The Art of living

Yesterday, one of teachers I know told me about what one of his students said when the student was encouraged to talk about his dream. "I have no idea what I want to do in the future. I have no dreams and no idea why I live. What do I live for?"

Does that sound familiar to you? Have you ever had experience this kind of puzzling feeling? Have you ever felt you are useless loser? Then, welcome to the Teenage Blues Club :-)

I was one of you, a teenager who has no glorifying dream or ambition. I was terrified by the unknown world of grown-ups with heaps of potential dangers and difficulties. Something called social pressure to be better, bigger, wiser human-being came down on my shoulders all of sudden as soon as I became old enough to choose which path I would take; University or Work. Teachers, parents and even my friends suddenly started talking about "reality" which sounded just awfully painful and deadly boring to me then. I had to shift my mind from "dream" to "reality". "I even haven't found my dream, yet" I thought. The sudden shift from "Dream big" to "Be realistic" was confusing to a simple minded girl who I used to be.

"Your life purpose" ? Have I found it ? Have I become a wiser grown-up after all those years?
The answer is no. I still have no idea. But I don't think it matters so much now. I truly enjoy what I do. I appreciate people around me. I certainly got some reasons to live for.

Listen to this great storyteller about the art of living. Sometimes, it is a good idea to take time to listen to stories. Because you might find a story among stories to share with your family or friends. And to me, that is worth living :-)

Nigel Barley:Anthropologist and Writer

http://www.baliadvertiser.biz/articles/siapa/2009/nigel.html

When I was a undergraduate student, I took Anthropology class out of pure curiosity to know what it is. Anthropology sounded exotic to me. And I instantly I fell in love with the idea of "fieldwork" going into uncivilized culture and live among the natives while you investigate their culture. I daydreamed about myself being in a deep jungle, hunting strange looking creatures and sometimes being on the top of a mountain which is not even on the map yet. Well, just dreaming about such a research project is pleasant. I am not sure if I can tolerate with such environment without any civilization since I am a city girl with a few camping experiences. In fact, it will be absolutely unrealistic if I go somewhere like that without any serious preparation. But going there in my head is just fun and extremely safe unless I go out to town with the dreamy mindset.

This dude is a real anthropologist and I found his stories fascinating! I happened to have an opportunity
to deal with a bit of Ethnography as a means of research. I actually have almost no idea except a shallow understanding of the approach but I really love to see myself going "Ummm...very interesting." in a pensive facial expression like most of stereotypical researchers would say. I must admit that my mind is polluted by way too many cliche images. But it is still cool to say "Ummm...very interesting..."
Of course, the genuine anthropologists or scholars don't say that without knowing what exactly interesting about. Don't they?

Thanks to James Newton, one of my mentor / uncle/ mate/ study companion for introducing me to Nigel Barley.

Lonesome George

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-18574279

He was the last Pinta giant tortoise on this planet. It is a heartbreaking news yet good opportunity for us to consider the consequences of losing rare subspecies or species.
Here is one of the article for the topic.

http://www.webofcreation.org/Earth%20Problems/species.htm

Something to think about for your future. It is relevant to us all.

The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)

Hello.I am Ryota.

This song is very good song .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJBhdKrwTOc

But, I don't know about this artist's another songs...

Please tell me another popular song of this artist!

Chinese advanced technique

Hello, I'm Tadashi.

I'd like to introduce this video.

Builders in China completed 30-story prefabricated hotel in just 15 days.

It takes around two years when it becomes the construction of this scale in Japan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QiuqfDDp1Y 

Do you want to stay at this hotel ?

Online classroom.

http://on.ted.com/Norvig

I do not think a school is a place to solely learn certain subjects. It is a place for develop social skills and
build life-long friendship with schoolmates. So, I do not deny the importance of having schools, however, acquiring much specific field in higher education, online classroom can be appropriate. Nowadays, we can interact each other online and discuss various topics without going anywhere. It can be time-effective and cost-effective as well since it takes only a few educator to design the class for millions of students from all over the world. Of course, there will be heaps of obstacles to face such as time-difference, culture-difference and learning-style difference among students. However, if the course is designed as flexible and open as possible, the outcome will be awesome.

I took corresponding course to earn my BA in English literature. It was a great program to enroll for a busy mum like myself. But I did miss discussion on certain subjects and found challenging to maintain my motivation without anyone to talk with. So, I took many actual classes at school in spite of the cost and the crazy schedule to deal with. With the advance of technology, I do not have to feel isolated on a long-distance Master's course I currently take. On our request, the tutor sets up discussion meeting on Skype regularly. I also previously took a online course for Digital storytelling for young learners. The course actually turn the digital-illiterate to a digital tool user.  So, I currently take a online course for  Educational Blogging for young learners with many teachers from all over the world and it is one of the reasons I set up this blog.

On well-considered and well-organised online course, more people can be benefited from leading scholars, artists and enterprisers from all over the world. After learning certain social skills and foundation of  various subjects, online classrooms can be a mainstream for next generation.

record dreams

I'd like to introduce this article.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/wordsinthenews/2010/10/101029_witn_dreams_page.shtml

To record your dream, its mean,  your dream is known to somebody.
Is it good for you?

My favorite song is "alone again"

Hello.I`m Ryo.
I like this song.
This song singer name is "Gilbert O'Sullivan".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ELnhjGw4Zs

It is very old song.
and,line is very nice.

so,It`s very cool!!

A story from Ryo

hello 
I ’ m Ryo 

I want to ask this article.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/wordsinthenews/2012/05/120529_witn_football_sol.shtml


Dear all,
I am attaching some relative readings to the topic. Please consider this issue and let's discuss how we feel about it in class.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism_and_discrimination_in_Ukraine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-Nazism
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6241513179213272889
http://youtu.be/YbNR5oMNp1s

Shocking racism at a football match.

