Long Overdue Update

It’s been a little over two months since I’ve posted anything, and I didn’t even deliver on the vacation posts that I had promised! They’re still in my drafts folder just half way completed. I’m sure I’ll get around to it eventually!

So, I want to start off by saying that I’m sorry for being such a horrible poster over the last few months. I hope to get back into the swing of posting regularly, so please bear with me while I get used to things again.

Secondly, I want to give some general updates on my life and time here in Japan! I will (hopefully) give some more details in certain areas later, but for now I hope this will suffice!

Wake me up when September ends…

September was full of excitement and busy weekends. If you remember my talk last year about Sports Day festivals, you’ll know that every school is busy preparing for their own Sports Day and that I’m busy running around with the students and attending the events. Due to rain, we had to reschedule one or two of them, which really messed with my availability on weekends…but it was fun in the end and I enjoyed it a lot!

I also went camping in Ehime prefecture during September! The weather was nearly perfect, granted a bit warm. It was fun to cook outside and just enjoy the fresh air. The campsite was right next to the water, too, which make it the perfect location for relaxing and enjoying the view.

Aside from camping, I enjoyed some local trips to nearby places in the city such as Kochi castle and Harimaya bridge. It was nice and relaxing!

I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers

October was an outdoorsy sort of month. I visited two beautiful natural sites. The first was Muroto Cape. Though I’ve been before, this time was even more fun! The cape is covered with rocks, and I absolutely love climbing things…so I climbed them all. It was fun and slightly exhausting, and the views were incredible. I enjoyed the light breeze and the crashing waves as I wandered around the cape.

Then I hiked a trail in the mountains near my house which has 4 main waterfalls along it. The first one is quite easily accessible and takes minimal effort, but each consecutive waterfall gets further away and more difficult to reach. In the end I saw all four waterfalls, and they were all worth the trek.

November arrived, cold as frozen iron

Honestly, the first day of November felt quite cold, and my body struggled to get used to the cold, but before I knew it we were getting warmer temperatures again. I’m sure that December, January, and February will be a handful for someone who gets cold as easily as I, but November’s cold arrival melted into a chilly stay.

This month was full of events with my community, school, and visitors for the most part. Though I still managed to take a trip out of town. Lately one of my schools has had a variety of foreign visitors throughout the months of October and November particularly. We’ve had visitors from France, Sweden, and Germany. My students got to interact with foreigners who were not me, and who were not from America, which was a wonderful experience for them! Especially since our visitors spoke such limited Japanese that my students had to use the English they knew. One of the visitors also joined a teacher from my school and I on a hike in Tokushima!

Similar to the Sports Day for my schools which I mentioned in the September bit, there was a community sports day. The area where I live is split into 4 smaller villages which competed in the community sports day. My team was the smallest team, but we fought hard and came in 3rd place in the end. I enjoyed participating and hope to do it again next year! And hopefully I can be a more useful player next year, too. Because let me tell you, pushing a metal wheel with a stick while running a lap is NOT my forte, or so I’ve learned.

I was able to make a trip to Hiroshima during the 3 day weekend in November which was to commemorate Japan’s version of Thanksgiving. I made it in time to see the beautiful fall leaves, and I enjoyed eating some local oysters, which Hiroshima (specifically Miyajima island) is famous for. I went to see the stars from the mountains of Okayama on Friday evening, and took a ferry ride over to Miyajima island, Itsukushima shrine on Sunday. It was definitely a fun weekend filled with beautiful views.

And now?

Well, I have just under a month before I visit America! I’m looking forward to seeing my family and eating delicious food. I can’t wait, but I’m also excited to see what the rest of this year will bring!

In the meantime, I just took a trip to Naoshima art island this weekend for work, and I have plans to visit an onsen next weekend! After that I have the winter conference and closing ceremony for the year before hopping on a plane back home!

