hey all,
So last weekend, Michi and I skyped with my family, which went well. This weekend, just earlier today in fact, I ate dinner with her younger brother's family. But let me start from my last post.
Still no word from the company about positions, visas, or anything. I'm sure if I asked them how to spell their own names they won't be able to answer that either. Work has been slowing down a little: my 3rd year students are basically finished with school, and my 1st and 2nd year students are taking their final exams at the beginning of next week, so there hasn't been an incredible amount of class work lately, although my fellow teachers are all running around really busy because they have to do the tests and everything.
I took another yoga lesson with Michi on Saturday, and then after that we had lunch and talked with one of her friends for several hours in Japanese. So I guess we're both slowly introducing members of our inner circles to each other, and gauging their reactions to our significant other. So far, the reactions on both sides have been positive.
Today was another busy day. I renewed my housing contract for another month (only one month because I have no clue where I'll be next school year), and then I bought the God of War collection for PS3 in Akihabara. God of War III is coming out for PS3 next month, and I remember playing number 1, but not number 2. The first two games in the series are widely regarded as two of the best video games ever made, and I'd have to say that from the couple hours I've spent replaying number 1 today, the comparison still holds up after all this time (the first game was released in 2005).
After going shopping, I met up with Michi to head over to her younger brother's apartment. He married a Korean woman, and they have a baby girl. I think he is a chef, at least from what I gathered. Today's conversation, like yesterday, was almost entirely in Japanese. I see why maybe sometimes Michi doesn't feel up to meeting: speaking and listening to a foreign language that you aren't very proficient in really takes patience and energy to sort out who is talking to who, what are they saying. did I just get asked a question?, etc. Especially tough is the fact that Michi and her family are native Tokyo-ites: they probably speak the fastest out of any Japanese dialect, making it especially difficult to follow for a non-native speaker.
Her brother cooked us a really tasty dinner/lunch, and we all chatted a bit and played with the baby. That was pretty much it. Her brother seems really nice, and Michi said they think the same about me. So for now, no worries, at least from that department.
Cheers,
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
Positions
hey all,
We had our monthly meeting earlier today, and I presented a race activity where students fill in base, comparative, and superlative forms of adjectives along a race track. We also discussed contracts for next year. Sadly, mine is still pretty uncertain. My company received the school contracts for my current city again, which is good news for all those who wanted to stay there, but I have expressed interest in moving to Tokyo. They currently have positions in Edogawa, which is a neighborhood in the eastern part of Tokyo, pretty close (geographically) to where Michi currently lives. From looking at actual commuting times, depending on where I live, it might take the same amount of time to go from my place to hers, despite being around 2km away (currently about 25km). But that is the reality of a megacity like Tokyo.
Despite asking several times about whether my company would be able to sponsor my visa for next year, I have yet to receive an answer. The problem is that working in Tokyo with my company is a part time deal, and I feel like the rules might prevent them from sponsoring their part time employees. As I said, I've asked about this several times, and have always been told: "I'll ask." This should not be an unfamiliar situation that requires research and inquiry: my company is in the business of sponsoring visas and finding placements for ALT in Japan; I am not asking them to station me on the second moon of Endor. So, I'm feeling a little uneasy about it. At the same time, I've already received the papers from my company which will enable me to renew my visa. I can always apply for it, and if they say they can't be my sponsor, too bad: they already are because they gave me the papers saying they are.
After the meeting, a few of us ALTs got together at a local bar, drank, and eventually got around to talking about how to get out of the Not-Quite-A-Real-Teacher job (something like Pinocchio before he became a real boy). All told, it didn't add up to much, and was a lot less fruitful than I had hoped. I might recruit a different ALT for helping with the story of the manga, as it seems like the other ALTs are more interested in doing a website type thing, with forums and discussion boards, etc, as opposed to a manga guidebook. Basically, it seemed like it was me and the ALT who came up with the idea tossing some ideas out there, and the other ALTs listening, and commenting. It was good to hear some feedback, but some more ideas would have been better.
Cheers,
We had our monthly meeting earlier today, and I presented a race activity where students fill in base, comparative, and superlative forms of adjectives along a race track. We also discussed contracts for next year. Sadly, mine is still pretty uncertain. My company received the school contracts for my current city again, which is good news for all those who wanted to stay there, but I have expressed interest in moving to Tokyo. They currently have positions in Edogawa, which is a neighborhood in the eastern part of Tokyo, pretty close (geographically) to where Michi currently lives. From looking at actual commuting times, depending on where I live, it might take the same amount of time to go from my place to hers, despite being around 2km away (currently about 25km). But that is the reality of a megacity like Tokyo.
