OT: Funny as Hell Japanese Lesson & Hottie
Don't be hatin' on those Japanese kids for not studying hard. I use Japanese kids every day to beat up on my lazy assed American students. Asking these deadbeats to actually punch numbers into a calculator seems to be the equivalent of the Battaan Death March for them.
The free man owns himself. He can damage himself with either eating or drinking....... If he does he is certainly a damn fool, and he might possibly be a damned soul; but if he may not, he is not a free man any more than a dog.
That's because you're spoiling them with word problems, JFish. You've got to take 'em back to the basics: Rote memorization of formulas!
Seriously, now they're saying that word problems don't work. I suppose it's because it's even more difficult to apply one word problem to the solving of another than it is to actually understand an memorize a formula!
Seriously, now they're saying that word problems don't work. I suppose it's because it's even more difficult to apply one word problem to the solving of another than it is to actually understand an memorize a formula!
In Texas we have a statewide high stakes accountability test called the TAKS test. TAKS stands for Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills. About half of the kids who fail the math test do so due to being unable to understand what it is that they read. I spend a whole lot of time working with kids on picking out the key words out of a paragraph and translating them from English in to a suitable Algebraic sentence. Actually doing the math is the easy part. When I went to college in the early 80's to learn how to do this **** I had no idea I'd have to teach kids how to understand what it is they're reading before I could teach them to do math.
Also, that video was funny even if I don't understand the idiosyncracies of Japanese/English translation problems. That young lady was very attractive in any language though. I live in a part of the world where a whole lot of native Spanish speakers are trying to speak English. The thing I think is funniest is that they universally use the word "barely" to mean "recently". If you ask a Mexican kid why he or she is late to class, almost every one of them will answer, "I just barely got here, Mister." I used to ask them why they just barely got here. Was it because of having to cross a moat full of aligators or did a mountain lion almost eat them or what? None of them ever figure out that you're trying to make the point that barely means "by a small maragin" or "by the skin of your teeth" and so they just look at you like.....WTF? So I've just adjusted to their usage.
Also, that video was funny even if I don't understand the idiosyncracies of Japanese/English translation problems. That young lady was very attractive in any language though. I live in a part of the world where a whole lot of native Spanish speakers are trying to speak English. The thing I think is funniest is that they universally use the word "barely" to mean "recently". If you ask a Mexican kid why he or she is late to class, almost every one of them will answer, "I just barely got here, Mister." I used to ask them why they just barely got here. Was it because of having to cross a moat full of aligators or did a mountain lion almost eat them or what? None of them ever figure out that you're trying to make the point that barely means "by a small maragin" or "by the skin of your teeth" and so they just look at you like.....WTF? So I've just adjusted to their usage.
The free man owns himself. He can damage himself with either eating or drinking....... If he does he is certainly a damn fool, and he might possibly be a damned soul; but if he may not, he is not a free man any more than a dog.
Sounds really familiar, JFish. My coworkers are always complaining about the Japanese kids being unable to understand their own language. Then there's Teaching English as a Foreign Language, which is my field. We can't stop the students from using "Have" when the make questions. So we often hear, "Have you any ________?" As far as I know, even the Londonites have abandoned that construction. Another one is starting sentences with "Because." They refuse to remember that "Because of this" is the phrase they want. Then there are the words of foreign origin with completely different usage, such as "My car" which in Japanese means, "Your own car." I have actually had students ask, "Do you have MY CAR?"
A never ending battle, but it appears to be one the whole world is fighting if there's any solace in that.
A never ending battle, but it appears to be one the whole world is fighting if there's any solace in that.
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