Hey everyone!
These past few days have been a little stressful. I had a wonderful birthday, and then the next day, on Friday, I was back to work...busier than ever.
I had my lesson plans for next week and I was ready to give them to my JTEs. I often work with a couple students from my 3rd grade JTE's bigger class, so I had also prepared a CD that would help a student with her speech contest. I recorded myself giving the speech, saying problem words, and then saying problem sounds. I don't see this student often, so I gave my JTE that CD along with the lesson plan. There were no worries there...lesson plan, check, and CD, check plus! He was very excited that I took the time to help out with the CD. I then found out that the other speech contest student (who's a guy) dropped out, so I now only work with Suzuka and Kana. Anyways, things seemed to be going smoothly.
Then, I met up with one of my 1st grade JTEs. She had more complaints about how I ran the class and about the worksheet that I was going to do with the class. Anything creative with these classes seems to be a no-no, no matter how easy I make it. She really liked the boring lesson that I gave...lots of structure and almost no creativity...which left me with a problem.
Do I sacrifice creativity in favor of set patterns at the expense of having all my students fall asleep, or do I try to deviate from the set patterns at the expense of my JTE disapproving? I need to be on her good side!
So...I revamped my entire lesson. I still wanted to work on prepositions, but I decided to do a drawing activity instead and incorporated some of the set patterns that my teacher liked. It took me a couple hours to make and another hour or so for random revisions she had for me...but somehow I got it finished somewhere in the happy middle ground for the both of us.
My weekend went well! I love the weekends...I get to relax, watch anime, watch Running Man, and sleep!! I also try to work on my cooking on the weekends ^^
After the weekend was over, I went to school and my caretaker asked me for rent money, which I obliged (much too willingly). Classes went ok (one of my classes is absolutely awful to teach...), but after school, I went to the ATM to check my balance and it was dangerously low.
Side note before I continue:
In Japan, they give you a bank book and a bank card. The book is inserted into the ATM and the ATM can print out all the transactions that you've made onto the paper inside the book. It's a really nice way to keep track of your money.
Continuing:
So, I put my bank book into the machine, found out where the money went (rent money), and immediately sent an email to my caretaker, basically in the nicest way possible, "Please return my money!!". I was (and still am) very worried she's gonna do something with it... After some quick thinking, I thought that maybe, she would still be at the school. I biked all the way back and all the normal entrances were closed. I had to use an overpass in the school to get to the English teacher's room. When I got there, only one teacher was there. NOOOO......!!!
So, I left a note on my caretaker's desk and tried leaving the school. I tried going out the door I came in, LOCKED. Tried going through the automatic doors, LOCKED. Tried going through the student entrance, LOCKED (with chains). Tried going through various exits...all LOCKED.
Just my luck! I somehow managed to lock myself INSIDE my school. This WOULD happen to me, of all people.
After some aimless wandering, I heard voices from down the hall, so I ran over and asked "出口はどこにありますか？" ("Where is the exit?") and they laughed at me (the poor ALT locked inside the school), and showed me the way out.
Ryan asked me if I was starting to hate Japan because bad stuff seems to keep happening to me. I'm not sure how to answer that question...part of me feels really jaded and the other part wants to keep believing that it'll all be ok. It really will all be ok eventually, but I think that I need to change a lot of things about myself before that can happen...
So, in the meanwhile, I'll just keep trying to do my best and see what comes of it.
Well, that's all for now, see you next time!
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Kids Say the Darndest Things...
Today I'm gonna talk about random funny things that my students have done over the past month or so...
On the first day, I had the students write a few of their favorite things, and some students surprised me with their answers:
What is your hobby?
Student 1. Date
Student 2. Girl
Student 3. ゴロゴロ in room ("gorogoro" in room, which means idling about...or perhaps the appropriate English equivalent is "chillaxing" lol)
Favorite Place in Komagane:
Student 4: TOIRE (which is "toilet" in English) (I don't EVEN wanna know what this guy eats on a daily basis hahaha)
Favorite Subject:
Student 5: No thank you (.......huh....? lol)
Student 6: 英語 ("eigo", which means "English" in Japanese. Yes, they wrote this in Japanese. *sigh*)
Some students were very creative with their answers, even if they just wanted to get a laugh out of me lol Mission accomplished, kids, mission accomplished...
I already wrote about the students at my visit school who were calling me pretty and beautiful in class...and apart from this, I get some random girls squealing about my hair! However, I had a new experience today in class regarding all the attention I sometimes get! You probably already saw on my Facebook, but, when asked "What are 3 things that make you happy?", one of my students replied "Love, sweets, and YOU make me happy!!!" I was flattered and gave him 2 stamps for the good, grammatical answer, but told him I had a boyfriend and he and his friends looked disappointed. LOL At least they're enthusiastic. I hope I can make exciting lessons for them in the future to keep that creativity alive! :)
Also, when I was teaching my third year students about giving advice, I gave an example "You should NOT punch that bear!" My students really liked the word "punch" from then on out. Simple to say, but it has a funny enough meaning, I guess! Anyways, I each gave them situation role plays to act out with their fellow students. They were to ask their classmates for advice for a particular problem that I wrote on their worksheet. For example, one of the students had "There is an angry bear in my room! What should I do?". One of my students told her "You should punch the bear!!" LOL I really hope none of my students decide to go try and beat up some bears in the woods one day... xD
Anyways, if anything else interesting comes up, I'll let you guys know! Thanks for reading!
On the first day, I had the students write a few of their favorite things, and some students surprised me with their answers:
What is your hobby?
Student 1. Date
Student 2. Girl
Student 3. ゴロゴロ in room ("gorogoro" in room, which means idling about...or perhaps the appropriate English equivalent is "chillaxing" lol)
Favorite Place in Komagane:
Favorite Subject:
Student 5: No thank you (.......huh....? lol)
Student 6: 英語 ("eigo", which means "English" in Japanese. Yes, they wrote this in Japanese. *sigh*)
Some students were very creative with their answers, even if they just wanted to get a laugh out of me lol Mission accomplished, kids, mission accomplished...
I already wrote about the students at my visit school who were calling me pretty and beautiful in class...and apart from this, I get some random girls squealing about my hair! However, I had a new experience today in class regarding all the attention I sometimes get! You probably already saw on my Facebook, but, when asked "What are 3 things that make you happy?", one of my students replied "Love, sweets, and YOU make me happy!!!" I was flattered and gave him 2 stamps for the good, grammatical answer, but told him I had a boyfriend and he and his friends looked disappointed. LOL At least they're enthusiastic. I hope I can make exciting lessons for them in the future to keep that creativity alive! :)
Also, when I was teaching my third year students about giving advice, I gave an example "You should NOT punch that bear!" My students really liked the word "punch" from then on out. Simple to say, but it has a funny enough meaning, I guess! Anyways, I each gave them situation role plays to act out with their fellow students. They were to ask their classmates for advice for a particular problem that I wrote on their worksheet. For example, one of the students had "There is an angry bear in my room! What should I do?". One of my students told her "You should punch the bear!!" LOL I really hope none of my students decide to go try and beat up some bears in the woods one day... xD
Anyways, if anything else interesting comes up, I'll let you guys know! Thanks for reading!
