English Teaching In Japan

(Teaching a Japanese family whose 10 year old daughter goes to an English speaking school. She has only been going for a few months, and every day her homework is to make a small speech in English to say to the teacher. This conversation was during the evening meal that they cooked for me whenever I went to teach, and the girl was sitting opposite me and the father. The father was trying to supplement what the daughter had written in Japanese for me to translate for the following day's speech at school. She had got as far as 'I was surprised to see squirrels in the garden in England. I had only ever seen them in the zoo in Japan.' The father had supplemented it with 'I also saw rabbits and horses here.' The daughter, looking from the other side of the table and therefore seeing the written paper upside down, pointed at a word.)

Daughter: (pointing at the word after 'rabbits') What is that?

Me: 'Ya' (means 'and' in Japanese)

Daughter: (pointing at the next word) And what is that?

Me: 'Uma'. Horse.

Mother: You should know that! It's one of the first things you learn to read at school!

Daughter: But I'm looking at it upside down!

(pause)

Daughter: What does 'ya' ('and') mean?

Mother: (suddenly in hysterics) 'Rabbits AND horses!!!'

Daughter: (red faced, but laughing) Oh.....