Bizarre Teaching Moment #8:The Most Dangerous Game

~This bizarre teaching moment occurred today during yet another class with my beetle-catching gun maniac student (who is actually far more mild-mannered than those words would seem to indicate). Today's lesson was about buildings in a town and methods of transportation. During a review of the vocabulary, he repeated the word, "park", and I asked him if he liked to go to the park. He said yes, but a strange thing happened when I asked him "Why?".

I was expecting him to say something along the lines of "baseball" or "beetle collecting". I should have known better. His response to my question was immediate: "Survival game!". Was that some kind of tag game, I asked? "No," he said, proudly adding, "Air gun!".

^ Air guns are quite popular in Japan. There are several air gun shops in Nagaoka, but unlike in America, there are no real gun shops (such as Wal-Mart) due to very strict firearms laws. Their appearances mimic those of actual firearms down to the finest detail, except that they use compressed air to fire ammunition.

Once, a mildly inebriated friend accidentally shot me in the head with an air gun, and it hurt like hell! Besides, anyone who's seen the movie "Home Alone" knows how much a shot from an air rifle can hurt, especially in a "sensitive" area...

I spent a minute quizzing my student about his "Survival Game". He told me that he and his friends wear goggles when playing (thank goodness for that!), but no other protective gear. If you're shot, it's "Game Over" for you. While he was explaining that to me, all I could think of was this:

^ The Most Dangerous Game is a classic short story by Richard Connell. In the story, the hero falls overboard his yacht and ends up on a mysterious island inhabited by a wealthy hunter. The hunter, bored with hunting animals, considers humans the only worthy prey to hunt, and forces the castaway to "play" the game. Who prevails? You'll have to read it for yourself to find out! ~Oyasumi.