Birthday in Japan
Hey everyone!
So, I have a post full of good news on my birthday in Japan!
And, as a side note before I begin,...I don't know if I said this last time, but it's been kinda cool and rainy the past few days in Komagane/Nagano, but the top 5 places where it is hottest in Japan now is up in the Tohoku/Hokkaido regions. Aomori is in Tohoku, which is the northernmost part of the main island in Japan. It's supposed to be 5 degrees (Celsius) colder than Nagano during most points in the year, but for some reason it's flip-flopped right now lol Poor Pumpkin... :[
Anyways, I shall begin!
1) I made it back to Komagane safely after my grueling trip to and from Aomori! Woohoo!!
It was so nice to be able to be with Ryan for that period of time, no matter how brief it was! I look forward to his next visit! Hopefully, we have learned from all of my mistakes lol
Anyways, on my way back from Aomori, I needed to stop by the Regional Immigration Office in Nagano City to get my zairyuu card fixed, since my municipal office couldn't do it (and I needed to have this correct in order to get a phone). Which leads me to my next point of elation...
2) I FINALLY GOT MY ZAIRYUU CARD FIXED!!!!
It's amazing how having one letter omitted on my card had caused me so many headaches over the past 2 months. Unbelievable. I was continually turned away from the cell phone company because of this mistake. The cell phone company employees made many calls to their main branch to see if the mistake could be overlooked, but every time, they were denied permission to sell me a phone. I went to 3 separate stores and each time, the phone calls took at least 10-20 minutes each. Some employees tried really hard to help me.
Because this problem was giving the employees such a hard time to maneuver around, I was expecting this mistake to be fixed in an hour or two. I was half-expecting to be turned away and told to go to Tokyo to clear this up.
It took less than 5 minutes for them to print a new card out for me.
...
While I was a little bit frustrated that this problem couldn't have been fixed from Komagane, I was more relieved than anything.
FINALLY.
I wish I could put up a photo of my card up here to show you guys, but I can't bring myself to actually do it. The picture they used is the one they took when we just got off our plane from LAX to Narita Airport, so I look god awful haha
I can, however, tell you that my name is too long to fit on one line on my zairyuu card, so it looks like this:
ARMSTRONG KRISTIN ELIZABET
H
Well, to be honest, I don't really care how funny my name looks on any of my cards as long as they work! ^__^
3) I got a present from one of my students!
After my trip back, I went to school the next day and taught a couple of classes. After classes were over, Suzuka (one of my speech contest students) came to work on her speech with me. I recorded a CD of myself giving her speech, so she can listen and practice sounds on her own, and also recorded her speaking the first two paragraphs of her speech, so that she can see what she sounds like compared to me. While I was giving her a few pointers about what could be improved upon (mainly th sounds and some specifically English vowel sounds "ih" and "uh") and my caretaker rushed in, telling me that we needed to leave now in order to get a phone (!?!) ! I had to give her the unfinished CD and cut off the meeting quickly...but she gave me a bag of peanut senbei (peanut cracker cookies) as a thank-you present (いつもありがとうございます～= Thank you for everything/always!)! :] They are so delicious!!! Thank you Suzuka!! I'll have to find these and bring them back to Ryan (and America, when I do go back)!
This abrupt halt to my speech contest training leads to my last point:
4) I NOW HAVE A PHONE!!
I had been told that getting a phone would take an hour or two, but I got my phone in less than 20 minutes. My caretaker explained almost nothing to me about my phone (and even less about the data plan, which I intend to ask her about today), which normally would've been a cause for concern, but Emma explained a little bit about my phone to me the last time I visited AU with her. I can access the internet, call in case of emergencies, and I even have access to a map! Plus, I can show students a picture of my boyfriend when they ask me about him...hehe :]
While a ton of things went wrong this weekend, I think the worst is over with (I say this before I have experienced winter, so I might regret saying that...)! I learned many lessons about the trains and buses in Japan. People keep telling me "Oh, it's ok if you don't know Japanese because I know English!", but after this weekend, I realized how much Japanese I can't use...and I really need to exercise my Japanese more often if I want it to get better. I will do my best though! :]
Ok, for reals, next time I will upload some funny things that my students have written to me!
Until next time!
So, I have a post full of good news on my birthday in Japan!
And, as a side note before I begin,...I don't know if I said this last time, but it's been kinda cool and rainy the past few days in Komagane/Nagano, but the top 5 places where it is hottest in Japan now is up in the Tohoku/Hokkaido regions. Aomori is in Tohoku, which is the northernmost part of the main island in Japan. It's supposed to be 5 degrees (Celsius) colder than Nagano during most points in the year, but for some reason it's flip-flopped right now lol Poor Pumpkin... :[
Anyways, I shall begin!
1) I made it back to Komagane safely after my grueling trip to and from Aomori! Woohoo!!
It was so nice to be able to be with Ryan for that period of time, no matter how brief it was! I look forward to his next visit! Hopefully, we have learned from all of my mistakes lol
Anyways, on my way back from Aomori, I needed to stop by the Regional Immigration Office in Nagano City to get my zairyuu card fixed, since my municipal office couldn't do it (and I needed to have this correct in order to get a phone). Which leads me to my next point of elation...
2) I FINALLY GOT MY ZAIRYUU CARD FIXED!!!!
It's amazing how having one letter omitted on my card had caused me so many headaches over the past 2 months. Unbelievable. I was continually turned away from the cell phone company because of this mistake. The cell phone company employees made many calls to their main branch to see if the mistake could be overlooked, but every time, they were denied permission to sell me a phone. I went to 3 separate stores and each time, the phone calls took at least 10-20 minutes each. Some employees tried really hard to help me.
Because this problem was giving the employees such a hard time to maneuver around, I was expecting this mistake to be fixed in an hour or two. I was half-expecting to be turned away and told to go to Tokyo to clear this up.
It took less than 5 minutes for them to print a new card out for me.
...
While I was a little bit frustrated that this problem couldn't have been fixed from Komagane, I was more relieved than anything.
FINALLY.
I wish I could put up a photo of my card up here to show you guys, but I can't bring myself to actually do it. The picture they used is the one they took when we just got off our plane from LAX to Narita Airport, so I look god awful haha
I can, however, tell you that my name is too long to fit on one line on my zairyuu card, so it looks like this:
ARMSTRONG KRISTIN ELIZABET
H
Well, to be honest, I don't really care how funny my name looks on any of my cards as long as they work! ^__^
3) I got a present from one of my students!
After my trip back, I went to school the next day and taught a couple of classes. After classes were over, Suzuka (one of my speech contest students) came to work on her speech with me. I recorded a CD of myself giving her speech, so she can listen and practice sounds on her own, and also recorded her speaking the first two paragraphs of her speech, so that she can see what she sounds like compared to me. While I was giving her a few pointers about what could be improved upon (mainly th sounds and some specifically English vowel sounds "ih" and "uh") and my caretaker rushed in, telling me that we needed to leave now in order to get a phone (!?!) ! I had to give her the unfinished CD and cut off the meeting quickly...but she gave me a bag of peanut senbei (peanut cracker cookies) as a thank-you present (いつもありがとうございます～= Thank you for everything/always!)! :] They are so delicious!!! Thank you Suzuka!! I'll have to find these and bring them back to Ryan (and America, when I do go back)!