I’m sure there’s a lot I’m missing, and even details missing on the things I mentioned, but for now this should give you an idea of what I’ve been up to! Sorry for the major delay, and sorry for the fact that summer vacation posts still aren’t up!!

 

Until next time!! xx

Speech Competitions

Yesterday we had the 8th annual speech competition at my school! While the prefectural competition isn’t until October, we hold one every year where all of the students at my school must compete to see who will represent the school at the prefectural level.

We welcomed two guest judges, an ALT from a nearby town and a judge from the prefectural tournament. We were able to get a lot of good insight and opinions from these two and decided on a first and second prize for each grade! I’d like to tell you about one skit in particular which, while it wasn’t chosen as the winner, was the true winner in my heart. They got a special mention due to their incredible creativity and hilarious delivery.

We set the stage with two middle school boys who decide to spend the Saturday at the mall.

A: Let’s go to the game center!
B: Yes, let’s! That sounds fun.
A: Oh, look! That game looks fun. Let’s go play games! Come with me!
B: Okay! Let’s go.

Suddenly the boys spot a blonde beauty from behind. She’s wearing a school issued skirt and has long blonde hair spilling down her back.

A: Oh my gosh! Look at that beautiful woman!
B: You should go talk to her!
A: No, I can’t do that. You should talk to her!
B: No, you do it!
A: No, you go!
B: Okay, let’s decide by rock paper scissors.

The boys prepare themselves for a battle in rock paper scissors. The situation is quite intense. Rock Paper Scissors Go! Go! Go! They play the same move five times in a row before deciding that they should just go talk to the girl together.
They walk over.

A and B: Hello. What’s your name?

The blonde beauty turns around and…it’s their friend! Who is also a boy!

A and B: Oh my gosh! No!

The boys fall to the ground. The third boy comes over to comfort them.

A and B: GO AWAY!

And that was seriously the best skit I’ve ever seen in my entire life… I wish you could have actually seen it because just the description doesn’t do it justice.

 

Until next time!! xx

Midterm Exams

It’s the first exam season of the year – first semester midterms. My students are studying hard and club activities are cancelled for the duration of exam season so that students can focus on their studies. Everyone still seems to be in good spirits, but it’s the first day of exams today.

Each student knows their own weaknesses and stresses about those tests the most. It reminds me of when I was in school (not college, but more like middle school and high school when you have less control over which classes you take). I want to help them to succeed on their English exams, but I can’t take the exams for them. All I can do is teach them what I know, try to help them learn in a way which makes it easy to recall information later on, and practice with them. English exams are tomorrow and I won’t be at this school for them.

As a result of it being exam week, my classes have been cut in half. I only have 2 classes today when I normally have 4 or 5 on any given Thursday. It’s quite strange to have so much free time! Also, some of my elementary students are on a field trip so I had to adjust the English lesson to suit only half of the class. Luckily I have all of this free time to do it in!

Despite exams, it’s PTA volleyball season (which I mentioned previously). Tonight I’ll have volleyball practice with many of the parents and a few of the other teachers. It’s a combined effort of middle school and elementary school, but in the end we’ll split off into two teams. It’s definitely a busy season for all!

Oh, and the rain is insane! I don’t know if you know this, but Japan insists that they have 4 seasons – I think that they have 5. Winter, Spring, Rainy season, Summer, and Fall (Autumn). Currently it’s rainy season, which means you should carry your umbrella with you everywhere you go! I went out to buy an umbrella and a rain jacket just for this very reason. And while the aftermath of the rain is humidity once it warms up again, the constant showers wash away the heat each time.

 

Until next time!! xx

Relentless Thursday

Today…was…so…busy. And do you want to know the best part? It’s not even over yet!

Yomikikase

Yomikikase is an event which happens once a month at my Wednesday/Thursday school. Basically, I’m supposed to read a book to the middle school students in English and then check for comprehension and ask related questions in English. Lately, a girl who studied abroad to Canada and speaks perfect English and I have been simply having English conversations since (1) they have more practical application than most picture books, (2) a conversation is easier to understand as a second language learner than a straight book, and (3) reading a picture book feels quite childish for middle school students.

