Urashima Taro in Cebuano version

Usa ka hapon, nagbaktas si Taro Urashima sa baybayon. Nakita niya nga gitusoktusok sa mga bata ang usa ka pawikan gamit sa *gapo. “Ayaw!,” ingon ni Taro. Gibalik ni Taro ang pawikan sa dagat. Usa ka hapon, nangisda si Taro, miabot ang dako kaayo nga pawikan. Ingon ang pawikan, “Gitabangan ko nimo sauna. Alang sa bayad sa imong kaayo, dalhon taka sa Ryugu Palace.”
*gapo: piece of wood floated ashore and that breaks easily
Mibyahe si Taro sa sulod sa dagat sakay sa likod sa pawikan.  Wala siya kabalo nganong nakaginhawa siya sa sulod sa dagat. Nisalum sa lalom ang pawikan.
Pagkahuman nakita niya ang hayag kaayo nga Palace. Maoy Ryugu Palace. “Welcome! Dugay mi nga nagpaabot sa imoha,” ingon ang gwapa nga Princesa.
Gipakaon ug inom si Taro. Niinum si Taro ug lamian nga exotic nga bino. Mikaon sya ug mga colorful kaayo nga mga pagkaon. Nagsayaw pod ang Princesa ug iyang mga suluguon. “Kalingaw oy!,” ingon ni Taro. Nagpadayon ang ingon ani nga higayon sa daghang mga adlaw! Apan usa ka adlaw gimingaw siya sa iyang mga ginikanan ug igsuon. “Kumusta na kaya si Papa, Mama, ug ang akong mga igsuon?” Gusto ug gusto na siya mouli. Giingnan niya si Princesa nga gusto na siya mouli. “Mingawon ko nimo. Hatagan taka ani,” ingon ang Princesa. Gihatagan niya si Taro og usa ka nindot nga kahon nga naay sulod nga mga bahandi. Giingnan pod ni Princess si Taro, “Ayaw abliha! Ayaw! Kasabot ka?” Miabot si Taro Urashima sa iyang baryuhanon, apan, wala siya kabalo nganong wala na ang iyang panimalay. Dili pod niya makit-an ang iyang Mama, Papa ug igsuon. Dili sab niya kaila ang mga tawo. nakig-istoryahanay siya sa mga tawo, ug nahibal-an niya nga 300 ka tuig na nga nawala siya sa baryuhanon. “ha? Unsaon na lang ko?” Nahinundom niya ang nindot nga kahon nga naa daw ang mga bahandi. Pagabli niya, migawas ang aso nga puti. Pagkahuman, miputi pod ang iyang mga buhok. Tigulang na si Taro Urashima karon.

Maoy storya sa Urashima Taro sa Binisaya. Gisulat ning storya sa Chronicle sa Japan sa Classical Chinese niadtong 720.
Urashima Taro in Cebuano.

多様性の今、「みんな違ってみんないい」がデフォルト。人として尊重することが大切。Everyone is different. Catering to individual needs can be prejudice only when somebody is emotionally hurt.

差別が非難されるのは、特定の違いに焦点を当てて人々を区別するからではなく、敬意を欠いているからである。一部の人々は、個々の違いに基づいて区別されることを嫌わず、むしろ、権利として主張します。これは素晴らしいことです！もしあなたが個々の違いに基づいて他人と異なる扱いを受け、それが不快だと感じるなら、それは誤りとされる差別です。しかし、区別されることを望んでいればそれは偏見に基づく差別と言えるでしょうか。他人と異なる扱いを受けることが許容されるかどうかは、その扱いを受ける人がそれをよいものだと感じるかどうかにかかっています！ あなたが他人と異なる扱いを受けることに満足しているなら、そこに問題はありません。もしイヤなら、それは間違っています！

Discrimination is to blame not because it separates people by prejudice, focusing on certain differences, but because some people lack respect. Some people claim it as their right to be treated differently than other people based on their individual differences, such as disabilities or preferences, which is no problem. If you are treated differently than others based upon an individual difference and find it unpleasant, that’s discrimination based upon prejudice that are deemed to be wrong. Treating people differently based on prejudice harbors issues only when you hate it. Prejudice is prejudice only when somebody hates it. Whether it is acceptable or not solely depends upon whether you find it okay or not. If you are happy being treated differently than others, that’s nice. If you are not, that’s wrong!

