transcripts
1. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
(Transcript by Alissa)
1. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
-Guys this is gonna be the beginning of a beautiful podcast. We’re not playing
-Actually we are playing.
music ♪
-My name is Ben I’m from Australia
-What city in Australia are you from?
-The second largest city
-Melbourne
-Good guess! I’m from Melbourne the best city in Australia and probably the world.
-Whoa whoa, hold on hold on… I’ve never been to Melbourne
-Sad
-You don’t live there any more
-No. But I still have a special place in my heart for my hometown.
-You love your hometown.
-I do!
-I do too.
-Thank you
-I love my hometown.
-Vancouver is a beautiful city also
-Yes Vancouver Canada baby~
-There are three cities I’ve really enjoyed living in and they are Melbourne Vancouver and Sendai.
-You have lived in my country and I have lived in your country.
-Yeah, it’s like sharing a bed with a good friend.
-No
-No?
-Not really.
-You know my smell and I know how you smell
-I understand your background a little bit
-and you understand my background
-When I first went to Austrarlia, I was 19 years old.
-So young
-Yes, how old were you when you went to Canada?
-20
-okay
-Yeah I had my 21st birthday in Canada.
-Tell me Ben How long have you been teaching English
-I’ve been teaching English for 13 years. It’s been a beautiful 13 years and
I enjoyed teaching English in Japan and Australia
-Wow so you taught English in Japan and Australia
-That’s right!
-I started my English teaching career in Japan, and I continued in Melbourne at an international school, and now I’m back in Japan teaching again.
-Awesome! Tell me, how old were you when you started teaching English?
-I was 23… yes, and my philosophy has a special name
-Your philosophy…
-Yeah my teaching philosophy. My idea of how to teach well
-Okay well please tell me what is it?
-How would you make a word if you join education and entertainment
-Entercation?
-No
-Edutainment
-Yes
-I guessed it in just my second try
-See? I’m a good teacher.
-so your teaching philosophy is Edutainment.
-Edutainment
-Awesome!
-It rolls off the tongue
-I love it!
-I think most of the people who are tuning in to this podcast, they already know who I am
-Sure they know Abe. The free bird
-That’s right.
-The Abe Kaiwa. The Gogo god. The master of a microphone
-Yes I’ve been podcasting for four and a half years already, but our podcast, Yoshi and I, GoGo AbeKaiwa,
-yes
-is half in Japanese
-sure
-so of course it’s specifically for Japanese English learners
-That’s right.
-Now you and me Ben baby Ben. Benny baby
-We don’t speak that Japanese
-No, yeah, we are doing a 100% English program
-That’s right!
-so this is a different kind of podcast where it’s two native speakers
-Two teachers
-Two teachers talking natural edutainment
-Natural edutainment
-People from vancouver are called vancouverites. What are people from Melbourne called?
-People from Melbourne are called Melbournians unless you ask somebody from Sydney.
-Sydney is the cap...No it’s not the capital!
-No Abe It’s not the capital
-But it’s the biggest city
-How dare you
-It’s the most famous city
-I’m gonna be sick...
The most famous city I suppose… and it has a bridge, it has an Opera House,
but the people there are brain dead zombies with no culture
-and do they call you Mebournians?
-They call us Mebournians on a good day, but usually they call us fucksticks or dickheads
-so Sydney and Melbourne have a big rivalry
That’s right a rivalry… a strange tense relationship
-Perhaps it’s the same in Canada.
-Sure
-Vancouver and Toronto
-Yeah
-In America it’s Los Angels and New York
-Right
-In Japan it’s Osaka and Tokyo
-Yes I think it depends on your point of view
-East versus West!!
-In my opinion if you’re from a land locked city, you automatically lose
-so you think cities that aren’t on the ocean are like crappy like not good cities?
-Because I’m from a city on the ocean like most Australian cities, I can’t imagine living in a city where I can’t access a beach
-so beaches are very important to you?
-sure to all Australians. Beach culture is a huge part of our life
-oh Tronto is on a like… a shore line but it’s not the ocean
-it’s a very big lake
-not good enough?
-not good enough
-I agree
-In the end it’s a confined trapped body of water
-it’s a shitty lake
-it’s a shitty…
-Let’s be fair
-sure
-it’s a great lake
-It’s one of the great lakes… so that… those huge lakes in that area
lake Michigan, lake Erie…
-right
-lake superior… anyway there is like five of them
it’s a huge huge lake
-yeah
-and people from Toronto like to think that it’s just as good as an ocean
-sure… they’re wrong
-yeah they’re completely wrong
-there’s nothing fresh about a lake
-well actually there is because lakes have fresh water whereas oceans have salt water
-well okay… you got me
-there is at least one thing fresh about a lake. and that’s the fresh water. Fresh water means, you know, water with no salt in it
-right… well, when I say “fresh” I mean water that’s circulating around the world moving around the world… the mystery of the ocean… the depth
-so the ocean for you is very special
-yeah I feel at peace. I feel relaxed and I feel when I’m at the beach and looking at the ocean, in someway I feel connected to the rest of the world
-Ben, how often do you go to the beach?