Anyway, that was today! So I had to get to school about 15 minutes earlier than normal. The only problem? I forgot my key in the office which it unlocks yesterday, so I had to rely on my supervisor coming in to let me in the office. I got to the school about 10 minutes earlier than normal making me barely on time for yomikikase.

Classes

There are 6 class periods in a school day. Today I taught 1st through 5th period straight. Some of those classes were middle school classes and some were elementary school classes. After every class I stayed after a few minutes to help some students with their English before rushing back to the office and switching out my materials for the next lesson.

I also ate lunch with the 5th and 6th grade elementary school students today. Let me tell you, as fun and interesting as those kids are, they can really wear you out! It was fun but my meal was interspersed with a lot of rock-paper-scissors…

Nursery School

So, I thought I was done for the day after 5th period, but while I was sitting at my desk the phone rang. I thought nothing of it until my name was called. Apparently I was supposed to teach a nursery school lesson during 6th period at 15:20. It was 15:24 when the call came. I told them I was on my way! What I didn’t realize is how far the buildings were separated…so I ran all the way there so as to not be even more late.

Nursery school was fun! But as I had nothing planned for this lesson, I had to wing it! We learned the numbers 1 through 10 and we learned 8 colors. Then we played color basket, which is a popular game in Japanese elementary schools. The game is actually called fruits basket, but since we were learning colors and not fruits, I changed the name.

Volleyball

Also, I got conned (forced) into playing volleyball for PTA. Okay, not forced but strongly persuaded…it was nearly impossible to say no. Actually I told them I wasn’t good at volleyball and they still insisted I play, so I’m playing. Anyway! As far as I’m aware, the first practice is tonight from 19:00 to 21:00, so that’s another thing to do today! Yay busy schedules!

 

Until next time!! xx

Note: I never use pictures of my own students or PTA. In order to keep their privacy, I only use pictures found on the web. Sorry I can’t give you a closer look into my daily life here! I only want to protect the identities and well-being of my community!

Empty School

Even the most busy ALT’s have slow days…and today is one of them for me!

Today the school is mostly empty. Almost all of the teachers are here, but even a number of them are missing. And the most strange thing of all is that there are only students in one of the three homerooms.

Today is the last day of the 4 day field trip to Tokyo for my 2nd year junior high school students, and is a work experience day for my 3rd year junior high school students. That means that the only students in the school are the 1st years! It’s pretty strange walking around such an empty school.

For lunch, I’ll be eating with my first years, which I had planned to do even if the school was full. It’s a chili day for lunch! And I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve been hungry ALL THE TIME lately, and ended up sleeping for 11 hours last night. I’m not sure what’s gotten into me, but spring has never been my season. It’s when I’m generally the most exhausted all the time.

Rainy season is also beginning soon, which means I’ll be carrying an umbrella with me everywhere I go. Typhoons will come after that, and during that time, even an umbrella can’t help you!

Someone send help! There’s not much to do other than prepare for next week with so few students. It’s going to be a long day here…

 

Until next time!! xx

Just Another Manic Monday

It’s been so long since I’ve posted anything! I’m honestly pretty busy outside of work hours, and I can’t exactly create such an elaborate post during work, so I’m sorry that my spring break update isn’t up yet but it’ll come eventually! I promise!

In the meantime, I’m going to give you a rough outline of a day in my life as a middle school English teacher.

??am – get up! It’s time to get ready for the day. I usually skip breakfast, and I usually shower the night before, so that makes my morning routine pretty short. Check to make sure I have everything and I’m on my way to school!

8am – leave the house. On days when I drive, I leave at 7:50. I walk past the city hall on my way to work, and check in with my IC card before trekking up and down various hills to get to work.

