This post is a continuation of the previous one, in which I describe my first three days on the job. This is the good one! Still no pictures, however.
My third day teaching called for me to travel a goodly ways out of town to a school of six students. When I entered, I encountered a flying hug from a third year student, and was made to play some kind of dodgeball derivative for fifteen minutes before I encountered my first (of two) teachers.]
This day was my best yet - the kids were very warm to me and to each other. The nature of such a small school meant that the kids were like a family - the older ones help the younger ones out and theres not as much conflict as I would have expected, even in ball games that would otherwise have a potential to get ugly (dodgeball with 12 year olds and 8 year olds together). This was also my second Japanese school lunch, which is great except for being forced to down a whole carton of whole milk. The kids are really vigilant about this, so you can't cheat.
Things are looking up now - I'm much more confident in my ability to plan and run classes, and this week I will be doing my first repeat class - ie not self-introductions.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Thursday, August 26, 2010
On the Job
Subtitle: Yes, I actually do work occasionally
This week marked my first week of actual on-the-ground classroom teaching with real, live children. An apt way to imagine this would be a boxer's first big fight, except in this case I still have all my teeth and there is less blood. I visited three schools this week, and I'll cover them in order.
DAY 1
I began the week at my school the farthest away from town, about a half hour drive. While I had had some meetings with teachers prior to this session, my meeting with the teacher at this school was scheduled to take place when I got there - right before I was to teach. I wasn't nervous at all, that would be silly.
For my first class at any school, the obvious topic to cover is myself. The kids are always excited to have a new assistant teacher in the classroom, and always have lots of questions ranging from the predictable ("Do you have siblings?") to the esoteric ("What is your favorite insect?"). Since I am in elementary schools, my introductions are in both English and Japanese.
I knew all this going in, but I didn't really have a clear idea in mind about how, exactly, the 45 minutes would go by. I didn't know how the kids would respond to things, or how long any given activity or segment would take. I also didn't know, being new, where the kids were at regarding English or what subjects they had recently been working on.
The teacher met with me and we worked out a rough plan of attack. First, I'd introduce myself and my state, and a few other simple details of myself. Then, the kids would ask any questions they had about me. After this I'd get a simple self-intro from the kids, using English they had worked on earlier - primarily, names and likes. After this, since the kids had been working on numbers and times, we had a simple activity planned using a clock and various activities throughout the day ("What time do you get up? What time do you take a bath?"). We wrapped up with a game of bingo using numbers.
I'll be honest: I don't actually remember this class very well. I was suffused with terror and operated on auto-pilot; I have a vague sense that I was not very good. The kids were great, however, and there were no major disasters. My self-introduction, which I had pegged at perhaps five minutes, took about thirty seconds. The kids probably wondered if foreigners always have such confused smiles on their faces.
The class ended, however, and while I didn't do a great job the kids didn't seem too put out. I took my leave of the school and felt marginally more comfortable about the next day, since I had 1) met with the teacher previously and 2) had now had invaluable classroom experience, and knew a bit more of what to expect.
DAY 2
Day 2 took me to a school in town, with about forty kids between grades 1 and 6. I was scheduled to teach the 5th grade class that day, and we had previously worked on my self-introduction activities. While waiting for the class to start, however, I thought about the previous class and decided that perhaps my preparations were not adequate. I quickly came up with a game of charades in which the children could guess and ask what sports I liked, a common question in the introduction. This time, I felt a bit more level-headed, and the class was a success; we did have extra time so I was glad to have prepared an activity. The kids seemed quite happy.
I was scheduled to spend all day at the school, so I ate lunch with a class of students later in the day. In Japanese schools, students eat lunch in their homeroom classrooms, where they spend most of the day outside of breaks. The desks were clearly not designed for adults. The kids in the classroom were quite excited to have me eating with them, however, and peppered me with questions and explanations of the classroom. After lunch, the children clean up their places and then have a period of cleaning their classroom; older students also clean the school halls and other locations on a rotating basis.
After lunch, my assistance was requested as a native speaker example for the 6th graders. In Japan, English instruction is not required of elementary school students, but beginning in April 5th and 6th graders will be required to attend 20 hours of English classes per semester. For this reason, 5th and 6th grade class schedules are beginning to resemble the more rigorous curricula of the middle and high schools. ALTs like me are now in demand in elementary schools for this reason, as many teachers in those schools have not had post-secondary English instruction and are often not confident of their skills. For this class, I was asked to read passages from the book so the kids would have a native speaker's pronunciation to model after. I did manage to spice up the class by having the kids use the English they had practiced that day to guide me out of the classroom with my eyes closed (I only ran into one desk).
