Lunch Conversation

This is a conversation I had at lunch time with my junior high school 3^rd graders. The conversations were in good humour but their knowledge was severely lacking in both English and geography. Everything in Yellow is me, everything is blue is a male student and pink is the female students.

“Hello!” “Hello.” Giggles from the girls. “How are you?” “Huh?” “How are you?” “何て言いましたか？(What did he says?)” “げんきですか？(How are you?)” “Oh, I'm fine.” “And how are you?” “I'm cold!” “Me too, and I'm hungry.  Do you like curry and rice?” “Huh?” Giggles from the girls. “Do you like curry and rice?” “Oh, Yes!”

“ジョン先生の国はどこですか？(Where are you from?)” “What? Where am I from?” Student nods. “You don't know?!?! Why don't you know?” Gesturing to all the students. “I'm from Japan!” Confused looks. “Only joking, I'm from England.” Students laugh. “イギリスはどこですか？(Where is England?)” “Excuse me! You don't know where England is?” “いいえ。(No.)” Other students shrug. “I had a map on the English wall all November!” Blank faces. “Europe, France, North.” I say, gesturing the location in the air. They still look confused. One boy pulls out his geography book. "Spain?"  “What? No England. More north.” “Sweden?” “West.” “Norway?” “WEST!” Giggles from the girls. I point on the book. “Here.” “ここ？(Here?）” “No, that's Ireland. Here” “Oh, England!” “You really didn't know?” “No.” “ほんと？(Really?)” “いいえ。(No!)” “Do you know the UK and England aren't the same?” “Not the same?” “No.イギリスは一つの国。England is one country. UKは四つの国。The UK is 4 countries; England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.” “Eh?” “I explained this in my self introduction!” Sigh. “Ah, you have the British flag on your pencil case.” I gesture. “これ？(This).” “Yes.” “イギリス(England?)” “No, thats the flag of (I pause to think that they won't understand the Britain) the UK.” The don't look interested, so I move on...

“What did you do at the weekend?” “???” “What, did you, do at the weekend?” “Weekend?” “しゅうまつ(Weekend).” “しゅうまつに何をしたかしりたい(Oh, he wants to know what we did at the weekend).” “Yes.” “TV-games.” “You mean you played computer games?” “TV-games.” “Computer games! What computer games?” He said something I didn't know. “I like Mario Kart!” “What did you do on the weekend?” “Eh?” “What, did you, do at the weekend?” “Weekend?” “しゅうまつ(Weekend).” “Oh. Study.” “What did you study” “Math.” “Not English?” “No.”

“Do you like curry and rice?” I say gesturing to a boy who has gone back for more curry and rice. “50-50.” “50-50? Ah, you mean so-so.” “Yes, so-so.” “Are you hungry?” “No.” “But why do you have so much?” “Huh?” “But why do you have so much?” “Strong!” “You want to be strong?” The boy nods taking another mouth full pulling a face of dislike. The other students laugh.

“Do you understand Japanese?” “No, I don't” They didn't seem to click this was a joke as I've been responding to everything they're saying in Japanese. Sigh. Nobody understands me...