Kobe Retrospect – Part 2

Before I start, I thought I'd mention something about Japanese names. In English, we say a person's title first then their name: Dr. Jones, Mr. Anderson, Mrs. Robinson, etc. Where in Japanese the title follows the name: Matsumoto-san, Hamada-san. For teachers, their name is followed by the title “Sensei”, like Miyagi-sensei. So the students would call me “Carl-sensei” while the others from the church would call me “Carl-san”. So when I say “Taniguchi-sensei”, it is about the same as saying “Pastor Taniguchi” or “Teacher Taniguchi”, depending on the context.

Back to the post...

Last time I talked about what I did with Youth Harvest Church, This time I will be talking about my work with the English school portion of the ministry, E-BIC.

E-BIC stands for English and Bible Club. We would typically have hour long classes which included a short Bible message. The hour long class was typically split into four parts, Japanese teacher would explain the lesson and answer questions in Japanese if needed for about 25 minutes, next the native English teacher would practice with the students and helping with pronunciation for the next 25 minutes, then we would play a game of bingo using vocabulary words for 5 minutes, and end the class with a 5 minute Bible lesson. Sometimes we had things moved around, there were some classes I taught first and another class where we had the Bible message at the start of the lesson.

For the younger students, Kindergarten up through about 7^th grade, we used an English teaching program called Genki English. It's an energetic and fun program using cartoon graphics, silly songs, and games to help teach the vocabulary. They typically teach a question (Do you have any pets?), an answer (I have a ...), and 8 vocabulary words per topic (cat, dog, goldfish, lizard, etc) and we'd teach each topic for three classes. The Taniguchi's would explain the English in Japanese and I would help the students practice, usually by playing games with the topic's flashcards.

The older students, Jr High, High School, and college students, we would use one of several different text books, depending on the student's skill level. It is similar in that Taniguchi-sensei typically explain the meanings and grammar in Japanese while I do exercises from the book and focus on practice and pronunciation. By this point with the students, it is more conversational than playing games, and even a few of the most advanced students are practicing conversation and expressing their thoughts clearly in English. We even had a few adult classes that didn't use a book but was more for practice and keeping their English skills in use.

But the youngest students we worked with were the kindergarten classes we partnered with. We had six classes of children between 3 and 6 which we did quick 20 minute lessons with each class twice a week. It was by far the fastest paced classes I've done. We'd walk in, say hello to the students, sing a song in English, play a game, practice vocabulary words, and go over the ABC's all in 20 minutes to a room of 20-25 kindergarten kids. Then we would go to the next class and start again. We had several students that joined our E-BIC classes from this Kindergarten.

Aside from the classes we did for the kindergarten, every class ended with a short Bible message. For the adult classes, I was given the privilege to write and share the Bible message. This was an excellent opportunity for me to learn how to go back to basics, to write and talk about the Bible with people who were new to the Bible rather than the people who had grown up around the Bible, like most of the people I worked with in America. We had several students who started with our E-BIC then started attending church. A lot of this work was seeding the Gospel, planting the first parts that will hopefully grow into salvation.

The spiritual need for these students is great. Japan is a competitive culture where to get into a particular high school requires a student to pass a test and be accepted into the school. I watched several of our Jr. high students stress out in their last year of Jr. high studying endlessly and stressing daily about upcoming exams so they could get into the high school of their choice, which in turn would improve their chances of getting into the university of their choice, which also involved another set of entrance exams as a senior in high school. Some students enroll in additional classes in the evenings so that they can further improve their grades. I can't help but feel like school performance is one of the big idols that Japanese students must face. Even the kindergarten we worked with was focused on helping the students get ahead and have a competitive advantage in elementary school.

I also had several students, both at MEBIG and E-BIC that were in single parent homes. One student's parents had divorced shortly before or after I had started teaching her. (The time was not clear, I was told that they divorced “last year” which means if could have happened before or after I had arrived). While some seemed to be well adjusted, there were a few that lacking of one of the parents at home was negatively affecting their behavior.

That said, please continue to pray for these students, even though I am not involved with their ministry anymore. And pray for the students in Japan in general, they face this stress of entrance exams roughly every three years. Also pray for their parents, the stressful competitive culture does not in after high school but continues on into career life and it can be difficult for students and parents to spend time together when both have endlessly busy schedules. While having Christ in their lives will not free them from the competitive culture, it would be good for them spiritually to see the value in the eternal things rather than the temporary school and work life that they have.

That is it for my looking back at Kobe, I've just finished my first week here in Osaka and I'm working with the team to find a place in the ministry here in Osaka. There have been a few shake ups in the last few weeks but plans are being adjusted.

Thank you for your prayers and support. To give and support my work in Osaka, use the information below.

You can send your support to East Tucson Baptist Church, indicating it is for “Carl's Japan Missions Fund”. This is a tax deductible option.

Make checks out to:

East Tucson Baptist Church

9100 E Speedway Blvd

Tucson, AZ 85710

Phone: (520) 917-4233

Or send a check to my family to deposit for me:

Lynn Erbe

7326 E. Calle Lugo

Tucson, AZ 85710

Phone: (520) 298-6319

You may also send money directly through PayPal

PayPal.me/CarlErbe

My GoFundMe page for this trip:

https://www.gofundme.com/carls-second-osaka-missions-trip

Thank you for your prayers and support.

God bless,

Carl Erbe

Carl.E.Erbe@gmail.com