Teachable moments - parents live for them. Mentors hope for them. Teachers love the 20 second window they get once a semester when everyone in their classroom is on the same page (sometimes literally).
I had teachable moments when I taught in Japan. I remember one in particular.
Japanese like t-shirts that have something written on them. And if it’s English, that makes it really cool. Anything in Roman characters is cool - French, Italian… Most Japanese think it’s English. They like the shirts even they haven't a clue what they mean.
It's kind of like Westerns and their new found affection for Japanese/Chinese characters. A girl in one of my classrooms here in the States has the Kanji for COW on her leg. When I told her she mooed, screamed and ran out of the room.
In the West, we care what our t-shirts say. We wear them to make a statement. I wear an Ohio State University sweatshirt to the gym, except for the week after they lost the BCS championship bowl.
In Japan, it doesn’t matter what a t-shirt says, Japanese will wear anything.
Every now and then I would have to call a student out into the hall and have them turn their t-shirt inside out. Four letter words plus McDonalds and so on.
In one incident I had to send a young lady to the girl’s restroom to turn her shirt inside out. For obvious reasons, I couldn’t have her do it in the hallway, right? Right!?
The t-shirt said - “I was a sex slave for German Nazi dogs.”
No kidding.
Teachable moments. We love them, especially when our charges aren't harmed.
The moral - read your shirt!
Oh, and check out the meaning of that Kanji you want tattooed on your body, too.
Orginally posted at Japan-Hopper.
In the West, we care what our t-shirts say. We wear them to make a statement. I wear an Ohio State University sweatshirt to the gym, except for the week after they lost the BCS championship bowl.
In Japan, it doesn’t matter what a t-shirt says, Japanese will wear anything.
Every now and then I would have to call a student out into the hall and have them turn their t-shirt inside out. Four letter words plus McDonalds and so on.
In one incident I had to send a young lady to the girl’s restroom to turn her shirt inside out. For obvious reasons, I couldn’t have her do it in the hallway, right? Right!?
The t-shirt said - “I was a sex slave for German Nazi dogs.”
No kidding.
Teachable moments. We love them, especially when our charges aren't harmed.
The moral - read your shirt!
Oh, and check out the meaning of that Kanji you want tattooed on your body, too.
Orginally posted at Japan-Hopper
with another version at Sex Slaves and German Nazi Dogs.
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