Reading a notice about a school exchange and acting on it
Your Japanese class is hosting three students from a sister school in Nagano for one week. Your teacher gives you a notice written in Japanese. The notice says the visitors arrive on Monday at 8:30 and that host families should collect them from the school office, not the front gate. It also says that on Wednesday there is a welcome party and that students should bring a plate of food, but that nut products are not allowed because one visitor has an allergy. Finally, it says that anyone who cannot host must tell the teacher by Friday of the previous week. Today is Thursday of the previous week. You have agreed to host one student, but your family has a dog and you are worried the visitor may be allergic. You also cannot cook, so you plan to buy something on Wednesday morning.
1. Identify the two deadlines in the notice and explain what action each requires of you, given today is Thursday.
Read the worked answer
The notice contains two time-bound requirements:
- Collection time and place: Monday 8:30 at the school office, not the front gate. This is not a deadline for telling anyone, but it is a fixed commitment. You must plan to be at the office by 8:30, which means arriving earlier and knowing where the office is.
- Opting out as a host: anyone who cannot host must tell the teacher by Friday of the previous week. Today is Thursday, so tomorrow (Friday) is the last day. If your dog-allergy concern means you cannot safely host, you must speak to the teacher today or tomorrow, not next week.
A common error is to treat the Wednesday welcome party as the urgent item. It is not a deadline for informing anyone; it is an event with a food requirement. The urgent judgement is that the hosting decision has a hard cutoff one day away, so you must resolve the allergy question immediately rather than waiting to see how things go.
2. You want to bring food on Wednesday but cannot cook. Explain what you would bring and how you would check it meets the notice's rules.
Read the worked answer
The notice bans nut products because of an allergy, and asks for a plate of food. Buying food is acceptable; the notice does not require home cooking.
A sound plan:
- Choose a shop item with a readable ingredient list. In Australia, packaged food must list allergens, so buy something sealed with an ingredients panel rather than loose bakery goods where cross-contamination is unknown.
- Check for nut warnings, not just nut ingredients. Look for phrases like 'may contain traces of nuts' or 'manufactured on equipment that also processes nuts'. For a serious allergy, treat these as disqualifying.
- Avoid risky cuisines. Satay, pesto, some curries, and many biscuits and chocolates commonly contain nuts. A plain fruit platter or rice crackers with a clear label are lower risk.
- Ask the teacher if unsure. The notice gives a rule but not a procedure for checking; confirming with the teacher is the safe move, especially since you are also worried about your dog.
The judgement being tested is that 'no nuts' means avoiding cross-contamination risk, not merely avoiding whole nuts, and that a labelled shop product is easier to verify than an unlabelled homemade-style item.