Didy's 540 Webspace

My Story

The following is my voice to text story, unscripted and unedited, using the Dictation function on iPhone.

All right, so I’m gonna talk about how I came to be an English teacher in Japan so since high school, I always wanted to be an English teacher and I didn’t know where exactly I wanted to work. I had some teachers that recommended a program called the jet program basically jet program is all a bunch of English-speaking countries. They send some people off to different places in Japan and we work as ALT assistant language teachers And we either work in elementary school, junior high school or senior high school so I already had my mindset on teaching in Japan somehow and then will thanks to the jet program I decided in university I would go into teaching English as a second language at McGill bachelor education so after I graduated in 2016 will just a bit before my graduation I applied for the jet program And it was really like all or nothing either I get accepted or I try and find a job in English teacher in Montreal. The good thing is I got accepted so in 2016 right after I graduated in May I think I left for Japan at the end of July and then I’ve been living in Japan for about seven years now so for about six years, I worked as an assistant language, teacher in elementary and junior high schools in Akita prefecture in Japan. A prefecture is quite a rural area very countryside. A lot of rice fields, a lot of forests Very different image from what people have of you know Japan, like Tokyo, Osaka Kyoto, where it’s very lively lots of people very modern act is very, very very quiet, peaceful place and when I first arrived, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to live in acted permanently, because it was so rural and coming from Montreal, which is a big city. It took some time to adjust to the different lifestyle and the pace of things But you know after a while I got used to it, and I came to appreciate the beauty of Akita the nature, the peacefulness so after six years of working the jet program for the actor city Board of Education I started a new job at Sade women’s junior College where I’m an assistant professor, so I teach English lessons teach. I teach some courses like oral communication, basic English skills I taught writing before Comparative culture courses is very different from my job as an ALT where as an ALTUR team teaching with a Japanese teacher of English. Where is my job now I’m kind of doing everything by myself which means that I decide the textbooks the curriculum I really know I said the goals for all my classes do evaluations and it took some time to adjust it first but it was you know it’s been going really really well and I really do enjoy my job. The age of the students is also very different from what I was used to you know so I taught you know elementary school kids and mostly junior high school now I teach college students and it’s an all girls college so it’s very different kind of the educational setting, which also took some time to adjust but having a good time I really enjoy my life here And you know I’ve decided to live and I to permanently I married someone from Akita and I have a new baby born in August so you know I wouldn’t have imagine my life to be like this you know in 2016, when my eyes were first set on living in Japan, was a very different image of you know my goal of my life in Japan was very different at the time but now I I like where I am I like my job I love my husband. I love my new baby boy, even though he’s a little crying hungry little demon. I love him so much and I’m excited to see you know I’m looking forward to what the rest of my life in Japan will be like, so yeah, that’s the story of me in Japan.

Analysis

There are punctuation marks here and there in the text, but there are many run-on sentences as well. The text is also very “rambly” and the thoughts are not very structured, unlike texts in conventional written English. The many instances where I say “you know”, “yeah”,”so”, and sentences beginning with “and” would not be seen in conventional written texts.

In terms of what is “right” and “wrong”, while most of the content itself is “right”, some proper nouns, particularly those in Japanese, were “wrong” when dictated. This shows the possible limitations of voice to text when dictating using more than one language at a time. Perhaps another voice to text applications could produce more accurate results.

The most common “mistakes” in the text would be the run-on sentences (correct sentences would start with capital letters and end with either periods, question marks, or exclamation marks), and the sentence fragments (sentences that do not follow proper subject-verb grammar structure). While these would not be deemed “mistakes” in spoken English, they are by the standards of written English. Less to none of these “mistakes” would be present had this story been scripted and edited, since preparation of the text would have been made beforehand.

