Today I saw Aibacchi on a magazine that said
..."Unsuitable for the young".
Hahahaha.
Happy CD Debut, boys.
And on other matters...
I don't know what's it with me and Japanese students, but it seems that Japanese people just appear around me. When I was teaching in my alma mater earlier this year, one of my kids was a ハーフ. Today I found out that I have a girl from Fukuoka in my speech and drama class. She's been in the primary school for a couple of weeks now, and her classmates don't know how to say her name. I spoke to her, she's really cute, and I asked her if she is Japanese, can she speak English, where in Japan does she come from. She answered the first and third question, but just grinned a little shyly for the second. But I think she's just shy to speak, she definitely understands. Man, I think her parents are REALLY brave because it's hard enough for a foreigner to assimilate in a local school, and I never thought I'd find a Japanese kid in a government school because we have Japanese schools in Singapore from kindergarten right up to high school. And if they don't go to these Japanese schools, they go to the international schools. I only find ハーフ in local schools (ahahahah Fuzz). I think it'd do her good, though.
Oh, and when I say it's hard for a foreigner to assimilate in a local school, I don't mean just because of cultural differences. The local curriculum is a little strange, hahaha. Singaporeans strike me as a highly moralistic society with little tolerance for things that are 'wrong' - cutting queues, not playing by rules in a game and generally stuff like if the person speaks roughly he is a bad influence. Stuff like that. So the essays for English that kids have to write are centred on topics like learning how to say sorry when you broke your mom's favourite vase while she was out, how the coffeeshop dude spilt a hot drink on you and demanded your dad paid for it and of course, what kind of retribution Horrid Coffeeshop Dude got, how you found a wallet full of money and the pains you went to while trying to deliver it to the neighbourhood police post. And if you think I'm joking, I can give you scans of the test papers my kids have to do for exams this year. XD The settings of these essays you have to write are entrenched in a Singaporean environment - you'd have to know that the typical coffeeshop dude is around 60 years old, shuffles around in sandals and a waistpouch and goes to you asking "What you want?" in Mandarin. You'd have to know what a neighbourhood police post is. XD It was so hard for my kid from China to get the nuances right, if not get it at all. When he saw the essay question (targeted at 10-year-olds who are in Primary 4), he exclaimed, "Wow, you Singaporeans uphold values like that so much, huh?"
Singaporeans aren't the world's most polite people, but we'd rather give you a look of displeasure and bitch at you behind your back rather than pretending everything is fine and dandy and then bitching at your behind your back. Haha. Though there are the exceptions... But they're the minority. XD
Oh and of course, there are those who call you a bitch right in your face too. Plenty of those to go around.
Ah, and regarding the Japanese... I find that Japanese living in Singapore rarely stay long because they're here on contract or just expats who eventually go back to Japan. So that's one reason why they don't come to local schools. Another impression that I get is Japanese people are still very much Japanese when they come to Singapore. You can tell with one look who the Japanese are because of how they dress, their mannerisms and, of course, their accent. They don't try very hard to speak English, because Singapore has like a Japanese everything - Japanese supermarkets, Japanese bookstores, Japanese secondhand bookstore/DVD/manga/drama shop, Japanese kindy/elementary/high school (yes the kindy kids have the yellow hats), Daiso (a couple of branches everywhere), izakaya, karaoke... the list goes on. You can just be Japanese like how you're in Japan, in Singapore. You probably only have to speak English to the taxi driver. XD
So, because Japanese are still very much Japanese when they're here, they don't really go about thinking about integration. They really do strike me as hanging out in their little Japanese groups, not that it's a bad thing, but it's like an impenetrable society, independent of Singaporeans. There are exceptions, of course, I have friends who totally live up the Singapore scene and go clubbing with local friends and eat chilli crab and all that, but most of the time because they're here for only a short while, they just stick with their own people.
But those that work and study in Singaporean environments, they're really different. They seem friendlier and less... snobbish, is that the word? I wouldn't call Japanese people snobbish just because they don't try to make friends with the locals though, so maybe that's not the best word. Ah but then again, those that work and study in Singaporean companies/schools have to speak loads of English, and usually their English is better than some of the Japanese people who still work in Japanese-speaking environments here because they just get more practice. I think it's hard to be friendly if you don't know how to manipulate the language really well. It's like this for everyone speaking a foreign language, isn't it? See, it's the same, sometimes, with people from countries like Thailand, or Vietnam. They don't really have Singaporean friends, just friends from their own country, because of the lack of a common language. The Chinese, however, at least share a common language, so it's not too bad. Filipinos and people from the UK and US too, have an excellent understanding of English, so they're actually pretty at home with speaking with the locals here. So maybe that explains why the Japanese and the Koreans and the Vietnamese and the Thais and the other nationalities who don't speak English/Mandarin/Malay/Tamil keep to themselves so much.