After this class, I was asked if I wanted to go practice with the kids for their "marathon" (a generic term for any kind of distance running event). I said "sure!" and thought myself that a bunch of ten year olds can't really be running that far. I heard 1.5 kilometers, and since I'm a big dumb American I don't really know how far that is. The answer is that it's not far, but it's farther than an out-of-shape guy like me can run without wanting to die. My legs still hurt three days later!
At the end of this day, I waved goodbye to most of the kids as they left, and consulted with the teachers about our next meeting. I felt much better about how the day had gone than I had about the previous one, and much more sure that I wasn't actually here by mistake.
This post has gotten quite long, and is already my second of the day, so I believe I'll save the third day (today) for another post. Suffice to say, it was the best one so far.
This week marked my first week of actual on-the-ground classroom teaching with real, live children. An apt way to imagine this would be a boxer's first big fight, except in this case I still have all my teeth and there is less blood. I visited three schools this week, and I'll cover them in order.
DAY 1
I began the week at my school the farthest away from town, about a half hour drive. While I had had some meetings with teachers prior to this session, my meeting with the teacher at this school was scheduled to take place when I got there - right before I was to teach. I wasn't nervous at all, that would be silly.
For my first class at any school, the obvious topic to cover is myself. The kids are always excited to have a new assistant teacher in the classroom, and always have lots of questions ranging from the predictable ("Do you have siblings?") to the esoteric ("What is your favorite insect?"). Since I am in elementary schools, my introductions are in both English and Japanese.
I knew all this going in, but I didn't really have a clear idea in mind about how, exactly, the 45 minutes would go by. I didn't know how the kids would respond to things, or how long any given activity or segment would take. I also didn't know, being new, where the kids were at regarding English or what subjects they had recently been working on.
The teacher met with me and we worked out a rough plan of attack. First, I'd introduce myself and my state, and a few other simple details of myself. Then, the kids would ask any questions they had about me. After this I'd get a simple self-intro from the kids, using English they had worked on earlier - primarily, names and likes. After this, since the kids had been working on numbers and times, we had a simple activity planned using a clock and various activities throughout the day ("What time do you get up? What time do you take a bath?"). We wrapped up with a game of bingo using numbers.
I'll be honest: I don't actually remember this class very well. I was suffused with terror and operated on auto-pilot; I have a vague sense that I was not very good. The kids were great, however, and there were no major disasters. My self-introduction, which I had pegged at perhaps five minutes, took about thirty seconds. The kids probably wondered if foreigners always have such confused smiles on their faces.
The class ended, however, and while I didn't do a great job the kids didn't seem too put out. I took my leave of the school and felt marginally more comfortable about the next day, since I had 1) met with the teacher previously and 2) had now had invaluable classroom experience, and knew a bit more of what to expect.
DAY 2
Day 2 took me to a school in town, with about forty kids between grades 1 and 6. I was scheduled to teach the 5th grade class that day, and we had previously worked on my self-introduction activities. While waiting for the class to start, however, I thought about the previous class and decided that perhaps my preparations were not adequate. I quickly came up with a game of charades in which the children could guess and ask what sports I liked, a common question in the introduction. This time, I felt a bit more level-headed, and the class was a success; we did have extra time so I was glad to have prepared an activity. The kids seemed quite happy.
I was scheduled to spend all day at the school, so I ate lunch with a class of students later in the day. In Japanese schools, students eat lunch in their homeroom classrooms, where they spend most of the day outside of breaks. The desks were clearly not designed for adults. The kids in the classroom were quite excited to have me eating with them, however, and peppered me with questions and explanations of the classroom. After lunch, the children clean up their places and then have a period of cleaning their classroom; older students also clean the school halls and other locations on a rotating basis.
After lunch, my assistance was requested as a native speaker example for the 6th graders. In Japan, English instruction is not required of elementary school students, but beginning in April 5th and 6th graders will be required to attend 20 hours of English classes per semester. For this reason, 5th and 6th grade class schedules are beginning to resemble the more rigorous curricula of the middle and high schools. ALTs like me are now in demand in elementary schools for this reason, as many teachers in those schools have not had post-secondary English instruction and are often not confident of their skills. For this class, I was asked to read passages from the book so the kids would have a native speaker's pronunciation to model after. I did manage to spice up the class by having the kids use the English they had practiced that day to guide me out of the classroom with my eyes closed (I only ran into one desk).
