Exam - Blog Posts
Here is Ludwig von Schlegel. I choose this surname because I made this Saint Seiya original character in the meanwhile I was studying for German Philology exam.
He’s a specter from the two goddess sisters Makarie and Melinoë, both daughters of Hades (in the myth).Â
He was born in North Germany from a Greek father and a German mother, and trained in Greece to become silver saint - his name was Vulpecula. But as he became silver saint, some Athena’s enemies, as revenge, killed his parents - Athena showed no interest in that situation. So, Ludwig started left slowly her side ‘cause of the pain he suffered and the disinterest for his mourning and miasma he was living.
So, he started to live alone near Eleusis, where in the cave where Nameless Gods statues stood, met two old sisters who he chatted for a while with. They talked about mercy, respect and during the months Ludwig lived there, always visited them. The two old women introduced Hades’ daughters as mercy and respectable goddess, towards which Ludwig got more and more close.Â
At the end, he would left Athena’s side as silver saint to rebirth as terrestrial mercy star on the side of the two old women, whom will reveal as the two goddess self.
I honestly would rather get extra work than be grouped with people I don't know on an assignment
Or even be grouped with people I know
Just leave me alone dammit
I love the way you feel , when you concentrate on something. Whether it’s your math exam or a book. You just totally forget everything around yourself. Your mind is working so fast. You don’t even have to think your thoughts till the end ,because you already know what you have to do after a second. Isn’t that just amazing? The humans brain ist truly awesome
Put the test mentality behind you
I was aware of the big problem in Japan before seeing my own children battling through it. It hinders language students from the beginning. It remains, wrongly, the criteria that companies use to gauge success.
Japan's education system is anchored around a focus on tests. Every course, every textbook is centered around the students taking and passing exams. It is very common that the children will go to cram schools called juku, where they essentially are trained the ins and outs of how to pass the tests to get to the next tier of education. And this stands in the way of their ability to actually speak the language that they speak, because schools don't set a curriculum based on activating the language they use.
This continues on to the adult level. TOEIC, the Test of English for International Communication is the standard that companies and some institutions measure people's ability to communicate. Which means that company workers are bound by a similar constraint of a system focused on the wrong thing, the ability to actually speak. I have taught students with strong TOEIC scores in the 700's (990 is best) but are unable to string together a few sentences. Similarly I have taught students in the 400's who manage to communicate consistently. It is just not the right focus.
English training, or any language for that matter, needs to be centered around a focus on actually speaking and relaying information. Classrooms need to be loud with students using the target language in structured, productive, activities. And it needs to be the students' voice you hear the most, not the teachers'. Activating and getting practical experience can help push Japan towards a stronger average level of proficiency. Japan is ranked at #87 in the world in the global English proficiency rating (LINK), which is labeled as 'Low Proficiency'. It would help to see this over-reliance on tests change from the Elementary level, but as trainers of Adult Speakers we can make a difference by giving our students every chance to speak, but ensuring that the lessons are productive and there is always a takeaway.
I should qualify that tests are not all bad. They do provide a motivation to study and some people really grow their vocabulary trying to do well in their tests. Also companies do need some way to measure people's progress, especially if they are spending money on English training programs. But the current test systems are insufficient and there needs to be a way to measure people based on their ability to communicate. I don't have the easy answer to this, but my eyes are open to how we can achieve this. Either way, for now, I am focused on improving the opportunity to speak while ensuring the students have multiple takeaways from each class.