An interesting article on CNN:
'Nazi-chic': Why dressing up in Nazi uniforms isn't as controversial in Asia

Indeed, I've been noticing this phenomenon for a long time here. Nazi flags just aren't as controversial in Asia as they are in the West.

See my 2005 post: Nazi Flags and Me 

Another 2016 death.  I somehow missed this one last week.
Watership Down author Richard Adams dies aged 96

My review of Watership Down here.

From Yahoo.com
Iconic Star Wars Actress Carrie Fisher Dies at 60: ‘She Was Loved by the World and She Will Be Missed Profoundly’

My thoughts:
1) Not being an overly superstitious person, I haven't until now put much stock in the belief that 2016 is a cursed year.  And I know most of the people spreading this meme have been doing so half in jest.  But the joke is starting to seem eerily true.
2) Like everyone else my age, Carrie Fisher was a huge part of my childhood.
3) It's probably callous for us fans to bemoan what this means to the movie franchise.  (It overlooks the fact that a real human being has actually died.)  But I can't help but feel bad that this means I won't see Princess Leia on screen anymore.  (The filming for Episode VIII is reportedly already completed, but this means she won't be in Episode IX).

too+ adjective Slideshow

(TESOL Worksheets--Too + Adjective)

This is a slideshow I developed to explain the concept of "too + adjective" to young learners.  In my own classroom, I used it to supplement English World 4 Unit 1 p.27 Grammar in Conversation.

Google: slides, pub

English World 4 Unit 1 Listening p.28 Listening

(Supplementary Materials for Specific Textbooks--English World 4)

Transcript: docs, pub

Listen again and match the words to the sentences:

eyes, puppets, string, too long, tubes, wool

Anna:

Art Club was really good this week.  We made (1)____________.  I used an old sock, coloured paper and (2)____________.  I put the string round the top of the sock.  I pulled it tightly and made two ears.  I cut out green paper for its (3)____________ and I used black paper for its nose.  My puppet was a red cat.

Henry:

I made a puppet, too, but I didn’t use a sock.  I used a box, (4)____________, paper and wool.  I made a brown horse.  I cut out black paper for its eyes and I made a tail from black (5)____________.  At first the tail was (6)____________ so I cut the wool and made it shorter.

Answers:

Anna:

Art Club was really good this week.  We made (1)puppets.  I used an old sock, coloured paper and (2)string.  I put the string round the top of the sock.  I pulled it tightly and made two ears.  I cut out green paper for its (3)eyes and I used black paper for its nose.  My puppet was a red cat.

Henry:

I made a puppet, too, but I didn’t use a sock.  I used a box, (4)tubes, paper and wool.  I made a brown horse.  I cut out black paper for its eyes and I made a tail from black (5)wool.  At first the tail was (6)too long so I cut the wool and made it shorter.

The Detroit Free Press has an article about the teacher shortage, and how it's affecting schools.

Anyone with brains could have seen this coming a long time ago.  To quote myself from a 2011 blogpost:

The Daily Show has been doing a great job recently satirizing the right wing hostility towards public school teachers. Highly recommended viewing (see here, here, here, and here.)

Nor, by the way, is the right-wing attack on teachers anything new. See this "This Modern World" cartoon from back in 1997.

It's worth remembering at this point the high turn over rate of teachers (Washington Post Article here), especially first year teachers.

Anecdotally, I can't begin to tell you about the number of disillusioned former teachers I have talked to over the years. As an education major in college myself, I know several former classmates who taught for one year, and then decided the level of stress involved in teaching at the public schools just wasn't worth it, and then quickly switched over to easier and better paid jobs.

As an English teacher in Japan, I also encountered several former public school teachers who had decided teaching in public schools in America wasn't worth the stress, and decided to escape by becoming English teachers abroad instead.

I also know several people who started out as Education majors, and then were warned that the stresses of the job were rapidly beginning to outweigh the rewards. I could probably write a book about all the things former teachers have told me over the years.

Now, with public school teachers becoming villainized and their pay attacked, I can't imagine anyone with any talent that would be remotely attracted to this job. So remember this the next time you hear a pundit complaining yet again about how American education is falling behind, or how talented people never seem to want to go into teaching.

So, to answer the question on everyone's mind: yes, I do now feel a little bit bad about writing: I Really Hate Last Christmas.

For what it's worth, I think, and have always thought, that Wake Me Up Before You Go Go is the quintessential song of the 80s.

English World 4 Unit 2 Vocabulary

(Supplementary Materials for Specific Textbooks--English World 4)

Here is the Google Slide Presentation for the Vocabulary from Unit 1 in English World 4.