Flashcards might be an effective tool before reproduction activities.

Flashcards might be an effective tool before reproduction activities.

I’m planning to incorporate reproduction—an activity that allows students to repeat sentences the teacher says—and transcription—an activity where students write down what the teacher says—into my upcoming observation lesson. Last semester, I observed a lesson that used transcription, and it made me eager to incorporate this approach in the future. During my own observation lesson last semester, the head teacher helped me design a long-term lesson plan instead of focusing only on the single observation lesson. He advised, “You should incorporate not just reading skills, but all four skills,” and I followed his suggestion. 

For Logical Expression II lessons, we are supposed to develop students’ speaking and writing skills, so I felt that including both transcription and reproduction in one lesson would be beneficial. However, my instinct told me that it would be impossible for our students to repeat what I say accurately. Then I searched online for information about reproduction activities and watched a video created by a Japanese teacher. I realized that for students to successfully repeat sentences, they need to be fully familiar with all the words and phrases beforehand. 

Therefore, I’m planning to introduce flashcards before explaining the article or grammar points. I’ve noticed that students often struggle to memorize all the vocabulary and phrases before attempting to understand the grammar tips to focus on in Logical Expression II lessons. As feedback from previous observations, some teachers expressed a desire to see not only how I teach English but also how students actively engage in output activities. I think this new idea with flashcards will address that effectively.

https://youtu.be/Bos1mNpnpsA?si=VOZaBqVrV8k5TlJC

I always believed that vocabulary learning was about just learning two things — spellings and meanings — while I was just learning English, but Milet Korean Academy clear me out my misbelief. On top of that, we also have to learn pronunciation. Not just spellings and meanings, but also pronunciations need to be learned to increase vocabulary.
I hope to introduce not just two ways but three ways flashcards to classroom.

https://youtube.com/shorts/78VaMfmmhRU?si=kDmhPVw6MVG7EbRW

Looking back at my high school days.

I had a chat with a coworker who has worked for my alma mater. It reminded me of a lot of things back in my high school days, which left me in a mood. My high school days were never flourishing.

Setting too ambitious a goal can leave you unpleasant feelings. I was studying hard to be admitted into Kyushu University, and now I know I was not a poorly scoring student, but nothing seemed to be working out for me. I lost my mental health because of my greediness.

People can live happiest lives when people spend time doing whatever they like. Setting a goal and being stoic doesn’t necessarily lead to a happy life. No matter how  hard you train yourself, only a handful of people can be Olympic track and field athletes. People are living within our physical limits. You are not necessarily living a better life than you dud yesterday. Live yourself to do whatever you like! That’s the best life you can live!

When I graduaged from high school, I still wished to go on to university to study electronics, but I loved studying English with one of my English teachers. Thanks to him, I got to study English even after graduation before the end of the school year. I enjoyed studying English that I was not able to part with English. If I had been up to studying at an English speaking college, I would have kept on trying to be an engineer, our  family were not rich enough. To reconciliate my ambition to become an engineer and keeping studying English at the same time, Kyushu University was not my best choice.

I loved studying the dialect here in Fukuoka and foreign languages at the same time, but I knew Tokyo is a monolingual society with only the Standard Japanese spoken. I hate getting excluded from society because of my Hakata dialect. I just wanted to have kept studying languages.

Studying is an effective way to fend off boredom. It’s not obligatory.

