At it again

It may be hard to start anew, but we often forget the lessons of the past and are thus allowed to move forward with more rewarding mistakes. I am "at it again" writing this blog, which begins in in December because I accidently erased it. I am "at it again" living abroad because I I erased from my memory the continous miscommunication and confusion of it. Luckly you can sit back in the comforts of your native language and culture and enjoy my adventures, hopefully with a laugh or snicker.

Tuesday, December 27, 2005

The things you overlook

The msot common writing book among my students is a small green notebook with pigs in cooks outfits dancing on it. This book is made especially for writing non-character languages and even has an English phrase on the bottom. I have been here nearly five months and have read this passage more than once, but because of the excess of meaningless English phrases in a world already saturated with slogans I have only now processed what it says. It says "Learning a new foreign language is like enjoying a nutritious meal." Now what kid of message is that sending kids. I have never met a kid under 14 who wanted to eat nutritious meals. This phrase seems to say, learning a foreign language sucks but it's good for you. or Learning a foreign language isn't good, but your mom makes you do it or even learning a foreign language is impossible since I think many children would argue that enjoying a nutritious meal is impossible. Luckily I don't think most people read English on things and moreover I don't think even the best Buxiban kids know what nutritious means.