A New Semester

Posted by ljandkari on Jan 8, 2012 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

Classes start tomorrow. I am always excited to meet new students, and especially when I have a student from a country I have never had a student from before. It will prove to be a good semester…challenging but good.

I must confess when I step in front of students, I still have a tinge of butterflies in my stomach. I have a moment before I start speaking when I look out at their eyes and see judgement. This “judgement” creates a quick paralysis. The paralysis allows for a pause where I am able to see scores of past students that have succeeded, improved and have brought something away bigger than English…Erisa, Todd, Mika, Bruna, Kayo, Oscar, Ai, Na Chan (oh my Na Chan!), Hitomi, Zha, Reiko, Ahmed, Megumi, and so many more faces. Besides what I bring to the classroom experience, these students, and so many more, have taught me something about their story forever changing mine.

Thank you to all past students, and to the new students, please hang on!

A Relationship?

Posted by ljandkari on Jan 5, 2012 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

Pragmatics concerns itself with the meaning of utterances within the particular context in which expressed. It delves into the murky waters of intentions attempting to explain language in its most organic state; a social setting. Interested not only in the meaning of morphemes, words and sentences, pragmatics recognizes and studies the existence of hidden meanings and their interpretations. Semantics, while also interested in the meaning of morphemes, words and sentences and the relationships between them does not take into account context. Semantics, rather, is “construed primarily as a matter of the relations that linguistic expressions bear to the world in virtue of which they are meaningful” (Lycan, 1999, p. 165). How are pragmatics and semantics related, if at all and to what extent? Is pragmatics an element of the greater whole of semantics? Can semantics, a construct to explain meaning of “ideal” language, exist devoid of pragmatics? I believe a relationship between the two is evident but is it they are interdependent or separate entities describing the language phenomenon uniquely their own?

Lycan, William G. (1999). Philosophy of language : contemporary introduction. London:Routledge.

A Little Writer

Posted by ljandkari on Jan 3, 2012 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

Stone has been enjoying writing.  He has been filling notebooks with stories, and making comics on the computer.  I hope he continues to share his ideas in this way.  Stone and I made this comic over the Christmas break.  He made the scenes out of Legos, and he wrote the story.  I took the pictures.   I wanted to share…enjoy!

One Common Denominator

Posted by ljandkari on Jan 2, 2012 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

I have used poetry, puppets, videos, computers, and all sorts of other special projects from a summer reading list to making Christmas cookies and the goal was the same throughout them all…to empower and motivate my students. Teaching English, or any language, is as simple as that…empower and motivate the students and learning will take place. Now while it may be easy to state, it is in doing that hands will become dirty.

Caleb Gattegno once said, “Students always know more than they think they know. Students always know much more than the teacher thinks they know.” This is important because students really do know. They are “whole and real people.” As a teacher I must ask myself how I can incorporate students’ ideas and experiences in the lesson not because I am trying to be democratic about the whole deal…but to empower and motivate. This must be ongoing on the teacher’s part! It’s crucial. As a teacher, I must continue to grow, evolve, and change. Change my classroom routines. Try new things. And do old things differently.

To turn on the autopilot is such a waste both in and out of the classroom. Instead, change to empower and motivate students and not just for change sake but actually looking at what I usually do and planning and implementing something different which will take me deeper in class and with my students.

Motivation and empowering is my keystone theory for English education because I have witnessed its success in my own classroom and also when roles were reversed and I became a student of Japanese. And while it may seem oversimplified, I encourage you to look back and remember the teachers which stand out as stellar in your own experiences. They all most likely have one common denominator…they knew how to empower and motivate.

Reflections from the past for a New Year

Posted by ljandkari on Jan 1, 2012 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

10.) I would have auditioned for every play, musical and theatrical event in high school and college. I would not have been afraid to answer questions in class nor would I have cared what was popular.