Google (slides, pub)
quizlet: docs, pub

English World 4 Unit 2 Vocabulary

https://quizlet.com/_2sz234

English World 4 Unit 2 Vocabulary

https://quizlet.com/_2sz234

English World 4 Unit 2 Vocabulary

https://quizlet.com/_2sz234

TEFLology Podcast: TEFL Interviews 26: Ryuko Kubota (Live at JALT 2016)

(TEFLology Podcast)

New episode of TEFLology is available HERE.

Or press play below:

Listen to our new episode here! https://t.co/2hINoAzvoa via @acast

— TEFLology Podcast (@TEFLology) December 21, 2016

As always, these TEFLology interviews are really interesting.

My only major complaint with this one is that I wish it had been 3 times longer.  There were a number of statements that Ryuko Kubota said that I wanted to hear explained more, but there just wasn't time to get into it.  (This was one of three interviews conducted at the JALT 2016 conference, so all the interviews appeared to be conducted under a strict time limit.)

For what it was, though, it was very interesting.

My own thoughts/ commments.

* It was interesting to hear Ryuko Kubota talk about the Eikaiwa / English Conversation Schools in Japan.  I spent 3 years in that environment myself.

* It sounds like Ryuko Kubota couldn't get access to the major English Conversation Schools for her research, which is unfortunate.
In my own anecdotal experience, I found that students who got most of their language instruction from English Conversation Schools tended to have a lot of skilled strategies for expressing their meaning, but terrible formal grammar.  If someone could just get the access to study this, I'm sure there's some interesting research papers to be done about this phenomenon.

* Because she couldn't get access to the major English Conversation Schools, Ryuko Kubota mentions that she went towards more community English school groups, such as the ones set up by the Christian missionaries.
These English conversation schools set up by Christian missionaries were definitely a presence in Japan.  (Ryuko Kubota doesn't mention Mormons specifically, but I believe the Mormon missionaries in particular were big on this type of outreach.)
Those of us in the expatriate community who were skeptical of religion were always a bit critical of the way these schools tried to cloak their proselytizing in terms of free English lessons.  But is it so bad really?  I don't know.  (Actually TEFLology did an episode on this way back in their past--episode 3 was on Evangelical Christians in ELT.)

* Ryuko Kubota mentions that a lot of young Japanese women were studying English at these schools just because they wanted the chance to be near Caucasian men.
This is what is known in expatriate circles as the "Charisma man" phenomenon.  (W)
Because Hollywood and Western media promote the Caucasian body type as the ideal form of beauty, Japanese women are often attracted to Western men.  That, plus western men are in limited supply in Japan, which increases the demand, as well as makes them more exotic.
So, white men who were not considered particularly attractive back in their home countries suddenly find themselves the object of desire once they move to Japan.
(It's also been true in Vietnam, and I suspect is true in many parts of Asia.)
As yours truly was a beneficiary of the Charisma Man phenomenon while I lived in Japan, the subject has often popped up on this blog in the past.    (For one example of many--see here).
I also would agree with Ryuko Kubota that, based on my experience in English Conversation Schools in Japan, a number of Japanese women do indeed appear to take lessons solely for the purposes of meeting Caucasian men.  Ryuko Kubota mentions "young" Japanese women, but in my experience it was also a lot of middle-aged Japanese housewives as well.

* Near the end of the interview, there's an interesting hint at a conversation about racism in the English teaching industry, that unfortunately didn't get developed.
I would have liked to know in more detail what Ryuko Kubota's thoughts on this were.
I've occasionally had people suggest to me that teaching English in Asia is ipso facto imperialism, and I've always reacted defensively against that suggestion.  Although obviously I have personal reasons for resisting it.
But on the other hand, I don't think anyone could ever deny that the English teaching industry is rife with racism.
One example of many--I get paid much more than my Vietnamese colleagues, even though some of them are much better teachers than I am.
And that's just one example.  I could list things all day.

It should be noted, however, that a  lot of the racism in the English teaching industry comes from the consumer side as well, and not just from the supply side.  Japanese and Vietnamese customers often want their English teacher to be Caucasians, and will complain if they get a teacher with darker skin.  (Perhaps Ryuko Kubota takes all this into account in her writings.  I don't know.)

Market Leader: Intermediate Unit 3 Change p.30-31 Socializing

(Supplementary Materials for Specific Textbooks--Market Leader Intermediate)

Transcript: docs, pub

Listen again and find 5 mistakes in the transcript

(AS=Antonio Silva, JW= James Whitfield)

AS: Hi, I’m Antonio Silva, nice to meet you.

JW: Nice to meet you, too.  I’m James Whifield.  Call me James.