Despite asking several times about whether my company would be able to sponsor my visa for next year, I have yet to receive an answer. The problem is that working in Tokyo with my company is a part time deal, and I feel like the rules might prevent them from sponsoring their part time employees. As I said, I've asked about this several times, and have always been told: "I'll ask." This should not be an unfamiliar situation that requires research and inquiry: my company is in the business of sponsoring visas and finding placements for ALT in Japan; I am not asking them to station me on the second moon of Endor. So, I'm feeling a little uneasy about it. At the same time, I've already received the papers from my company which will enable me to renew my visa. I can always apply for it, and if they say they can't be my sponsor, too bad: they already are because they gave me the papers saying they are.
After the meeting, a few of us ALTs got together at a local bar, drank, and eventually got around to talking about how to get out of the Not-Quite-A-Real-Teacher job (something like Pinocchio before he became a real boy). All told, it didn't add up to much, and was a lot less fruitful than I had hoped. I might recruit a different ALT for helping with the story of the manga, as it seems like the other ALTs are more interested in doing a website type thing, with forums and discussion boards, etc, as opposed to a manga guidebook. Basically, it seemed like it was me and the ALT who came up with the idea tossing some ideas out there, and the other ALTs listening, and commenting. It was good to hear some feedback, but some more ideas would have been better.
Cheers,
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Last Lesson, Valentine's Plus One
hey all,
I had another good couple of days here in Japan. Friday was my last day at my elementary school. I was pretty sad about it. I made a brief good-bye speech to my teachers, and the principal told me to cheer up while I was listening to his speech thanking me for a good year of lessons. They gave me a bouquet of flowers of all things, but I accidentally left it at my desk when I left.
Saturday day was skyping with a friend, talking with Bri, and a yoga lesson with Michi. It is getting to the point where I can follow most of the instructions without looking at the teacher; that is, as long as we've done that exercise several times before. If we do a new one, I still need to look, and sometimes Michi has to translate for me on the fly.
Sunday (today) was even more skyping: this time with Michi and the family back in the US. She was still a bit shy about her English, but I think it went really well. I can only hope that my (as yet unscheduled) meeting with her parents goes as smoothly. The original plan was to go rock climbing, but we were feeling a bit tired, so we thought we might go to a park. However, none really presented themselves: we've gone to a bunch of parks, and sometimes even if there is one we haven't gone to yet, it might require more travel than we feel up to or might just be inconvenient to get to.
So instead we saw The Lovely Bones, directed by Peter Jackson. Although the movie is rated PG-13 in the US, it received a G rating here in Japan, which seems too low somehow, considering that it is about what happens after the narrator (a 14 year old girl) is raped and murdered by a serial killer. But that's Japan for you. Like some of Jackson's previous projects, it is really well structured and paced, with some incredible visuals, but still leaves you feeling a little incomplete or unsatisfied at the end. One item of interest: I have spoken with many people about Lord of the Rings (also directed by Jackson), and come to the conclusion that most people are somehow brain damaged, because they absolutely love Return of the King. In similar vein, I asked Michi which of the three movies she liked best, and she actually likes The Two Towers best, which is also my favorite of the three.
After that, we had some soup at an interesting soup-curry restaurant in Saitama-Shin-Toshin. Cool decor, good prices, and awesome food. One of the irritating things about most of my food experiences in Japan, is that I find it taxing my off-the-top-of-my-head adjective supply: I have to describe the food as tasty, delicious, scrumptious, exquisite, delectable, or some other adjective, but I find myself using nice, good, delicious, etc all the time. As I have noted before, there are many things that I find annoying about Japan, but I love the food. The food was really good in Amsterdam, as well, but I think Japan easily wins that contest. Maybe one of the few negatives is that Japanese chocolate is underwhelming: too sweet, too much milk; but foreign made chocolate (Lindt, Godiva, etc) is readily available at most international food shops.
Cheers,
I had another good couple of days here in Japan. Friday was my last day at my elementary school. I was pretty sad about it. I made a brief good-bye speech to my teachers, and the principal told me to cheer up while I was listening to his speech thanking me for a good year of lessons. They gave me a bouquet of flowers of all things, but I accidentally left it at my desk when I left.
Saturday day was skyping with a friend, talking with Bri, and a yoga lesson with Michi. It is getting to the point where I can follow most of the instructions without looking at the teacher; that is, as long as we've done that exercise several times before. If we do a new one, I still need to look, and sometimes Michi has to translate for me on the fly.