This abrupt halt to my speech contest training leads to my last point:
4) I NOW HAVE A PHONE!!
I had been told that getting a phone would take an hour or two, but I got my phone in less than 20 minutes. My caretaker explained almost nothing to me about my phone (and even less about the data plan, which I intend to ask her about today), which normally would've been a cause for concern, but Emma explained a little bit about my phone to me the last time I visited AU with her. I can access the internet, call in case of emergencies, and I even have access to a map! Plus, I can show students a picture of my boyfriend when they ask me about him...hehe :]
While a ton of things went wrong this weekend, I think the worst is over with (I say this before I have experienced winter, so I might regret saying that...)! I learned many lessons about the trains and buses in Japan. People keep telling me "Oh, it's ok if you don't know Japanese because I know English!", but after this weekend, I realized how much Japanese I can't use...and I really need to exercise my Japanese more often if I want it to get better. I will do my best though! :]
Ok, for reals, next time I will upload some funny things that my students have written to me!
Until next time!
Monday, September 17, 2012
Aomori
Hey everyone!
So, over the past few weeks, I have been having passport trouble. Because my name was misspelled, I was issued a misspelled residency card (zairyuu card). Because that is misspelled, I have been turned away multiple times in my attempts to get a phone!
Having said that, I still wanted to go on a trip to Aomori to see Ryan! There aren't any direct ways to get to Aomori, so I needed to get on a bus from Komagane to Shinjuku (Tokyo), take the train from Shinjuku to Ueno (another area of Tokyo), and take a night bus from Ueno to Aomori.
We planned the trip out about half a week before and reserved all the bus tickets online. The hard part about this, though, was paying for the tickets at the convenience stores. In Japan, you can pay your bills and buy bus tickets at conbini! I ordered the tickets online, and one of the deadlines to pay for the ticket from Ueno to Aomori (lest I forfeit my spot on the bus) was the day I bought my ticket. After school, I went home to get money to pay for the ticket. After eating dinner, I set out on my journey to pay for the tickets. There were so many issues with buying one of the tickets...
I went to the Circle K by my school and couldn't get the ticket from Ueno to Aomori to print, so I left to go back to my apartment to check if the reservation number was correct. Then, I went to the Circle K by my house and tried printing the same ticket, failed, then tried to see if the other tickets would print and they did. After asking the clerk, he told me that I should check to see if my reservation number was correct on the other ticket. So, I went back home, double-checked again to make sure it was correct, and then returned to Circle K with my laptop in tow to show to clerk. The confirmation number didn't go through still...so the clerk told me to go email the customer service email address and ask for a new confirmation number. On my way back, I tried to buy it at 7-Eleven, and it didn't work, so I went home and tried asking Ryan what I should do, since nothing was working...
Then, I went to the Lawson's convenience store and it didn't work, so I returned home. However, I went back to Lawson's because I thought I forgot my phone there, but I didn't, so I went back home. After that, I decided to cancel the reservation and reserve a new one-way ticket in order to get a new confirmation number. I got to Circle K this time, but my phone died and I didn't have Ryan's cell phone number on me (and I needed his number to confirm the purchase of the ticket). This was 15 minutes before the Circle K closed (if if the Circle K closed, the ticket deadline would pass and I would've lost my reservation)...so I rushed back home, got his number, then went back to Circle K and managed to get the train ticket a couple minutes before the store closed!
In all, I speed-biked about 10 miles within the span of a couple of hours just for a chance to see Ryan!!! :] That's how much I love him! <3
So, everything was going ok. I was going to take a Saturday bus from Komagane to Shinjuku at 3pm and be in Shinjuku at 6:45pm. The train from Shinjuku to Ueno takes about 25 minutes and my bus from Ueno to Aomori left at 8:30pm.
On Saturday, I made it to my Komagane to Shinjuku bus on time and I was super excited that I was going to see Ryan. However, on the way to Shinjuku, the bus came across a freeway traffic sign that said "Tokyo, 120分" (Tokyo, 120 minutes). This was at 6:30pm.
I swear I went through all 5 stages of loss and grief as soon as I saw that sign. If you have not seen this Robot Chicken clip, please do so now, as that is the best way to describe how I felt at this point in time during the trip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_Z3lmidmrY
Disbelief. (AKA: "LOL no way...I'm sure it was wrong. My Japanese is bad, so maybe I read that wrong...) Oh, but I actually read that correctly, much to my dismay.
Anger. ("TRAFFIC. Come on bus! MOVE FASTER PLEASE") I used significantly less swearing than the giraffe did. :P
Pleading. ("Come on, please??? You can do it bus!!! If there is a higher power somewhere that'll get me to Tokyo within the next 30 minutes, I'll be really good! I promise!!")
Depression. This was at 8pm after I came across another sign that said 90分 to Shinjuku. That was when I finally realized that this bus was never gonna get to Tokyo on time. ("What am I gonna do??" *insert bawling here* "THERE IS NO GOD")
Acceptance. At 8:15pm. (ok, so I don't think I ever really accepted it, I just decided to call Pumpkin and see what I should do in a more calm manner than I had while I was in my Depression stage...)
So yeah, the bus hit a ton of traffic and I ended up getting to Ueno at 8:45, two hours later than the expected arrival time of 6:45. My bus from Ueno to Aomori was at 8:30, so I completely missed that.
Not knowing what to do, I called Ryan, who told me that it was probably best to sleep near Tokyo and take the earliest Shinkansen (bullet train) to Aomori in the morning. He made a reservation for me in a place called Business Hotel Issa Anex in Hitotsubashigakuen, about 20-30 minutes away from Tokyo by train. There was a lot of difficulty telling the clerk that I had a reservation due to my lack of Japanese, and after Ryan talked to the clerk, we had to pay for a night's stay because there was no way to verify that he paid for the room. They were pretty unorganized with their filing...I don't think they even had a computer. >.>; But, in the end, I finally had a place to stay for the night. We worked out how to get to Aomori and I promptly passed out for a short night's sleep.
In the morning, I went to Tokyo station, where I had to pull out money to ride the Shinkansen (which is really expensive...). There was a lot of difficulty with that, since my bank card is not a JP (Japan Post, the biggest bank in Japan) card. After an hour of figuring out how to pull out money and when to (because Japan has different operating hours for banks than America does), I made it to the Shinkansen and, finally, to Aomori about 3 hours and 45 minutes later! Ryan was waiting for me at the gate, and it was the best reunion ever!!! :]
Hanging out in Aomori has been a blast. While we didn't explore too much, I got to see where Ryan does his shopping, where a really good Thai food (they serve amazing ramen there too! My first time eating ramen this time around in Japan) place is, and where he goes to the beach! I'm really envious...the water is beautiful! It is pretty hot and humid up here...I'm not sure if my place is like that (and I'm not sure because I'm inside with the AC on a lot hehe). While we didn't go to many places, I'm really happy that we were able to just simply hang out and talk at his house! It's amazing to me how much and how easily we can talk even though we have been separated for so long! :] He's treated me wonderfully and cooked lots of delicious food for me~ I miss him (and not just for the cooking :P) and it's gonna be a long year not being like this all the time!
