Spreading the Word

Above is a picture of the neighborhood (Nippa) where I live. I am about a 30 second walk from the Ueno Elementary school (the red-roofed building) shown above. Every Thursday afternoon I teach English to two different classes at the elementary school. Last week I taught 1st grade, then 5th grade. For first grade, I taught animals (with emphasis on the barn-yard variety), the noises they make, and Old MacDonald. We then played Duck, Duck, Gray Duck (or Goose depending on how you were raised). With the assistance of flashcards, I stated the name and the noise they make. They repeated and clucked, oinked, moo-ed, and all the others. However, there was one problem: the duck. I have a flashcard of a duck, but everytime I showed it they kept saying "chicken." So, like any good teacher I had to get the idea of "chicken" out of their little heads and insert "duck." And like every good teacher I used an example: AFLAC! Yes, Aflac has a Japanese branch, which is also littering the airwaves with their Gilbert Gottfried talking duck equivalent (Note: despite the difficulties for Japanese people to pronounce the 'L' sound, the word doesn't sound like Afrac). Anyway, to help them remember the word duck I would often say Aflac! afterwards. Later I found out that it did indeed work in helping them realize that this wasn't a chicken....instead, it was an Aflac. Yes, first graders of Ueno Elementary School think ducks are called aflacs. Just imagine my bewilderment as I discovered this new name to the tune of Old MacDonald. I failed as an English teacher. I wonder if the people at Aflac need help in promoting their insurance policies to the 6 to 7 year old age group.