-in Sendai? in Japan?
-well yeah I mean we live about maybe 8km away from the beach
-in summer…?
-How often do you go there Mr. beach man?
-in summer ahh when it’s not raining?
-When was the last time you went to the beach?
-Two weeks ago
-Bull shit
-I did
-Did you?
-yes okay. I haven’t been to the beach for a long time. it’s the rainy season sometimes in sendai, which is something we don’t have in Melbourne
-Well, not “sometimes”. It’s the rainy season once a year. It comes every year
-sometimes it feels like there is no summer. When the rainy season is too long
-anyway, we’re in the middle of rainy season now
-yes, yeah. It’s not the best time to go to the beach
-and speaking of Sendai, we live in a city called Sendai, Japan.
-That’s right. In Miyagi prefecture
-It’s a beautiful place. It’s a special part of Japan. Where the mountains and forests grow…
-Mountains don’t grow
-Don’t they?
-not really
-but mountains are a special thing for me. It’s one of the reasons I love Japan, and why I loved your country, because in Australia we don’t have big mountains
-You love looking at mountains
-Yes just looking at a mountain is enough to make me feel excited… trees, monkeys… It’s something you can’t understand because you take mountains for granted.
-you know, I do like mountains…
-sure
-but not as much as I like the ocean
-I prefer going to the beach than I do going hiking in a mountain.
-yeah but that’s because you grew up with mountains
-Maybe, yeah, I’m from British Columbia. There’re a lot of mountains there.
-The first time I went to Canada and I saw a real mountain with snow on top I said OH MY GOOOOOOD. And I stared and stared and I couldn’t believe it was real
-There are some very majestic and amazing mountains
-Incredible! Beautiful!
-in British Columbia
-Stunning!
-The rocky mountains, coastal mountains
-Too amazing
-in Australia we have hills
-right, you don’t have many big mountains
-it’s a very flat and very old continent
-Japan has mountains some good ones (same as Japan) but they are not quite as big and gigantic and majestic
-That’s right
-as canadian mountains
-In Canada they are very obvious. Suddenly the land sweeps upwards…
-It’s quite special
-and you feel so small and you realize the power of mother earth.
-yes and that’s all very nice, but just personally for me,
-It’s like a nipple giant nipples
-see? no like for me, no not sexual at all
-nothing sexual? Are you sure?
-NO nothing sexual about mountains
-What was your first job teaching English?
-so I came to Japan with NOVA
-NOVA was one of the largest English conversation schools in the country… at that time it was the NO.1, the largest conversation school
-Yeah probably. and in Melbourne I saw the advertisement and I went for an interview and I passed the interview.
-Somehow
-Somehow
-and they said where would you like to go? You have three choices, Kyoto Tokyo or Sendai.
-Kyoto or Tokyo or Sendai… I think most people would have chosen Tokyo
second choice Kyoto, and maybe third choice Sendai. What made you why did you choose Sendai. Sendai is a smaller city, one million people in the North-eastern region. so what made you choose Sendai
-They asked me why do you want to go to Japan? And I said from what I’ve heard of some great snowboarding in Japan. And they said well near Sendai there are some mountains
and you can enjoy snowboarding
-so I said, Oh where do I sign?
-Wow so you chose Sendai just for snowboarding
-Yes
-Awesome
-Yeah I wasn’t interested in living in Tokyo.
-I was born in a city, I grew up in a city.
-I didn’t want a city experience
-OK interesting. And tell me about NOVA like how was your training?
-Terrible
-Why?
-I don’t recommend NOVA. it was a lot of pressure… for no reason
-Even in the training?
-Yeah in the training, there was too much focused on textbooks and student’s scores and there was no focus on happiness.
-Communication and happiness
-and good relationships
-having fun
-between students and teachers
-it was teaching in an industrial way
-Really so you felt like the kind of training system was almost robotic Yes I felt they didn’t value their students and it was like a factory
-so they wanted you to be like a English teacher robot
-Yes there was no personality that was encouraged, they didn’t care how you have a relationship with your students. all they care about is following the book
-I see, and how long was the training period?
-I think about one month
-Okay that’s pretty good
-Yeah
-You did one month of training
-I did
-and then you started teaching
-sure
-How did it go?
-It was fun I was working between two schools. One in inner-city in Sendai and the other deep deep into the suburbs
-Okay
-which was very difficult transport-wise and
-so you had to take a public bus or something?
-I had to take a train and a bus and a walk… and to go home after my final lesson, I had to run, sprint! for the last bus.
-Oh because the classes were until like 9pm?
-That’s right, and the buses were running from a shopping mall, so I had to quickly finish my class. Do my lesson records, and a run off for the bus
Did you ever miss the bus?
-Yes and then I had to ride in a car of my supervisor who I hated
-Oh no. so if you miss the bus, you have to get a ride from your supervisor
-That’s right, and he lived in the same building as I did.
-I’m sorry to hear of all that but how were the classes?
-how was the teaching?
-The classes were great because I realized even though I didn’t agree with the training when I was in a class, I could teach in my style.
-so once the door is closed you were the master of the classroom.