He made a lot of really delicious food (Spanish rice and Mexican food with guacamole [a dish which he called "the food of [my] people"] for the first meal and clam and tomato sauce spaghetti as the last, to name a few) but here's a picture of some really cute hash browns that Pumpkin made for me this morning! :]
Even though I just came here yesterday at noon, I've gotta leave tonight because Ryan has work tomorrow and I've gotta sort out some passport stuff at my Regional Immigration office in Nagano City tomorrow. I really hope all the buses are on time this time!
Anyways, wish me luck! I'll upload some pics of some funny things that my students have written to me next time. Ciao!
So, over the past few weeks, I have been having passport trouble. Because my name was misspelled, I was issued a misspelled residency card (zairyuu card). Because that is misspelled, I have been turned away multiple times in my attempts to get a phone!
Having said that, I still wanted to go on a trip to Aomori to see Ryan! There aren't any direct ways to get to Aomori, so I needed to get on a bus from Komagane to Shinjuku (Tokyo), take the train from Shinjuku to Ueno (another area of Tokyo), and take a night bus from Ueno to Aomori.
We planned the trip out about half a week before and reserved all the bus tickets online. The hard part about this, though, was paying for the tickets at the convenience stores. In Japan, you can pay your bills and buy bus tickets at conbini! I ordered the tickets online, and one of the deadlines to pay for the ticket from Ueno to Aomori (lest I forfeit my spot on the bus) was the day I bought my ticket. After school, I went home to get money to pay for the ticket. After eating dinner, I set out on my journey to pay for the tickets. There were so many issues with buying one of the tickets...
I went to the Circle K by my school and couldn't get the ticket from Ueno to Aomori to print, so I left to go back to my apartment to check if the reservation number was correct. Then, I went to the Circle K by my house and tried printing the same ticket, failed, then tried to see if the other tickets would print and they did. After asking the clerk, he told me that I should check to see if my reservation number was correct on the other ticket. So, I went back home, double-checked again to make sure it was correct, and then returned to Circle K with my laptop in tow to show to clerk. The confirmation number didn't go through still...so the clerk told me to go email the customer service email address and ask for a new confirmation number. On my way back, I tried to buy it at 7-Eleven, and it didn't work, so I went home and tried asking Ryan what I should do, since nothing was working...
Then, I went to the Lawson's convenience store and it didn't work, so I returned home. However, I went back to Lawson's because I thought I forgot my phone there, but I didn't, so I went back home. After that, I decided to cancel the reservation and reserve a new one-way ticket in order to get a new confirmation number. I got to Circle K this time, but my phone died and I didn't have Ryan's cell phone number on me (and I needed his number to confirm the purchase of the ticket). This was 15 minutes before the Circle K closed (if if the Circle K closed, the ticket deadline would pass and I would've lost my reservation)...so I rushed back home, got his number, then went back to Circle K and managed to get the train ticket a couple minutes before the store closed!
In all, I speed-biked about 10 miles within the span of a couple of hours just for a chance to see Ryan!!! :] That's how much I love him! <3
So, everything was going ok. I was going to take a Saturday bus from Komagane to Shinjuku at 3pm and be in Shinjuku at 6:45pm. The train from Shinjuku to Ueno takes about 25 minutes and my bus from Ueno to Aomori left at 8:30pm.
On Saturday, I made it to my Komagane to Shinjuku bus on time and I was super excited that I was going to see Ryan. However, on the way to Shinjuku, the bus came across a freeway traffic sign that said "Tokyo, 120分" (Tokyo, 120 minutes). This was at 6:30pm.
I swear I went through all 5 stages of loss and grief as soon as I saw that sign. If you have not seen this Robot Chicken clip, please do so now, as that is the best way to describe how I felt at this point in time during the trip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_Z3lmidmrY
Disbelief. (AKA: "LOL no way...I'm sure it was wrong. My Japanese is bad, so maybe I read that wrong...) Oh, but I actually read that correctly, much to my dismay.
Anger. ("TRAFFIC. Come on bus! MOVE FASTER PLEASE") I used significantly less swearing than the giraffe did. :P
Pleading. ("Come on, please??? You can do it bus!!! If there is a higher power somewhere that'll get me to Tokyo within the next 30 minutes, I'll be really good! I promise!!")
Depression. This was at 8pm after I came across another sign that said 90分 to Shinjuku. That was when I finally realized that this bus was never gonna get to Tokyo on time. ("What am I gonna do??" *insert bawling here* "THERE IS NO GOD")
Acceptance. At 8:15pm. (ok, so I don't think I ever really accepted it, I just decided to call Pumpkin and see what I should do in a more calm manner than I had while I was in my Depression stage...)
So yeah, the bus hit a ton of traffic and I ended up getting to Ueno at 8:45, two hours later than the expected arrival time of 6:45. My bus from Ueno to Aomori was at 8:30, so I completely missed that.
Not knowing what to do, I called Ryan, who told me that it was probably best to sleep near Tokyo and take the earliest Shinkansen (bullet train) to Aomori in the morning. He made a reservation for me in a place called Business Hotel Issa Anex in Hitotsubashigakuen, about 20-30 minutes away from Tokyo by train. There was a lot of difficulty telling the clerk that I had a reservation due to my lack of Japanese, and after Ryan talked to the clerk, we had to pay for a night's stay because there was no way to verify that he paid for the room. They were pretty unorganized with their filing...I don't think they even had a computer. >.>; But, in the end, I finally had a place to stay for the night. We worked out how to get to Aomori and I promptly passed out for a short night's sleep.
In the morning, I went to Tokyo station, where I had to pull out money to ride the Shinkansen (which is really expensive...). There was a lot of difficulty with that, since my bank card is not a JP (Japan Post, the biggest bank in Japan) card. After an hour of figuring out how to pull out money and when to (because Japan has different operating hours for banks than America does), I made it to the Shinkansen and, finally, to Aomori about 3 hours and 45 minutes later! Ryan was waiting for me at the gate, and it was the best reunion ever!!! :]
Hanging out in Aomori has been a blast. While we didn't explore too much, I got to see where Ryan does his shopping, where a really good Thai food (they serve amazing ramen there too! My first time eating ramen this time around in Japan) place is, and where he goes to the beach! I'm really envious...the water is beautiful! It is pretty hot and humid up here...I'm not sure if my place is like that (and I'm not sure because I'm inside with the AC on a lot hehe). While we didn't go to many places, I'm really happy that we were able to just simply hang out and talk at his house! It's amazing to me how much and how easily we can talk even though we have been separated for so long! :] He's treated me wonderfully and cooked lots of delicious food for me~ I miss him (and not just for the cooking :P) and it's gonna be a long year not being like this all the time!
