予約不要・通い放題1万円～の英会話VELCO滋賀大津校スクール日誌

Hey everyone,

14th November 2015
Otsu Free Talk
11am-12pm: 4 students
12pm-1pm: 5 students

Lesson One:
I showed the students a new video of the current hostage and terrorist situation that is still going on in Paris right now. Most students weren't aware of the situation and this brought up a lot of discussions about terrorism. I noticed that everyone's gut instinct was to believe that it was ISIS even though no news has been realised about the motive behind the attack. I mentioned that exactly 11 months ago there was the hostage situation in Sydney, Australia. We spoke about how after 9/11 terrorism is assumed to be related to Muslim extremists. I asked the students what they knew about the Muslim culture and religion before 9/11. It seems as though they hardly knew anything and that usually Japanese people do not bring up the topic of religion. We spoke about the power of the government and media in creating moral panics in society and segregating minor religions and cultures from our own. We discussed the difference between refugees and asylum speakers and how the mass movement of refugees from Syria to other European countries may evoke fear now after the Paris incident. We then did a small scenario exercise, 'If there was a gunman in this room what would your first response be?'. Most students said they would either freeze on the spot, run, or hide under the table. I said I would throw the Velco laptop at them and try to tackle them down in hope of getting the gun out of their hand. We spoke about different scenarios such as; if the gunman was short, tall, a female, had a knife instead of a gun. We then discussed the difference between someone attacking you in a classroom full of people compared to that of a one-on-one house invasion. We discussed how a bigger crowd creates a chain reaction of fear compared to one where you're alone and must fight to survive.

Lesson Two:
The second lesson I brought up a new article from yesterday's newspaper regarding the murder and mutilation of a transgendered victim in Tokyo. We spoke about different hypotheses behind the murder; whether it was due to domestic violence, love quarrels, targeted attack by an outsider or just a random attack. We spoke about the murder being quite personal and the act of facial mutilation as being very extreme. We spoke about societies view of transgendered individuals and how the students would feel if one approached them in different settings. We then spoke about whether they would accept their friends if they found out if they were transgender. One of the students mentioned that it is easier to accept a female who dresses or transitions into a man than vice versa. I asked the class why this is and most took a while to think of why we have this view on the agenda. We then got onto the topic of mail order brides (a had to explain what this was) and how there have been instances where men marry lady boys by accident. We discussed the difference between mail order brides and human trafficking. We ended the lesson with a few idioms and some slang words.

Vocabulary
YOLO (you only live once)
Kerosene
Refugees
Asylum seekers
Hypothesis
Theory
Frame
Set them up
Mail order brides
Human trafficking
Luminol
Moral panics
Transgender
5 o'clock shadow
Domestic violence
Hoax
Creep
Glued to the TV
Square eyes
Couch potato
A penny for your thoughts
Zoning out
Don't beat around the bush

Thank you for the serious lesson! Great to hear your openness to other cultures and religions...but also humorous to know you would react in a crisis situation. Thought are with the people in Paris. See you all next week!

Emily