After this class, I was asked if I wanted to go practice with the kids for their "marathon" (a generic term for any kind of distance running event). I said "sure!" and thought myself that a bunch of ten year olds can't really be running that far. I heard 1.5 kilometers, and since I'm a big dumb American I don't really know how far that is. The answer is that it's not far, but it's farther than an out-of-shape guy like me can run without wanting to die. My legs still hurt three days later!
At the end of this day, I waved goodbye to most of the kids as they left, and consulted with the teachers about our next meeting. I felt much better about how the day had gone than I had about the previous one, and much more sure that I wasn't actually here by mistake.
This post has gotten quite long, and is already my second of the day, so I believe I'll save the third day (today) for another post. Suffice to say, it was the best one so far.
Get Your Obon On
At the end of last week, shortly after coming back from Sapporo, I participated in Mombetsu's Bon Odori, the three-day dance at the centerpiece of the nationwide Bon festival. Wikipedia states that Obon is
a Japanese Buddhist custom to honor the departed (deceased) spirits of one's ancestors. This Buddhist custom has evolved into a family reunion holiday during which people return to ancestral family places and visit and clean their ancestors' graves, and when the spirits of ancestors are supposed to revisit the household altars. It has been celebrated in Japan for more than 500 years and traditionally includes a dance, known as Bon-Odori.
What this means, in practice, is that the whole town gets together and stomps around in the street and yells a lot and drinks. Literally everybody comes. Some people go in costume, and we had guests including Lady Gaga re-imagined as a Buddhist deity and Michael Jackson (complete with, inexplicably, an entourage of children). Pretty much anything goes, as long as you more or less follow the very simple guidelines of the dance and are loud. It looks like this:
Of course, I wanted to really get involved as much as possible, which required the help of two separate people:
Whew! The dance goes for about an hour and a half, with a few hundred people going around in a circle and the rest standing around observing. I wore traditional Japanese sandals for the dance, which during that hour and a half implanted themselves in my feet in a manner that would be the envy of aspiring piercers anyway. They haven't healed yet.
a Japanese Buddhist custom to honor the departed (deceased) spirits of one's ancestors. This Buddhist custom has evolved into a family reunion holiday during which people return to ancestral family places and visit and clean their ancestors' graves, and when the spirits of ancestors are supposed to revisit the household altars. It has been celebrated in Japan for more than 500 years and traditionally includes a dance, known as Bon-Odori.
What this means, in practice, is that the whole town gets together and stomps around in the street and yells a lot and drinks. Literally everybody comes. Some people go in costume, and we had guests including Lady Gaga re-imagined as a Buddhist deity and Michael Jackson (complete with, inexplicably, an entourage of children). Pretty much anything goes, as long as you more or less follow the very simple guidelines of the dance and are loud. It looks like this:
Of course, I wanted to really get involved as much as possible, which required the help of two separate people:
Whew! The dance goes for about an hour and a half, with a few hundred people going around in a circle and the rest standing around observing. I wore traditional Japanese sandals for the dance, which during that hour and a half implanted themselves in my feet in a manner that would be the envy of aspiring piercers anyway. They haven't healed yet.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Sapporific
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| From Sapporo |
This week was the Hokkaido JET orientation at Sapporo, the main city around these parts. Around 100 of us convened in Sapporo, a 4.5 hour bus ride from Mombetsu (pictures above). The days were spent learning about things like tiny Japanese cars in winter (they work, apparently) and hot spring etiquette (don't put your head under water and blow bubbles). Our orientation was hosted at the Akarenkan, a 150-year-old governmental building that translates directly to "Red Brick Building".
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| From Sapporo |
After work, of course, came the important work of socializing with our fellow new teachers. Here's Sapporo at night, seen from the top of a ferris wheel on top of a shopping mall:
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| From Sapporo |
And all around good times were had. Right after returning on Wednesday, we had to jump feet-first into our schools and into the Bon dance festival, but that will be covered in another post. In closing, here's a giant spider at a bus station waiting to snare children. Enjoy!
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| From Sapporo |
Friday, August 13, 2010
Bombs at Noon
The Mombetsu ALT Krew (holla) went out on the town last night to see what could be seen. The week before had been long and harrowing, so it was time to end on a high note. We began our night at a local block party/festival/karakoke blowout. I didn't take any pictures, because I was busy eating yakisoba (lit. burned noodles) and yakitori (lit. burned chicken). I passed on the yakiika (burned squid). Like everyone else in the world, the Japanese know that it's not a proper party without beer and fire.
