Wilderness Survival; Wednesday, Second Period [01/24].

[sword_chocobro]

If the weather report was anything to go by, there was practically a heatwave around Baltimore today...or at least temperatures nudging their way out of the 30s, which, if you asked Gladio, was close enough to one to pull class out of the danger shop and into the preserve this week. The proper messages went out with a reminder to dress warmly (emails included a helpful link, because, you know what? That was pretty good information for this class, too), and then he was meeting everyone at the edge of the woods, grinning faintly until everyone showed up who was going to.

He really appreciated the danger shop and all it could do, but it still couldn't beat being actually outside.

"Alright, guys," he said, "hope you're ready for a little environmental influence in today's lesson, because we're taking this one on IRL. We got a campsite out in the woods that I like to use for these classes, so we're first going to start heading out, and, once we get there, you know the drill: let's get a fire going, and then we'll talk about today's lesson, which is going to expand on last week's by exploring other types of shelters that could be useful when you're out there in the wilderness, looking to survive. So follow me and let's get moving, and then we can get to work!"

Conversational Japanese; Wednesday, Fourth Period [01/24].

[id_kill_him]

"Now," said Yukari, without much preamble and clearly just planning on getting right on ahead with the lesson, "I've been here in America for a few weeks now, and I have to admit, when it comes to things to do around there? There doesn't seem to be much so far! There was that party I went to, and there's that bar with the guy who doesn't seem to like shirts, and I know the other bar has karaoke, so I've definitely been meaning to hit that up, but just haven't gotten around to it yet," for some weird reason; hi, the weird reason was video games, "but the island itself? Not much of a night life, huh? But there's plenty of places that do have more things to do, and all sorts of bar and all-you-can-eat buffets and parties, so, today, we're talking about how to make plans to go out and have a good time...in Japanese!"

Well, you weren't teaching Conversational Esperanto, Yukari.

And, naturally, this was when Yukari whipped out the worksheets and vocabulary sheets for everyone and went through some of the details and the pronounciation and contexts, as was generally the way things had been going in the class so far, and once she'd gone over everything, she turned to the class with a pleased grin.

"And now," she said, "that you have the tools to make plans and have a good time, I'd like you all to pair up and practice by making plans with each other! One rule, though, all you actual already Japanese speakers cannot pair up with each other, because that's not fair, find a newbie and help them out, because that's one of the best ways for a newbie to learn!"

It also passed some of the teaching onto someone else, and Yukari was definitely all about that!

"Shitsumon wa? Let's get started!"

Music, Wednesday

[suitably_heroic]

“No one knows exactly when this planet discovered music, and maybe it’s just not something you can stick a date to,” Atton said. He still looked a little haggard, but most of the weekend’s twitchy energy had left him. “We know the first instruments scientists have found were flutes from ten thousands of years ago. But exactly what kind of music they made, we don’t know.”

"What we do know," Lana said, "is that music itself seems to be universal. Every species and culture has some sort of music of their own, even if it may not make sense to others. Instruments and melodies and rhythms are vastly different, but music itself is everywhere for as far back as we have history."

Atton shrugged. “Like a lot of history from Earth, we don’t have very specific knowledge of much before, say, a couple thousand years ago. People didn’t start writing down anything about music until about five thousand years ago, give or take, with the Sumerians. Songs were pretty simple back then, as far as we know. They factored into religious practices and some of these instruments were even worshipped as gods.”

He turned to the laptop sitting in the middle of the classroom. “Scientists have tried to replicate some of the music from that era,” he said. “Here’s an example. It’s a hymn to the Moon goddess, created by the people living in northern Syria at the time.” He looked to the class. “What can we say about this song? What stands out?”

"From the Xia dynasty, around four thousand years ago, there have been bells and a flute found. We don't know enough to reconstruct their music, but again, flute and drums seem to be the first instruments. The earliest complete composition we know of on Earth is the Seiklos epitaph. It's from a little less than two thousand years ago. It was found engraved on a pillar in what is today Turkey. What feelings do you think this was meant to evoke? How is it similar to and different from the Syrian tune?"

After they'd listened to them, Lana smiled. "Today why don't we try something a little different? Instead of all the different instruments, we've got an assortment of drums, bells, flutes, and whistles. Let's see what we can do with only them."

“Just do what feels natural,” Atton added, “And uh. Try not to think about yesterday too much if that’s bothering you or something.”

A+ teaching.

Teamwork, Wednesday, January 24, 2024

[sith_happened]

The less said about Anakin and Rory's Rob Thomas duet last night during dinner the better, Anakin felt, and so he was just going to barrel on into today with a hefty dose of denial about his past actions. So, par for the course, really.

"Welcome back to class," he said. "Today we are talking again about the importance of communication."

Which he still had not really engaged in with his co-teacher but details. This was not about him, this was about you, students! What a good teacher he was! (Shush, Ahsoka.)

Hey, Ahsoka thought he was a great teacher! She was just also highly judgmental about a number of his terrible life choices and carrying emotional damage from same. "While last week we explored non standard ways of facilitating communication." That was certainly one point of view on the subject, Ahsoka. "Today we'll be focusing on the importance of clear communication. Both speaking and listening."

No, there'd definitely not been any particular emphasis on the last word there.

Had there been? Anakin wasn't listening that carefully. "We're going to play a game of telephone, first in a quiet room, and then with loud noises. Ahsoka will tell one of you a piece of information and you must pass it to each student and finally to me. Then we will repeat the exercise, only I will start with the information and it must pass to Ahsoka."

There. Couldn't get clearer than that, right?

Obviously they were experts at communicating.