Shinosuke, Nerd Ambassador
Today, I opened up a whole new world to my WJHS 2nd year boys. Before I start, let me explain that the WJHS 2nd year class is quite possibly my favorite group of students. They're really bright and hardworking, and they're funny. I can't say how much I enjoyed doing their interview tests last week. They all have such positive attitudes, and their English level is way above that of the 3rd year students.
I have one group of particularly precocious boys who are also the Nerd Faction of the class. This doesn't, however, ostracize them in the way it does in many American schools. They just tend to geek out together, which is incredibly adorable. There are also a few of them who have decided that they want to use their "English names" when they communicate with me, so they translated their given names and I now regularly get assignments from Forest, Hunter and SHINE (always in capital letters, sometimes with an exclamation point). The nerdiest of the lot, Shinosuke, is ironically also the least shy and most apt to call me over and ask questions while blushing and not making eye contact.
In today's class, we wrote letters to Santa, and they had to think of three presents they wanted. My nerd boys clustered together and immediately began debating XBox vs PS3 and which they should ask for; there is much solidarity amongst my nerds. At one point, the JTE was helping them, and Shinosuke called me over and rambled at me in Japanese. JTE-san bapped him gently on the back of the head and insisted, "IN ENGLISH!" More serious than I have ever seen him, Shinosuke asked me, "Becky-sensei, how do you spell faeboodroo?"
I blinked. "Once more, please?"
"Faeboodroo."
I still had no idea what he was asking, so I looked to JTE-san for help. "Faebooroo. It means story."
"Oh! You mean Fable? The video game?" Cue the Nerd Faction all looking up at me in shock and blinking very hard. "TV game," I tried again, knowing that sometimes they mix their terminology.
Shinosuke almost exploded with excitement. "Yes! Yes! Becky-sensei, you know Faeboodroo?!" At which point I spelled Fable for them and let them continue their video game debate. A few minutes later, I was on the other side of the classroom helping some other students, when Shinosuke wandered up. "Becky-sensei, do you know Fallout?" I noticed that the rest of his friends were intently watching the exchange. "Yes, I know Fallout." Overjoyed, he rushed back and there was much whispering and giggling.
Later, still on the other side of the room, I hear Shinosuke yell, "Becky-sensei! Do you have XBox?!" I replied that no, I don't. Positively beaming, "Oh!!! Me, too!!!"
A few more minutes passed, most of the students were finished, and I walked over to see if the video game debate had been settled. Instantly, Shinosuke popped up from his seat and ran over to stand beside me as though he were a translator. "Becky-sensei! Do you know Gears of War, Metal Gear, and Wardo of Warcraft?" he ticked the games off on his fingers, making sure he got them all. Of course the answer was yes, again to much excitement. It was then that Shinosuke remembered that in his interview, I told him I like Final Fantasy; he wants to program video games for a living, and I told him it was my favorite. He points to another boy and says, "He likes Final Fantasy!" Seeing it as an opportunity to get some of the other students talking, I asked the boy which was his favorite, and said that my favorite was Final Fantasy X. (It's actually VI, but they're so young that I thought I should pick from the later games.) After a few moments of grinning over being asked a question, he bashfully replied that he likes VII. Shinosuke chimed in with, "He likes Cloud and Zack and Sephiroth!" I said that I like Sephiroth, and Shinosuke very proudly announced that he likes Zack. I would like to note that, to my amazement, they have no trouble pronouncing these names... They don't even stumble over the rs and ls. It was about this time that the class bell rang and I started collecting papers, leaving them to squee amongst themselves.
There was an entire paradigm shift in their universe today. Today was the day that they found out that girls can like video games, too. Not only girls, but girls they think are cute can like video games! Things may never be the same for them.
I have one group of particularly precocious boys who are also the Nerd Faction of the class. This doesn't, however, ostracize them in the way it does in many American schools. They just tend to geek out together, which is incredibly adorable. There are also a few of them who have decided that they want to use their "English names" when they communicate with me, so they translated their given names and I now regularly get assignments from Forest, Hunter and SHINE (always in capital letters, sometimes with an exclamation point). The nerdiest of the lot, Shinosuke, is ironically also the least shy and most apt to call me over and ask questions while blushing and not making eye contact.
In today's class, we wrote letters to Santa, and they had to think of three presents they wanted. My nerd boys clustered together and immediately began debating XBox vs PS3 and which they should ask for; there is much solidarity amongst my nerds. At one point, the JTE was helping them, and Shinosuke called me over and rambled at me in Japanese. JTE-san bapped him gently on the back of the head and insisted, "IN ENGLISH!" More serious than I have ever seen him, Shinosuke asked me, "Becky-sensei, how do you spell faeboodroo?"
I blinked. "Once more, please?"
"Faeboodroo."
I still had no idea what he was asking, so I looked to JTE-san for help. "Faebooroo. It means story."
"Oh! You mean Fable? The video game?" Cue the Nerd Faction all looking up at me in shock and blinking very hard. "TV game," I tried again, knowing that sometimes they mix their terminology.
Shinosuke almost exploded with excitement. "Yes! Yes! Becky-sensei, you know Faeboodroo?!" At which point I spelled Fable for them and let them continue their video game debate. A few minutes later, I was on the other side of the classroom helping some other students, when Shinosuke wandered up. "Becky-sensei, do you know Fallout?" I noticed that the rest of his friends were intently watching the exchange. "Yes, I know Fallout." Overjoyed, he rushed back and there was much whispering and giggling.
Later, still on the other side of the room, I hear Shinosuke yell, "Becky-sensei! Do you have XBox?!" I replied that no, I don't. Positively beaming, "Oh!!! Me, too!!!"
A few more minutes passed, most of the students were finished, and I walked over to see if the video game debate had been settled. Instantly, Shinosuke popped up from his seat and ran over to stand beside me as though he were a translator. "Becky-sensei! Do you know Gears of War, Metal Gear, and Wardo of Warcraft?" he ticked the games off on his fingers, making sure he got them all. Of course the answer was yes, again to much excitement. It was then that Shinosuke remembered that in his interview, I told him I like Final Fantasy; he wants to program video games for a living, and I told him it was my favorite. He points to another boy and says, "He likes Final Fantasy!" Seeing it as an opportunity to get some of the other students talking, I asked the boy which was his favorite, and said that my favorite was Final Fantasy X. (It's actually VI, but they're so young that I thought I should pick from the later games.) After a few moments of grinning over being asked a question, he bashfully replied that he likes VII. Shinosuke chimed in with, "He likes Cloud and Zack and Sephiroth!" I said that I like Sephiroth, and Shinosuke very proudly announced that he likes Zack. I would like to note that, to my amazement, they have no trouble pronouncing these names... They don't even stumble over the rs and ls. It was about this time that the class bell rang and I started collecting papers, leaving them to squee amongst themselves.
There was an entire paradigm shift in their universe today. Today was the day that they found out that girls can like video games, too. Not only girls, but girls they think are cute can like video games! Things may never be the same for them.