I've had a couple conversations with students in which they tell me about the stress that they have. They're having stress because they aren't getting the score that they want on a test and then it has all sorts of ramifications. I'll listen to students describing their admittedly less than desirable circumstances, how if they don't get a certain score by a certain date they wont be able to go to the best school and then they won't have a decent shot at a decent job and then they'll never make any money and no one will want to marry them and they'll die poor and alone. How they can't take more time to get a better score because if they have any break on their record from school to work it will reflect badly and companies won't hire them and so they still wont make any money and still nobody will want to marry them and they'll still die poor and alone. So this is a bit of an over exaggeration, but it's kind of what I feel like I'm hearing.


Japanese people have a really strong work hard and suck it up culture. Do whatever your boss tells you, don't complain. Keep studying. Don't fail. It's gotten Japan really far. I mean really, Japan is a really great very developed country. But I feel really sad when I think about all the hours that business people spend at their office, all the hours that poor young students spend at cram school. Students have told me that Japanese spouses aren't friends, they never see each other. I have a Japanese friend who works a very crazy busy Japanese job and he tells me that any new hire that starts with any kind of girlfriend will inevitably lose her within the first year. Here it would be possible for me to delve deeper into the sad results of working too hard in Japan, but so as to not offend, I'll leave it to your own capable mind. We have a phrase in English, "Work to live. Don't live to work." Before I came to Japan I thought that AMERICANS, with 40 hour work weeks, were living to work. I think when we live to work it's impossible to be happy. I mean the phrase basically means sacrificing your life to work. Not living. Please try to figure out why you work so hard, why you study so hard. What is your deepest motivation? I recently had a conversation with someone from which I would surmise that this person boils it all down to the desire for happiness. That's probably a pretty good answer. So if you're studying to get something that will ultimately bring you happiness, but you're sacrificing happiness to do so, do you think this is a wise thing? And don't you think that there are many other things in your life RIGHT NOW that can bring you happiness? Whatever your ULTIMATE DEEPEST goal is in all of your labors, I'd be willing to bet just about anything that it can be found right now in your life from somewhere or something just not advertised by society.


Ok, and so to transition back to studies and test taking. I think this has got to be at least somewhat common sense, so I might not be informing you of anything so much as I'm reminding you, or highlighting to you, but you do realize that you can't learn as well when you're really stressed and/or unhappy.


We all know that Americans love their drugs. Do you know that a lot of antidepressant medication is marketed as being able to overcome the loss in ability to concentrate and learn caused from depression or stressful events?


In any area of life it's really important to keep perspective. Prioritize. If you sacrifice things that make you happy to study more, not only are you becoming less happy, but you're really losing the ability to learn and so are therefore giving up happiness AND education. Shooting yourself in the foot so to speak.


So I want to say don't let studying and reaching future goals compromise your happiness and sanity. If you get to the point where your happiness and sanity are compromised, then other things you do will have severely limited results. But you would be compromising your happiness and sanity to get stronger results, so it's just a really sad situation.


So if you feel really frustrated or stressed or unhappy, take a break for a little. Do something you like. Go to the beach. Watch a movie. Spend time with a friend. Spend time with your FAMILY. SAY NO TO OVERTIME. Not all day everyday, but have balance. Figure out what makes you happy and make sure you're getting enough of it. Your brain will reward you for it.


▼▽▼▼【講師】Amberly先生のバックナンバー━━━━━━━━
・【How to get around subjectivity】2009.05.20 (Wed)

Who am I? How do I make decisions? While the idea of 'the mind' has been around for way long, and the brain itself is currently under vigorous study, we still know relatively little about them. So how can we know ourselves? Where do ideas come from? Before examining these questions, I'd like to share an interesting koan from Zen Buddhism:


A caterpillar and an ant are walking side by side. The ant remarks: 'How is it that you can coordinate so many legs at the same time!?' The caterpillar, with a look of surprise as if he had never before thought about it replies: 'Well...' and just as he begins to explain it, he promptly falls over on his side!