Mr. Boring says, studying is an effective way to fend off boredom. You won’t be killed just because you don’t study. We study to keep ourselves entertained. Studying is never ever an obligation.

It’s a shame for a man to feel pressured to study to the point that he finds his life useless. Life is perfect only if it flows with joys! It’s not about how much or how difficult things you know!

It's also a shame that not everyone can be entertained with what some do. I believe you'll be happier when you share your interests with somebody around you.

Japan welcomes English teachers from India.

Apparently, NHK reported that Japan welcomes Indians as English teachers. In light of the English competency of Japanese students, it is evident that English teachers don’t have to be native in English, but Indian English is peculiar in its English pronunciation.
In comparison to the Philippine English, I get the impression that the pronunciation of the Indian English is neither based on American or British English as a model. In this respect, the Philippine English is much more strictly tied to the American English.

Puhong klase sa pagbasa sa Inigles sa Japan 🇯🇵

Ang pag-andam sa mga klase sa Inigles kay maghunahuna og mga pangutana nga matubag sumala sa textbook ug dili matubag sa textbook. Ang tawag sa pangutana nga matubag kay fact-finding questions. Ang pangutana nga papangita og tubag nga basin tinuod pero wala gisulat sa textbook kay gitawag nga inferrential question. Ang pangutana nga dili matubag sumala sa textbook kay gitawag nga evaluative question. Kinahanglan ang mga estudyante maghunahuna og igong mga idea og ilang kaugalingon. Ingon ani ang gusto sa Ministry sa edukasyon sa Hapon ipatuman sa pagbasang mga klase sa Iningles sa tanang mga eskwelahan sa Japan.

Puhong klase sa pagbasa sa Inigles sa Japan 🇯🇵

Ang pag-andam sa mga klase sa Inigles kay maghunahuna og mga pangutana nga matubag sumala sa textbook ug dili matubag sa textbook. Ang tawag sa pangutana nga matubag kay fact-finding questions. Ang pangutana nga papangita og tubag nga basin tinuod pero wala gisulat sa textbook kay gitawag nga inferrential question. Ang pangutana nga dili matubag sumala sa textbook kay gitawag nga evaluative question. Gikinahanglan nimo maghunahuna og igong mga idea og imong kaugalingon. Ingon ani ang gusto sa Ministry sa edukasyon sa Hapon ipatuman sa pagbasang mga klase sa Iningles sa tanang mga eskwelahan sa Japan.

Puhong klase sa pagbasa sa Inigles sa Japan 🇯🇵

Ang pag-andam sa mga klase sa Inigles kay maghunahuna og mga pangutana nga matubag sumala sa textbook ug dili matubag sa textbook. Ang tawag sa pangutana nga matubag kay fact-finding questions. Ang pangutana nga ipapangita ang tubag nga basin tinuod pero walay gisulat sa textbook kay gitawag nga inferrential question. Ang pangutana nga dili matunag sumala sa textbook kay gitawag nga evaluative question. Gikinahanglan nimo maghunahuna ig saktong mga idea og inyong kaugalingon. ingon ani ang gusto sa Ministry sa edukasyon sa Hapon ipatuman sa pagbasang mga klase sa Iningles sa tanang mga eskwelahan sa Japan.

Puhong klase sa pagbasa sa Inigles sa Japan 🇯🇵

Ang pag-andam sa mga klase sa Inigles kay maghunahuna og mga pangutana nga matubag sumala sa textbook ug dili matubag sa textbook. Ang tawag sa pangutana nga matubag kay fact-finding questions. Ang pangutana nga ipapangita ang tubag nga basin tinuod pero walay gisulat sa textbook kay gitawag nga inferrential question. Ang pangutana nga dili matunag sumala sa textbook kay gitawag nga evaluative question. Gikinahanglan nimo maghunahuna ig saktong mga idea og inyong kaugalingon. ingon ani ang Ministry sa edukasyon sa Hapon gusto ipatuman sa pagbasang mga klase sa Iningles sa tanang mga eskwelahan sa Japan.

