Let's Talk - Ghosts

A good number of students have been asking me to explain the meaning of Halloween to them during the past couple of days, after having seen all the decorations up in the stores and getting curious. So, figuring that this was a good day to share some tales of spooks and goblins, I chose to use the Let’s Talk – Ghosts directed conversation as the item.

In this class I had two ladies and one gentleman. One of the ladies had been very eager to discuss Halloween and ghosts and the other had plenty of stories to share. The gentleman was also very happy to tell me of the unusual superstitions that surrounded his work environment. We first began by seeing who actually believed in ghosts. All three of them expressed a belief in ‘something’ that existed after death but nobody actually believed in ghost sightings or hauntings. I had them describe what they thought a typical Japanese ghost would look like and they went to great lengths to describe one. They then countered by asking me what I thought a ghost looked like so I gave them the stereotypical description of a transparent person dressed all in white, probably drifting down some hallway moaning and banging chains. They laughed at my imaginary ghost and then asked me if I had ever dressed up for Halloween. It was at this point that they began to muse over having their own Halloween party to experience the ghosty day for themselves.

Every now and then, as we went through the lesson, I would pause briefly to write down new vocabulary on the board or to cast some light on a few common grammar mistakes. One of the ladies had a bit of a habit of forgetting to insert verbs into her sentences so I first explained this to her and then gave her a gentle reminder when she forgot again. Afterwards, she halted in the middle of her sentence and forced herself to stick in a verb before moving on. When I told the students that the profession of parapsychology actually investigated and studied the existence of ghosts they were really amazed and excited to hear this. They also told me that the Buddhist monks did similar things but without the aid of science. That was very interesting to find out indeed.

When asked if they liked to watch ghost movies, all three of them replied positively and started to tell me of recent movies that they had watched. The lady that I regularly see on a Saturday stated that she really enjoys to watch ghost movies because they’re full of suspense and drama. She likes to be shocked and scared, especially in the middle of the night. The gentleman likes to watch ghost movies just for the special effects and to spend time with his friends. The other lady said that while she does have an interest in ghost movies and has watched several, she’s trying to cut back because she feels that the shock value is going to decrease her life span. A very amusing comment that wrapped up this item nicely.