-I could do my own style. I could having natural conversations with the students
what they’re interested in. Because every student has a different reason for learning a language
-How long did it take you to realize that teaching was something that you are good at and that you enjoy?
-I think especially at the time, I was a very social person. I still am. I enjoy conversations with people and I care about giving people a good experience so in that way, I felt that I was giving important skills to people who took my lessons.
-so you felt good and you felt a sense of achievement
-yeah you know why?
-Helping people with their English
-Sure my first question was always why are you studying a language. like what do you want to do with English
-Find the student’s goal
-That’s right so the textbook always follows one road, and for many students that’s not the road they are interested in
-Everyone has a different reason
-Right
-for studying
-I wanna find out what they need and help them
-That’s beautiful
-Thank you and also for my benefit so I can have a good experience in a class
I wanna learn about the person
-You want it to be Give and Take
-Yeah
-That’s right
-why not?
-like playing catch
-yeah Here is the ball, catch. Here is some English that will help you
-Pass it back to me
-Pass it back to me
-That’s one of the things that I’ve found about teaching English is I learn so much from people
-I started teaching when I was very young
-You were very young you were still learning about the world
-yeah I was a teenager 19 years old
-wow 19
-I was on a working holiday visa, and my first job was with a company called YAMAHA
-YAMAHA… Fine creators of pianos
-Yep
-Pianos Motorcycles some other musical instruments
-Motorcycles with pianos attached to them
-That would be cool
-Motorpianos
-so I had a job interview… I had failed many interviews
-oh so you were already in Japan when you had the interview
-yeah I came…
-so Why did you come originally?
-Just for an adventure… I failed many job interviews because I was too young
People didn’t want a 19-year old English teacher
-that’s understandable
-Were you wearing your hat backwards?
-No
-doing Hip-Hop dances
-No
-But I didn’t have a suit and I didn’t have a necktie
-right
-I didn’t own one. so I was going to the interviews wearing like a collared shirt and a black pair of pants, not a proper suit, and they thought we don’t need this guy
-yeah this guy’s trouble
-19-year old Canadian. No thank you
-No thank you
-But YAMAHA… I guess they really needed a teacher. They were desperate.
They’ll take anything they can get
-and I did an interview there was 3 people interviewing and me and suddenly they said you know, in our classes with kids you have to sing songs and do dances
-Did they ask you to give a demonstration?
-Well yeah and it was completely unexpected. I was not prepared at all
-What song did you sing?
-Mr.Horiguchi was is his name
-Mr.Horiguchi~
-He suddenly said please sing “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”
-and you know everyone knows that song
-twinkle twinkle little star~
-okay everyone except you
-I’m sorry I don’t know that song..
-That’s not how it goes
-so anyway he put me on the spot. He said “Sing twinkle twinkle little star” Boom!
Dance! Monkey! Dance!
-Yeah and of course I was very nervous and I know the song but I haven’t sang that song since I was a very small child
-Really?
-He put me on the spot and I started singing
-Okay ah twinkle twinkle little star~
-Next
-And then as I...
-Is there anyone in a waiting room?
-Be nice Ben...
-Sure
-As I was singing it
-No as you sang tears started falling from their eyes the beauty…
-Can I finish? Hey can I finish?
-Like looking at Aurora Borialis…
-Hey hey Ben my story my story
-Okay Abe’s time
-Let me finish
-It’s Abe time
-So I started singing the song and like as I was singing it I started like kind of doing gestures and
-okay
-doing a little you know
-Moving your body?
-Yeah I started like getting into it. Because at first I felt very embarrassed and strange but then I thought oh you know what? Fuck it. I just gotta go for it. And you know after I did the gestures and stuff the boss started crapping “Wow! great job! “
because I’m not a good singer, I thought oh Fuck… but actually they were like “That was amazing!
-Wow that’s really interesting. so twinkle twinkle little star was the start of your career in Japan
-Yes It was
-and then..
-I guess you were a little star
-and then I started teaching English to kids
-Right
-and as it goes you know once I got a little experience other companies they saw that I work for YAMAHA, so they thought Oh okay
-That’s a good start to start with a big name company
-Yeah so they were like oh okay he must be a good teacher. so then I started to get more and more...
-Who is this little star making a name for himself.
-Yeah that’s how it began for me
-I see well it’s a strange journey
-Call me the little star
-Yeah I might
-Guys this is gonna be the beginning of a beautiful podcast You guys can hear some really natural conversations. We’re not playing
-Actually we are playing
-Well I don’t play
-Little twinkle star over here he plays them games
-Yeah
-You guys are gonna get the raw deal. I’m gonna give you exactly how I feel…
I have no secrets
-So we have twinkle star and raw deal
-Abe and Ben
-Raw deal
-Looking forward to…
-They call me the Raw deal…
-The raw deal
-Yeah it’s just honest from the heart
-Actually usually it means a bad deal
-Yeah
-Like oh man that’s a row deal
-It’s true. Yeah
-But the way I say it, it means like, raw meat… that doesn’t sound good at all
-Alright Ben thank you very much
-You’re welcome anytime
-Talk to you soon buddy