Put the right form of ‘be’ in all the parentheses.

I’m going to be in charge of an English class to review learning at junior high school English. I’ll get students to answer as many quizzes on the inflections of verbs and adjectives as possible. I will familiarize students with all the inflections by focusing on forms. If you don’t use the correct forms of words, you can’t make yourself understood. On an exam, if you don’t use the correct forms of words, you’ll score zeros. Familiarize students with the right forms of words is crucial. 

I was a good student in English throughout my high school days, probably because I had been drilled in all the forms of English words at cram school during my junior high school days. It was simple, but was time consuming! I believe familiarizing the basic by focusing on forms will ease your learning in English at high school by leaps and bounds!

Put the right forms of ‘be’ in all the parentheses!

Mike has ( ) practicing soccer for four hours.
I complained about his behavior. He must ( ) angry.
You have to ( ) aware that you are overweight.
You should let him ( ) a comedian.
The room ( ) ( ) cleaned.
Our company requires all its staff ( ) vaccinated against flu.
Your name has ( ) called.
Mr. Takahashi must still ( ) at school.
You speak English well. You can ( ) a teacher.
You look familiar to me. You must have ( ) a student at Koryo High School.
If I hadn’t ( ) arrested then, I could have ( ) murdered.
How long have you ( ) in Japan?
Why ( ) you ( ) nice to me? You must have some favor to ask of me.
Sagrada Familia has ( ) ( ) built for over 130 years.
Netherlands ( ) a small country.

A Visit to Jonan High School as a trainee

Students will have hard time what to speak or write about unless they are given examples easy to write about. Students won’t learn unless they are given expressions to practice. Students won’t learn how to take memos unless they’re told to write how. Planning is important. I just follow the precedences by experienced English teachers using handouts they prepare. Now I know what we teach is not the contents but expressions! For high school students, English is the only language they believe is spoken outside Japan. If English is removed from the compulsory subject, other languages would be given as choices. English only serves the advantage of native English speakers. Information is available not only from English sources. Students assigned to write a composition looked as though me forced to write on a topic I’m not interested in or have no idea about to post on X, Facebook or whatever! As long as they have expressions in their head, they would freely find somebody to share topics with and chat!

The topic for debate was interesting!

“English should not be a required subject.”

I guess that the topic is everything teachers prepare for debate lessons. Students will speak if they have any idea. Worst lesson is getting students talk about topics they have no idea about without providing any information or expression. Debating is included in high school English program in Japan. The knack for successful debate practice seems to be the controversial topic anyone feels like putting some words in. The high school lesson I saw today was just like the battle in response that follows controversy.

Won’t Academic Freedom be a Threat to National Security?

Academic freedom is a fundamental right reserved by the Japanese Constitution, but this right should be restricted to Japanese citizens as pertains to the Japanese crucial interests or national security. Chinese A-bombs were developed by those who had studied in the US or Europe.

Ayaw himoa ang mga pulong sa imong kaugalingon kay dili na hinundan.

Bisan paghimo og mga pulong nga dili masabtan, dili na makatabang sa atong kinabuhi. Imbis paghimo og mga bag-ong pulong ug pagpasabot ana sa mga tawo, importante ug hinundan pa pagpasabot og imong pasabot gamit sa mga pulong na nahibal-an nila karon.

Accepting Mass Immigrants? Look at Jewish Immigrants in Middle East!

We must be cautious of accepting a lot of immigrants and granting them citizenship easily!

Look to Middle East! Jewish immigrants mostly from Europe expelled native Palestinians with guns and have expanded their lands while implementing Apartheid domestically. In Southeast and Central Asia, Chinese immigrants now make up majority of Singaporean and Uyghur population!

Being minority translates that the politics is out of control under  the beloved political system, which is democracy. Are ethnic minorities all over the world well off?