Yamadera

 We went back to the station and looked back at Yamadera on the mountain across the valley. I know that at first I called it a hill, but after climbing it, I think it deserves the grander title of mountain.

 We found that we had about 50 minutes until the next train, so we decided to visit the Basho museum. It was, naturally, up a hill. As we approached the top, this building came into view.

 Once we reached the top of the hill, we could see the grounds of the museum. I was surprised at the number of separate buildings.

 The roadway was lined with stelae that contained haiku. I had no idea who the authors were, but it appeared that they were not famous.

 We saw one building that looked old, or at least, constructed in the old traditional style.

Inside there was a gift shop and a meeting room for haiku sessions, among other things.

Two more Fibs

In class today, the 12th with this group of students, I had plenty of free time during which the students did not need me at all. The reason relates to the difference between ESL (English as a Second Language) and EFL (English as a Foreign Language). ESL is what is taught to immigrants in the US. These students need work on accuracy but fluency can easily be developed outside the classroom. In Japan, however, the students have little chance to use English away from the school, so fluency activities are important. In my conversation classes, the students get about 30 minutes of listening and focus on structures and meaning, and then they get 60 minutes of small group conversations in which they express their own ideas about whatever subject interests the group. This is quite different from other classes in which the students talk about a subject specified by the teacher or the textbook, often in language which is also specified.

Because my students do not need me, other than to wander around occasionally reminding them that they are speaking English, not Japanese, I have nothing to keep my mind occupied. Today while the students were talking I wrote the following fibs.

The first is about the rainy season.

Clouds
Rain
Dark days
Frogs croaking
Moods match the weather
But change comes, nothing's permanent

Thinking about frogs led me to the famous haiku by Basho. Here is one translation of it.

Listen! a frog
Jumping into the stillness
Of an ancient pond
(translated by Dorothy Britton; from Narrow Road to a Far Province)

My fib on the subject:

Splash
Frog
Jumping
In the well
Haiku are pithy
Fibs too are terse - truth isn't the words