Naruto, Hogfather, Japanese, Kindergarten

[deralte]

While it's lovely that for some reason they've set up an actual Naruto shop in a nearby mall (complete with t-shirts, merchandise, cosplay stuff etc (I know you've always wanted your own Naruto ramen bowl, right? *g*), it was kinda disappointing to find they had only Naruto and Sasuke out of the recent plushies that came out. I really want that ANBU!Kakashi plushie *sigh* I don't suppose anybody out there knows a link to a good Japanese site that sells anime merchandise online, do they? Amazon.co.jp really doesn't have a collection that's worth speaking of.

I've been exploring the website for the new Hogfather thingy and while it looks very cool, it bothers me that Death's voice isn't how I pictured it, which is silly since how could anyone manage to actually imitate Death's VOICE? I keep wondering if this movie will make Susan more sympathetic for me 'cause I really didn't like her as a character until I hit Thief of Time.

I've progressed my Japanese study onto learning actual words made up of the kanji I know, so I'm writing the kanji on one side of a flashcard and the reading on the other in the hopes that eventually the various readings will sink into my head and I'll be able to 'spell' better. Should also improve my vocabulary as well.

Was impressed by the tantrum thrown by the 'special' student in my kindergarten this morning. He always throws one when I invariably don't give him exactly what he wants (he expects to be chosen for everything and to get the exact flashcard etc that he wishes, which isn't exactly fair to the other twenty students in the room considering getting a flashcard from me seems to be the equivalent of giving them a cookie). Anyway, this time, I'd actually made sure he got a flashcard, but apparently he wanted the #1 flashcard not the one I gave him (I generally hand them out on the basis of whoever can shout out the English word first, keeping in mind who hasn't recieved a card for awhile). So he goes into a full on sulk, complete with checking when the other teacher wasn't in the room so he could pause his tantrum, something we (meaning me and the Japanese teacher) both noticed and shared a laugh over.

But then, he threw a second tantrum later on. The vocabulary words were difficult so only a few kids knew them and he wasn't one of them, nor did he make the effort which is what I usually look for when none of the kids can remember the words. He was brought outside into the hallway and threw a pretty heavy duty screaming/crying fit. I certainly haven't seen anyone gnash their teeth in awhile. Then he actually threw himself at the glass walls of the classroom and started pounding on them. A quick 'mitte' and I had the kids attention again, but wow.

Comments

[havenward.livejournal.com]

What does special mean in this case? Other than possibly spoiled rotten, but I'm speaking from a bias of kids I've been running into lately. (Seriously, American parents need to get over the whole 'friend' thing. Be a parent and put your goddamn foot down, or I'm going to do it for you and kick your little bastard out of my goddamn store and you'll have to cross your fingers I don't do it hard enough for him to land in the street.... but anyway.) Throwing yourself at glass can't be good... kind of reminds me of a kid I had when I was teaching little kids in Dallas... One boy didn't respond to physical punishment or verbal punishment, and he could get a pretty wild and forceful, so the mom had to put tabasco sauce under his tongue when he misbehaved. It was certainly... interesting.

[deralte.livejournal.com]

I don't know enough about these things (and it's not like they can tell me) but he's definitely got some developmental problems. He was severely overweight when I first saw him and couldn't even participate in class (he just ran around the room or would try to get into my bag). He got better rather abruptly at the end of summer, which is when I assume they put him on medication.

I agree with you on the friend thing. Mum used to drive me insane that way. One minute she's my friend, the next she wants to be an authority figure. Make up your mind. Japanese women tend to want to be good mother's and overindulge their kids when they're small. I guess to componsate before driving them like slaves when they're older.