Sunday (today) was even more skyping: this time with Michi and the family back in the US. She was still a bit shy about her English, but I think it went really well. I can only hope that my (as yet unscheduled) meeting with her parents goes as smoothly. The original plan was to go rock climbing, but we were feeling a bit tired, so we thought we might go to a park. However, none really presented themselves: we've gone to a bunch of parks, and sometimes even if there is one we haven't gone to yet, it might require more travel than we feel up to or might just be inconvenient to get to.
So instead we saw The Lovely Bones, directed by Peter Jackson. Although the movie is rated PG-13 in the US, it received a G rating here in Japan, which seems too low somehow, considering that it is about what happens after the narrator (a 14 year old girl) is raped and murdered by a serial killer. But that's Japan for you. Like some of Jackson's previous projects, it is really well structured and paced, with some incredible visuals, but still leaves you feeling a little incomplete or unsatisfied at the end. One item of interest: I have spoken with many people about Lord of the Rings (also directed by Jackson), and come to the conclusion that most people are somehow brain damaged, because they absolutely love Return of the King. In similar vein, I asked Michi which of the three movies she liked best, and she actually likes The Two Towers best, which is also my favorite of the three.
After that, we had some soup at an interesting soup-curry restaurant in Saitama-Shin-Toshin. Cool decor, good prices, and awesome food. One of the irritating things about most of my food experiences in Japan, is that I find it taxing my off-the-top-of-my-head adjective supply: I have to describe the food as tasty, delicious, scrumptious, exquisite, delectable, or some other adjective, but I find myself using nice, good, delicious, etc all the time. As I have noted before, there are many things that I find annoying about Japan, but I love the food. The food was really good in Amsterdam, as well, but I think Japan easily wins that contest. Maybe one of the few negatives is that Japanese chocolate is underwhelming: too sweet, too much milk; but foreign made chocolate (Lindt, Godiva, etc) is readily available at most international food shops.
Cheers,
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Hmmm
hey all,
Still no word about contracts...I did receive an email from one of my company's employees saying they would be sending forms to help me renew my visa for next year, which obviously means they don't intend to fire me, but I really want to know where I'll be working, at least in some general sense. It is something of a relief to know that they intend to renew my visa, and thus my contract, but at the same time, I'd really like a position with more responsibility and better pay.
I was talking with a ALT friend about our prospects for doing something outside of teaching, and I mentioned an idea that I came up with several months ago, but never got off the ground: a guide to living in Japan in the form of a manga. While this in itself is actually kinda a stupid idea, narrowing the focus allows you to have a more interesting plot, and to actually do something pretty cool. For instance, this friend is married to a Japanese girl, and was bemoaning the lack of decent relationship advice for foreigners (as he put it) stuck in his predicament. Having made extensive use of my network here in Japan and abroad for just such advice, I obviously saw this as a good idea.
There are pretty large cultural differences between Japan and other places, and thus different expectations about what your partner should and shouldn't do, what are acceptable topics, who pays for what, etc. There are some really quirky things about Japanese girls that take some getting used to, as I'm sure for them there are quirky things about us foreigners that take some getting used to. But what if you could be forewarned about some it? What if you could learn about the cultural/historical background for these differences, and also get some good ideas for coping with them or preventing them from being problems in the first place? And, what if you got to read about these as presented in comic book format, fully illustrated in color? Surely there is a market for that. I am thinking of releasing it (should it ever see the light of day), as a webcomic, and possibly collecting donations or selling professionally printed/bound versions, as for example Warren Ellis does with his comic FreakAngels.
I've been working up some brief sketches of parts of the story arcs, detailing some things that could be covered, how it should be done, etc. Whether or not I actually make money off of this, I think it would be somehow cathartic to do. I've also been reading about how to draw manga, and practicing a little in my spare time. As you all have probably noticed, I haven't mentioned studying Japanese recently, because I basically haven't had the time and/or inclination to do so. I hit the books really hard for several weeks, but I burnt myself out, and now anything more than doing a few flashcards or writing a few sentences feels like too much.
Another idea, this one viable for myself as an individual, was trying to sell some photographs. Michi actually has one of my photos from a trip I took to Ohio as her computer background right now. Actually, it is the same photo that my mom selected when I copied the pictures to her computer after the trip. (As a side note, I am often noticing some similarities between Michi and my mom, and she is often noticing similarities between my and her dad. Insert Oedipal remark here.) I can take some decent pictures, and I should be able to supplement my current salary by selling some.
