Welcome to another edition of Deskwarming Diaries, where a bored-out-of-her-mind ALT struggles to find something to do until lunch time. Today’s post features chashu pork and phonics confusion. Let’s jump in!
Today’s Tasks
Today is a music day. One of my teachers confided in me that they’re moving schools this year, so I put together a list of good activities and songs for elementary students. I’m about to start working on another list, this time of easy songs for middle school, and it’s been a nice change of pace. It’s nice to be able to listen to music at work, FOR work!
Sensei Shokudō
Today’s lunch made everyone gasp when they entered the school’s cooking room. A group of teachers stood ready with bowls and rice, while another laid pieces of chashu pork on top, a third add a boiled egg, a fourth poured some sauce over the whole thing, and a fifth stood ready with a … a blowtorch. After lightly crisping the top of the bowl, they would hand it to us with a pleased sounding 「お待ち！」(omachi — something said at restaurants when you get your food; kinda translated like “sorry to have kept you waiting”).
Then, we got a new dish and got some french fries another teacher was cooking before sitting down at tables with plates of oyaki dumplings already ready for us. So much food! It’s probably because, unfortunately, today is the last day of the Sensei Shokudō. Really sad. One of the teachers I ate with today asked me what I’d do tomorrow. I replied “Probably go to the konbini;” she laughed and agreed. No more absurdly delicious lunches for us!
“What’s PR キャラ in English?”
When we were about to leave the cooking room, a nearby teacher noticed my water bottle. While we talked about the stickers, she asked, “So, Arukuma is the PR キャラ for Nagano Prefecture. What is PR キャラ in English? Do you have them in America?”
I thought for a second, then replied, “We definitely don’t do them like Japan does it. They’re called mascots in America.”
“Ehh? Muscat? Grapes?” She said, miming eating.
“Hahaha no! MAScot!”
“Oh, MAScot!” She said, then doubled over laughing. In Japanese, the katakana for mascot and muscat (マスコット・マスカット masukotto・masukatto) are very close, so she was confused as to which I was saying.
We continued talking on our way back to the teacher’s room, with me guiding her through the pronunciation of each word. She mentioned how it was difficult to understand how an ‘a’ and a ‘u’ can change how the word sounds so much, especially when you don’t know the sounds that letters make. Musing about how she would’ve liked to have learned phonics as a kid, she asked when we start teaching students phonics.
“Around sixth grade,” I said.
“Wow, why so late?” She replied. I stopped to think. The real reason is that the school doesn’t want us to, but I told her instead that phonics is hard and boring and we don’t want to scare the kids away from English. Phonics is a little boring, but that’s nothing some games couldn’t fix! After that, we said our goodbyes and headed back to our desks.
Well, that’s all for now! My posts might get a bit shorter and more boring from here on out as the Sensei Shokudō is at an end. However, as long as there is deskwarming, the Deskwarming Diaries will continue. Until tomorrow!
While you’re sitting at your desk, looking for something to do, you could plan some awesome adventures for when Omma comes to visit!!
That’s true… Maybe I’ll do that!