Please take a look at this article and video and think about this incident.http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/video-asian-students-attacked-at-euro-851614

EURO2012

I supported the England and they won the game.
I want to see the Rooney soon.
http://youtu.be/VbLB4WrutIU

Blogging

This is the 3rd week on Educational Blogging for young learners course. So far I have done as follows:

• Setting up new blog to share with my students as well as some guest writers.
• Edited layout and basic settings of the blog
• Invited writers for this blog.
• Added some gadgets to the blog.
• Posted several contents.
• Discovered some interesting sites and added the URL to the blog.
• Left comments on other's blogs.

I'm quite familiar with Blogger and for me it was not so challenging to post something. But I realized posting on Blogger is not so easy if you don't have Google account. It is a good chance to open Google account and start blogging, though.

I hope to see more posts and enjoy blogging together :-)

http://youtu.be/mlKWm4YT5Ds

I Can Talk

Hello!
I'm Rida Ryota.

This is my Favorite song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJDCMth8poM



You will surprised to this video!

Please watch it.

Can you imagine having a place like this?

http://www.ted.com/talks/dave_eggers_makes_his_ted_prize_wish_once_upon_a_school.html

This is saturday morning and I am still in a dreamy mood. My dream today is to have a place like this in our community where residents, teachers, parents get together and build a school for children by sharing skills, time and bit of money. It may sound unrealistic and crazy but that's what a dream should be. And like this dude says, a wish may come true.

Happy weekend for all the dreamers!

Home

http://youtu.be/7dfTURAhrTY

My favorite the American idol, Phillip Phillips sings "Home". This song reminds me of one of the reasons I set up Sunny-field English in 1999.  As I have become a mum, I realized how important for everyone to have a place, called "Home". I wanted to built home where you can always come back and take a rest from the heck tick crazy world we live in.

It has been 13 years passed by and I have been having amazingly inspiring and educational experiences because of the bunch of wonderfully unique individuals. Things I have learned from those young learners via teaching English are priceless and their presence in my life motivates me to be a little better person. I have realized that I can never promise to facilitate "Home" for anyone but surely all the young learners I have met in the last 13 years have made the classroom home for me.

Finnish schools rock!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2012/apr/09/finish-school-system

In the last class, I asked why most of students in class were quiet without asking any questions at all. These are the answers: "Because I feel sleepy." "Because I am shy." "Because other students would be angry with me if I ask questions. so, I will ask questions to the teacher after the class."

These are only some opinions and there might be hundreds more reasons, however, their comments give me a starting point to investigate the absolute passiveness in students in some of Japanese schools.
Such attitudes can be identified in way too many classrooms and I suspect that is the main culprit for the decline in academic standards which educators moan about.

Now it is time to ask educators including myself;
What makes you sleepy? Simply the lack of sleep? But would you feel sleepy when you do something exciting or fun, regardless of the depth or length of your sleep? Why does this student feel shy in class? Simply he is self-conscious? Would he feel so shy with his family? How about with his friends? Why would other students get angry at this student if she asks questions? Who facilitates such unfair setting?
And what if we try to learn from the successful school system? What are the differences between the system and our system? Would that be nice if we can facilitate a space where learner's autonomy is respected and everyone shares the fruit of it?

I would love to see such a change at schools in my own country without relying heavily on tests to force students to work hard.

Hello

What if nobody believes you?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-18404330

The breaking news above is really heartbreaking one. Can you imagine to be accused of killing your own baby? 30 years of agony? This is really beyond my comprehension how awful that all the years must have been. 


Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton, a mum was convicted of her baby's murder. What a nightmare! First of all, she lost her baby. Can you imagine going on a camp with your family, having a great time and falling asleep at night peacefully then in the morning you find that your baby vanishes from the camp site? Oh, dear. It must have been awfully devastating experience. On top of that, nobody believes her claim and she was blamed for the tragedy. I have no idea how can she possibly survive in such a outrageous circumstance. This mum must be very wise and strong woman. She even got strength to smile and leave a uplifting comment to the media after the triumph.


The long painful years she has lost  won't come back yet I sincerely hope she will have a loving and peaceful time now. 

Time to tell a story

When I was little, the bed time was the most exciting time for it was time for a story. My mum read a story or two from our library of picture books. She was busy, looking after a big family- my grandparents, my aunt, uncles and even cousins. Only at night, after finishing her daily mission, she got time to sit next to me and she opened the door to the land of full of adventures and excitements.
After going though the same amazing experience as a mum - sharing the numbers of wonderful bedtime stories with my own baby, I have become a big fan of stories and started to suspect that everyone has a story or two to tell. Any stories, from the world news to your daily life, can be as interesting as the good old bedtime story from the beloved library.

Some days, stories come to you unexpectedly without any efforts at all but most of the days, you might have to go and fish some. These are  places you may find some intriguing stories:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/wordsinthenews/
http://www.eslfast.com/eslread/ss/s001.htm
http://www.simpleenglishnews.com/
http://www.booksie.com/
http://www.worldstories.org.uk/
http://www.poemhunter.com/
http://www.storyhunter.tv/blog
http://www.thestorylibrary.com/

And also please keep this in mind: every single ordinary day has a fascinating potential to be a great story to share with others. Let's make this blog a place to share such stories.

“If you are a dreamer,come in. If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar, a hoper, a prayer, a magic-bean-buyer. If you're a pretender, come sit by my fire, for we have some flax-golden tales to spin. Come in! Come in!” 

                                                                                                                                        Shel Silverstein