what goes on?

“I wonder how he feels about me. I wish I could read his mind.” Such a wish seems impossible to fulfill. However, an American psychologist claims it isn’t.

In communication, nonverbal factors, such as facial expressions, play an important role. Following his experiments, the psychologist said, “Even if a person tries to hide his or her real emotion, a very brief facial expression often occurs unconsciously. If you notice it, you can tell what the person is really thinking.” Facial expressions last for only a fraction of a second, so you need to develop special skills to perceive them. With these skills, you could know others’ hidden thoughts.

Suppose you had a new hairstyle and your friend said, “That’s cool!” With your new skills, you would know her real thoughts: “Her old hairstyle was cuter.” Do you really want to know others’ thoughts? Oh, never mind, I already know.

I underlined the phrase, “read his mind” and asked my students to look for 4 phrases which have the same meaning.

The answers are:

“tell what the person is really thinking”

“know others’ hidden thoughts”

“know her real thoughts”

“know others’ thoughts”

And I introduced the Beatles’ phrase, “what goes on in your heart, what goes on in your mind.”

the music club

I started practicing the trumpet again this school year. Starting from blowing only with my mouthpiece, I have tried to make a sound. And today, I joined the students’ group and blew my trumpet. Of course, I couldn’t follow the whole score, but I felt a little bit of “music.”

The Sumida River and the small school yard

1983 was a bad year for me. So I wanted to start something new when I entered Kuramae Junior High School in 1984. I joined the track and field club and started running. My target was mainly 1000m, 1500m and 3000m. I wanted to be a long distance runner. Van Halen, an American rock band, gave me power. It was 1984.

The Sumida River runs near my school. Our school yard was small, so we sometimes went out of school and ran along the river.

It was perhaps July in 1984. On that Saturday afternoon, we were running in the school yard. Our yard was so small that we had to make 10 rounds to complete 1000m. All I could do was just running. Other boys looked big. 1000m seemed too long.

After 10 rounds, I fell down on the ground. Above me only sky ― No, there was our school building. And then, I saw a girl looking down at the ground from the window above. That moment might have been the beginning of my bitter school days.

Comparative form

 

Tokyo Sky Tree is taller than Tokyo Tower.

This is a sentence in the English textbook.

Which is taller, a lamp post on Kuramae Bridge or Tokyo Sky Tree?

Oh, never mind, you already know.

attract (verb)

attract (verb) : to make somebody like somebody or something

Seeing this definition, I ask myself:

Am I making you like English in my classroom?

I don’t care whether you like me or not, but if you don’t like English, I need to attract you.

Textbook, students and me

Lesson 4 is a story of Mr. Kojima, a junior high English teacher.

He lost his arms in a traffic accident when he was four.

But in elementary school days, . . .

I ask my students,

“How was his elementary school days? Was it good or bad?”

“How was his junior high days? Good or bad?”

“How was his high school days? Good or bad?”

And then I ask another question, “how was YOUR school days?”

I also tell them about MY school days.

July has come

And the pamphlet came to me today. I have taken part in this event two times.

What shall I do? What shall we do this year?

Summer is coming.