On the first night in Japan, I met the people you see in the photo. Shin is a university student who volunteered to spend some time with Japan Fulbright Memorial Fund teachers, and he got assigned to spend time with Shawn, a teacher from Detroit, and me! We had a great time. We went to a little hole in the wall restaurant that served sushi on a conveyor belt and got to know one another. Shin, Shawn, and I even added eachother to our Facebooks, and Shin and I have kept in touch that way. (I've seen Shawn during my program, though we are in different parts of Japan for this week.) Shin even posted a comment to this blog: "As i told you before, English educational system in Japan does not focus on practical skills. This would be one of the significant reasons for Japanese' poor english skills(especially practical ones)Also, one interesting story is that Japanese people try to avoid the contact w/ foreigners. For instance, if foreigner asks some question(like the way to the station) to japanese, most people tend to just say "no,no,no" and they run away from him. Have you experienced this in Japan since you came to here??"
I am still fascinated by the fact that Japanese learn functional English (reading and writing) rather than practical English (speaking). Shin's English is so good because he also spent a year studying in Wisconsin. I think I shared earlier that I have found the Japanese people I've come in contact with to be very helpful, welcoming, and incredibly polite, but also that they are able to be more helpful if I have something in writing for them to look at. From what I have seen and learned so far, the educational system here seems to be growing and changing. One thing educators have done is to add courses in Oral Communication in English. Later this week, I will be observing one of these classes in a high school, and I MAY have a chance to co-teach...we'll see, and I'll keep you posted! In the meantime, do you have any questions for Shin? Please post here, and I'll ask him!
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