Entries this day: Early_work_byebye Komatsu_lesson_summary Yui Yurika kanae_at_The_Pink_Cow_vegan_night

Early work byebye

2:04pm JST Thursday 11 December 2008 (day 14141)

Got some stuff done at work, but not as much as I wanted. Have to go to Komatsu's lesson. Fortunately it's the last.

Komatsu lesson summary

5:04pm JST Thursday 11 December 2008 (day 14141)

During my lesson with Komatsu today, I wrote this summary of our lessons:

When these lessons started, Mr Komatsu had some ideas about what he wanted to study, basically in
preparation for his trip to China.  He wanted to know how to use English in the airport, the
hotel, taxi, etc.  He actually already knew enough to do these things, but lacked confidence.

Another thing we practiced was some sort of telephone conversation.  He asked me tell him over the
phone the schedule of events for the conference, and would correct me if I didn't tell him the
correct times and dates.  I never understood the point of this exercise, but he was happy to repeat
this each lesson until I put a stop to them.

We began using _Essential Listening 2_, a book that includes CDs with brief question and answer
conversations, all of which are transcribed in the book.

I asked Mr Komatsu to do the exercises as homework, but he said he could not, explaining that the book
would not fit inside his bag, so he couldn't take it home.

So we did the 'homework' in class, a process which took some weeks.  After the first few of these
lessons, I kept asking him to do homework, and he kept assuring me the book would not fit into his
bag.  He also assured me that the book was not his, though I told him it had been given to him by
Media Soken.

Finally, finally, finally, I asked Ms Suzuki to assure Mr Komatsu the book was his, and she gave him a
paper bag in which he could carry the book home.

He then took the book home, and bought a larger bag in which the book would fit.  He did a bit of
homework (perhaps 30 minutes per week, I estimate), marking the correct answers in the book.  I
would check that in each class.  For questions he answered incorrectly, I would explain the English
(usually in Japanese) until he could understand the reason for his error.

During this time, he seemed more interested in having the correct answer circled in the book than
understanding *why* the answer was correct.

Also, though he got a little bit better, I had to repeatedly answer the same questions as he would
never remember the answers until perhaps the third time I answered.  We could even repeat the same
unit in the book and he wouldn't know we had done it just the previous week.

We finally got through the book in this manner, listening while reading.  Though we "finished" the
book, I knew he would get a new challenge by just listening while not reading.

So I had him listen to the CD and answer all the questions they asked.  "What's your name?"  "What
does your father do?"  "Are there any parks in your neighborhood?"  "What time do you go to work?"

I asked him to listen to the CD at home, and practice his listening comprehension, but he never did;
he never had time.

These lessons were infinitely boring to me, and near the end of a lesson in mid-November, we had a
bit of a confrontation:  I had fallen asleep as he played the CD and answered the questions.  I
apologized, but told him (in Japanese) "these lessons are boring to me.  this is your homework.  I
told you this is your homework.  This time has been wasted because you won't do homework.  please
please please do homework."

He did homework.  The results were fantastic.  His comprehension in class was much better, and we
were able to finish the first CD in a couple of days.

For the record, for most of the "yes no answer" questions, he can't understand the meaning beyond
the first two words, "could I" or "do you" or "have you" so he doesn't answer more than "yes no
answer"

To be clear, he is getting better, and he told me he can see his improvement after doing homework.

Current strongpoints: simple reading comprehension, simple listening comprehension, gestures, Japanese words instead of English, one word answers

Current weakpoints: listening comprehension, forming sentences, correctly using the words "where"
and "what", understanding English explanation, understanding my bad Japanese explanation, basic
grammar, including verbs in sentences

Right *now* he is listening to a conversation, something like this:

"Well, at least you're safe.  We'll do our best to catch the person who stole your purse, ma'am, but
we're going to need your help."

"Sure.  How can I help, officer?"

He ignored the introductory sentence and picked up "how can I help" of the second sentence, so his
answer was, "no thank you," as if answering "how may I help you?" of a store clerk.

"Can you give us a description of the thief?  That would really help."

Mr Komatsu's response: 'yes no answer.'

Ignoring the answer from the woman, he understood the officer's next quesion.

"About how tall was he?"

And after ignoring the woman's response on the CD ('he was fairly short'), Mr Komatsu understood the
officer's question: "And how much did he weigh?"

Mr Komatsu answered probably and ignored as the woman said 'he must have been 100 kilos.'

The officer, surprised at her answers, asked, "how did he get away?"

Mr Komatsu had no idea the meaning nor reason for the question.  I explained the meaning of "get away," and Mr Komatsu
answered "walk"

"Can I get you anything else right now?"
'yes no answer.'

"What did you go?" instead of "Where did you go?"

My final question to Mr Komatsu: "Do you think you are better?"

"mmmmm  increase."

Yui

5:04pm JST Thursday 11 December 2008 (day 14141)

After saying my final bye to Suzuki-san, and crew, I asked if she would get Yui, who I know from PB 49. Basically just said HI and "さよなら unless you email me" which I had been asking her to do off-and-on for 6 months that we've been doing these lessons.

Yurika

8:04pm JST Thursday 11 December 2008 (day 14141)

Nice lesson with Yurika, as always.

kanae at The Pink Cow vegan night

11:47pm JST Thursday 11 December 2008 (day 14141)

Good to see Kanae after three years! Honestly I didn't *really* know her on PB, but I certainly had a crush on her. After she spotted me in her neighborhood during her jog, we sent a couple emails and finally met up at The Pink Cow for vegan night!

The place was a bit uncrowded, like the front area had only three of us, though both tables were reserved for vegan night. Kanae, a dude from London named Chillin (sp) and me. Why didn't anyone show up? Man, that's weak.

But we had a lovely swell time, and I was happy to hear Chillin's perceptions of Tokyo (he's been here just a month), and share some PB story telling with Kanae. Talk shifted to our respective countries, and I went off on a bit of a tangent about WTC, especially WTC 7, and assured them they should start their research there.

I chatted with Traci for a bit, and coordinated a massage/reiki for food exchange with her. I'll give her an hour of reiki and massage and have vegan night buffet on the house next month!

My friend (and comedian) Dave arrived at our table while I was talking to Traci. He described some of the theory behind comedy, about developing a connection with the audience: the comedian's job is to present his or her own view of the world in a way that's entertaining for the audience. Talked a bit about Japanese vs American humor, and then shifted to an old conversation about porn when Traci came by to say bye. Apparently the most famous porn star in Japan is a 72 year old guy. Who knew??

Hugs and bye to Traci and then we adjusted our conversation to fetishes (not in the clinical sense): braces, ear biting, tight jeans, stockings, that kind of thing. Other topics included Prince, Vanilla Ice, MC Hammer, Ghost Ride the Whip, and more.

Headed out around 11:40. Bye to Chillin' at the bottom of the hill, then bye to Kanae at Fukutoshin Line, and bye to Dave as he headed past my line to Yamanote.