AS: Where are you from, James?

JW: I’m from Atlanta, Georgia.  How about you?

AS: I’ve come a long way.  I’m from Belo Horizonte in Brazil.  I’m Sales Manager for an office equipment group, Techko.  Maybe you know us?

JW: Yeah, I’ve certainly heard of your company. I work for New Era, in New Jersey.  I’m a systems analyst.

AS: Right.  How is business going for you?  It is it a bit tough, like for most salesmen?

JW: No, not so far.  Actually our sales were up last quarter, but it’s early days I suppose.  To be honest, we’re all worried about the future, no doubt about that.  How about your company?

AS: Things are not too good at all.  We’ve had quite a few redundancies lately.  All departments have been told to cut costs this year.  It’s not going to be easy, but we’ve got to do it.

JW: Mmm, doesn’t sound too good.

AS: No, but these are difficult times for everyone.  How was your journey here?  I suppose you came by air, did you?

JW: Yeah, it was quite a long flight, a bit turbulent at times, but the food and service were OK, so I’m not happy.  How about your journey?

AS: Pretty exhausting.  But I stopped over at Los Angeles and did some business there.  So I did get a rest before coming here.  Are you staying at this hotel?

JW: Actually, I’m not.  I’m lucky, I’m staying with my daughter.  She lives downtown, not far from here, and she insisted I stay with her.  It’s fine by me.  She’s a fantastic cook!

AS: Woah, you’re lucky.  I’m staying in a pretty cheap hotel a few blocks away to cut costs, and I’m not at all happy.

JW: How’s that?

AS: Well, the room’s very small and the hotel doesn’t have many bathrooms.  It would be nice if there was a pool or gym, so I could have a workout. I couldn’t use their business centre yesterday.  Apparently, there was no one to run it.  It was really annoying!

JW: Maybe you should change your hotel.

AS: I don’t think I’ll bother.  The main thing is the conference.  If the speakers are good, I can put up with a bit of inconvenience at the hotel.

JW: Yeah, you’re right.  We all want to enjoy the conference and listen to some good presenters.

Listen again and find 5 mistakes in the transcript J=James, K=Klaus, A=Antonio, L=Ludmila, N=Nancy

J: Hi, Klaus, please join us, there’s plenty of room.

K: Thanks, we’d love to … I don’t think we’ve met.

J: Let me do the introductions.  I’m James Whitfield, I’m from Atlanta, Georgia, and I’m a systems analyst for New Era.  This is Antonio Silva from Brazil.  He’s a sales manager with an office equipment firm.

A: How do you do?

K: Pleased to meet you.  I’m Klaus Liebermann, I’m a colleague of James’s.  I’m the Managing Director Of New Era’s Frankfurt subsidiary.  And this is Ludmila Poigina from St Petersburg.  She’s a director of an engineering company.

L: How do you do.

K: And this is Nancy Chen from Beijing.  She’s a senior official in the Chinese Department of Environment.

N: How do you do.

J: So ...have any of you had time to visit the town yet?  I suppose you want to explore it a bit.

N: Well, I’d love to, I’ve never been to Seattle, and I’ve heard a lot of good things about it.  But I just don’t have the time.  I’m only here for two days, and I want to go to as many talks as possible.

K: That’s not much time, but you should try to see a few of the sights here, like the famous Space Needle.  It’s a real landmark.  And if you go to the market area, you can see where the first McDonalds store was located, back in the early 1970s.

N: OK, well, I might try to sneak away for a few hours if possible.  What about you, Ludmila, are you going to check out the local area?

L: Actually, I’ve already done that.  I came here early so I could look around a bit.  I’ve seen the Space Needle and visited the civic centre.  I was really impressed with the Columbia Centre--it’s a massive building, much bigger than the ones I saw in New York.

K: What about the conference? Anyone special you want to see, Antonio?

A: I’ll definitely go to Mark Carlson’s talk.  He’s always worth listening to. I don’t know much about the other speakers, though.  Can anyone recommend a good speaker?

L: Well, I’ve registered to go to David Broadus’s presentation.  He’s written a lot of articles on information systems.  I think he’ll be the star of the conference.  He’s a very stimulating speaker.

K: Yes, I can confirm that.  I went to one of his talks in Munich last year, and the questions afterwards went on for over half an hour.  He went down really well with the audience because he was obviously so knowledgeable about his topic.

N: Yes, I want to go to his talk, too, if it’s not already booked up.  Another good speaker is Jerry Chin.  He’s an expert on management software.  He’s another person who shouldn’t be missed.

Answers:

(AS=Antonio Silva, JW= James Whitfield)

AS: Hi, I’m Antonio Silva, nice to meet you.

