Random Quote
Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.
---- Malcom Forbes
The least of learning is done in the classrooms
---- Thomas Merton
Sleep is a symptom of caffeine deprivation.
---- Author Unknown
Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain.
---- Lily Tomlin
"It was on my fifth birthday that Papa put his hand on my shoulder and said, 'Remember, my son, if you ever need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm.'"
---- Sam Levenson
As soon as I buy the moose head, I have to go pick up some KY jelly.
---- Mary Roninette Kowal
If the English language made any sense, a catastrophe would be an apostrophe with fur.
---- Doug Larson
Technology will not replace teachers...teachers who use technology will
probably replace teachers who do not.
---- Ray Clifford
To get something done, a committee should consist of no more than three men, two of whom are absent.
---- Robert Copeland
America believes in education: the average professor earns more money in a year than a professional athlete earns in a whole week.
---- Evan Esar
Arguments over grammar and style are often as fierce as those over IBM versus Mac, and as fruitless as Coke versus Pepsi and boxers versus briefs.
---- Jack Lynch
Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe.
---- H. G. Wells
A magician pulls rabbits out of hats. An experimental psychologist pulls habits out of rats.
---- anonymous
Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence.
---- Abigail Adams (1744 - 1818)
The important thing is not to stop questioning.
---- Albert Einstein
Those who know nothing of foreign languages, knows nothing of their own.”
---- Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749 -1832)
I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask them where they're going and hook up with them later.
---- Mitch Hedberg
Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain.
---- Lily Tomlin
it's probably not a good idea to underestimate my ability to make an ass out of myself—just when I seem to have it under control, I'll turn around and surprise you.
---- Tenser said the Tensor
Drink coffee! Do stupid things faster!
---- unknown
There are painters who transform the sun to a yellow spot, but there are others who with the help of their art and their intelligence, transform a yellow spot into the sun.
---- Pablo Picasso
Any man whose errors take ten years to correct is quite a man.
---- J. Robert Oppenheimer
Study without desire spoils the memory, and it retains nothing that it takes in.
---- Leonardo DaVinci (1452-1519)
Isn't it interesting that the same people who laugh at science fiction listen to weather forecasts and economists?"
---- Kelvin Throop III
As an adolescent I aspired to lasting fame, I craved factual certainty, and I thirsted for a meaningful vision of human life - so I became a scientist. This is like becoming an archbishop so you can meet girls.
---- M. Cartmill
I was robbed by two men
This is just wrong on so many levels. This video is so disturbing that I am speechless. Even though it is Japanese I can so see it being done here in Korea as well. Hat tip to Dan.
Some googling found another episode (in the extended entry) And it is even funnier what with the middle aged guys joining in and the line Don’t make fun of me!
The next episode was found on TV in Japan.




Iceberg wrote 88 words on Wednesday Jun 7, 2006 at 04:00 PM
Hmm. Let’s see. Where to start? There is just so much to choose from, I’m suffering from wisecrack overload. At first I thought it was a video for Japanese aerobic instructors preparing to ply their trade overseas, specifically in the States ("Spare me my life!). But then the second video seems like they are learning English and martial arts simultaneously to use when the relationship with the gaijin just doesn’t work out. “It’s your fault that this happened.” (Slap)
They couldn’t be funnier if they tried. Excellent find.
Kevin Kim wrote 62 words on Wednesday Jun 7, 2006 at 05:53 PM
Words cannot capture the horror. And yet… the videos are strangely alluring.
The hell of it is this: I was in the office at Smoo, watching these videos, when the Chinese food delivery guy barged into the office unannounced to collect the dishes (탕볶밥, if you must know). Guess that’s one more person in Seoul who thinks I’m a fookin’ perv.
Kevin
David (TEFL Smiler) wrote 101 words on Wednesday Jun 7, 2006 at 07:10 PM
Like the others, I’m dumbfounded. At first they seemed funny (I especially cracked up at ‘Spare me my life!’, as that was when I realised what was going on), but by the end I’m in shock. You wonder how they decided on which phrases to use. It all reminds me of the old Berlitz phrase books. My favourite was in the hairdresser’s section of the Danish phrase book: ‘I’d like a blue rinse, please’. None of it’s all that useful for language learning, in my opinion, although I suppose the odd phrase might stick. And I really mean the ‘odd’ phrase!
David (TEFL Smiler) wrote 22 words on Wednesday Jun 7, 2006 at 07:13 PM
Oh, and your flag system seems to be placing me in Finland. I can assure you I’m still very much in Denmark!
