Posted on 02/22/2011 3:14:08 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
Kayla Chung sits in her advanced Japanese language class at Rosemont High School but learns nothing about how to read or write the language.
That's because Chung's teacher – a long-term substitute – does not know Japanese.
"All we do is sit in class, watch movies on Japan and take notes," said Chung, 16, who is in Japanese III. "I'm pretty sure that's not how Japanese is supposed to be taught."
The situation at Rosemont highlights the difficulties schools face when offering specialized programs that have relatively few qualified teachers.
Rosemont's popular Japanese language classes were previously taught by a woman who went on maternity leave in August. The substitute the school hired to fill in for her quit in November.
.... An art teacher with a background in Asian studies was brought on in December and will remain until April when the regular teacher returns from maternity leave.
The substitute, who is also teaching Japanese I, II and IV, does not know the language and instead focuses on the culture and history of the country.
.....Chung, the Rosemont student, said she will sit out Japanese III for the rest of the year knowing she won't be able to talk with the school's Japanese exchange student any time soon.
"I feel like we are just getting BS work so we can get class credits," Chung said. "To me, these credits don't mean anything because I'm not learning what I should."
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
If it can afford a copy of Rosetta Stone or similar language software (about $350 last time I saw it in Staples) there’s no reason why a home school can’t take that on. This is supposing the church (almost all home schoolers are avid church goers) can’t help locate a Japanese speaker, perhaps a missionary on furlough, to help out.
I quit teaching due to a stupid certification issue. Basically, they wanted me to take four courses that had absolutely nothing to do with what I was teaching in the classroom. I taught electronics and one of the first computer / networking repair courses in the State of Florida (1993) at a vocational school (technical center). After six years of teaching (won rookie teacher of the year the first year), several awards, received 100s of thousands in grant money, and my course copied throughout the state, I quit. I also had the highest job placement and the most successful students. I simply refused to take a History of Vocational Education course after the first three courses were a total joke. They told me, it is my way or the hi-way. I took the hi-way.
Tones mean something even in English. They can demarcate the difference between a statement and a question, and between sarcasm/irony and ordinary speech.
Same here. I used to teach the teachers, but was not "qualified" to teach the students.
If she cant converse with the exchange student, then what did she learn in Japanese I and II?????
MANY have, including those who were certified!
No, I don’t believe that. Turkic ties to Indo-European are only in Western Turkic languages dating from the time the Turks moved west (1000 AD) and much after the Tungushic languages birthed Japanese
He faked it ~ that place is so nasty that people find it nearly impossible to engage in any occupations other than hunting wild animals for fur and meat, herding hardy beasts, and mining underground.
It doesn't take much to send the "native tribes " EAST or SOUTH to find better pasture or warmer weather ~ although they are mighty peculiar since they consider it "cold" when it gets down there in the low MINUS Fifties!
They've been slipping out of there for thousands of years ~ yet, when they escaped India/Nepal in the 200AD period they went right back up to Siberia, so they must have understood their traditional trade routes well (they intersect the Eastern reaches of the "Silk Road"). I'm guessing they maintained those routes even during multi-century long sojourns in China, India and Siberia ~ and only lost that knowledge when they went East to Korea and Japan.
They were also in contact going back as far as 3000 BC when the "domesticated large horse" showed up ~ EVERYBODY jumped on that sucker!
I’m sure it’s sooooo hard finding a Japanese speaker in California.
Oh, wait... union rules.
Some have gone into tutoring students who can learn but aren’t being taught in public classrooms.
It must be a wide open field with a lot of demand (readily available supply of under served students — pays well - set own hours - no overhead) and no need to fill out tons of paperwork.
The Hokien language (spoken widely from Thailand, through Indonesia and Malaysia, as well as in Hokien and Taiwan) has "regional dialects" that use ALL 8 old form tones! Of course they also have a vocabulary that is about 30% Dutch in origin. Makes for some interesting listening!
There is no "Chinese". There are dialects- Mandarin, Cantonese, etc. Mandarin - the official language of China - has 4 tones.
They usually come in; tax the heck out of everybody; and leave after maybe a short dynasty.
This keeps the Indians all stirred up and probably contributed to their having become so terribly warlike in earlier times.
The Eastern Turkic speaking peoples lived at the Western margins of Chinese civilization. I have no doubt that they maintained linguistic and genetic contact with the Western Turkic speaking peoples through the simple expedient of TRADING BRIDES along the margins of the earliest parts of the Silk Road. But the guys in the East lived in some of the worst climates on Earth.
The students used to refer to the school as “Jokemont” when I lived out there. I see things haven’t changed much.
The Chinese languages constitute an immense “family’ of languages ~ whatever the “official” language is in Big China is irrelevant. It’s a vanity of the Communist party that they provide leadership in all matters to the Chinese speaking peoples worldwide ~ but that’s just pure CR*P.
True, but from what I understand, the way you pronounce a word in Cantonese can change the definition of the word like puppy and vag*** have the same word, different tones in Cantonese.
“...Chung sounds like a Chinese name...”
I understand that the first laxative was invented by a Chinese man. I think his name was Hung Chow.
But WHY stay on the banks of the Lena if it goes to -60 in winter and +40 in summer? I think the valley must be rich in flora and fauna and have rich alluvial soil
Well, you can say “pussy” two different ways in English and most adults would know whether you meant, well, the vag*** or the housecat.
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