Within the Smith’s English curriculum is an advanced section in which our students of English conversation are asked to read a news article and then discuss it. The first in the set is about the mysterious crop circles of Australia, Europe and America which inspired the blockbuster hit “Signs” starring Mel Gibson and Joaquim Phoenix. In discussing crop circles, students always come up with a myriad of creative ideas and thoughts about how and why the crop circles were made. It’s always a delight listening to the students expressing their ideas and using their imaginations and to hear it done in English is truly amazing.
Every time I teach this lessons, we invariably come to the question of “Have there ever been crop circles in Japan?” to which most students reply “no”. Recently I received an interesting email and decided to print the pictures and show them to students after they had discussed crop circles. This mystrious rice paddy art is a Japanese mytery, and like crop circles, are very large, intricate and beautiful.
What do you think about this paddy art? Aliens? Man made? How do they do it? Do you find this form of art interesting, beautiful, or wasteful? Check back next week for the mystery revealed!
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