He made a lot of really delicious food (Spanish rice and Mexican food with guacamole [a dish which he called "the food of [my] people"] for the first meal and clam and tomato sauce spaghetti as the last, to name a few) but here's a picture of some really cute hash browns that Pumpkin made for me this morning! :]
Even though I just came here yesterday at noon, I've gotta leave tonight because Ryan has work tomorrow and I've gotta sort out some passport stuff at my Regional Immigration office in Nagano City tomorrow. I really hope all the buses are on time this time!
Anyways, wish me luck! I'll upload some pics of some funny things that my students have written to me next time. Ciao!
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Pictures from my Excursion to Tenryu River
Hey everyone!
So, there are the pictures I promised to put up. I went on an excursion last weekend by myself to go see a temple (that is much easier to get to than the last temple I went to) and I figured, the temple is along the way to the river, so I should go see the river, right? I was so excited to get out of my house to go exploring that I didn't check the topography of the region I was going to go exploring in. The terrain was pretty flat all along the way going to the temple, so I took my pictures and decided to go see the river after! I noticed I was going downhill, but didn't think much about it. It was only about halfway down a monster hill that I realized that the uphill hike would suck to climb/bike back up. But...even though it was going to be a pain (especially on a mamachari bike), I didn't want to wimp out and turn back...and I'm really glad I didn't. The river was really big and beautiful! I didn't stay too long because the huge spiders creeped me out. >__> There were also no sidewalks, so I was afraid of being run over. Sometimes, Japanese drivers aren't the greatest...
I also found a park on the way back! It was right next to the temple that I went to. In between the temple and the playground/park, there was a really creepy forest (made even creepier by the sounds of the cicadas, the huge spiders, and the setting sun/increasing amounts of darkness)! After seeing that, I think I can understand why the Japanese are so good at horror manga/films, etc.
On a side note, just before I wrote this, two girls came up to me and introduced themselves in English! They were so cute. I thought they just wanted to say hi, but they also asked how I was doing, which made my day. I don't think they're in any of my classes, but I'll do my best to remember their faces/names. One introduced herself as Saki, and the other shy girl said her name was Moe (pronounced Mo-eh, not Mo lol). It's little things like this that keep me going when I feel lonely or don't have such good days...
Well, without further ado, here are my pictures! Until next time!
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
1st Class By Myself
I had fun with the students in my first solo class! Most of them didn't really treat me like a teacher though... :/ In fact, once I told them that it was only me today, almost everyone threw up their hands and yelled "woohoo!!!!" That's when I knew that the informational part of this class was going to hell.
I managed to get all of the vocab and grammar points in that I normally would have, but it's so difficult when students really don't care about studying at all. Some students were really good! They actually did their best on the worksheet I gave them. They worked with their partner. Most slept. They seemed to take it as a free period.
I did get to speak to some of the troublemakers...they aren't bad. They're actually willing to participate as long as it's easy, but they lose attention really fast in their own little group. They were making lots of "Sensei looks good!!", "Sensei wa kirei (pretty)!!", and "Beautiful, Beautiful!!!" during one part of the class and I was like o.o;; "Boyfriend ga iru!" but it didn't seem to deter them. The class gets really loud really quickly. :/ Some were surprisingly well-behaved though. I gotta hand it to em. They did their best even when the rest of the class was distracting! :]
I did my best...and I think they like me more (maybe not as a teacher, but hopefully they will participate more next class!)!
Later I will post pictures!! (three updates in a day?!?!? WHAT IS THIS...?!)
Third Week of Teaching and Updates from Last Week
Hey everyone!
Sorry it's been so long! I got busy...then I got too lazy to write up anything in my blog...hehe. I thought it was my second week teaching now, but it's actually my third! Time really flies over here!
So, my second week teaching was really interesting. It was basically my first week teaching anyone anything (besides my self-introduction lesson last week, and even then, I wasn't really teaching much). I had a few mistakes that week, but, as a new teacher, it's to be expected. One of my mistakes was greatly underestimating the time that I needed to photocopy some worksheets for my classes...omg. It really is as they say, anything that can go wrong WILL go wrong, especially when you're in a hurry. It's almost as if someone up there plays jokes on people who aren't as prepared as they should be... Anyways, I had a couple very minor errors on worksheets that my teachers so kindly pointed out a few minutes before class, which I had to scramble to fix. Normally, this wouldn't be too hard to fix, but I don't like re-printing a worksheet out for the sake of something that the students wouldn't normally notice anyways. I guess Japan recycles better than America does, but I still feel really bad wasting all that paper.
You would NOT believe how much paper a high school goes through in a week.
Look at it this way. My average class size is 40 students. I have 3 classes on both Monday and Tuesday and I have 2 classes on Wednesday through Friday.
2(40 x 3) + 3(40x2) + 7
...
Yikes. You can do the math. And this is just my class alone!! I feel like I'm going to destroy an entire ecosystem by myself by the time this is all done.
Anyways, the first lesson went down fairly well. My predecessor told me that lesson-planning for the 3rd graders was going to be difficult because I have to plan so many individual classes per week (3 per week, sometimes 4). However, I think that making lessons for the first graders is WAY more difficult. Not only is the class level all over the place (some students know little to no English while others verge on being close to how my 3rd graders are...I even have one bilingual Japanese/English speaker in one of my classes), but I have to deal with quiet (or sometimes loud) and/or genuinely unmotivated classes. Some students really could care less. I tried getting one student to participate, but he flat out said "I don't want to." What am I supposed to do? What am I supposed to say to that? I can't punish them like American kids, so there is not much I can do. I've been using my predecessor's lesson plans to begin with (making changes that I saw fit), but starting next week, I'm diverging from his lesson plans. I want to cater towards the student's interests. I want to be interested in what I'm teaching, so that the students can be more motivated about what they are learning. I don't want to lose students because I'm taking the easy way out by copying what he did. While using the other lessons as a crutch was good for the first couple of weeks to get enough experience teaching under my belt, I think it's time to take the training wheels off and give it a spin myself. We'll see how it goes. I can only hope that the students will be interested in what I'm gonna try to teach them. Hopefully they like music and movies and other useful topics. I can learn more about them and they can learn more about me and American culture.
My 1st years at my visit school are kinda hopeless as a whole. They like goofing off during English class (and they often make fun of me...some students try to be smart to me too! Today, one student said in English "I want to go to home" to me and I laughed and said "Oh, you want to go home? Me too!" and he laughed) when they are fun game activities, but I lose quite a few of them if I try to introduce anything new. Some of their levels are so low that it's painful... But I did a review session this week and they participated a lot more than last week. I think I kinda understand what kinds of activities will be well received and which ones are not. These guys might be difficult to plan for too, but I think that, if I can keep it interesting and fun, but most importantly, SIMPLE, they can join along and do their best.
