New underpants, please!

To quote Arclid Transport’s website:

Our service is our strength. We have developed an unsurpassed reputation for delivery where you want it, when you want it – swiftly and safely….

Swiftly, yes. Safely? Not quite so sure.

For years now, there have been reports in the papers of “Record Exam Grades”. Those with half a brain tend to think “I wonder if the exams are becoming easier in any way?”. Well, I have in front of me this morning, sample papers for writing part of the Japanese GCSE. The syllabus has changed so the ‘old’ paper runs until this year, the ‘new’ paper begins next summer. Let’s have a look…

Old: 1 hour 15 minutes
New: 1 hour

Not a major issue to start on. Although percentage-wise it’s a big difference, it’s only 15 minutes. In fact, if the paper is just as difficult, the shortened time will make things harder.

Old: 4 tasks
New: 2 tasks

The old paper has a couple of simple exercises to get you going before launching into the short and then long writing tests. No major issue again – it depends on the rest of the paper.

Let’s look at the two main writing tasks in detail, beginning with the short task:

Old: Up to 190 characters on a single subject. Suggested: “about 165 characters”.
New: Up to 190 characters on a choice from four subjects. Suggested: “75-180 characters”.

I guess this means you can learn limited vocabulary and still ace the new exam. You rely on luck (or actually knowing all of the subject) for the old.

The long task:

Old: Up to 400 characters on a choice from two subjects. No suggested number of characters. Instructions written entirely in Japanese.
New: Up to 380 characters on a choice from four subjects. Suggested “minimum 300 characters”. Instructions written in English apart from titles for two of the essays. Those are written in Japanese with English translations in parentheses.

It really is starting to sound easier. But let’s see if there’s any real clincher. Something that really gives away the reduction in standards…

Oh… here it is… let’s look at the front of the exam paper…

Old: You may NOT use a dictionary.
New: The use of an appropriate bilingual dictionary is permitted in both Tasks 1 and 2.

I need say no more.

I know that I’m a little prone to ranting about Edexcel and the dumbing of standards in GCSEs and so on. But something that really worries me is the header on their Scheme of Work for Year 10 GCSE Japanese. It’s says “Japanese Language” in Japanese. But it’s only sodding well upside down, isn’t it?

A t-shirt manufacturer, I can just about forgive for getting Kanji upside down, but a booklet intended to help teachers guiding our young and impressionable future citizens? Not really on.

The other day, I exclaimed SPORTYSOFT at H, who chuckled because that was supposedly the name of a type of hat as sold by the Toraya Hat Shop in Ikebukuro, Tokyo. We couldn’t for the life of us remember the names of the other types of hats. “BASEBALL CAP”? No. “TOP HAT”? Hmm… maybe, but I don’t think so.

Below, I have pictured the shop’s sign with all four types of hat shown. If you can name the other three types of hat correctly, you will win fame and glory for yourself. Good luck!

What’s worse?

1. The fact that a primary school has banned pupils from sending valentine’s cards due to the possibility of ‘rejection trauma’.

or

2. The fact that today’s instant media can turn a tiny little incident in a corner of Somerset into a national scandal?

It seems there’s a little row going on over the McDonald’s McItaly burger mainly due to its endorsement from the Italian agriculture minister. The food critics are not particularly happy due to the affront to their national food traditions.

There’s a video here.

You know my thoughts? The whole world should be up in arms. McItaly? McItaly? McItaly. That is a rubbish name for a burger. Seriously. I would not be able to hold my head up with pride and order a chuffing McItaly.

Following on the heels of #1 comes the strangest job advert I think I’ve ever seen. Looks ok(ish) to start with…

[Name Deleted] Photography ltd. is offering full time holiday work. Half term, summer holidays and weekends. We are looking for career minded hard working people to join us&any age can apply&. but we do need you to drive to the venues. You will have to be confident and great with people. The right person will earn around £1000min p/m. We offer all the training you need to be relaxed and confident about the photo sessions. All equipement is supplied. Please have a look at our website and see if this is for you. We look forward to hearing from you and helping you in your new career with [Name Deleted] in 2010.

So you follow the link to the website and reach:

Um… so you can work for them as an assistant for four hours and you only have to pay £75.

Once you’ve done that, you can then work for them during holidays and weekends (which I think is what this job advert is suggesting) for only £495.

Level 3 seems to actually be a job, but might not be.

And yes, if you click “Click Here To Pay” on Level 4, it really will transfer you to PayPal with an invoice of £9,995 before you’ve actually had any contact with the company (Incidentally, I wonder what the PayPal charges are on a sum like that!)

Doesn’t look dodgy at all… no no no!

What do you get if you cross sub-zero temperatures with a burst water main?

Very very very localised snow…

Scene 1…

Scene 2 (90 degrees to the right of Scene 1)…

Fantastic stuff! We passed this on Saturday afternoon and had to turn back to check we’d actually seen what we thought we’d seen!

Time for another rant about Edexcel. Have I ranted about them here before, or just in my head?

Anyway… I’m currently trying to get the Japanese GCSE vocab into a usable state. I’ve found their core vocab lists – in two different formats and with different lists of words – not very useful. But what I’ve found now is the “Japanese Vocabulary Book” which separates words into categories such as “Out & About”, “Locations”, “Directions” and so on. As you can imagine, the overlap between these examples (and many other examples) is massive. I think I’ve seen the word for bread appear about five times so far (Foundation, Out & About, Restaurants, Food & Drink, Lifestyle). Not good for sorting unique, tagged entries.

Anyway… the latest section I reached made me chuckle…

Fashion/celebrities/religion- Foundation

WTF? Must be a misprint in the title. Let’s have a look at an excerpt of the list…

Easter イースター
famous 有名な
fashion りゅう行/ファッション
glove 手ぶくろ
God 神
handbag ハンドバック
hat ぼうし

Ok. Good. I wonder if Edexcel is actually staffed by aliens?

I know it’s old news, but isn’t the London 2012 logo just attrocious?

Fortunately, after widespread public criticism in 2007 including a 25,000 signature petition and other cries for it to be changed, a London 2012 spokesman allayed our fears, saying “The emblem is flexible and will evolve over the next five years.”

So… how’s it doing after three?

It’s lost the yellow and the shade of pink has changed slightly. Granted that’s an improvement, but I still think that pretty much anyone armed with a pack of crayola could do better.

Sorry… I was just looking at a 2012 site and reminded how completely awful the thing is!