Exam Day!

I gave an exam to the 2nd Year students today. In America, they would be Juniors. Part of the test asked them to write sentences using words in a list.

Wow.

Some of my favorite, somewhat goofy answers:

I have headache because I drink full of soy sauce in soup bowl.
Did you in my class last year?
Was she on my class last year?
Please you are wait because it is danger medicine.
Ayaka eats food paste.
You don't waste of money. If you forgot it is problem.
Japanese culture and traditional is useing chopstick. And they likes a soy sauce, too.
I necessary to eat noodle.
Bob and Miki are difference tradition.
I like Japanese culture. It is difference China.
Chopsticks is necessary eat food.

The ones that are either really too close to home, or just a little bit inappropriate:

I am headache. (written by the girl who never pays attention during class)
This noodle is danger.
My private is hardly.
I like to shy boy. (You like to WHAT the shy boy? Huh?)

Some of the sentences were actually pretty good:

Mr. Utamaru said, "The kikuzou noodle is very bad."
Can't you wait until this soup is cooked?
I'm not sure he can keep a secret.
I have my soup bowl and chopstick.
She studies Japanese culture.
He doesn't like soy sauce.
We are full so please wait.
I hardly take medicine.

And some are almost there, but just impress me anyway:

I study necessary matter.
I like Japanese tradition and culture. Because it is necessary for me.
I hate Shizuka because her personalities bad.
I have a headache because I drink soy sause too much.

kurisumasu keeki

Today I followed some students down to the school kitchen, and there were about 20 girls in there learning to make chocolate Christmas cake:



Yukari didn't have a partner, so I was soon drafted to help her out.



The Ingredients:

1.5 bars of bitter (Ghana Black by Lotte) chocolate
60 g of butter
3 eggs
110 g of granulated sugar
30 g of cocoa
20 g of powdered sugar
more powdered sugar to taste

FIrst, chop up the chocolate bars into slivers to make it easy to melt. Start a pot of water boiling to use as a double boiler, and you'll need a large metal bowl in which to melt the chocolate, too.




Meanwhile, you'll want to separate the egg yolks from the egg whites. Put them in two different bowls (you'll need to use an electric mixer or whisk with each eventually). First, mix half the granulated sugar with the yolks until frothy. The whisk is fine here, but if you have an electric mixer, it'll be easier in the long run.

You'll then want to melt all the chocolate, stirring all the time. After you have the chocolate melted, stir in the butter until it melts into the chocolate. After you have the butter mixed in completely, add the frothy sugar/egg yolk mixture and stir until the whole thing is a uniform lighter brown color. Use a rubber spatula for this if possible.

Now is probably a good time to preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celcius (325 - 350 degree F).

Afterward, sift the cocoa and powdered sugar to get all the lumps out. Sift them together. Then add half to the chocolate mixture, stirring it all in. Add the rest and again stir it all in, using the rubber spatula.



Next, you need to make a meringue. This sounds hard and all Frenchy and stuff, but it really just means add sugar to egg whites and whip. Use an electric mixer if at all possible, and gradually add some of the remaining sugar as you mix the egg whites. It should be more like a malleable pseudo-solid than a liquid by the end (think shaving cream, or cool whip), so just keep mixing.

You COULD use a whisk instead of the mixer for the meringue, but that's a nightmare. It'll take a long time, either way. Longer than it seems like it should, anyway. (At least, I thought so).



After you have a suitable meringue, take 1/3 and stir it into your chocolate mixture with the rubber spatula. When the color is uniform, stir in the rest of the meringue.



When you have finished mixing everything together and it's all the same color and consistency, you'll need a baking mold. Ours were cardboard (which surprised me) with a diameter about the length of my hand, wrist to middle fingertip (so... 8 inches? probably 20cm). The cake batter filled 1/3 of the mold. Spread it to cover the bottom and so it has a consistent depth.

Bake for 50 minutes.



Use stencils and the rest of the powdered sugar to decorate...





Merry Japanese Christmas!

Teaching Schedule

This doesn't seem so bad... 8 classes a week. The first half of the week seems to be best, since I have the same class twice for both Oral Communication 1 and Oral Communication 2. Those are the kids who "major in English," at least on the ninensei (year 2 students, or Juniors) level. The sannensei (Seniors, year 3 students) might also be "English majors" but I'm not sure.

But Friday seems like it will be a bit of challenge. 2 once-per-week OC1 classes and the ichinensei (first years, Sophomores) in English 1. Probably good it is all on Friday... because from what I have heard, it might be rough going...

I am supposed to go to another school, Yoshino, on Thursdays. The students there are "genki" -- which usually means "well" or "good" but I think it means "rowdy" in this sense. Apparently, they don't need a teacher most of the time, so I get to explore on that day...