I like this koan, because it points out that while we may be able to do something, we may stumble if asked to explain it (especially if we are doing it at the same time.) It is also a reminder of just how many processes and abilities we are capable of only on a subconscious level. Personally, I don't think caterpillars consciously understand how they walk, just as humans don't (yet) understand the mind. But that doesn't stop caterpillars from walking, or humans from channeling ideas or making decisions. One valuable tool I've learned to use to organize my ideas and understand myself better is known as the 'mind map.'


A mind map is a diagram used to represent ideas or information branching from a central key word or idea and is used as an aid in study, organization, problem solving, decision making, and writing. We could use a mind map to brainstorm ideas for 'things that are yellow' or 'Japanese culture.'


However, being a new teacher at Kaplan, and this being my very first blog entry, it's been suggested that my entry be an introductory one. While I prefer to write about interesting topics, and my personality doesn't translate into words so well, I thought as an example of a mind map I could share my own, with me being the topic. This is actually a popular form of mind map that is helpful in understanding oneself and one's interests.

Actually, I made this mind map when I first came to Japan in the fall of 2002. In some senses I was kind of a 'clean slate' at that time, my spirit not yet sullied by Tokyo's decadence. Ha, just kidding...or am I? You can see how I networked different ideas with each other based on similarities. This helped me understand why I have such seemingly disparate interests. My obsession with music and sound may be related to my appreciation of physics and mathematics. Wow, who knew, right? Anyway, I encourage you, the reader, the student, to try this yourself! You can use colour too, of course. Have fun with it!

We appreciate your vote!




▼▽▼▼【講師】Sandy先生のプロフィール━━━━━━━━
・【水曜日更新チームに新メンバー！】2009.06.06 (Sat)

I've always been a "desktop" computer kind of guy. I've never wanted to carry a heavy notebook around, and I like to build my own computers so I can upgrade them as needed. Things change, though, and I need a computer for business when I travel, so I decided to buy a "netbook". It was amazingly inexpensive, but well-made and reasonably fast; it's also well-equipped to do everything you'd want in a small, mobile package. No DVD drive, but with my home wireless network I can use the one on my desktop if I need it.

For those who don't have a lightweight computer, but want to utilize their Kaplan online resources away from home, this is a great, affordable option. Wifi is available at lots of coffee shops and fast food restaurants for a reasonable monthly fee, and if you like to travel it's a great way to keep in touch.

いつも応援ありがとうございます。
下記の3つのボタンの応援クリックをどうぞよろしくお願いします。




▼▽▼▼【講師】Kurt先生のバックナンバー━━━━━━━━
・【The Importance of a Good Night's Sleep】2009.05.13 (WED)

（*SATはThe Scholastic Assessment Testのことで、アメリカの高校生が大学に進学する際に受験する大学進学適正試験です。）

Those of you who've taken my SAT classes know that I'm not much of an authority figure; I ask for enough quiet to be able to teach the class, but I've never--nor will I ever--berate a student for not trying hard enough, not showing enthusiasm, or whatever. To a large extent, this is because I don't have to; the vast majority of you come to class because you already know--even if no one's ever spelled it out for you in so many words--that you, yourself, must take the responsibility for moving toward those things that you want in life.


Still, there's a short speech I like to give my first day of SAT classes about the transition between high school and college, and how that transition represents a paradigm change between the end of primary education and the beginning of higher education.


First and foremost, higher education tests higher cognitive skills, namely critical thinking and reasoning. Certainly, the oft-repeated saw that primary schools are merely zombie factories which crush indendent thought is, at best, a gross simplification. Many of my high school teachers nurtured and encouraged rationalism whenever they saw it, and I doubt that things have changed that much since I went to school (that is, the late 1800s). However, the main mission of K-12 education is to produce young adults possessed both of core knowledge, and the ability to sit still, face front, and obey authority.


College will test (and improve) those basic skills, and you'll certainly--if you make even the slightest effort--acquire a great deal of knowledge there. However, much of your classroom discussion will probably be devoted to what YOU think, and why. You'll have many opportunities to present your opinions and evidence, and to defend them against those who don't agree with you. Stated simply, much of high school is you being told what you need to know; much of college is you being asked to evaluate the logic and value of others' arguments, and to construct your own. Hence the term "higher education."