9.) I would not let anyone get under my skin. I would give no one the power to control my emotions just because they were being a moron!

8.) I would love the unloved instead of having sympathy. Pity doesn’t work!!!

7.) I would not worry about inconveniencing the people behind me in a check out line when I get out exact change or when I take a little extra time to ask how the cashier is doing.

6.) I would make more people laugh and fewer cry.

5.) I would have never begun to smoke, or encouraged others to smoke.

4.) I would be less of a follower, more or a leader and never indecisive. Less talk, more action…faith is useless unless it is coupled with action! A man of combined faith and action I would be!

3.) I would rush around only to help others, get up 2 hours early every week to witness the sunrise, never be bothered by others stupidity, allow myself to cry when I feel sad, never hide behind the “I don’t know” screen, write personal letters, tell more fat jokes, invite all I know to my house on a more regular basis, never allow the mean nature of others effect me, learn to accept things, and also always be truthful even when it hurts.

2.) I will continue to love the woman of my youth, Kari, like no other being on the planet. No one will be put before her. I will love when I don’t want to…I will love when it is right to, I will love when it is wrong to…I will love! I will never allow the foul word of “divorce” to enter my house or cross my lips. I will expect nothing in return.

1.) I will continue to believe in the one true God who spoke everything into existence and sent His son to die for me. I will continue to share his story by sharing my story.

よいお年を

Posted by ljandkari on Dec 31, 2011 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

I wish you all a Happy New Year!  You don’t want to read tonight, so enjoy a picture – the last of 2011!

Cab – On Duty

Posted by ljandkari on Dec 30, 2011 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

Finding a way is agonizing. I doubt that I am the only one with this thought, or has the scars from the lack of belief from others. If walking the aisles of the local bookstore are of any indication of the hurt caused by not believing in “self” or the pain caused by others not believing in “self”, I know I am not alone! Between “Be Your Own Life Coach”, “The Gifts of Imperfection”, “Boundaries” and a number of other books wedged in the middle written by a man who looks like he could sell undercoating, mats, and paint sealant with each car he sells off his lot – I do loathe Joel Osteen – people have wounds and scars and need healing. This leads me to believe there are countless people with “issues” out there! They live without belief. And without belief, there is no action. No action creates a rut. A rut is one short letter away from a nut – as in nut-job!

My father was in the military. We moved…a lot. I’ve heard some military brats describing their forced migration as a negative experience. Roots were never built, relationships never fostered, extended family all but unknown are all common complaints. I never minded moving much. In fact, moving was the only known; we would soon move from this house that we just completed unpacking our boxes. It was also comforting knowing that a one cheek sneak mishap in Mr. Green’s English class would not end with the burden of heavy yoke like Orville Redenfarter for the rest of my life. This process of deracination, while having benefits, left me with one desire – someone to believe in me that I could do anything.

Not investing was a coping mechanism not just for me, but anyone associated in the military way of life. Beyond checking your homework and assigning more, teachers knew you were gone next school year and didn’t invest. Parents were dealing with there own unresolved “issues” and everything was new for them too! Friends at school were waiting to hear the next location of their dad’s (or mom’s) orders, and had little to offer in support. If you weren’t strong, the process could break you…or make you cold.

I was intact, but like ice. By the time I was twelve, I knew I was the only one who could seal the deal. And like every prepubescent boy, I knew everything! Seven years went by and my ice was solid – Orvis Redenpolaricecap! And then boy meets girl!

Meeting Kari in university and having her unreserved belief in me as a person, boyfriend, fiancé, husband, father and sojourner in life has made all the difference. I haven’t figured it all out yet, either has Kari; and together were a mess! We checked our baggage, paid the extra bag fees, and then didn’t board the plane! We turned around, caught a cab home and it has made all the difference in finding our way!

