CROSSROADSCROSSROA DS Language StudioÊs Newsletter October,
October , 201
20 1 5The Baby Boomers of the 1960s & 1970s

Millenials are the best educated, least
religious,
most independent generation thewere the first to be labelled the “Me”
generation - a generation of people self- world has known. However, at the same time,obsessed & focussed on self-fulfilment. This they are also perhaps the least civicallywas evidenced in the 70s through a rise in engaged or politically active. They have little
disposable income, spent on parties & self- time for thinking about wider society, as now,gratification. Baby Boomers have long reigned free of an education system that constantly
as the “most selfish generation”, until now. praised them, they work hard and seek instant
Now Baby Boomers have been eclipsed in their gratification, believing they should be promoted
narcissism by the Millennials – those born quickly and often. They have swarmed to social
media where they “go fishing” for selfie “likes”
from the late 1980s through the early 2000s.
So what is it that makes Millennials the and provide constant status updates on what agreat life they are having.
most narcissistic?
Researchers now recognise theUntil the 1980s
downside of constant praise. A recent
western
education
survey of children in The Netherlands
systems were based on
found that “children believe it whencompetitiveness. Fromtheir parents tell them that they arearound the mid 80s
more special than others.” There is now
the emphasis shifteda move away from over-praise into participation ratherElla
modern education systems as well as
thantriumph.
current parenting advice. The advice
Children were nonow is that warmth and encouragement
longer encouraged tois a better strategy than inflating thebeJanis“the best”, butego. Children and youths who said theyrather to do the best
were often told they were loved by theirthat they could. As longparents
were more likely to show high selfas they tried their best at something they were“the best”. Praising children in whatever they esteem without the presence of narcissism. The
did was encouraged – success or not. This has researches found that children with high selfresulted in a generation, now in their teens esteem did not see themselves as more special
and twenties, constantly having been told they than others, but agreed with statements thatwere “the best at what they did” and that they they were happy with themselves and liked
themselves as they were. Only time will tell as towere “special”.
whether the next generation – Generation Z –will be less self absorbed than the Millenials, butwith external pressures such as Facebook,
NET LESSONS: Too busy to come to CROSSROADS? Twitter and Instagram grooming the…. Try our lessons on the net!
narcissistic traits
in us all, it’s sure
Who are the Millennials? Find out here:
to be a struggle.
http://www.livescience.com/38061-millennials-generation-y.html

Article by MarkJoshua Says: This month we welcome a new teacher, Colm, to join us. Colm isoriginally from Ireland and has traveled to, and lived in, many countries, mostrecently, South Korea where he has been teaching for about 5 years. Colm will
be taking over from Aaron who has to go back to the States to take care of somefamily matters. While we wish Aaron all the best of good luck in America, wealso welcome Colm and look forward to working with him here at Crossroads.
Junko Says: Recently, I changed from Windows 8.1 to the new Windows 10 OS on
my computer at work; at no cost! This is the first time Microsoft has shared their softwarewith many users for free. Is selling software no longer a business option for suchcompanies? This new OS is really quite good and neat looking too. I wonder, is this thebeginning of a new age for computing? Surprisingly, I am really enjoying using it. How
many more software companies will follow Microsoft’s example? I can’t wait to find out!
Mark Says For the past week or two I have been bemused by what appears to be
short strips of toilet paper hanging from string around the streets of Matsuyama.
Eventually it was explained to me that these are part of “Shide”, and that thewhite paper represents lightning bolts which are supposed to ward off demons.
This episode has reminded me that despite having lived in Japan for almost ten
years, I still have a lot to learn about Japan's cultures and customs.
Colm Says: Hi! I’m Colm, the new teacher at Crossroads. It’s good to be inMatsuyama during autumn, a beautiful time of the year with interesting stuff
going on – special days for ceremonies, shrines, food and nature. If you’ve got
an interest in History and culture, there’s lots to talk about. Or if business
English is your thing, I look forward to seeing you soon.
Danielle dit; Saviez-vous que presque 50% des emplois aux États-Unis
pourraient être remplacés par des robots ? En France, cinq millions d'emplois
seront ainsi remplacés d'ici dix ans. Je trouve la robotique, et la technologie engénéral, fascinante mais cela pose de grandes questions. Une question
fondamentale pour l'avenir est selon moi "Que faire quand les humains neseront plus nécessaires à la majorité de l'emploi ?"ACROSS
3 a successful outcome after a contest
5 something that can be discarded after using
7 unchanging, steadfast
8 a photo of oneself
9 move in large numbers
13 educating for a future role or function
14 giving complete attention to
15 the negative aspect of something
DOWN
1 excessive admiration of oneself
2 relating to or belonging to a city
4 being greatly satisfied
6 an expression of support
7 now
10 taking over or surpassed
11 giving importance or significance to12 excessively preoccupied with something (print version here)

