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ESL-Kids.com Featured in T.H.E. Journal

April 14th, 2008 by Nick Ramsay

T.H.E. Journal I wasn’t planning to blow my own trumpet, but regular commentator, Keith, told me not to let pride stand in my way, so let me shout it out loud…

My site got featured in T.H.E. Journal! Whoo-hoo!

A sample of T.H.E. Journal magazine I launched ESL-Kids.com, a website offering free ESL materials, in 2006. Since then, it has had 2.3 million page views, about 400,000 visitors, and is now frequented by around 1,500 people a day. This month, it got featured in T.H.E. Journal!

The Technology Horizons in Education Journal, was launched in 1972 and was the first magazine to cover education technology and is still the largest publication of its kind with a circulation of 90,000 readers.

In the April issue, there is a five page article on English language learners by Neal Starkman. The author has interviewed a number of teachers who are under pressure from programs like “No Child Left Behind” to get their students up to an academic level within three years. One of those teachers is Linda Rush, a member of the Discovery Educator Network and teacher of 130 “mildly to moderately developmentally challenged students” from ages 6 to 22. She says,

A lot of teachers go into the classroom and close the door. Technology opens it up - it’s your school, it’s your community.”

Neal then goes on to list some of Linda’s favorite ESL websites including my own, ESL-Kids.com:

She downloads videos from TeacherTube. She chooses flash cards from ESL Flashcards. She prints out worksheets from Childtopia. She gets ideas for games from ESL-Kids. She uses ELL activities from Kindersay.

Okay, so it’s only a one-liner, but I’m very chuffed to see my website mentioned in print, plus I get a link from the online version!

Other recent plugs I’d like to thank people for…

Mike talked about my origami site, Oshibori Art, in his post, What is Oshibori Art? He also wrote about our online friendship in Peace Be With My Net Buddy 4 Life… In Japan.

Bill gave a plug for the social bookmarking site, JapanSoc, in his post, Doing What I Can’t Do. He then allowed me to guest blog on the Rising Sun of Nihon, so I wrote a little story of my origami experience before starting OshiboriArt.com.

Shane has launched her new blog, The Tokyo Traveler, and she kindly linked to this blog in her Nihon on the Net post.

Jason mentioned my Google Speed-Search Lessons in his article, The Lull Has Arrived.

Allan, who has a website for Canadians abroad, has been using my math website with his children. Glad you like the worksheets Allan!

Thanks everybody!

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Have You Got Your .JP Yet?

April 13th, 2008 by Nick Ramsay

Not so long ago, I registered nickramsay.com and pointed it here. That was just one step in helping my blog reach #1 in Google when you searched for my name… although my arch-rival, Conservative politician, Nick Ramsay, has now reclaimed that spot. Well done, Nick. Best of four?

Get a domain name in Japanese

In the comments on that post, acclaimed author, environmentalist, database magician and Japan blogger, Jason Irwin, alerted me to JP Domains, a website at which I could register two .jp domain names for just $40, and have them point to my blog with my name in katakana!

Get your name before you lose it

According to Dale Carnegie, “a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language”, and he’s absolutely right! I took Jason’s advice and snapped up ニックラムセイ.jp (Nick Ramsay) and 陸人.jp (Rikuto, my son) and pointed them both to this blog.

Now, if you do the same, you can tell your Japanese friends your site’s URL in Japanese, which makes it far easier for them to remember, and if you’re lucky, you’ll come up at #1 in Google for your name in Japanese, too! Very cool.

How to register a .jp domain name

Since I think this is so awesome, I asked Jason if he would be kind enough to write a step-by-step guide on how to register a .jp domain. Not only did he happily agree, he even let me host the page right here! So please take a moment to read, or bookmark for later, Jason’s article, Why Buy a .JP Domain Name?

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Rikuto’s Diary April 12th 2008

April 12th, 2008 by Rikuto

My first teeth! Hello everybody. Daddy says I can write on his blog. He thinks that at my age (8 and a half months) I should learn to touch type. I think he’s wrong. My fingers are too short and chubby. I can do it with my toes, though.

