My opinion of this week(455):
PC education for children
Since last May, I started teaching PC for children at one of a local
elementary school in our community with help of our several people of
MPC(Murayama PC Club). The session is in a kind of extracurricular
exercise. There are many themes which we want to teach as far as PC is
concerned. It is the fact that PC will become more important subject
to learn while those elementary school children proceed to junior
high school, high school and college in the long run. So it is always
our great concern on what and how to teach PC for kids.
First of all, we believe it important to practice typing of Roman
alphabet. They really don't learn Roman alphabet at any regular curriculum
at school. They don't know how to type them by blind touch, of course.
For any person who start to learn PC, typing alphabet is very fundamental
element at any rate. We let kids practice blind touch typing at first
10 minutes at every schoolings, although they really don't like it for it
is a kind of monotonous and unpleasant works. Some try to start some
games in PC but we never admit it explain the importance of learning
typing for the use of PC over and over again.
The second routine work at the session is to do Chinese character writing
quiz for another ten minutes by using pencil. Some of them questioned
why they have to write Chinese character by pencils while it is PC study.
We really don't explain so much in detail why we have to do it. But We
let them write them on a paper by pencils, while it is fine to find an
answer by using PC. According to our belief, it is important for them to
learn how to write Chinese character in good order while we easily forget
them once we start using PC wordprocessor.
Thirdly, we let kids work on main themes of the day after those initial
practices. There are various themes for an hour or so, but one of the
representative assignment these days is to make lyric sheet of Japanese
children's songs. They have to put lyric of assigned song with some
illustration or pictures in wordprocessor. Any of those illustration
and pictures are to be introduced from PC or internet. Some samples are
provided every time by CD or other media prepared by our side.
Those kids like this assignment very well and seem to enjoy trying to make
good one. Any of those works are printed and some good ones are put on
a wall of PC study room.
Sometimes we let them make HTML lyric cards which show word and illustration
or animation in Web form. They get excited with moving characters in a
card even with music.
Unfortunately we really have little chance to talk with teachers at school
as how to teach PC for kids. It seems there are no established curriculum
as far as PC education is concerned. There are so many things which they
have to teach and PC may not be any really main subject.
We wish we could help such situation in one way or the other. We will continue
to make our best to contribute in PC education field at this local elementary
school with our club members.
2006/1/7
Tadashi HAYASE
My opinion of this week(456):
The death of my mother
At the early morning of January 8, I got a telephone call from my younger
sister living in Sakai City Osaka. She informed a sad news that our mother
had passed away at the hospital just a few moment ago. At the end of last
year, my sisters who took care of her in Sakai told me the fact that our
mother was in a critical condition. My wife and I were about to visit the
hospital to see her.
She was 98 years old and she had no any serious ill not only for the last
moment but also for all through her life time.
She produced and raised seven children in such a chaotic times of before,
in the middle of and after the World War II. Our father was a public
servant of local municipal office and our family was not rich at all. But
we never felt that we were poor in any respect. All of our brother and
sisters were brought up to good citizen getting enough education and all
sort of self-sacrificing material and spiritual cares provided by our mother.
It was not only seven brother and sisters whom she took care of. Two nephew
and niece, a grandchild, etc. who stayed with her later on were also taken
care of by her. Most of her life have been contributed to that kind of
cares.
Our father died at the age of 85. My older bother and some other sisters
and brothers including myself offered her to live together for she was old
enough at that time. But she refused to accept any of such offer and
continued to live alone. She had no special hobbies. She rarely enjoy
even making trips.
Her only pleasure was to eat good foods especially good fresh fishes for
she was born and brought up at a fishing village. She did not hesitate at
all to pay a lot of money to get a good fish. It was not only for herself to
do so. She let us to eat them or send them to our home from time to time.
She really spent a lot of money for that kind of things but none of brother
had never told her to stop that. It was because that is the only one kind of
her pleasure for herself.
We decided not to make no any big funeral ceremony. The funeral was done
attended only by children and a few immediate relatives. We believed that was
good enough for her.
At the last moment to say goodbye to her death mask , I was overwhelmed by
a flood of emotions. I could not stop tearing.
2006/1/14
Tadashi HAYASE
My opinion of this week(457):
What a great sight it is!
I read an advertisement of Syukanshincyo, a weekly magazine, writing Hirofumi
Horie, President of Livedoor will be arrested in February and he will go
bankrupt sooner or later. I neither wish to read such magazine articles or
to watch TV news about his illegal stock trading anymore.
Last year when he was trying to buy Kintetu Buffalo or to get major share
of Fuji TV, I was very eager to watch TV concerning those issues. Some of
my friends and myself in our ML(mailing list) were writing many supporting
articles concerning his activities when many politicians and leaders of
business criticized him for his actions. We said "what's wrong with it?
