Survival English

This week, one of my classes involves using "will" (I will do that, she'll blah blah, you'll die...-more on that shortly). There were these handouts in the lesson material packets that had pictures of different emergencies like frostbite, choking, or my personal favorite- a toddler standing on a chair holding a bottle of poison like it is a wine bottle, etc. I decided to use them as my "free expansion" to have them say stuff like "If you swallow poison, you'll die..." and carry on a conversation. I also told them to discuss things you should do if you happen to deal with one of the emergencies listed. I had an odd number of students so I had to partner up with one. This is how some parts of our conversation went:

Me: If you drink poison accidentally, there is a good chance you'll die.
Student: Have you ever drank poison??
Me: No...not yet. By the way, what SHOULD you do IF you drink poison accidentally?
Student: Drink lots of water.
Me: Umm...
-insert basic lesson about calling an ambulance and poison control-

Me: If you don't chew your food properly, there is a good chance you'll choke...by the way what would you do if you were all alone and were choking?
Student: Call an ambulance?
Me: No...if you are choking it is difficult to speak...
Student: Drink lots of water?

That is when I decided to end free expansion and for the last five minutes basically turned the lesson into a CPR class-- when it is appropriate to call for an ambulance, and how to do the heimlich maneuver on yourself or someone else, etc. Since EVERYONE thought you should drink water for those kinds of emergencies (and might I add no one had even heard of the heimlich?? Not even whatever it is in Japanese??). I seriously wonder how many deaths are caused a year in Japan because someone only drank water for these incidents (or maybe no one chokes here because the food portions are so small). I am not only teaching English anymore, I am apparently now saving lives as well.

It looks like I am going to Okinawa for Obon (holiday in Aug)!!! It'll be extremely hot and crowded but WHO CARES? It's Okinawa! (For those that don't know what Okinawa is or are too lazy to google-- it's Japan's tropical island super super south. It looks a lot like Hawaii (see below), has lots of tropical fish (and some very poisonous things too eek). I am excited though =)