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The Science Column with S(a)3’s Sakiko:Tagliamento River in North Italy is famous among
freshwater ecologists. It flows from the Alps to theMediterranean Sea to a point between Trieste andVenice. The river has broad floorplains and dynamic
meandering channels.
The Tagliamento River
is well-known as a “seminatural” river; “seminatural” meaning mostly
no human influence.
Surprisingly, this river has
no dams, hence maintains
a non-controlled flow of water while most rivers haveseveral dams in their basins for flood control. The
reason for the absence of large dams is that theTagliamento River has been ignored politically for along time. Historically, the basin of this river has had
little human settlement and has been used only for
agriculture. To be honest, the basin has not been a
primary important area for government intending topromote human life. Therefore, the Tagliamento River
has avoided the construction of dams.
The reason why freshwater ecologists are interested in theTagliamento is that the river can set standards for riverrestoration projects. Recently, there have been a lot of riverrestoration projects on-going in the world such as the
improvement of water quality, the creation of gravel sandbars
and resolving intermittent water flow conditions. However,everybody knows the ideal goal for river restoration projects
means creating riverenvironments
without
human impact. In orderto realize an ideal riverenvironment, freshwater
ecologists study thesemi-natural river, theTagliamento.
RPAS O P H I S T I C A T I O NBURSM A G N I F I C E N TTHIV I R T U A L L YCCAYIOCCPNOTZACNV A R I A T I O N SC O U N T L E S SNOIITGLNVABOGENOGDTNB U R I E DE N D U R E DSI M M O R T A L I T YNT H R O U G H O U THere is the 9th installment of Ren’s“My stay in China”, series 2.

In my last report, I wrote about my journey during myuniversity’s vacation. After that, my second semester started atthe beginning of March. In late March, I
went to a suburb of Beijing called Ming
Shisan Ling with my new classmates. I
suggested going on this short trip to myMy classmatesclassmates. There are many magical sites
there, but to be honest the entrance fee
was pretty expensive and the area is quite
large. So we decided to visit just two of themain sites. Anyway, we enjoyed this trip a Ming Shisan Ling
lot. The day after this trip we boasted
about it to our classmates.
Next, I had a three day holiday. During
this break, I went to Qingdao on my own.
Qingdao was impressive, but so too was
the hotel I stayed in. Because the hotel islocated on a beach, it had a sea-waterpool. I swam every day while there. In
addition, the hotel service was very good.
Often there was some fruit left in my room,
The scenery of
but I was too lazy to peal it. The staff
Laoshannoticed this and pealed the fruit for me,
leaving a message for me! (see the pictureon the right) It’s quite rare to see the seasidein China. I have heard that many Chinese people can’t evenswim as a result of living in China’s interior, and the places
where they can swim are limited. I was excited to see the sea
while in China.
During my stay in Qingdao, I climbed a mountain locatednear the sea, named Laoshan. Looking at the scenery from
Laoshan, I was reminded of how I had imagined China’s
natural environment would be before I got there. What I had
imagined was mountains with a lot of rocks. It was a
glamorous scene with a seaside view. I was satisfied with it.....
(to be continued)

Last Month’s Puzzle Solution
ACROSS
4 complexity, refinement
5 of extraordinarily high quality
6 the same in essence, but not in actuality
10 a little different from others of the samekind
11 to many to count
13 placed underground
14 continue through hardship
15 the ability to live forever
16 everywhere

DOWN
1 fairly close to correct
2 taking part in an activity
3 theorizing, conceptualizing
7 created, thought up
8 unchanging
9 a specialist concerned withanimals
12 developing a close personal
relationship

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