He is doing it as business and there is no illegality at all."
But I began to think he was not doing right when he appeared as a candidate
for the last general election in August. He selected one district of Hiroshima
where people have a great interest in that election. Prime Minister
Koizumi and Secretary General Takebe supported him as one of important
casters for their so called Koizumi Theatre election.
Takafumi Horie seemed to have had no interest in the main issue of that
election. But he began to speak in the election campaign that privatization
of postal administration is very necessary for political reform of this
country. He said this just to get a seat in the election. He must have
want to get a seat to utilize it for his personal desire to become No.1
in IT business.
Fortunately or unfortunately, he failed to get a seat in the election.
But I lost all of my personal interest and concern about him and I do not
believe him any more. People and mass media's interest moved to
President Mikitani of Rakuten Corporation, another hero of IT industries
after the general election at any rate.
I never assumed that Takafumi Horie would appear again in the main stage
of mass media in this way last week.
His desire and challenge to become No.1 in IT industries will never to
be blamed by itsel if it is done in right legal standard. He will
surely become a hero if it is done. But it seems that his leadership
in his firm went quite wrong.
I noticed the fact from TV news why he selected Roppongi Hills for
Livedoor's head office. The news caster explained that it is because
Takafumi Horie can watch the whole view of Tokyo Tower and (probably
Mt. Fuji) from his room located at 38th floor of the building.
Viewing the sight, he wish he could get the whole world in his hand
and told himself: "What an great sight it is!"
When I watched TV, I remembered one famous scene of Kabuki play about
a big burglary in the age of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's administration.
This burglary said the same script in the play and he was executed
some time later at riverside of Sanjyou River in Kyoto by a famous
method by Hideyoshi.
My allegoric story might have gone too far. But all I want to say is
concerned with this proverb. "The last drop makes the cup run over."
My new proverb related with this proverb is this.
"The illegal drop breaks the whole cup."
2006/1/21
Tadashi HAYASE
My opinion of this week(458):
Children Song in Japan
Masako Kawada, a famous singer of children song died last week. She was
71 years old. I wrote about her several good children songs including
the song named "Mikan no Hanasaku Oka (Hill of Mandarin Orange Flower)"
in ML(Mailing List) and got some comments from my friends. Like myself,
those people must have remembered good old days when they listened many
good songs sung by her
My special like for children songs started when I was an infant. There
was a phonograph cranked by hand at my home. My father was a civil servant
of local municipal office and he bought one sheet of SP record for me
whenever he went to Tokyo for his business. I repeated to listen to them
over and over again until the record really warn out.
I had chance to listen some other songs after the War. In addition to
Masako Kawada, there were several more singers including Takako Kawada,
yonger sister of Masako Kawada at that time. There were many more good
children songs composed and lyrics by excellent artists. But my likes
for music categories changed one after another as I grew up.
There were no handle cranking phonographs any more by the time when I
became working adult. The quality of music broadcasted by radio and
TV was improved very much. What's more many high quality musical
audio devices appeared in the market. Music records have developed into
CD disk from SP, EP, and LP records. I naturally have listened to so
many other style music such as classics and popular rather than children
song in those days.
The reason why I started to have so much interest again in children
songs is the appearance of PC and PC music in the past fifteen years.
I had learned a lot about MIDI system of PC music. I started to learn
playing piano at the age of sixty which might have enhanced also my
interest for children songs.
While I learned PC music and enjoyed exchanging information about music
in ML with many music lovers, I rediscovered so many good Japanese
children songs. I was very pleased to find the fact that Teiichi Okano
a great composer of children song in Japan is an uncle of Akira Watanabe
who is one of my good friend of internet community. I have been very eager
to find a good sight of internet about children songs and bought so many
music data in the net. I tried to play some of them by piano.
I rediscovered so many good children songs many of which sing heart and
sentiment of Japanese people and beautiful scenery of Japan. Since I
started to teach PC at an elementary school last year, I made up my
mind to teach kids lyrics and music of good children songs. I sometimes
taught kids a simple HTML program which reproduce relics and animation
with sound of music.
But I have not been quite stultified with reaction of children for it.
Kids those days are not necessarily fond of children songs themselves so
much. It seems that they tend to love animation songs and some popular
songs in TV dioramas rather than conventional contemporary or good old
days children songs.
I wonder why such terrible accidents like killing of children by children
happened so often these days. It is obvious that there exists some
problems on education on emotion and sentiment at home and at school.
It seems that they are being done in the absence of natural and child
like sentiment both at home and school.
One of my simplistic suggestion to improve this situation is to let kids
have many more opportunity to listen to good Japanese children songs
especially at their infant stage.
That I believe will improve the serious educational issue at present.
2006/1/28
Tadashi HAYASE
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