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English Bulletin Board for February
The English bulletin board for this month, February, turned out to be the most interactive board so far and also the easiest one to make. We say that “Plan your work, and work your plan” , but this time, I really did not make a lot of planning for this board. I was scanning for…
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How to distinguish Japanese from Korean and Chinese
Can you tell if a person comes from a specific country? Before coming to Japan, I had no idea how to distinguish Japanese, Korean and Chinese from one another. I had quite a few experience (when I was in the university as an international student) of trying to speak Japanese to a fellow student who I thought is Japanese, but after all, turned out…
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What makes kanji difficult and challenging and what are the ways to overcome it?
Many Japanese language learners express difficulty about the language and most of them say that learning kanji is what makes it hard. Kanji is one of the three set of characters, together with Katakana and Hiragana, which make up the Japanese language. While Katakana and Hiragana symbolize sounds, Kanji symbolizes meaning. So, what makes kanji…
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All of us are a Memory
Death is the only thing we know that is going to happen for sure, but still surprises us every time it comes. And it’s never a pleasant surprise. It’s devastating. Heart-breaking. The unacceptable truth that no matter what we do, no matter who we are, each one of us will end up as a memory.…
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My Childhood Memories in Mati
Mati, the place where I spent the first nine years of my life. I was born in Davao City, the biggest city in the island of Mindanao, but because of my father’s job as a Red Cross Administrator, we moved to a region down south, Davao Oriental, with Mati as its capital town. I have…
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Whale for School Lunch and Other Stories of Food Culture Shock
Whale Yes. I had whale for school lunch! It was a shock for me. I heard the teachers say ‘kyou wa kujira da ne’ (today is whale) during lunch preparation. I help in setting up lunch for non-adviser teachers. And that day, I was the one serving the main dish, which was, yeah, you guessed…
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English Bulletin Boards
One of the not so many tasks of an ALT (Assistant Language Teacher) in Japan is updating the school’s English Bulletin Board. In my school where I’m assigned, in fact, the only school I am assigned (normally ALTs are assigned to more than one school), I make sure to update our English Board every month.…
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When its Christmas and it’s not so merry
It’s a day before Christmas, when usually the spirit is up. But it seems like the other way around. I can feel the sadness in my city. Yesterday, December 23rd, the day of our flight coming back to the Philippines, I couldn’t go to bed until around 2 AM. Yes, I was excited (I was…
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Why is summer vacation in Japan not a vacation for students at all
Most kids around the world look forward to summer vacation. For most of them, it is the best time of the year. Free from the tiring things in school, listening to the teachers sermon, doing projects and endless homework. But, not in Japan. Although summer is fun in Japan with so many festivals that you…
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Our Experience of a Cancelled Flight
The Long Awaited Day The 21st of July. We, the sleepyheads, specially my dear husband, miraculously woke up before our alarm. Our long awaited summer vacation will start today. We’ll be flying to his homeland, the so-called land of the free, the USA. We’ll be out for a while in the land of the rising…