Questionable English Textbook

I debated whether or not to write about this, but after repeating the passage about 20 or 30 times this week, I think it's necessary. In the first-year English textbook, there is a reading passage that is used to help students practice pronounciation. My glorious job is to help with pronounciation over and over and over... This particularly passage is interesting because of a particular word that is quite difficult to pronounce for native Japanese speakers. I am going to write down to passage (yes, I've read it so many times that it's memorized!), and when you see the word "Earth," remember that Japanese speakers pronounce the "er" sound as "a," and the "th" sound as "ss."

I'm standing on the moon.
I see stars all around.
I also see the Earth.
It's shining over the horizon, just like a ball.
The Earth is blue, and white, and beautiful.
Where's Japan?
I can't see it.
On the Earth, people live in many different countries.
But I can't see any borders.
The Earth looks like one peaceful planet.
The Earth is our mother, and we're all her children.

My English teacher kindly told the students about the dreadful mistake they make when they pronounce "Earth" incorrectly, but it's so difficult that most are not able to make the correct sound. They think it's pretty funny when one of their fellow classmates makes a noticeable pronounciation error!