New Rurouni Kenshin manga

[flonnebonne]

So the Watsuki Nobuhiro has started an AU version of Rurouni Kenshin:

http://www.mangahere.com/manga/rurouni_kenshin_kinema_ban/c001/

Only two chapters so far. There's also an episode zero, but I haven't seen a translated version yet.

From what I hear, it's not the same story as the live-action movie version that was recently released.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WNi8z5EWuE

Comments

[flonnebonne]

There isn't much mandatory homework but I review with my mom! Intrinsic motivation FTW! (Though I wouldn't mind some hanzi quizzes, cuz I'd ace them)

Also I see Mandarin speakers at work all the time (I work at a learning centre) so I say stuff I learned to them. Mostly I just say "you are fat" because I don't know much else.

I just ate some yue bing.

I've heard that people seem to find Spanish easy because it's syllabic and the sound to spelling relationship is one-to-one. French probably gives people trouble because it's hard to hear stuff. I personally found listening the hardest thing in French class in high school, although the other skills weren't too difficult. But I'm guessing that French gets easier for English speakers at the higher levels because of the all the similar words.

[juin.livejournal.com]

I've been eating yue bing too. So we're probably both fat.

I'm generally okay with listening; I find speaking the most difficult for every language I've learned. But maybe that's just because I focus a lot on grammar and trying to be accurate, which is hard when somebody's standing in front of you and waiting for you to say something.

...I'm about to apply for JET for 2013, probably as a CIR.

[flonnebonne]

It's weird, but I tend to be relatively good at speaking and crap at listening in every language I've studied. I have poor aural discrimination, but I usually manage to develop a decent accent (eventually). I have trouble parsing fast speech, but I can string words together pretty well. Weird, huh? I think a lot of it depends on what the learner focuses on. I talk to myself a lot in Japanese (shut up) so I guess that's where my ability comes from.

I focus a lot on grammar too but I don't worry about it too much when I'm speaking. Blah blah blah whatever oops I made a mistake ah ha oh well.

Ooh, CIR? Nice! We ALTs always looked up to the CIRs a ton because their Japanese was so good. Was never quite sure what they do though. I always got the impression that CIR jobs are more varied than ALT jobs. Sounds like fun though.

[juin.livejournal.com]

I wish I could just blurt stuff out without caring about the grammar, but. I don't know, I'm really self-conscious about making mistakes. :/

Hmm... that makes me feel kind of worried about the level of my Japanese. Especially since the website/application forms all say that you only need a working knowledge of Japanese to be a CIR. Then again, what does "working knowledge" even mean?

I'm surprised to find that JETs don't earn that much more than teachers at AEON. It's still more, but somehow I always had in my mind that it was a LOT more. Maybe it's more about being paid more for doing less work? LOL

[flonnebonne]

Apparently Brazilians are the best language learners in the world because they don't care about making mistakes. But I haven't seen the study myself so I can't vouch for its validity.

My Japanese level was pretty low at the time, and most JETs never get very good tbh, so I don't think we were able to properly judge the level of the CIRs. So who knows how good the average CIR is.

Haha, it is about getting paid more for less work. But did you account for the 20 days of nenkyuu and the medical/dental benefits? And I'm guessing eikaiwa salaries have risen with inflation, while JET salaries started high but haven't changed much over the years. The only change they made was lowering the JET salary for the 1st year and raising it for the 2nd and 3rd year.

Btw, do CIRs make more than ALTs?

[juin.livejournal.com]

From what I can tell, all JETs are paid the same whether they're CIRs or ALTs. But as for getting paid more for doing less work, I get the feeling that's only for ALTs, with school vacations and sports days and all that, which wouldn't actually apply for CIRs.

And I don't know about inflation, unless you mean over the past 10-20 years or something. AEON is paying teachers the same amount now as they did when I first signed on in 2007.

[flonnebonne]

Yep, during school vacation you sit around in the office a lot. It's hot, but at least you don't have to do much.

I do mean inflation over the last 20 years. JET is over 20 years old and the pay hasn't changed. I hope AEON's has! I heard JETs used to get flown over business class back in the day, so you know those bums were really spoiled.

[juin.livejournal.com]

At least you get flown over at all, with AEON (all eikaiwa, as far as I know) you pay for your own plane ticket. But they do give you a contract completion bonus, which I guess guarantees that you have enough money to get home.

[flonnebonne]

Really, none of the eikaiwa do? In Korea or China some places fly you over even for a two-month gig. Though maybe that's actually just taken out of your paycheque.

In some places in the Middle East apparently they'll give you $8000 a month. Plus maybe an apartment and car. And a room of cash to roll around in.

[juin.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've heard that the UAE is becoming pretty popular for teaching English. But I think you need teaching qualifications over there, which I don't have. And I don't think I'd enjoy living in the Middle East anyway. :/

Are you still looking to go overseas at all, or are you pretty happy with your current job?

[flonnebonne]

Yeah, I'm not too keen on living in the Middle East either. The money and perks make it pretty tempting though.

I think I might go overseas again in a couple years when my parents sell the house, but right now I'm okay with my current job. I'm (slowly) trying to write a textbook too in my spare time. I think I might go more into the curriculum development side of teaching eventually.