Cheers,
Still no word about contracts...I did receive an email from one of my company's employees saying they would be sending forms to help me renew my visa for next year, which obviously means they don't intend to fire me, but I really want to know where I'll be working, at least in some general sense. It is something of a relief to know that they intend to renew my visa, and thus my contract, but at the same time, I'd really like a position with more responsibility and better pay.
I was talking with a ALT friend about our prospects for doing something outside of teaching, and I mentioned an idea that I came up with several months ago, but never got off the ground: a guide to living in Japan in the form of a manga. While this in itself is actually kinda a stupid idea, narrowing the focus allows you to have a more interesting plot, and to actually do something pretty cool. For instance, this friend is married to a Japanese girl, and was bemoaning the lack of decent relationship advice for foreigners (as he put it) stuck in his predicament. Having made extensive use of my network here in Japan and abroad for just such advice, I obviously saw this as a good idea.
There are pretty large cultural differences between Japan and other places, and thus different expectations about what your partner should and shouldn't do, what are acceptable topics, who pays for what, etc. There are some really quirky things about Japanese girls that take some getting used to, as I'm sure for them there are quirky things about us foreigners that take some getting used to. But what if you could be forewarned about some it? What if you could learn about the cultural/historical background for these differences, and also get some good ideas for coping with them or preventing them from being problems in the first place? And, what if you got to read about these as presented in comic book format, fully illustrated in color? Surely there is a market for that. I am thinking of releasing it (should it ever see the light of day), as a webcomic, and possibly collecting donations or selling professionally printed/bound versions, as for example Warren Ellis does with his comic FreakAngels.
I've been working up some brief sketches of parts of the story arcs, detailing some things that could be covered, how it should be done, etc. Whether or not I actually make money off of this, I think it would be somehow cathartic to do. I've also been reading about how to draw manga, and practicing a little in my spare time. As you all have probably noticed, I haven't mentioned studying Japanese recently, because I basically haven't had the time and/or inclination to do so. I hit the books really hard for several weeks, but I burnt myself out, and now anything more than doing a few flashcards or writing a few sentences feels like too much.
Another idea, this one viable for myself as an individual, was trying to sell some photographs. Michi actually has one of my photos from a trip I took to Ohio as her computer background right now. Actually, it is the same photo that my mom selected when I copied the pictures to her computer after the trip. (As a side note, I am often noticing some similarities between Michi and my mom, and she is often noticing similarities between my and her dad. Insert Oedipal remark here.) I can take some decent pictures, and I should be able to supplement my current salary by selling some.
Cheers,
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Exqueeze Me?!?!
hey all,
Still no word about contracts for next year. The ALTs in my city all received an email from our coordinator today which was worded in such a way that it sounded like she wants to ask us whether we intend to stay with the company next year. We were required to fill out such a form stating our intentions 2 months ago, giving them 3 months notice to find a replacement should one of us have decided to join a different company. They, on the other hand, have less than 30 days left to inform us whether we have contracts for next year.
Perhaps her English just got a bit messed up: in Japanese you often say things or word things backwards compared to English, so it is easy to make such mistakes. I find myself doing it sometimes in Japanese. But if she really intends to quiz us about our intentions again, without telling us what we should have been informed last month...there are no words, at least not any that I can write here.
Monday I put in more applications, including one for an editing/rewriting position for Japanese scientists and doctors looking to publish papers in academic journals.
Today I only had two lessons, both with my 2nd year students. The second lesson actually went really well. The 6th year students from my elementary school also visited my junior high school today, since they will be graduating soon and next school year they'll be junior high schoolers. That was also a cool treat, as I got to see them and my elementary teachers a little.
My last item is that, as it is the 16th of the month, this marks my 11th continuous month in Japan. We are closing in on one year quickly.
Cheers,
Still no word about contracts for next year. The ALTs in my city all received an email from our coordinator today which was worded in such a way that it sounded like she wants to ask us whether we intend to stay with the company next year. We were required to fill out such a form stating our intentions 2 months ago, giving them 3 months notice to find a replacement should one of us have decided to join a different company. They, on the other hand, have less than 30 days left to inform us whether we have contracts for next year.
Perhaps her English just got a bit messed up: in Japanese you often say things or word things backwards compared to English, so it is easy to make such mistakes. I find myself doing it sometimes in Japanese. But if she really intends to quiz us about our intentions again, without telling us what we should have been informed last month...there are no words, at least not any that I can write here.
Monday I put in more applications, including one for an editing/rewriting position for Japanese scientists and doctors looking to publish papers in academic journals.