8:10 – arrive at work. Unless it’s a Wednesday or a Thursday (the drive is 30 minutes), in which case I’ll arrive at 8:30. But let’s just say it’s a Monday (because it is). Say good morning to the kids who are playing soccer on the school grounds. Strong arm the half of them who greeted me in Japanese to greet me in English. Head inside to the teacher’s lounge and find my desk.

8:15 – get a cup of tea from the staff room. There’s nothing like a hot cup of tea (or coffee if you’re into that) to start off your morning!

8:20 – staff meeting. It’s obviously all in Japanese so I’m selective on whether or not I feel like taking all of that in first thing in the morning. I’ll be honest, sometimes I zone at the board while they talk. It rarely affects me, but I try to pay attention to the topics at the very least so that I know how important it is.

8:25 – (if it’s a Monday) all school assembly. We head upstairs and everyone stands at attention in lines by their year and height. The student representative reads off the order of business, starting with the principal’s greeting. Next is the student council president and so on.

8:50 – first period. On days when I have that period free, I head to the teacher’s lounge to make preparations for the rest of the day. The kids go to science, math, and social studies.

9:50 – second period. I’m still free. I interact with the other teachers in the office and help the English teacher with preparations for the next class period. Now’s the time to finish putting together the games I have planned for class today. The kids go to social studies, math, and Japanese.

10:50 – third period. I have 1st grade (middle school) English. We start class with basic greetings and a warm up. We do review and then introduce new material. After they’ve learned things at a base level, we play a game to cement the information a bit more firmly. Class is over. Bow. Say goodbye.

11:50 – fourth period. No class. Technically the special ed students have English but I’m not listed as the teacher for that class. I prepare for my afternoon classes.

12:45 – lunch. Students serve lunch to their classmates, and take their seats in their classrooms. Everyone is served and seated before anyone touches their food. Itadakimasu (let’s eat).

13:05 – afternoon break. Most of the kids head outside to blow off some steam. Some go to a classroom to play card games while others find a corner to chat.

13:35 – cleaning time. All students report to their assigned area for the week, divide the jobs, and clean their school. From sweeping to mopping to replacing low supplies such as toilet paper, the students do it all. I must be honest with you, some students do a better job than others. The school is only as clean as the weakest link’s cleaning.

13:50 – fifth period. It’s time for 2nd grade (middle school) English. We start with basic greetings and a warm up. We review what we learned last year – past tense. Then we play some bomb jeopardy to finish on a fun note. The students race to create sentences using nothing but a verb and the expected form of the sentence.

14:50 – sixth period. 3rd grade (middle school) English. As always, we do our basic greetings and warm up. We review last year’s topic – passive voice. Drink, drank, drunk. Eat, ate, eaten. The students learned them all last year, but will they remember? We play bomb jeopardy to really test their knowledge. The most competitive class of them all battles it out to see who will be the best.

16:00 – return to the staff room. The day is nearly done, but there’s so much to do in preparation for tomorrow. I get to work on elementary school lessons while the rest of the office buzzes around me.

16:50 – go home. The day is through and it’s time to head home to cook dinner and relax. I tap my IC card at the city hall to clock out and finish my day. Otsukaresama (good work, everyone).

17:15 – let’s cook. I live so far from town that there’s hardly any option other than to cook. It’s good for me (and for my wallet) but it can be so exhausting after a full day. Especially since it hardly seems worth it to cook for only one. I can’t complain too much, my work days are pretty manageable.

18:30 – let’s eat. I eat my dinner and it’s really time to chill for the rest of the evening. It’s not unlikely that I bum around for the rest of the evening, but sometimes I can be productive!

22:00 – sleep. I really should…but that’s no guarantee. We try it anyway. The next morning, I’ll start all over again.