JW: Nice to meet you, too.  I’m James Whifield.  Call me James.

AS: Where are you from, James?

JW: I’m from Atlanta, Georgia.  How about you?

AS: I’ve come a long way.  I’m from Belo Horizonte in Brazil.  I’m Sales Manager for an office equipment group, Techko.  Maybe you know us?

JW: Yeah, I’ve certainly heard of your company. I work for New Era, in New (1)York.  I’m a systems analyst.

AS: Right.  How is business going for you?  It is it a bit tough, like for most (2)people?

JW: No, not so far.  Actually our sales were up last quarter, but it’s early days I suppose.  To be honest, we’re all worried about the future, no doubt about that.  How about your company?

AS: Things are not too good at all.  We’ve had quite a few redundancies lately.  All departments have been told to cut costs this year.  It’s not going to be easy, but we’ve got to do it.

JW: Mmm, doesn’t sound too good.

AS: No, but these are difficult times for everyone.  How was your journey here?  I suppose you came by air, did you?

JW: Yeah, it was quite a long flight, a bit turbulent at times, but the food and service were OK, so I’m not (3)complaining.  How about your journey?

AS: Pretty exhausting.  But I stopped over at Los Angeles and did some business there.  So I did get a rest before coming here.  Are you staying at this hotel?

JW: Actually, I’m not.  I’m lucky, I’m staying with my daughter.  She lives downtown, not far from here, and she insisted I stay with her.  It’s fine by me.  She’s a fantastic cook!

AS: Woah, you’re lucky.  I’m staying in a pretty cheap hotel a few blocks away to cut costs, and I’m not at all happy.

JW: How’s that?

AS: Well, the room’s very small and the hotel doesn’t have many (4)facilities.  It would be nice if there was a pool or gym, so I could have a workout. I couldn’t use their business centre yesterday.  Apparently, there was no one to run it.  It was really annoying!

JW: Maybe you should change your hotel.

AS: I don’t think I’ll bother.  The main thing is the conference.  If the speakers are good, I can put up with a bit of inconvenience at the hotel.

JW: Yeah, you’re right.  We all want to enjoy the conference and listen to some good (5)speakers.

Answers:

J: Hi, Klaus, please join us, there’s plenty of room.

K: Thanks, we’d love to … I don’t think we’ve met.

J: Let me do the introductions.  I’m James Whitfield, I’m from Atlanta, Georgia, and I’m a systems analyst for New Era.  This is Antonio Silva from Brazil.  He’s a sales manager with an office equipment firm.

A: How do you do?

K: Pleased to meet you.  I’m Klaus Liebermann, I’m a colleague of James’s.  I’m the Managing Director Of New Era’s Frankfurt subsidiary.  And this is Ludmila Poigina from St Petersburg.  She’s a director of an engineering company.

L: How do you do.

K: And this is Nancy Chen from Beijing.  She’s a senior official in the Chinese Department of Environment.

N: How do you do.

J: So ...have any of you had time to visit the (1)city yet?  I suppose you want to explore it a bit.

N: Well, I’d love to, I’ve never been to Seattle, and I’ve heard a lot of good things about it.  But I just don’t have the time.  I’m only here for two days, and I want to go to as many talks as possible.

K: That’s not much time, but you should try to see a few of the sights here, like the famous Space Needle.  It’s a real landmark.  And if you go to the market area, you can see where the first (2)Starbucks store was located, back in the early 1970s.

N: OK, well, I might try to sneak away for a few hours if possible.  What about you, Ludmila, are you going to check out the local area?

L: Actually, I’ve already done that.  I came here early so I could look around a bit.  I’ve seen the Space Needle and visited the civic centre.  I was really impressed with the Columbia Centre--it’s a massive (3)skyscraper, much bigger than the ones I saw in New York.

K: What about the conference? Anyone special you want to see, Antonio?

A: I’ll definitely go to Mark Carlson’s talk.  He’s always worth listening to. I don’t know much about the other speakers, though.  Can anyone recommend a good speaker?

L: Well, I’ve registered to go to David Broadus’s presentation.  He’s written a lot of (4)books on information systems.  I think he’ll be the star of the conference.  He’s a very stimulating speaker.

K: Yes, I can confirm that.  I went to one of his talks in Munich last year, and the questions afterwards went on for over half an hour.  He went down really well with the audience because he was obviously so knowledgeable about his topic.

N: Yes, I want to go to his talk, too, if it’s not already booked up.  Another good speaker is Jerry Chin.  He’s an expert on management software.  He’s another (5)speaker who shouldn’t be missed.