Sean. wrote 202 words on Wednesday Jun 7, 2006 at 07:38 PM
Iceberb,
Thanks for dropping by. I visited your blog and it’s amusing. From your blog it looks like you are in Korea, but according to the flag on your comment you are in Finland. Are you using a proxy or in Europe?
Kevin,
Strangely alluring - I keep finding myself watching and mesmerized by the spandex and music kind of like a sailor being lured to the bottom of the sea by a siren. Those Japanese vixens have stolen my soul.
David,
The flags are not 100% accurate, I probably need to update the database to reflect ip changes in the internet. Any chance your ISP is based in finland or sharing resources with Finland?
Okay girls - Take anything you want
Take anything you want
Take anything you want
Take anything you want
kind of reminds of of the styx and Mr. Roboto
Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto, domo...domo
Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto, domo...domo
Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto, domo...domo
Thank you very much, Mr. Roboto
For doing the jobs that nobody wants to
And thank you very much, Mr. Roboto
For helping me escape just when I needed to
Thank you-thank you, thank you
I want to thank you, please, thank you
Iceberg wrote 63 words on Wednesday Jun 7, 2006 at 11:09 PM
Thank you for thanking me. I am indeed in Korea and the Korean flag shows up on other blogs. As an earlier commenter mentioned, I think there’s something messed up with the flag system.
Take anything you want
Take anything you want
Take anything you want
Pure speculation, but methinks that perv Kevin keeps playing that section over and over and over again.
Forapurpose wrote 10 words on Thursday Jun 8, 2006 at 03:44 PM
I have seen this video before. It is really strange.
Sean. wrote 8 words on Thursday Jun 8, 2006 at 07:57 PM
I believe I havwe fixed the flags problem.
mesmark wrote 19 words on Thursday Jun 8, 2006 at 11:58 PM
Awesome!
Sarcasm overload_ _ _Can’t_ _ _process_ _ _all_ _ _the_ _ _information_ _ _Left_ _ _in_ _ _stiches
Remort wrote 9 words on Friday Jun 9, 2006 at 02:47 AM
Horrible!! I hope this doesn’t catch on elsewhere.
--Remort
Mark wrote 72 words on Saturday Jun 10, 2006 at 04:49 AM
I, for one, have a soft spot in my heart for Japanese pop culture. Fortunately, here in Taiwan, I can always find notebooks with cute little animals on them and sage inscriptions such as “Friend notebook- even you forget, I will always be your friend. Be kind to each other’s dream.” As long as everybody accepts that there’s no way they’ll ever learn much English from those videos, there’s no harm done.
Glen Raphael wrote 70 words on Wednesday Jun 28, 2006 at 04:59 PM
Yeah, the content is wacky, but as for the format, my guess is that somebody out there must have a language-learning theory that says new phrases and sounds stick better in the brain if you tie them to body movement. Hmm. Google/wikipedia bears this out. The field of “educational kinesiology” apparently starts out with the claim that “Developmental experts have known for more than eighty years that movement enhances learning.”
Thor May wrote 111 words on Friday Jul 14, 2006 at 12:56 AM
If it’s funny, it’s good for language learning. If it’s memorable for whatever reason, it’s good for language learning. Boredom and indifference are death to language learning. Chants are excellent for language learning - they have repetition without the boredom of drills. Body movement? It keeps you alert and generally stimulates the brain. I learn best when I’m riding a bike. I make my own students stand to learn, and it works. You don’t like the phrases? That’s your cultural preference, not theirs. For that matter, there are plenty of women in most cultures who’d find the phrases anything but irrelevant. So why is it all “wrong on so many levels?”.
Sean. wrote 140 words on Friday Jul 14, 2006 at 09:50 AM
Thor,
I agree that humor and physical activity can aid in learning English as can chants. However these videos have zero authentic language the phrases used are not particularly useful. Honestly how many people need to use the phrase please spare me my life - is that even something a NS would use? \
Instead, This type of teaching is contrary to all modern teaching theory. In small doses sure, maybe once in a month but regularly? I dont’ think so. Chants would be great for children but I hardly think that you’ll find too many adults who really enjoy chanting in the classroom. If you know of any I’d love to see a video or testimony as I know that if a teacher asked me to chant in Korean class, I’d quit and so would any of my friends.
fencerider wrote 60 words on Tuesday Jan 23, 2007 at 07:44 PM
Is this TPR? Whatever it is (or is pretending to be) it does have its appeal...better that than a lot of other programs I can think of. I just get visions of housewives at home in their aprons walking around the house singing “spare me my life.” And the husbands....well...we can’t talk about what the husbands are doing can we?:)