I Dunno - Yumi Screwed Up Lunch?

Yep.

I learned something new today.  Or did I?

So I am fairly digging on my 501 class Teaching English Language Learners.  I had a ton of bureaucratic stuff to jump through but I get to work with an amazing person.  I hope she doesn't blow me off.  Her work load is crazy.  And I am interjecting into her space.  

Anyway, today's assignment was to watch an hour long TV show (not news) in a language that I am not familiar with.  Being that I am oh so fluent in Spanish and French, I chose Japanese.  I can't say a darn word in Japanese.  (OK... I can say してくださいにホールド)

That sounds like "sho sho kumachi, kur ohh sigh" which means "hold on please".  

My time working at an international answering service was not wasted.  

ANYWAY - I watched an hour of an episodic Japanese TV show which Hulu says is called "Boys Before Flowers".  As far as I can guess it was a teenage drama like "The Hills" or "Gossip Girl".

Here's the deal:  I wrote an 11 page paper based on my experience.  It is totally trippy to  try to engage in something that is a language that you have never heard before.  You go off of visual cues, preconceived ideas and vocal inflection......

And yet those components vary from culture to culture.

I had a giant headache.

Giant.

I finished my paper and actually couldn't refrain from clicking on the View Description tag of the show.  The one line description was:  “Jun-pyo asks Yumi to make the lunchbox again - proof that Yumi had taken credit for her lunch, which probably means she’s lying about the rest, too”.

WOW.....that isn't at ALL what I got out of that.

Anyway, here is the deal:  School is tough enough.  Transitions suck.  Being in a foreign county and being plunked down in a classroom and being expected to perform like the "native speaking" kids is preposterous.

Since "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" opens in a handful of days I will leave you with this image of Snoopy, telling Woodstock how hard it is to learn something in a totally foreign language....while being graded and expected to do well on Standardized Tests......lest your school be shut down.

Woodstock looks worried.

I am too.