Entries this day: Dream Kip_A._Cates Orientation

Dream

6:50am JST Monday 19 December 2005

Matt called my full nameas the group was playing basketball, and I ran up mocking as if I knew how to do something and stumbled over the ball and recovered it and then did a Hakeem Olajuwan move on a short basket with a small ball, and pretended to jump reallly huge and (while actually still standing on the ground) pretended to be flying in the air and doing a two handed prepartion to slam the ball in, but kept going up and kept slowing down, as if I were being watched on TV in super slow motion, one frame at a time viewing and did a full circle with one hand carrying the ball, and kept slowing down until I s l a m m e d t h e b a l l i n t o t h e h o o p i n c r a z y s u p e r s l o w m o t i o n , a n d then switched to fast motion as I pretended to hang from the rim of the basket. The rest of the GET team went wild with laughter and mock crowd mania.

Kip A. Cates

12:56pm JST Monday 19 December 2005

Got a light speed, but informative and inspiring lecture from Kip Cates, a man who went from dropping out of a French major after not learning French after 6 years of study, going to see the world, and recognizing a need for a broader method of teaching.. something beyond just grammar and vocabulary, that taught language by using the language to study world issues of importance, from easy stuff like talking about flags and music to hard stuff of disease, peace and war. It's called global education, and has been educating teachers about how to teach in a global methodology, presenting not just the issues, but getting the students talking about ways to solve the problems, researching what thing *are* being done about them, and then taking action into actually helping solve problems about which the students have become passionate.

He suggested scoping
socialstudies.com,
Global issues in Language Education Newsletter
TESOLers for Social Responsibility
Global Issues SIG
Global Issues in Easier English
United Nations Cyber School Bus
National Geographic Teachers Page

I feel inspired to do far more than just teach classes onboard. Wow.

He cited a cat named Edwin Reischauer:

We need a profound reshaping of education on if mankind is to survive. We are now facing grave difficulties that can only be solved on a global scale. Education is not moving rapidly enough to provide the knowledge and attitudes essential for human survival.

That basically makes sense to me.

Orientation

11:31pm JST Monday 19 December 2005

Today's orientation session included some not-as-exciting topics as meeting the previous voyage teachers, including the computer network and curriculum stuff, but we got through it alright and had a lovely visit to Ben's Cafe, which features free internet access, which Elizabeth, Petra and I scooped up happily.

Petra was logged into her Orkut account, so I had her send me an invitation! Cool! I've wanted one for a while, so I'm glad to have finally gotten it! I invited Fred and Dude, and maybe one more.

Walked back to the ryokan with Elizabeth (who was relying on my sense of direction to get us back), and then used the internet signal available in her room because my room was locked. Turns out Maruan had left the key downstairs with the guy, so I could have gotten in.. Ah well.

Talked to Maruan and Nick a bit; Maruan got secret santa gifts today, and then got a phone call so he left the room. Nick and I chatted some; he is from Melbourne and has a background in forestry. He took a bus from Vancouver to Houston (three days), and was there four days before flying to Mexico City, and living there a while. He was on the 46th voyage, I believe.