I just heard that my poor dad tripped on the pavement while running for the bus and knocked his two front teeth out. I do hope he gets well soon. In the meantime, here’s a little ditty to cheer him up:
If you can’t view the video, watch it here on YouTube.
Update: My dad’s got a new set of pearly whites, and my mum wrote an entertaining poem about the whole expeirence here: His Pocket Hurts
Last year a I wrote a series about Japanese manners, each with a video of an AC commercial that broadcast nationwide, teaching Japan’s public to be a little more considerate to each other. I thought those commercials were brilliant, kind of like drink driving commercials back home, but these were about topics as frightening as eating hamburgers on a train.
I Love CM
I’m all for encouraging people to talk to their neighbors, as was done in one of those AC commercials, but this latest “CM” is going a bit too far. Now they are actually encouraging you to watch TV commercials! Watch this video to see what I mean (or jump directly to YouTube).
I have to admit it’s one of my favorite commercials, not least because of its very catchy tune. The question is, though, will an advertising campaign like this work? Will people start to watch the commercials more, and then actually buy the products being advertised?
Of course! When you repeat something enough times, it becomes true, so singing “I love commercials” to yourself all day will subconsciously make you believe you really love commercials. It must work because I’ve been glued to the TV for the last few days. I might have to change the lyrics to “I love changing diapers” or “I love Akihiro Miwa” if I’m going overcome the things I fear most.
When I was a kid, thirteen to be exact, Was (Not Was) released a song called ‘Walk the Dinosaur’, which was a huge hit in 1988. It’s one of those songs you don’t forget, and I tend to sing it to myself every time one of my elementary school students chooses the ‘dinosaur’ from a bunch of stamps I use for homework and rewarding the kids at the end of each lesson.
Today, in my 4th-6th grade class, without prompting, the kids all started singing the song along with me, and after the first time, they all wanted the ‘dinosaur’ stamp, and we kept singing the song! I found it hysterically funny that a group of Japanese kids, who weren’t even born when Walk the Dinosaur was released, would not only find it funny, but actually make a conscious effort to remember the words and sing it aloud with dinosaur gestures!
If there’s a lesson to be learned from this, it would be that children do pick up on teacher ‘chatter’, that is the things an ESL teacher says to him or herself during a lesson which the kids aren’t expected to understand. I often talk or sing to myself when I teach…”Now where did I put my pencil?”, “Wow, he actually did his homework this week.”, “Rolling, rolling, rolling, keep them wagons rolling… Rawhide!”
When you say the same things repeatedly every lesson, directly or indirectly, children remember. So, today’s tip is to be aware of what you’re saying, make sure you say it every week, and in a few months your kids will be saying it, too!
I love this video of a popular Japanese double-act Tetsu & Tomo. The music is from the variety show ‘Shouten’. Watch and laugh, and if you can’t view the video, you can see it here at youtube.com.
I’ve become a fan of Japanese TV now that I’m married and live with the TV on permanently. While many people think that the Japanese are expression-less, everything on TV is really exagerrated. There’s a lot of Tom and Jerry style comedy with people hitting each other around the head, and over-reacting to things like how delicious food is on cooking shows.
All this makes it much easier for a foreigner to understand what’s going on. I find British comedy very clever in its use of words, but Japanese comedy is very visual and will have you in stitches!
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