Welcome to a day in my life! Sort of. It may sound boring but I actually enjoy my day to day. Also, after writing this out, I realized that I have a lot more time in the evening than I realized. I really should be more productive with it…

 

Until next time!! xx

 

Jessica Time

Recently, I went through my notebook where I keep a record of all of my work days, and I compiled a list of different games that I play with my students to help them learn English. Some of these games may be games that you’ve played for fun, and others are simply fun ways to practice the language you’re learning. I figured that since I put all of the work into it, anyways, I may as well share it here!

So here’s a look at Jessica time (the part of class where I play fun games with the kids!)

1. Charades
   • One student from each team must act out a verbal phrase (play baseball, eat dinner, etc)
   • The other students must guess what they are doing by asking “Do you ～?”
   • The first team to make a correct question with the correct verbal phrase receives a point.
   • Also done using other grammar points like “Will you…?” “You look…” and “Do you have to…?” etc
2. Concentration Words
   • Create word pairs for vocabulary list (English and Japanese)
   • Spread cards out face down on the floor.
   • Create teams
   • Play 神経衰弱 (concentration, also known as memory)
3. Concentration Sentence Building
   • Similar to the game above
   • When you find a match, you have to make a sentence using that word.
4. Interview Bingo
   • Can be done using grammar points such as “Do you like..?” “Did you…?” “Have you ever…?” and so on.
   • Students are given a Bingo card with different verbal phrases in each box.
   • Do janken with a partner.
   • If you win, you can ask your partner a question.
   • If they answer “yes” you can write their name.
   • Can also be done with “Can you…?” etc.
5. Go Fish!
   • Each student is given 5 cards.
   • If they have any pairs, they can put them on the table.
   • Students should take turns asking each other for the cards that they need.
   • Can be used with any grammar point.
   • “When I called you, were you…?” or “I want…” “I like..” and so on
   • Students should answer “Yes” and give the card or “No, go fish!” in the case of the first example. Similar phrases should be used to answer other grammar points.
6. Telephone
   • Students stand in a line leading up to the board.
   • One teacher at the back tells the students one word or sentence (in Japanese – they should translate to English)
   • The students should pass the phrase up the line to the front student.
   • The student in the front should write the correct translation on the board or say the correct translation out loud.
7. Shiritori
   • This is a classic game in Japan! But it can be done with English, too.
   • Students take turns saying English words
   • The next word must start with the letter that ended the previous word.
   • Rain – Next – Table – Elephant – Tomorrow – Wednesday – Yellow…and so on
   • If a student cannot say a word within the allotted time (usually 5 seconds) or says a word that has already been said, they are eliminated.
8. Translation Board Races
   • Students form groups and decide an order within their group.
   • Each student takes turns translating words or sentences from Japanese to English and writing the correct English on the board.
   • Can also be done in reverse, students hear English and write Japanese.
9. Translation Speaking Races
   • The same as above but spoken translation.
10. Sentence Building – Reduced relative clauses
    • Students competed to write the longest sentence they could using who and which
    • Jessica is a teacher who teaches English which is a language which is spoken in America which is a country…
11. Sentence Building Board Races
    • Students make teams and choose order
    • They are given parts of a sentence and have to build a sentence.
    • Sometimes the clues are given in English and sometimes they are given in Japanese.
    • 例： Nile River, Niyodo River, 長い –> The Nile River is longer than the Niyodo River. （比較級）
12. Bomb Jeopardy
    • Can be used with any point getting game
    • Students create teams and choose order
    • When they are awarded a victory they can either draw a card, or force another team to draw a card.
    • Point values range from -100 to 100 and include 2 bombs.
    • Good review game
13. Matching Races
    • Personal Object Pronouns (1年 Program 7)
    • Students should create two teams and choose an order in which to compete
    • Students must match the correct personal object pronoun to the sentence
    • The student who matches correctly faster receives the sentence card as a point
14. Karuta
    • Another popular game in Japan, but this one is done with English
    • Students create teams (if you have a large class) or compete individually (if you have a class of about 3-5 students)
    • A word is called in Japanese and the students race to slap the correct English card as quickly as possible
    • The team with the most cards at the end, wins
15. Word Choice Racing
    • Students create teams and choose order
    • A sentence is given with one word missing.
    • Students must give the missing word
16. Interview janken
    • Do janken
