Marin’s Boggle Blog

My grandson attends a public school in Fairfax County, Virginia, USA, and is enrolled in a Japanese language partial-immersion program. There it is possible for children to enter an immersion program from the first grade in Spanish, French, German, or Japanese. The school system believes in the great benefits of language immersion not only for language learning, but for its positive effects giving students greater flexibility in thinking, greater sensitivity to language, and improved listening skills. My grandson generally spends half the day with one teacher learning Language Arts and Social Studies in English, and the other half with a fluent Japanese-speaking teacher, learning Math and Science in Japanese. He does not really “study” Japanese; grammar is not explicitly taught, for example. On the other hand, how to communicate what he is thinking, feeling and observing in Japanese is a part of every day’s curriculum. He has been in the program since early September – about 3 months’ time. When I visited my daughter’s family last week I was surprised to find my grandson had learned an amazing amount in that very short time. In a telephone call to his grandfather here in Japan he sang a number of traditional Japanese children’s songs and his grandfather was surprised both by his proficiency and that he learned this all at a public school! The only unusual thing was that the words to “Genkotsu yama no tanuki-san” had been changed to protect American sensibilities. That is, the tanuki drinks “mi-ru-ku” and not an “oppai!” My grandson pronounced the word milk in perfect “Japanese.”

*This post was originally a newspaper article written for a Japanese audience. “Genkotsu yama no tanuki-san”  is an old children’s song about a tanuki  (badger) who is alternately held by his mother, carried on her back, is put to sleep and offered milk from her oppai (literally “breasts”) which in the Americanized version was changed to simply milk with a three-syllable Japanese-like pronunciation to make the same syllable count as tanuki.

  April 10, 2009  

We often hear politicians and social commentators say that we need to improve or to preserve or to do such and such “for our children.” I’ve been wondering why we say that. Is it a realistic thing to say or just what we think sounds good? Do we really mean it? I know if I were to say something like “We need to preserve this forest so our children can enjoy it,” that I would be lying. I have never thought that. If I believe a forest should be preserved I want to care for it so that we – you and me, and probably our children, too – can enjoy it together. If I disregard my own enjoyment or right to enjoyment of the forest what will I have taught my children? Only that the forest is for “others” to enjoy, but not me. Maybe they will follow in my footsteps and never enjoy the forest! What good have I done, then? I would rather teach the next generation to enjoy and to care for that forest throughout their lives and to share that enjoyment and preservation work with their children. Isn’t that is the kind of effort “for our children” that will not only pay off, but that stands a chance to be perpetuated for all time.

Last month I read an article that quoted Dr. Robert G. Voigt, a developmental pediatrician at the Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, Minnesota. He states there are four important things parents can do to develop a child’s optimal intelligence, and they are maybe not what you think. 1) Talk a lot. There is a correlation between the number of words a young child hears and his verbal IQ. 2) Read, read, read! Reading stories together forges an emotional bond and helps learning, too. Children grasp the basics of literacy such as that there are characters and words on the pages and that you read in a certain direction across the page. They learn that stories have a beginning, and a logical sequence to an ending. Reading a story again and again sharpens memory skills, and it’s a delight for them when they can predict what’s on the next page. Show that you approve of and enjoy reading, too. 3) Give your child time alone. Children don’t need continuous entertainment. They need some downtime to amuse themselves, too. Thinking time and testing things out alone is not wasted time. 4) Snuggle up! Once your child knows that you and other loving people will meet his needs in a loving and reliable way, he’ll have the drive to explore on his own and learn more. None of these measures require flash cards.

At the recent entrance ceremony for Tokyo University the award-winning architect, Mr. Tadao Ando, chided the parents of the freshmen for attending the ceremony. I admire Mr. Ando’s career and his architectural work. I have heard him lecture in person and found his ideas entertaining and quite down-to-earth. But, I couldn’t disagree more with his admonition to the parents on that day. As a teacher of long years I know that one of the most important factors in any child’s education is their parents’ attitude. Children whose parents are not interested in their education are seldom the best students. It really takes a family to educate a child; to teach a child academics and discipline inside and outside the home. I understand if university professors remind parents that their children should be on their own from now on, but to tell them their presence at an entrance ceremony is indicative of their child’s immaturity is nonsense. At my graduation from Harvard there were about 8,000 students from the combined university schools who received degrees. However, there were at least 33,000 relatives and friends who also attended (including the entire small village of one student from China!) Unlike the professors at Tokyo University, the President of Harvard praised everyone for caring about “their student’s” education enough to attend and celebrate.

Last month while I was in Washington D.C., I visited the National Air & Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institute for the sixth time. My purpose was the special exhibit about the Wright Brothers, Wilbur and Orville. It detailed their family life and their invention of the first engine powered heavier-than-air machine piloted by a human.

What was more interesting, however, was the information about their family and facts of the story I had never heard before. For example, the Wrights came from a very close-knit and supportive family. Their mother, Susan, had considerable mechanical aptitude. She designed simple appliances for her own housework and made interesting toys for her children. Wilbur and Orville often consulted her when they needed mechanical assistance or advice.

The part of the exhibit about Susan is titled “The Mother of Invention,” meaning Susan and not necessity as we usually say. Also detailed was how much work went into discovering and perfecting the technology of flight. The brothers didn’t merely try and try again until they succeeded. Instead, they learned from each mistake and documented everything carefully—the best way to learn from life’s experiences after all.

If you want to read about the exhibit and practice English, too, try this web site: http://www.nasm.si.edu/wrightbrothers/

 Just two subways stops away from Harvard is MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). But, in good weather the nicest way to get there is to walk along the Charles River which borders both universities and separates them from Boston.

I walked there last week and learned the following: The word hack (and thus hacker) originated at MIT. Now it usually means illegal entry to computer systems, but it originally meant any clever or inspired way of accomplishing a difficult feat and at MIT it still means that.

People here look forward to each new “hack” and many of them are quite spectacular.

The first “hack” was in 1928 when students managed to thread a 35-foot telegraph pole through a dormitory. The code of ethics of the various “hack attacks” is that they should be witty, imaginative, safe, inoffensive, but very intricate.

For example, in December, 2003, the hackers managed to put a replica of the Wright Brothers’ plane on top of the Great Dome, the symbol building of MIT.

The interesting thing is that no one ever knows who the perpetrators are! They remain anonymous if the hack is to be called successful.

If you want to see more about hack attacks, go to http://hacks.mit.edu/.