Second, and often tougher for young students to truly appreciate, is the fact that, after high school, no one associated with your education is really gonig to get bent out of shape if you fail, whether it be for lack of ability or lack of effort. Most of your college professors will likely run their classes in exactly the same manner that I conduct mine. As long as you don't disrupt the class, you can come and go as you like, and express as much or as little interest in the subject matter as you deem appropriate.


That's not because your professors and I don't care about you or your education. Rather it's because their job is to guide you in becoming truly educated. Not just 2+2=4 educated, but running the world educated. I consider your class not just a course on how to conquer the SAT, but also an early opportunity to exercise the skills of self-motivation and planning that you will need in college.


I typically close my lecture with the admonition "brains need surgery, and poles need dancers." Ultimately, in other words, what each of you end up doing for a living is in your own hands, so treat your lives and your futures with the dignity they merit.


▼▽▼▼【講師】Douglas先生のバックナンバー━━━━━━━━
・【Quantitative Comparisons: It's the Critical Thinking, not the Math!】2009.05.06 (Wed)

Kaplan likes to teach a lot of test strategies. A lot of these strategies do actually work very well for some people. They can actually work for all people, even though, admittedly, they are not ideal for some. I'm pretty sure I've said before that you should pick the test strategies that work for you.


I myself am not really a test strategy type of person. This is really why I like math. I think you should just understand the material. If you understand it, then you don't need a strategy. Strategies are for people who don't understand completely. Things like math are very objective. There just is one right answer. And if you understand math, you will find the right answer. You can even check your answer if you're not sure to find out if it's right or not. It's very easy actually. Math is something you just have to understand. So I all the time forget formulas, but because I understand math, I derive the formula from my understanding of the material. I never use strategies for math. I never have or would use strategies for math. But reading comprehension... I hate reading comprehension. Reading comprehension is highly subjective. Actually, to tell you the truth, when I'm teaching reading comprehension in TOEFL or SAT, I sometimes think the wrong answer is the right one. But I probably shouldn't say that. But it's because it's so stinking subjective! The answer is one thing, but maybe I really think it's the other. And maybe I can even find valid evidence to prove my point. It's like poetry. Who can REALLY say what Shakespeare meant when he wrote such and such. On a side note, I chose my minor based on the fact that I didn't want to study something subjective and write papers which I would think were written quite well but my teacher, of another mind, would find something subjectively wrong with it and give me a bad grade. I was deciding between philosophy and physics and when I thought of the subjectivity in philosophy and papers I chose physics.


SO. I can really sympathize with those of you who are having a hard time on the more subjective areas of standardized tests. BUT. Be encouraged. Take heart. There's a way to beat this system. That's because these standardized tests are in fact standardized. And as much as I'm not myself into the strategies that Kaplan teaches (though some people should be, they are very good very valid strategies for the right kind of people, I just have my own different ones that work better for me) I really am into how Kaplan teaches standardized tests according to question type. So like there are rhetorical function questions or inference questions or speaker's attitude questions. For me, if I were to take the test, this would be very helpful, because in each type of question they are looking for one specific type of answer. And if you can learn the type of answer that they want you to give, it becomes more objective. So like if they were to ask you, "How does the author emphasize the point about bla bla bla?" My answer would be, "By talking about it." But that would be wrong. So I would think, ok, this is a rhetorical function question and rhetorical function questions for the reading section are about either organization for big picture questions or details and examples for little picture questions but this is a big picture question so it must be looking for some type of organization. So if you learn the test and what kinds of questions there are and what the questions WANT you to say, then you can answer in the way that the test WANTS you to answer, which in my opinion doesn't always align with the most logical answer.


So, I want to say that when Kaplan teaches standardized tests according to question type it can really be a very helpful thing. The test makers are trying to trick you. But if you learn how they try to trick you, because it's done in a uniform, standardized way, then you won't be tricked!


▼▽▼▼【講師】Amberly先生のバックナンバー━━━━━━━━
・【consistency works】2009.04.29 (Wed)