While some students are unresponsive in class, if I can talk to them one on one, they aren't so bad. I practiced with the soccer team last week and got to play with some of the first years that I taught in class. They try so much harder on the field than they do in the classroom! I made some really good saves and they were very impressed, so I was feeling good about myself until they put me into the practice scrimmage, where I scored an own-goal on myself. =___=;; This is why I'm a goalie.... But yeah, today it is raining, so I think the soccer club is practicing/running in the gym today. I don't know how long I can stay (I still need to lesson plan for my 3rd grade class), but I'm sure I'll have fun watching (I don't think I have gym shoes on me)...
Anyways, 1st year rant over. My third year class is so much easier and more fun to plan those classes because they have a set curriculum and the entire class level is intermediate-high intermediate. They usually understand me if I speak slowly, and the JTE that I work with can cover any difficult words that they don't understand. They really seem to like me too! :]
I'm teaching how to give and take advice to the 3rd graders right now. I gave them a worksheet on certain expressions they could use to give/take advice and also got to show them TV advertisements that gave advice to the target consumer as an example of how to give advice. For example, Kit Kats are very popular in Japan, and apparently, they have very similar slogans. While the advertisements may have been a tad too fast, the JTE and I helped the students understand the clips, so it was all ok. I gave them another worksheet that listed a variety of problems that they were to give advice for. After they were finished writing advice, I quickly asked them what advice they gave for some of the problems. I asked one girl what she wrote for "Problem: I'm really hungry!!!" and she said "Have a Kit Kat"! ...the JTE and I almost died laughing. The other students understood too, so we were having a great time. Those students are just too cute and creative! My favorite class is easily this one. I may have to plan a lot, but it doesn't take much time to make a lesson and it's almost guaranteed that they'll understand what I plan. Even if they don't understand, they will do their best to try to understand. They're a good bunch...my favorites! :]
Well, as I'm writing this, both of my JTEs at my visit school told me that they're busy and I'm solo-teaching my last class of the day. I am TERRIFIED to say the least. If I had to choose which class I could solo-teach, I most definitely would not choose one from my visit school. I decreased the level of the lesson this week...which means that I can (MAYBE) use what little Japanese I do know to help the students out if they don't understand. I'm only worried about the middle part of the lesson. I am hoping that this isn't a complete failure. >.<
Hopefully I come out of this alive! I DON'T WANNA GO......SAVE MEEEEeeeeeeeee.....
Ciao for now!
P.S. I visited Tenryu River and found a temple and a grave site along the way, so I will post those pictures up when I get back from school!! :]
Sorry it's been so long! I got busy...then I got too lazy to write up anything in my blog...hehe. I thought it was my second week teaching now, but it's actually my third! Time really flies over here!
So, my second week teaching was really interesting. It was basically my first week teaching anyone anything (besides my self-introduction lesson last week, and even then, I wasn't really teaching much). I had a few mistakes that week, but, as a new teacher, it's to be expected. One of my mistakes was greatly underestimating the time that I needed to photocopy some worksheets for my classes...omg. It really is as they say, anything that can go wrong WILL go wrong, especially when you're in a hurry. It's almost as if someone up there plays jokes on people who aren't as prepared as they should be... Anyways, I had a couple very minor errors on worksheets that my teachers so kindly pointed out a few minutes before class, which I had to scramble to fix. Normally, this wouldn't be too hard to fix, but I don't like re-printing a worksheet out for the sake of something that the students wouldn't normally notice anyways. I guess Japan recycles better than America does, but I still feel really bad wasting all that paper.
You would NOT believe how much paper a high school goes through in a week.
Look at it this way. My average class size is 40 students. I have 3 classes on both Monday and Tuesday and I have 2 classes on Wednesday through Friday.
2(40 x 3) + 3(40x2) + 7
...
Yikes. You can do the math. And this is just my class alone!! I feel like I'm going to destroy an entire ecosystem by myself by the time this is all done.
Anyways, the first lesson went down fairly well. My predecessor told me that lesson-planning for the 3rd graders was going to be difficult because I have to plan so many individual classes per week (3 per week, sometimes 4). However, I think that making lessons for the first graders is WAY more difficult. Not only is the class level all over the place (some students know little to no English while others verge on being close to how my 3rd graders are...I even have one bilingual Japanese/English speaker in one of my classes), but I have to deal with quiet (or sometimes loud) and/or genuinely unmotivated classes. Some students really could care less. I tried getting one student to participate, but he flat out said "I don't want to." What am I supposed to do? What am I supposed to say to that? I can't punish them like American kids, so there is not much I can do. I've been using my predecessor's lesson plans to begin with (making changes that I saw fit), but starting next week, I'm diverging from his lesson plans. I want to cater towards the student's interests. I want to be interested in what I'm teaching, so that the students can be more motivated about what they are learning. I don't want to lose students because I'm taking the easy way out by copying what he did. While using the other lessons as a crutch was good for the first couple of weeks to get enough experience teaching under my belt, I think it's time to take the training wheels off and give it a spin myself. We'll see how it goes. I can only hope that the students will be interested in what I'm gonna try to teach them. Hopefully they like music and movies and other useful topics. I can learn more about them and they can learn more about me and American culture.
My 1st years at my visit school are kinda hopeless as a whole. They like goofing off during English class (and they often make fun of me...some students try to be smart to me too! Today, one student said in English "I want to go to home" to me and I laughed and said "Oh, you want to go home? Me too!" and he laughed) when they are fun game activities, but I lose quite a few of them if I try to introduce anything new. Some of their levels are so low that it's painful... But I did a review session this week and they participated a lot more than last week. I think I kinda understand what kinds of activities will be well received and which ones are not. These guys might be difficult to plan for too, but I think that, if I can keep it interesting and fun, but most importantly, SIMPLE, they can join along and do their best.
While some students are unresponsive in class, if I can talk to them one on one, they aren't so bad. I practiced with the soccer team last week and got to play with some of the first years that I taught in class. They try so much harder on the field than they do in the classroom! I made some really good saves and they were very impressed, so I was feeling good about myself until they put me into the practice scrimmage, where I scored an own-goal on myself. =___=;; This is why I'm a goalie.... But yeah, today it is raining, so I think the soccer club is practicing/running in the gym today. I don't know how long I can stay (I still need to lesson plan for my 3rd grade class), but I'm sure I'll have fun watching (I don't think I have gym shoes on me)...