    • If you win, you can ask a question. If you lose, you must answer the question.
    • Get 3 yes’s
    • Can be done with a variety of grammar points. Do you like…? Can you…? Did you…? Will you…? Have you ever…? and so on.
    • Can also be done with question words “Who, What, Where, When, Why, How”
17. Super Team Challenge
    • How do you say ___ in English?
    • Teams take turns asking each other how you say something in English. If they are able to answer, they receive a point. If they are unable to answer, they receive no point.
18. Sentence building strips
    • Students create teams
    • Each team is given an envelope with sentences which are broken into 3 parts.
    • They should create as many correct sentences as quickly as possible.
    • 例  A baker is a person        who          makes bread
      A rainbow is a thing        which       comes after it rains
    • The team who creates correct sentences the fastest, wins
19. One Word Sentences
    • Students create teams and decide order
    • They are told one word
    • They must create a sentence using this word.
    • You can give a specific grammar point or leave the grammar free.
20. Write-Draw-Write
    • A popular game in America which involves writing sentences and drawing pictures
    • Each student (and teacher) should have a piece of plain paper
    • Everyone should arrange their desks in a circle.
    • Each person has a set amount of time to write a sentence (I usually specify a grammar point, but you don’t have to)
    • Then, everyone passes their papers to their left.
    • The next person draws a picture which represents the written sentence. They must then fold the paper so that only the picture can be seen.
    • Pass to the left again.
    • The next person writes a sentence which is represented by the picture.
    • Continue on in this fashion until you see fit.
    • Unfold and enjoy the silly changes and hilarious pictures that everyone has created
21. Pictionary
    • Students create teams
    • One person from each team receives a sentence from the teacher.
    • They must draw a picture on the white board to represent that sentence
    • Their teammates must guess what the sentence is supposed to be
22. Never Have I Ever
    • Create 2 groups (one teacher in each group)
    • Each player starts by holding all ten fingers up
    • Students take turns saying “I have never…”
    • If you have done that thing, you put one finger down.
    • This continues until (1) one person has put all of their fingers down or (2) only one person is remaining (it’s up to you how to play)
23. Fruit Basket
    • Can be used with grammar points such as “I like” “I can” “I have” “I have never” and so on
    • Can also be used with simple vocabulary
    • Create a circle with enough chairs for everyone except for one student
    • One person starts in the middle and says a word or a statement
    • If they say a word and you are assigned that word “blue!” you must switch seats! You cannot return to your own seat and you can not sit in the seat next to you (unless the number of students is too few)
    • Alternatively you can do the grammar point version “I like summer!” and anyone who likes summer must move
24. Sentence writing game (comparative sentences)
    • Students create groups
    • Set a 5 minute timer
    • They should write as many sentences as they can in the time limit.
    • At the end, they should cross out incorrect sentences and sentences which are the same as the sentences written by another group
    • Whichever team has the most sentences after that, wins!
    • Can be used for other grammar points, too
25. Gambling Review Game
    • Students create teams and choose order
    • On each question, they bet a certain amount of points
    • If they answer correctly, the receive those points, but if they answer incorrectly, they lose those points.
    • Could be done similar to jeopardy where they are told a category beforehand (this category will be translation, this category will be sentence building, etc)
26. Touching Game
    • Students must start with their hands on their heads
    • When the teacher says a word (from a picture that should be in front of the students) the students race to touch the correct image
27. Keyword Game
    • Similar to the game above, however the teacher will assign one word to be a keyword. When that word is said, students must race to grab an eraser (that should be set out on the table in front of them). The student who holds the eraser, wins!
28. Old Maid (ババ抜き)
29. Find your partner
    • Students are given one half of a sentence or word pair
    • They must find their partner by asking other students what their card says
    • When students match each other, they should come to the teachers to confirm, and receive new cards
    • They keep their old cards to keep track of how many points they have
    • The student with the most cards at the end of the time limit, wins!
30. What’s missing?
    • Students line up against the back wall and face away from the board
    • Then, the teacher removes one card
    • Students must guess which card is missing

This isn’t even all of it! But it’s the majority of what we do in class. I hope you enjoyed reading about how I teach English! And maybe you’ll play a game of write draw write after reading this.

