students buy set packages of lessons for set prices. they are enthusiastic and attend class regularly. they usually advance one or two levels and then hit a learning rut, their package expires and they don't renew. so we start again with new students. so you can guess how repetitive teaching the mid-level lessons is for us. anyway, as i began, five days a week our lives are divided into 8 lessons of role play in simple English.

this has affected us deeply. for most situations in our free time we are now able to categorize the language used into a nova lesson. i try to ignore it, but it's difficult. when my sister amanda called before her visit this past winter, she asked what the weather was like and what clothes she should bring (c26:Asking About the Weather). when we have dinner with gareth and aiko we sometimes talk about the differences of living in Japan, England and America (f36:Cultural Differences). i talk to friends and family about living here on the phone and through email (d01:Living Abroad).

see? so following is a text-conversation john and i had with our mobile phones yesterday. john had to go to a music studio after work to book time to record some friends. . .
john: .....not excited about finding the studio in the rain.
natalie: don't worry, i'm sure you'll find it easily. even if you do get lost, you'll get to see some new places. (e24:Talking About Worries)
john: i guess i can always try getting basic directions. (c17:Basic Directions)
natalie: what are you doing after that? do you want to go out for dinner? (c38: Invitations)
john: actually, i think i have other plans. (d14:Making and Canceling Plans)
natalie: but i wanted to try something new tonight. (c13:Suggesting Food)
john: ahh, regrets . . . (e42:Talking About Regrets)
natalie: huh? what do you regret? how are you feeling? (f41:Talking About Feelings)
john: i wish i hadn't agreed to find the studio. i would be able to eat dinner earlier. (e42: Talking About Regrets)
john: on a serious note, i want to buy a fan this weekend. (b39:Buying Electronic Items)
natalie: cool, i want to look for an i-pod. then i want to get some new pillows and house plants. (b39:Buying Electronic Items and c05:Home Furnishings)

there you have it. the manifestation of teaching english as a second language . . .

an upcoming event

as next month will be my last 20-something birthday, i am making a birthday wish list. i figure this will be my last chance to make one and not seem a complete brat. you may disagree, but i'm doing it anyway. here goes. . .

• a good english dictionary (i need this more than you can imagine these days)
• a detroit tigers ball cap or small t-shirt (preferably dark blue with just the orange logo),or a simple michigan t-shirt
• pictures (of you, dear friends and family, and your houses and streets and pets and gardens and american lives)

that's it. sorry if it's annoying. if i should get them, i promise to share the dictionary and pictures with johnny.