Anyways, 1st year rant over. My third year class is so much easier and more fun to plan those classes because they have a set curriculum and the entire class level is intermediate-high intermediate. They usually understand me if I speak slowly, and the JTE that I work with can cover any difficult words that they don't understand. They really seem to like me too! :]
I'm teaching how to give and take advice to the 3rd graders right now. I gave them a worksheet on certain expressions they could use to give/take advice and also got to show them TV advertisements that gave advice to the target consumer as an example of how to give advice. For example, Kit Kats are very popular in Japan, and apparently, they have very similar slogans. While the advertisements may have been a tad too fast, the JTE and I helped the students understand the clips, so it was all ok. I gave them another worksheet that listed a variety of problems that they were to give advice for. After they were finished writing advice, I quickly asked them what advice they gave for some of the problems. I asked one girl what she wrote for "Problem: I'm really hungry!!!" and she said "Have a Kit Kat"! ...the JTE and I almost died laughing. The other students understood too, so we were having a great time. Those students are just too cute and creative! My favorite class is easily this one. I may have to plan a lot, but it doesn't take much time to make a lesson and it's almost guaranteed that they'll understand what I plan. Even if they don't understand, they will do their best to try to understand. They're a good bunch...my favorites! :]
Well, as I'm writing this, both of my JTEs at my visit school told me that they're busy and I'm solo-teaching my last class of the day. I am TERRIFIED to say the least. If I had to choose which class I could solo-teach, I most definitely would not choose one from my visit school. I decreased the level of the lesson this week...which means that I can (MAYBE) use what little Japanese I do know to help the students out if they don't understand. I'm only worried about the middle part of the lesson. I am hoping that this isn't a complete failure. >.<
Hopefully I come out of this alive! I DON'T WANNA GO......SAVE MEEEEeeeeeeeee.....
Ciao for now!
P.S. I visited Tenryu River and found a temple and a grave site along the way, so I will post those pictures up when I get back from school!! :]
Sunday, September 2, 2012
More Pictures!
Ah, I totally forgot to upload some pictures that I took when I went exploring!
One day, I was supposed to go to a picnic for ALTs in Southern Nagano. I found out that, near the river where the picnic was being held, there was a really cool-looking temple! Because I still don't have a phone, I looked up the directions on Google Maps and tried to memorize how to get from my apartment to the temple and how to get from the temple to the picnic area. I realized that most of my journey was going to be an uphill hike, but I didn't realize how difficult it was going to be on a mamachari bike instead of a road bike. I miss road bikes... T^T
The first part of the journey went well. got snacks at a local convenience store (called conbinis [コンビニ]) and also tried a famous donut store chain in Japan called Mr. Donut. I really don't see what all the hype about Mr. Donut is...it's really not better than any of the donut places that I've been to in America. =/ I guess that it's a good thing though because, even if I have cravings for donuts when I'm here, I won't want to go to Mr. Donut. I'm sure my body will thank me for not going to a donut store that often haha
After I went to Mr. Donut, I kept going uphill all the way to almost the base of the mountain range nearby. I thought I was getting myself lost, but I managed to find the temple eventually. The place I went to is a beautiful temple called Kozenji Temple (光前寺). I took lots of pictures that you can see below! :)
The entrance
You can buy omikuji for a small fee at shrines. These are random omikuji are chosen from a box, and you basically hope that your fortune is good! You tie them up here when you're done.
You wash your hands and mouth here (*no, you don't drink the water...ewww lol)
Another picture of ema...you write a wish on these blocks and post them here!
After I went to the temple, I got lost and couldn't find my way to the picnic, so I went home and did housework. It's tough not having a phone...kinda scary because I get lost so often! If I get too lost, I could use a phone to call someone for help or use a map, but I don't have that lifeline yet, so I'm scared to venture out too far.
Anyways, mission...half complete! I'm sad I missed out on meeting new people, but I'm sure I'll see them around another time. ^_^
That's all for now! :)
First Week Teaching
Hey everyone!
Sorry it's taken so long for me to post! I've been super busy these past few weeks of school! My first week teaching at my schools can be summed up in maybe three words: exhausting, surprising, and rewarding.
This week, I prepared a PowerPoint lesson to introduce myself to my new students. After the PowerPoint, I prepared a game for the students to play for them to earn stamps (which help them earn points on their next test) and American candy! My first two classes on August 24th were cancelled, so my first class was with my 3rd graders (3rd grade is equivalent to the American 12th grade). They were really shy at first, but they were very polite, eager, and understood me well enough to be able to play the game well! My JTE (Japanese Teacher of English, who helps assist me in the classrooms) is also really nice in my OC3 class (Oral Communication 3). Some students seemed pretty interested in me as well, which made me happy.
My next classes were with OC1 first graders...who are significantly more difficult to teach than my OC3 class. If you have any preconceptions of how normal Japanese kids act in the classroom, please discard them now. Crumple those preconceptions into tiny balls, chuck those balls into the nearest fireplace, and watch them burn slowly. These kids are all over the place on the behavior spectrum. In any given class, there are always about 5-10 students who are blatantly sleeping. There are kids who read during class and even kids who turn around and talk to their neighbors blatantly during class. These kids can get quite disruptive and I've had to tell my classes to be quiet numerous times. >_< Some classes are dead silent and it's difficult to get anyone to participate and some classes are so loud that it's difficult to handle them! Depending on the JTE I teach with, classes can be super easy to teach or super difficult to teach.
My JTE for the first two OC1 classes doesn't speak English as well as the other JTEs, has a very soft voice, and doesn't seem to have much control over her more loud classes. Anyways, the first class was pretty quiet...I was worried that no one would participate. After a little bit of prodding, they completed all of my activities and soon, my first class was over. Even though my JTE was quiet, she had a lot of criticism for me. Which...seemed strange, considering how, in the orientations, they stressed how most JTEs were not willing to critique or help make your lesson better. In my case, she was critiquing me on things that she didn't do particularly well on herself, which was frustrating... =/ Nevertheless, I took her advice to heart and did my best to improve myself for the next classes. I was exhausted by the end of the day...it's difficult being a teacher...
I had to go to my visit school the next day. I only go to my visit school, which is a technical high school, on Tuesdays. Before you get any preconceptions of technical schools, they are pretty much the opposite of technical schools in the US. Before I came to Japan, when I thought of technical schools, I thought of schools like Troy or Whitney...schools that were really difficult to get into because they had such high academic prestige. In Japan, technical high schools are usually the easiest schools to get into because their entrance requirements are lower than other schools...so you can only imagine how willing the students are to learn English at these kinds of schools. I was even warned multiple times by several different teachers about how uncontrollable these classes are. They made references to zoos a lot...
How right they were... Those classes were near impossible to teach. The school is 98% boys, which is not good to begin with...since boys act really dumb in large numbers, for the most part. I couldn't use the same lesson as I used in my main school because the English level at my visit school was so low. More students blatantly slept and talked in class. They just really REALLY don't want to learn or put any effort into speaking English. I spent most of the day looking up simple games for the students to play to substitute for what I originally had planned to do. They really miss my predecessor and said some pretty rude things to me. I really don't like my visit school...but maybe if I play sports with them after school, I can bond with them and they won't be as big of jerks in the classroom as before. Maybe that's wishful thinking though...