 

Until next time!! xx

Deception and Misnomers…

So, on Saturday you may have noticed that I had a marathon at school. As I was speculating what it could be or mean, I even looked up marathons for middle school aged students in Japan. Middle school and high school students in Japan have this race called the ekiden. This race is a marathon which is split among multiple students. Each running a different leg of the race. I thought to myself, “maybe it’s something like this,” but it wasn’t.

I got to school and we had classes in the morning, and in the afternoon we had a guest lecturer who came to talk to us about how encouraging students is more fruitful than getting angry at them. Praise is more effective then fear. After the lecture, many of the teachers and students’ parents went to another room to discuss the lecture more deeply and talk about how effective such discussions are. I, of course, didn’t attend this part. It was already enough Japanese for me to keep up with in the first half of the afternoon. While the teachers were in this meeting, the students went home. There was no marathon. I checked my schedule again to make sure that I was not mistaken about there being a marathon, and written clear as day was 「マラソン」 (which means marathon in English) and no mention of a guest lecture. I suppose the other teachers knew about it because it would be unusual for them to not, so I just wonder why the schedule said such a think. My supervisor also had told me that there was a marathon that I had to attend that Saturday. I guess it’s a good think I asked my JTE what he was wearing that day, because I would not have shown up in the suit that I wore if I had not asked. I was pretty curious as to why people were wearing suits to a marathon…I suppose I should have figured it out then.

I guess I can’t be sure if it was just a strange way of calling this lecture, or if it was truly written incorrectly, but seeing “marathon” on my schedule and then not having a marathon can be quite confusing… From now on, I’m not sure I can fully trust what is written on my schedule. I hope it’s just some strange misnomer that I’m unaware of, but even my dictionary app only has the definition of a long distance-race for this word.

In the same day, I learned some interesting things about some traditional Japanese instruments from the music teacher! I’ll tell you all about it in my next post.

 

Until next time!! xx

Marathons and Saturdays

There are a lot of events that take place on weekends in a school, and those become work days for me. Sometimes, these days end up being split as classes in the morning and events in the afternoon. Tomorrow is one of these days!

My middle school students will be running a “marathon” tomorrow. Honestly, I’m not sure how long the actual race is, all I know is that it takes place on a Saturday. It can’t be too long of a race because only two class periods are set aside for the event, so I’m assuming it’s more like a 5K (5 kilometers or about 3.1 miles) race. Those can take anywhere from 17 minutes (assuming they aren’t already ridiculously fast as middle school students) to around 45 minutes or so. It honestly depends on the ability of the student. Most athletic students should be able to finish the race in under 25 minutes, assuming it’s 5 kilometers and not longer. Other students don’t participate in sports and instead invest their time in their other hobbies. While they could be surprisingly fast, it wouldn’t be unusual for them to be a bit slower considering they don’t spend nearly as much time training for events like this as the students who are in the baseball club, for example.

Either way, I’m looking forward to this new experience. I’ve already had sports day with my kids, so I’ve experienced the type of event that is held on weekends in Japanese schools, but every event is different. It’ll be interesting to see how this one turns out!

The only downside to this event for me personally is that I will be missing one day of a two day frisbee tournament that I had committed to before I found out about this event. Fortunately, the frisbee tournament is only about an hour drive from my house and the event is flexible on players coming for only one of the two days. Due to that, I’ll be free Saturday night and therefore attending a hot pot party thrown by another JET just a few towns over. It’s going to be a busy weekend, but I’m sure it’ll be a blast!