Hahahaha.
Happy CD Debut, boys.
And on other matters...
I don't know what's it with me and Japanese students, but it seems that Japanese people just appear around me. When I was teaching in my alma mater earlier this year, one of my kids was a ハーフ. Today I found out that I have a girl from Fukuoka in my speech and drama class. She's been in the primary school for a couple of weeks now, and her classmates don't know how to say her name. I spoke to her, she's really cute, and I asked her if she is Japanese, can she speak English, where in Japan does she come from. She answered the first and third question, but just grinned a little shyly for the second. But I think she's just shy to speak, she definitely understands. Man, I think her parents are REALLY brave because it's hard enough for a foreigner to assimilate in a local school, and I never thought I'd find a Japanese kid in a government school because we have Japanese schools in Singapore from kindergarten right up to high school. And if they don't go to these Japanese schools, they go to the international schools. I only find ハーフ in local schools (ahahahah Fuzz). I think it'd do her good, though.
Oh, and when I say it's hard for a foreigner to assimilate in a local school, I don't mean just because of cultural differences. The local curriculum is a little strange, hahaha. Singaporeans strike me as a highly moralistic society with little tolerance for things that are 'wrong' - cutting queues, not playing by rules in a game and generally stuff like if the person speaks roughly he is a bad influence. Stuff like that. So the essays for English that kids have to write are centred on topics like learning how to say sorry when you broke your mom's favourite vase while she was out, how the coffeeshop dude spilt a hot drink on you and demanded your dad paid for it and of course, what kind of retribution Horrid Coffeeshop Dude got, how you found a wallet full of money and the pains you went to while trying to deliver it to the neighbourhood police post. And if you think I'm joking, I can give you scans of the test papers my kids have to do for exams this year. XD The settings of these essays you have to write are entrenched in a Singaporean environment - you'd have to know that the typical coffeeshop dude is around 60 years old, shuffles around in sandals and a waistpouch and goes to you asking "What you want?" in Mandarin. You'd have to know what a neighbourhood police post is. XD It was so hard for my kid from China to get the nuances right, if not get it at all. When he saw the essay question (targeted at 10-year-olds who are in Primary 4), he exclaimed, "Wow, you Singaporeans uphold values like that so much, huh?"
Singaporeans aren't the world's most polite people, but we'd rather give you a look of displeasure and bitch at you behind your back rather than pretending everything is fine and dandy and then bitching at your behind your back. Haha. Though there are the exceptions... But they're the minority. XD
Oh and of course, there are those who call you a bitch right in your face too. Plenty of those to go around.
Ah, and regarding the Japanese... I find that Japanese living in Singapore rarely stay long because they're here on contract or just expats who eventually go back to Japan. So that's one reason why they don't come to local schools. Another impression that I get is Japanese people are still very much Japanese when they come to Singapore. You can tell with one look who the Japanese are because of how they dress, their mannerisms and, of course, their accent. They don't try very hard to speak English, because Singapore has like a Japanese everything - Japanese supermarkets, Japanese bookstores, Japanese secondhand bookstore/DVD/manga/drama shop, Japanese kindy/elementary/high school (yes the kindy kids have the yellow hats), Daiso (a couple of branches everywhere), izakaya, karaoke... the list goes on. You can just be Japanese like how you're in Japan, in Singapore. You probably only have to speak English to the taxi driver. XD
So, because Japanese are still very much Japanese when they're here, they don't really go about thinking about integration. They really do strike me as hanging out in their little Japanese groups, not that it's a bad thing, but it's like an impenetrable society, independent of Singaporeans. There are exceptions, of course, I have friends who totally live up the Singapore scene and go clubbing with local friends and eat chilli crab and all that, but most of the time because they're here for only a short while, they just stick with their own people.
But those that work and study in Singaporean environments, they're really different. They seem friendlier and less... snobbish, is that the word? I wouldn't call Japanese people snobbish just because they don't try to make friends with the locals though, so maybe that's not the best word. Ah but then again, those that work and study in Singaporean companies/schools have to speak loads of English, and usually their English is better than some of the Japanese people who still work in Japanese-speaking environments here because they just get more practice. I think it's hard to be friendly if you don't know how to manipulate the language really well. It's like this for everyone speaking a foreign language, isn't it? See, it's the same, sometimes, with people from countries like Thailand, or Vietnam. They don't really have Singaporean friends, just friends from their own country, because of the lack of a common language. The Chinese, however, at least share a common language, so it's not too bad. Filipinos and people from the UK and US too, have an excellent understanding of English, so they're actually pretty at home with speaking with the locals here. So maybe that explains why the Japanese and the Koreans and the Vietnamese and the Thais and the other nationalities who don't speak English/Mandarin/Malay/Tamil keep to themselves so much.