Jeopardy

Sometimes I think there is a secret society of teachers who try to use subtle means of influencing young Japanese people's attitudes about politics. For example, I have taught classes to practice for university entrance exams and every fifth question is about the bombing of Hiroshima and is usually filled with gory details like "She felt the skin on her back erupt in flames as her eyeballs melted." You think I'm exaggerating. Needless to say I have never seen a Battan Death March multiple choice.

Anyway, today I was "team teaching" (don't ask) a class of 14 year-olds and the other teacher decided we should play Jeopardy. Jeopardy is an American TV quiz show. Bsicaly you choose a question for X number of points and answer said question.

The other 2 teachers made 10 questions for 2 countries (5 questions each) and I got to make 25 for 5 countries, the logic being I've visited those 5 places whereas the other teachers have only been to 2. That pretty much explains how team teaching works in a nutshell.

My questions were pretty boring. What's the capital of Malaysia, for example. (answer: Malaysia City)

Okay, from the following section, can you guess which countries I made the questions for?

"Thailand for 10"
"What's the capital of Thaland?"
"Thailand City. (correct) Next, Malaysia for 40"
"What's the name of Malaysian money?"
"Dollar?"
"No I'm sorry, ok team 4, your chance."
"Vietnam for 30"
"What country invaded Vietnam and colonized it, and after that what big country attacked it and killed millions of its people? Pleas say both countries."
"France and America. (correct) Next, Vietnam for 20"
"In the War Crimes museum, what did I see?"
"Photos?"
"Yes, photos of dead women, and babies deformed by US chemicals."
"Ok, we want Cambodia for 30"
"Why is Angkor Watt in bad condition?"
"No money?"
"Mmm, maybe but more importantly it was damaged by robbers and American bombing. Sorry. Okay, team 5 your choice."
"Philippines for 20"

this is where one teacher considered changing the written question (Team Teaching Mantra: "Be flexible!") to something like "How many women were raped when Japan pillaged Manilla?" or something along those lines but instead I stuck to my original boring plan:

"Right Philippines for 20... it is 10am in Japan now, what time is it in the Philippines?"