Oh, and one thing I almost forgot to mention is the system for teacher’s schedules in Japan. When events take place on a weekend, you get a weekday off of work in return. This keeps our workdays at the levels they are supposed to be at, and gives the kids and the teachers the break they need from coming into school on a Saturday.

 

Until next time!! xx

Team Teaching and Getting By

One of the biggest differences between teaching through the JET program, and teaching through a privately contracted eikaiwa (English conversation school) or otherwise privately contracted teaching position is that team teaching is an absolute must. Team teaching is where two or more instructors teach a class together. In my case, this is the English teacher (who is Japanese) at the middle schools, the homeroom teachers at the elementary schools, and the special education teachers. Each teacher can choose how they want to lead the class and how they want to utilize me. Some JETs are used as human tape recorders where they only repeat things in English for a native pronunciation, while others are the lead teachers in their classes, to everything in between. In my case, I have a happy medium, but I don’t have much say in what happens in class in every situation since each teacher I work with is different and has their own approaches to English class.

By far, the most frustrating situation that I have to deal with is the special education teacher at my middle school. I’m not sure if he dislikes me, or if he dislikes English, but he often cancels class the day of. He’ll just tell me “oh, we’re not doing English today. We’re doing something else” and then I’ll be dismissed essentially. I don’t dislike the extra time to do prep for other classes/schools, but I don’t like the idea that those kids are never getting any English class or practice in. It’s an important subject in the schooling system, as all subjects are, and without it, high school will be a challenge for them. In Japan, high school isn’t compulsory, so I’m wondering if these kids just don’t plan on going to high school and that’s why English is brushed aside so frequently.

That aside, one of the most interesting aspects of team teaching are teaching roles. Even though one teacher may be designated as the main teacher and the other as an assistant (in middle school, the ALT is generally the assistant while in elementary school they may be the main teacher), there are times where the roles may suddenly reverse in the class depending on what is necessary for the activity or subject at hand. In my case, I have wonderful middle school JTEs, and the homeroom teachers at the elementary schools prefer to be the main teacher so long as we are following the text book. In my experience thus far, I become the main teacher as soon as we finish the text book material. So far, that just means reviewing the material we’ve learned and preparing the kids in any way possible for their first year of middle school when English becomes a fulltime subject. Elementary school classes revolve around learning the material and reviewing the material through games. It’s the best way to encourage the kids to learn the material because, if they don’t, they can’t win the game!

Another thing that can happen in a class is that an activity may tank, or may take less time than originally planned. Reasons for activities failing range from the difficulty being too high or too low for the students in the class, the rules being confusing and difficult to follow, or the activity being less interesting than anticipated, among other issues. In the case that this happens, it may be necessary to adjust an activity on the spot or to create a new activity. This can be hard for ALTs and for JTEs, but it’s important to support your teaching partner in this case. In my experience, I’ve had to change my JTEs activity on the spot when the students were confused, bored, or otherwise uninterested in the activity. In those cases, quick thinking and an arsenal of backup activities are almost necessary. Without it, you could have a lull in the class which is one of the most nerve-wracking things in my personal opinion. Having students stare at you in anticipation is just not ideal. So far I’ve avoided that as much as possible!

But, the most important thing in team teaching is communication! It’s best to try and meet with your teaching partner every once in a while to discuss what you will do for the next lesson, or how the previous lesson went. Many teachers are quite busy and therefore prefer to briefly discuss things in the few minutes before or after class. In those cases, concise and prepared feedback is of the utmost importance. While you may want more time to discuss things with them, that may just not be possible and it’s important to work with each other in these aspects and cases as well. I’ve learned a lot about productive team work and am grateful for the teachers that I have the privilege of working with.

 

Until next time!! xx