Perhaps the biggest difference between oral and written storytelling is the train of thought when it comes to producing the text. In written storytelling, edits and alterations can be made to produce a text that follows a logical flow of ideas. New or additional ideas and details can be inserted in the “correct” place in the story, in order to keep a good structure. In oral storytelling, the story-teller may go off on a tangent or insert details at random points during their storytelling. Written storytelling is also more likely to get to the point more quickly compared to oral storytelling. My voice to text oral storytelling seems very much like unorganized ramblings; even while recording the story, I found myself struggling with what details to add or expand on!

Hi there! My name is Didy.

Born and raised in Montreal, Canada, (bonjour tout le monde!), I am the eldest daughter of Chinese-immigrant parents. After graduating from McGill University with a B.Ed. in TESL, I moved to Akita, Japan, to teach English as an Assistant Language Teacher on the JET Programme, where I taught at the elementary, junior, and senior high school levels for about 6 years. I currently work as an English teacher at Seirei Women’s Junior College.

In my free time, I enjoy playing video games, listening to music, and binging on Netflix shows. I’m also excited and a little nervous to take on the challenge of balancing full-time work, the MET program, and my role as a mother to a newborn!

My Daily Needs

Here are the most recent contents of my every-day bag.

1. Canvas tote bag: large enough to carry all my things, and washable!
2. Wallet: filled with bills, coins, cards and grocery store receipts.
3. Hand sanitizer: a staple item since the pandemic started.
4. Mirror: I may or may not use this way too often in one day.
5. Reusable grocery bags: saving the environment, one less plastic bag at a time.
6. Eau de cologne: a light, clean-scented perfume that I’ve been using consistently since I discovered it seven years ago.
7. Pocket tissue: a convenient item to have on hand, especially during pollen season.
8. はんこ (hanko, personal seal/stamp): in Japan, personal seals are used in place of signatures/initials.
9. Earphones: used less often now since I don’t take public transportation.
10. Hair claw: great for getting hair out of the way when enjoying a hot bowl of ramen.
11. 母子手帳 (boshi techo, maternal and child health handbook) and case: a new addition to my bag as of this year! Used to record my and my baby’s health details during pregnancy throughout babyhood. The case also contains our health insurance cards and hospital cards.
12. Make–up and make–up pouch: a comb, eyeshadow stick, eyeliner, eyebrow pencil, and an unnecessary amount of lipsticks and lip balms. The Crayon Shin-chan (my favourite cartoon) pouch was a cheap find at a second-hand thrift store.
13. Essentials pouch: wet-wipes, body wipes, sanitary pads and other things that might help a girlie in need!

My Items as Texts

These items provide a glimpse into where I live, the culture that surrounds me, and my identity. Certain items, like the personal seal and maternal and child health handbook, are texts specific to the country and culture where I reside: Japan. The maternal and child health handbook in particular is a “text” that represents my new role as a mother. Other items, like the cosmetics, mirror, etc., represent my vanity/unnecessary obsession with upkeeping my physical appearance!

The text technology that would usually be in my bag, my smartphone, was used to take the photo. My smartphone is how I do most of my communication with others now, through instant messaging, social media networks, and email. Aside from that, the contents of my wallet (cards and receipts) and the health handbook are texts that were digitally produced. These items, written in English and Japanese, show that I can communicate in both these languages. Furthermore, with some contents of my bag being in a language other than my mother tongue English, this shows that I have been able to grasp certain literacy skills necessary to live abroad. Had this photo been taken 15 years ago, all the contents of my bag would only be in English and French (the two languages used in Canada).

The contents of my bag are also a fairly accurate representation of the image I outwardly present to others: I am organized (contents are separated into compartments/pouches), prepared for anything (the essentials pouch, hand sanitizer, and pocket tissues are good examples of this), and somewhat vain (the mirror is always in the outer pocket of the bag so that I can use it right away, and I never leave the house without my makeup pouch).

An archaeologist many years from now may find the personal seal the most interesting out of all the contents in my bag in contrast to the other items. Whereas many countries and cultures use signatures to sign official documents, some East Asian countries will not accept signatures and instead require your personal stamp. Comparing a somewhat old-fashioned item like a personal seal to a digital device like the earphones in my bag, you can see a contrast between tradition and modern times.