The rest of the week went well. I had two more classes with my OC3 class, which I am so grateful for after teaching the classes at my visit school. My teacher told me that this week, I should get to know my students more instead of diving head-first into their curriculum, so I spent a lot of time getting them to talk about themselves. I feel like I learned so much about them and I think that will help me understand them better when I teach them this upcoming week. My JTE for that class told me that the students really want to learn English, but are really afraid of making mistakes. They want to speak perfectly. I can totally understand...I was the same way speaking Japanese (and still am, at times). It's difficult realizing that mistakes are normal and part of the language-learning process, so I hope that I can help them overcome that barrier in my small class. Maybe they will realize that, even though I'm a native speaker, even I make lots of mistakes in English ^_^
The other OC1 classes went well too, for the most part. I had one new JTE for 3 classes and he is really fun to teach with. He's very enthusiastic and willing to help me when I need help. My second to last class was with the JTE that I taught with in my first OC1 class. The class, even though they were loud, were really willing to participate...but the JTE still had many critiques. I ended on a good note with the other JTE in the last class, but that 1st JTE...I'm not sure what I can do to make her happy =/ I'll keep doing my best and prove her wrong. Maybe she just doesn't understand what I want to do? I guess I'll try making the lessons simpler and easier for her to understand. I'll probably be forced to translate to Japanese sometimes too...but that can't be helped. I AM in Japan, of course...
On a side note, I've been helping one of my OC3 students with a speech for her speech contest! She is super shy and quiet, but super cute and really hard-working. I've been helping her with pronunciation! She had a little bit of trouble with some syllables, but she had the most trouble with the "th"-sound (like the "th" sound in "the"). Pronunciation and fluency was one of my most favorite classes in the TEFL program, so it's exciting being able to share my knowledge with a student who needs help! :) This may also be similar to my dream job of being a Speech Language Pathologist (speech therapy) or Audiologist! It brightens up my days whenever I get to help her out and I look forward to helping her in the future! :]
This weekend was a much needed rest after my first week of classes. It's so nice to just relax, get stuff done around the apartment, watch anime leisurely (hehe), and basically just do whatever I want for fun! I wish the weekends were longer...
Well, that's all for now. Until next time, see ya!! :]
Sorry it's taken so long for me to post! I've been super busy these past few weeks of school! My first week teaching at my schools can be summed up in maybe three words: exhausting, surprising, and rewarding.
This week, I prepared a PowerPoint lesson to introduce myself to my new students. After the PowerPoint, I prepared a game for the students to play for them to earn stamps (which help them earn points on their next test) and American candy! My first two classes on August 24th were cancelled, so my first class was with my 3rd graders (3rd grade is equivalent to the American 12th grade). They were really shy at first, but they were very polite, eager, and understood me well enough to be able to play the game well! My JTE (Japanese Teacher of English, who helps assist me in the classrooms) is also really nice in my OC3 class (Oral Communication 3). Some students seemed pretty interested in me as well, which made me happy.
My next classes were with OC1 first graders...who are significantly more difficult to teach than my OC3 class. If you have any preconceptions of how normal Japanese kids act in the classroom, please discard them now. Crumple those preconceptions into tiny balls, chuck those balls into the nearest fireplace, and watch them burn slowly. These kids are all over the place on the behavior spectrum. In any given class, there are always about 5-10 students who are blatantly sleeping. There are kids who read during class and even kids who turn around and talk to their neighbors blatantly during class. These kids can get quite disruptive and I've had to tell my classes to be quiet numerous times. >_< Some classes are dead silent and it's difficult to get anyone to participate and some classes are so loud that it's difficult to handle them! Depending on the JTE I teach with, classes can be super easy to teach or super difficult to teach.
My JTE for the first two OC1 classes doesn't speak English as well as the other JTEs, has a very soft voice, and doesn't seem to have much control over her more loud classes. Anyways, the first class was pretty quiet...I was worried that no one would participate. After a little bit of prodding, they completed all of my activities and soon, my first class was over. Even though my JTE was quiet, she had a lot of criticism for me. Which...seemed strange, considering how, in the orientations, they stressed how most JTEs were not willing to critique or help make your lesson better. In my case, she was critiquing me on things that she didn't do particularly well on herself, which was frustrating... =/ Nevertheless, I took her advice to heart and did my best to improve myself for the next classes. I was exhausted by the end of the day...it's difficult being a teacher...
I had to go to my visit school the next day. I only go to my visit school, which is a technical high school, on Tuesdays. Before you get any preconceptions of technical schools, they are pretty much the opposite of technical schools in the US. Before I came to Japan, when I thought of technical schools, I thought of schools like Troy or Whitney...schools that were really difficult to get into because they had such high academic prestige. In Japan, technical high schools are usually the easiest schools to get into because their entrance requirements are lower than other schools...so you can only imagine how willing the students are to learn English at these kinds of schools. I was even warned multiple times by several different teachers about how uncontrollable these classes are. They made references to zoos a lot...
How right they were... Those classes were near impossible to teach. The school is 98% boys, which is not good to begin with...since boys act really dumb in large numbers, for the most part. I couldn't use the same lesson as I used in my main school because the English level at my visit school was so low. More students blatantly slept and talked in class. They just really REALLY don't want to learn or put any effort into speaking English. I spent most of the day looking up simple games for the students to play to substitute for what I originally had planned to do. They really miss my predecessor and said some pretty rude things to me. I really don't like my visit school...but maybe if I play sports with them after school, I can bond with them and they won't be as big of jerks in the classroom as before. Maybe that's wishful thinking though...
The rest of the week went well. I had two more classes with my OC3 class, which I am so grateful for after teaching the classes at my visit school. My teacher told me that this week, I should get to know my students more instead of diving head-first into their curriculum, so I spent a lot of time getting them to talk about themselves. I feel like I learned so much about them and I think that will help me understand them better when I teach them this upcoming week. My JTE for that class told me that the students really want to learn English, but are really afraid of making mistakes. They want to speak perfectly. I can totally understand...I was the same way speaking Japanese (and still am, at times). It's difficult realizing that mistakes are normal and part of the language-learning process, so I hope that I can help them overcome that barrier in my small class. Maybe they will realize that, even though I'm a native speaker, even I make lots of mistakes in English ^_^
The other OC1 classes went well too, for the most part. I had one new JTE for 3 classes and he is really fun to teach with. He's very enthusiastic and willing to help me when I need help. My second to last class was with the JTE that I taught with in my first OC1 class. The class, even though they were loud, were really willing to participate...but the JTE still had many critiques. I ended on a good note with the other JTE in the last class, but that 1st JTE...I'm not sure what I can do to make her happy =/ I'll keep doing my best and prove her wrong. Maybe she just doesn't understand what I want to do? I guess I'll try making the lessons simpler and easier for her to understand. I'll probably be forced to translate to Japanese sometimes too...but that can't be helped. I AM in Japan, of course...
On a side note, I've been helping one of my OC3 students with a speech for her speech contest! She is super shy and quiet, but super cute and really hard-working. I've been helping her with pronunciation! She had a little bit of trouble with some syllables, but she had the most trouble with the "th"-sound (like the "th" sound in "the"). Pronunciation and fluency was one of my most favorite classes in the TEFL program, so it's exciting being able to share my knowledge with a student who needs help! :) This may also be similar to my dream job of being a Speech Language Pathologist (speech therapy) or Audiologist! It brightens up my days whenever I get to help her out and I look forward to helping her in the future! :]
This weekend was a much needed rest after my first week of classes. It's so nice to just relax, get stuff done around the apartment, watch anime leisurely (hehe), and basically just do whatever I want for fun! I wish the weekends were longer...
Well, that's all for now. Until next time, see ya!! :]
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