My first teeth

I have two teeth now. One is a bit yellow. Mummy thinks I have an “enamel defect”. She keeps brushing it. She’s always sticking things in my mouth and nose. I really don’t like “nasal irrigation”.

My little cousin

I went to see cherry blossoms with grandma. She told me my aunty is going to give me a little cousin for Christmas. I wonder what that is. I hope it rattles.

My first baseball cap

Mummy got me a baseball cap. I eat it when she’s not looking. It’s yummy. Daddy has a baseball cap, too. We look funny together.

What did you say?

I don’t understand Daddy. He says things like “Did you do a poopy poopy in your poopy poopy pants?”. I think he should study English like Mummy.

Water in my eyes

I haven’t cried for twenty minutes. I have some catching up to do. Bye bye.

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ID Cards Needed for Cigarette Machines

April 9th, 2008 by Nick Ramsay

A cigarette vending machine If you are in Japan, you have probably already seen the bright yellow notices plastered all over the country’s cigarette vending machines. At first, I thought it was some fancy advertising campaign, but instead, they are announcing the launch of “taspo”, an ID card embedded with an IC (integrated circuit) chip containing information proving the owner is at least 20 years old (the legal age for purchasing cigarettes).

What does it say?

Each notice reads something along the lines of,

To prevent underage smoking, as of June 1st, if you don’t have a taspo card, you won’t be able to buy cigarettes at this machine.

How to get a taspo card

Getting a card looks nearly as troublesome as applying for a passport or an alien registration card! The taspo website is in both English and Japanese, but the application form is in Japanese only. There are very clear English instructions on the site which show you what you need and where to put it. Generally, you need to fill in your name, date of birth, address and phone number. You must write with a black ball pen, and include the katakana version of your name. Your address must be written in Japanese, and everything must match your alien registration card, which you’ll need to provide a readable copy of.

taspo - saving the health of millions of teenagers?

Do the benefits outweigh the hassle?

Well, I don’t think so. If you’re already 20 or over, this is no more than a huge inconvenience. Of course, they try to appeal to the nobler motive of saving the health of our youngsters, but if that were the case, why didn’t they just remove the machines years ago and force you to buy cigarettes over the counter?

Then they try to sell you on the convenience of having a prepaid card that you merely have to swish over the sensor to get your tobacco fix. Big deal.

Is this really a good thing?

Smokers and non-smokers alike will most probably agree that steps taken to prevent youngsters smoking is a good thing. However, I argue that since the number of smokers is decreasing dramatically anyway (source), why is it necessary to introduce ID cards now? Why not let the number of smokers naturally fall instead of messing about with IC chips, forms and photographs?

Could there be an ulterior motive?

First, I would imagine some vending machine companies will profit immensely from replacing or adapting every single cigarette machine in the country. Has this been mentioned in the news?

Second, If I was the head of Japan Tobacco, this would be the perfect opportunity to gather customer data. I don’t know whether those IC chips can record what brand of cigarettes you buy and how often, or whether that data is sent to JT HQ when you charge your card, but they would definitely have all your personal details (and photo) stored on their computers from the application process, and let’s not forget that Japan Tobacco is still half owned by the government, which doesn’t fill me with confidence.

The taspo card seems to be a stepping stone toward the government and associated businesses eventually storing all our personal data and tracking our purchases. How long will it be before we all have one single card (or something built into our cell phones) that tells everything about us; who we are, where we live, what we do, what we buy, and even where we are right now?

You may think those New World Order folks are crazy with their talk of implanting IC chips into all of us, but that seems to be the direction we are heading with today’s “convenient” technology.

Anyway, I haven’t had a cigarette for about nine months, and taspo won’t encourage me to start again!

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ESL-Kids.com Featured in T.H.E. Journal

Have You Got Your .JP Yet?

Rikuto’s Diary April 12th 2008

ID Cards Needed for Cigarette Machines

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