Tag Archives: student

Nintendo DS Is Banned Everywhere But…

Super Mario statue in Kungsbacka, Sweden

Nintendo is banned everywhere but the classroom at Tokyo Joshi Gakuen school in Japan as the ubiquitous DS consoles become the latest tool in English instruction.

Junior high school teacher Motoko Okubo has used the handheld DS and textbook software since May in weekly sessions focusing on vocabulary, penmanship and audio comprehension.

With years of games such as Super Mario on the prohibited list, she says students weren’t expecting the Nintendo welcome.

“They’ve been using it at home playing games, so at first they were surprised they can use it at school,” Okubo said. Read more... (237 words + 1 image, estimated 57 secs reading time)

Does “Counting Your Blessings” Really Help?

How often do you take time to reflect on the things you’re grateful for? Once a month? Once a week, at church, perhaps? Maybe you say “grace” at mealtime every day. But even prayers that do express gratefulness, such as a traditional mealtime prayer, are often expressed by rote. Growing up, my family wasn’t very religious, but when we had dinner with family or friends, we’d usually say grace. I was probably well into my teens before I understood what “blessusolordforthesethygiftswhichweareabouttoreceivefromthybounty” actually meant. Read more... (264 words, estimated 1:03 mins reading time)

All Are Significant

During my second month of nursing school, our professor gave us a pop quiz.

I was a conscientious student and had breezed through the questions, until I read the last one: “What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?”

Surely this was some kind of joke. I had seen the cleaning woman several times. She was tall, dark-haired and in her 50s, but how would I know her name? I handed in my paper, leaving the last question blank.

Before class ended, one student asked if the last question would count toward our quiz grade. Read more... (147 words, estimated 35 secs reading time)

Are You Still Carrying Her?

An old monk was once traveling together with his discipline. The journey wasn’t too smooth because the road was muddy. It had rained heavily earlier of the day.

Coming around a bend, the old monk and his young student met a lovely young girl in a pretty dress standing by a stream. She explained that she wanted to cross the stream but didn’t know how. The heavy rain flooded the stream to almost waist deep with gushing water and there was no bridge in sight. Her mother was ill so she needed to get home quick to take care of her. Read more... (258 words, estimated 1:02 mins reading time)