July 2002
Wednesday, July 31
I haven't kept my English diary for a long time.
because I was so busy taking care of my Japanese site.
How have I been? Well...
I used to teach schoolteachers about the PC at elementary schools or junior high schools until June, but the temporary contract expired at the end of the month because of the budget reduction. The client company said sorry to me.
Now, I visit community centers for elderly people, 60's and older in Osaka city to teach the PC.
It is kind of the same job (still in IT though) but students are different.
Actually, I had two jobs in June! I took paid holidays and I worked at the another job.
You know, they think that the PC is difficult... they are not good at English, some students have never learned about romaji (roman letters), maybe some students (who grew up during the World War II) think that they don't want to use "the enemy language".
So I translate for every word into Japanese. It is difficult for them to understand what is click and what is drag...
One student asked me, "Drag is drug?".... the spelling is different:-)
Especially it is hardly understandable what is OS, hardware or software. How do I explain to them in the easy way? I compare with human! Hardware is visible like a body but we cannot live only with a body so I ask them why we are living. The answer is "soul" so I explain OS is like a soul. And I explain about software is invisible like a soul, a conscious, a nerve or ability.
(But I think BIOS is like a soul and OS is like a nerve but I don't have to explain about BIOS)
They are looking forward to my class. They say my class is fun. I am happy to hear that.
There are 6 IT classes and 2 hours each time. After the last class finished, I gave them a questionnaire.
They said, "I wanted to have your class more!" "Thank you for translating English into Japanese. I had a good time."