We met some friends of the departed ALTs, who introduced themselves to us and insisted that we treat them as family. Although you can never be completely sure, I believe that we were drafted into the local team for the upcoming Bon-Odori, a three-day festival that features townsfolk prancing around in costumes and dancing. The fact that we don't know the dance didn't seem to make much of a difference. One lady invited us to come to her with any problems we may have, as long as they didn't involve women or money. Fair enough! One family also noted that they frequently host exchange students (in Mombetsu?) and that a new high school student from America would be arriving soon. I believe we're having a party.
We went out and hit the mean streets of Hamanasu-doori afterwards, where Mombetsu's nightlife lives. At a friend's grandmother's bar, I was given my own bottle to come back to. A couple of bars and clubs later made it a good night. No pictures of this because, well, thats not really cool. Here's some random pictures of Mombetsu from this morning though:
Today is dedicated to cleaning. Tomorrow at 7 we get on a bus to Sapporo for three more days of final orientation, at which there will be no drinking or entertainment whatsoever. After I get back, classes begin along with the Obon festival mentioned above. Good times ahead!
Also, the title of this post is inspired by the fact that the city hall uses it's air raid siren to announce noon every day, even on weekends. And the title of the last post was referring to a particularly tortured mispronunciation of "clerk".
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
"This is Tanaka-san. She is crack."
Today, ALT #2 and I got to escape the steam bath of the office to go for a drive (I keep thinkng of this whenever I'm there). We went around town to visit and tour our various schools. For the most part, the English teachers were gone on summer break, with the Principles or Vice-Principles manning the fort. I was offered tea at every school, and had to use the bathroom three times.
Seeing all of the schools was a really good experience, even if all the students and teachers were missing. I was able to set up pre-class meetings with several of the schools, so that I can ascertain what they are looking for from me and what the kids may be expecting. The schools run the gamut from 50+ year old ruins full of ghosts to incongruously new buildings in the middle of rice fields, and students range from 250+ to one school with a whopping total of three. One thing every school had in common was a level of support that was, to an American, shockingly high. Even schools in the middle of nowhere with more staff than students had up-to-date personal computers for the kids and large-size LCD screens for lessons, and music and art rooms were universally well-supplied. One school invited me to use their drumset "Any time," which would be tempting if the school wasn't 35 minutes away.
I am settling well into life here, and next week I'll be heading to Sapporo for Hokkaido orientation. After that, it's time for the kids to come back. I'm looking forward with trepidation and excitement.
Seeing all of the schools was a really good experience, even if all the students and teachers were missing. I was able to set up pre-class meetings with several of the schools, so that I can ascertain what they are looking for from me and what the kids may be expecting. The schools run the gamut from 50+ year old ruins full of ghosts to incongruously new buildings in the middle of rice fields, and students range from 250+ to one school with a whopping total of three. One thing every school had in common was a level of support that was, to an American, shockingly high. Even schools in the middle of nowhere with more staff than students had up-to-date personal computers for the kids and large-size LCD screens for lessons, and music and art rooms were universally well-supplied. One school invited me to use their drumset "Any time," which would be tempting if the school wasn't 35 minutes away.
I am settling well into life here, and next week I'll be heading to Sapporo for Hokkaido orientation. After that, it's time for the kids to come back. I'm looking forward with trepidation and excitement.
Friday, August 6, 2010
Hokkaido is the Land of Lies
Yesterday was the day of two notable occurances - it was the hottest day on record in Monbetsu in the last 30 years, and it was the day the ALTs met the Mayor for some prime media face time. Since this was a big deal, we wore suits. As I believe in being prepared, I looked up "Heat Stroke" in the dictionary before I left. Sleeping was completely unbearable, as the Japanese don't really believe in AC (good for them, but I would have killed to have it for a night or two). I came to Hokkaido specifically to avoid the heat further south, so this is not a particularly charming course of events for me.
We also went out on the town for some drinks with the area JETs and friends, as my two predecessors are leaving town today. From here on out, it's just me and the new guys. Here's to an exciting new year in Monbetsu!
We also went out on the town for some drinks with the area JETs and friends, as my two predecessors are leaving town today. From here on out, it's just me and the new guys. Here's to an exciting new year in Monbetsu!
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Exquisite Japanese Cuisine
This is the heart of Japanese fine dining - deep in the mountains, past the veils of mist, you enter a tiny restaurant that has never had a name and find... hamburger sashimi.
In other news, I had my first lesson driving a stick shift and although I tried my hardest nobody died.
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