The Lost Turkey Tetrazzini

Posted by ljandkari on Dec 29, 2011 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

Potlucks have never been an event Matt Huddleston has ever enjoyed attending. Tonight when his family came for dinner, we made sure to create a meal that had balance. Rather than turkey tetrazzini casserole teamed with beef tips and ambrosia, Kari and I prepared burgers, dogs, chips and potato salad. The meal had balance and was a complete set; nothing was out of place nor was there “extras” to create confusion or disgust. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for those in attendance – undeniably out of balance!

Mark Chan once said that he would have never chose any of us to be friends with unless Japan had happened. Thrown together in a culture and land not our own, our group of expats in Japan was a motley crew of discontents and zealots. Matt and Kara Huddleston harnessed our group to create purpose – a reason for us to be there. Our group, while we rarely agreed, had a cause. I believe Mark was right – we would have never been friends – this makes what Matt and Kara did beyond themselves.

As the series Lost portrays, a motley crew of expats crash on an island and try to survive. Their survival is always threatened by strange phenomena on the island. Once the survivors have a purpose and ultimately make it off the island several seasons later, most spend their time at home trying to go back to what they just escaped! They realize the island brought out balance and purpose in their lives. In the end, the survivors are all reunited in a church. How fiting! It took more than themselves to come together. I cannot help but think J.J. Abrams, the creator of Lost, borrowed our story.

Thanks for fundamentally altering my life Matt and Kara Huddleston.

Clarity and Carrots

Posted by ljandkari on Dec 28, 2011 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

I lit my last cigarette as a smoker on November 30th, 2001; I woke up the next day clean. I never did like new year resolutions and the weight they bring in the name of a better life, so the end of November was just a listless Friday that ended a work week and a twelve year habit. This isn’t to say I haven’t had a cigarette since 2001; rather, I haven’t had a cigarette as a smoker. Much like a swear jar can deliver the coup de grâce to a potty mouth, yet one stray stroke of a knife finding a finger to resemble a carrot can summon the blackest of shitbirds to flight, occasionally a cigarette is in order. But I am not here to discuss my vices. Or am I?

I find myself 369 days out of 2013. Rather than a project 365 cataloging my life in a picture, Facebook post, or a Mardel-inspirational-quote-at-the-top planner that I am not going to use, I choose clarity…written clarity over the next 369 days.

Kiss Me Deadly

Posted by ljandkari on Dec 15, 2011 in Uncategorized | 1 comment

Listening to my new sustainable Mixed Tape Messiah, Spotify, I was reminded by the 80‘s vixen queen of hair, leather and rock of life’s greatest meaning…and after a day like yesterday, I am appreciative of Glam Hair Rock motivational speeches to pull the leather chaps back on my sanity and having more cow bell to let me know all is well in the world! With her vocal range, on stage versatility and the ability to arc emotion from her electric guitar, Lita Ford brought home a much needed message…it ain’t no big thing!

• Didn’t get the score you had wished…it ain’t no big thing!
• Didn’t pass all your classes…it ain’t no big thing!
• Not everyone likes you…it ain’t no big thing!
• Your holiday shoppin’ will be lighter this year…it ain’t no big thing!
• Paycheck and cost of livin’ are goin’ in opposite directions…it ain’t no big thing!
• Not all your students comprehended all your lessons…it ain’t no big thing!
• The house ain’t perfect…it ain’t no big thing!
• Rude lady at Starbucks…it ain’t no big thing!
• Management is unappreciative…it ain’t no big thing!
• You have a messed up family…it ain’t no big thing!

Add you own…go ahead, fill in the blank…

_______________________________________…it ain’t no big thing!

Scrawl something on that line and your doing pretty well…by doing so, I assume you have a computer, internet access, electricity, funds to pay for said items, a roof to cover it all, past opportunities leading to your literacy, time to spare to pleasure read, the capacity to believe your suffering is somehow special by comparing said suffering to those around you, and a whole lot more that makes it so ridiculous. Get over your self and realize it ain’t no big thing!