Today I only had two lessons, both with my 2nd year students. The second lesson actually went really well. The 6th year students from my elementary school also visited my junior high school today, since they will be graduating soon and next school year they'll be junior high schoolers. That was also a cool treat, as I got to see them and my elementary teachers a little.
My last item is that, as it is the 16th of the month, this marks my 11th continuous month in Japan. We are closing in on one year quickly.
Cheers,
Sunday, February 14, 2010
One Lesson To Go, Job Ideas, Valentine's Day
hey all,
So it feels like it has been a long time since I posted here, so this will probably be a long one. It seems like a lot has happened.
Thursday was a holiday here in Japan, so Michi and I planned on going rock climbing indoors but decided to visit a cafe instead.
Friday was my second to last lesson at the elementary school: I teach there next week, but then I don't teach there at all in March. I'm really sad to be leaving that school. The kids were pretty good, the teachers treated me well, and the lessons were fun to do.
I've been brainstorming some things that we ALTs could do instead of teaching.
After yoga, we picked up ingredients for dinner. I can't really give you the recipe for our main dish, as it involves an ultra spicy Malaysian curry mix that I have no idea where to find. For some reason, the Malaysian guy across from my room sometimes gives a pack of it to me, and I told Michi about it, and she wanted to eat it since she loves spicy food. The dessert is as follows:
200g 70% pure chocolate
300g soft tofu
3 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons dark rum
All you have to do is melt the chocolate, honey and rum in the microwave, then blend everything together in a blender or food processor. This produces a thick, nicely textured vegetarian dairy free chocolate mousse. The important part for me, aside from the fact that it is immaculately delicious, is that it's dairy free.
Sunday, we walked around Kawagoe, which was also really good. For once, the weather was OK: the previous two times I've visited there, I've been rained out. Just a little on the cloudy and cold side, but otherwise fine weather. Michi wasn't familiar with it, and seemed really astonished about all the old buildings and cool shops.
That's all for now.
Cheers,
So it feels like it has been a long time since I posted here, so this will probably be a long one. It seems like a lot has happened.
Thursday was a holiday here in Japan, so Michi and I planned on going rock climbing indoors but decided to visit a cafe instead.
Friday was my second to last lesson at the elementary school: I teach there next week, but then I don't teach there at all in March. I'm really sad to be leaving that school. The kids were pretty good, the teachers treated me well, and the lessons were fun to do.
I've been brainstorming some things that we ALTs could do instead of teaching.
- subscription website with worksheets, games, teaching tips
- problem: content has to draw enough people in to support 5-10 people for a year
- good point: relatively low cost to start, already have lots of worksheets, games, etc
- game company
- problem: most of us have no programming, art, or marketing experience
- good point: already a large market for cell phone games, DS and PSP games, which are comparatively cheaper to make than PC or console games
- magazine
- problem: lots of competition, limited English market
- good point: we're smart people who notice what's going on around us, and can tell you about it in an entertaining fashion
- escort company
- problem: quasi legal
- good point: we are already basically whoring ourselves out for pittance, at least this way we'd be making decent cash
- translation
- problem: only a few of us have the certifications to really make this work
- good point: definitely a wide market
- proofreading/editing
- problem: already lots of competition???
- good point: a huge market. There are public signs with weird English everywhere which have obviously never been edited or proofread by a native speaker. Product use instructions, English versions of Japanese websites, T-shirts. There are lots of areas to this that we can try to tap into, and this doesn't really take too much Japanese skill.
After yoga, we picked up ingredients for dinner. I can't really give you the recipe for our main dish, as it involves an ultra spicy Malaysian curry mix that I have no idea where to find. For some reason, the Malaysian guy across from my room sometimes gives a pack of it to me, and I told Michi about it, and she wanted to eat it since she loves spicy food. The dessert is as follows:
200g 70% pure chocolate
300g soft tofu
3 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons dark rum
All you have to do is melt the chocolate, honey and rum in the microwave, then blend everything together in a blender or food processor. This produces a thick, nicely textured vegetarian dairy free chocolate mousse. The important part for me, aside from the fact that it is immaculately delicious, is that it's dairy free.
Sunday, we walked around Kawagoe, which was also really good. For once, the weather was OK: the previous two times I've visited there, I've been rained out. Just a little on the cloudy and cold side, but otherwise fine weather. Michi wasn't familiar with it, and seemed really astonished about all the old buildings and cool shops.
That's all for now.
Cheers,
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Peasant Rebellion
hey all,
So me and my ALT friends are trying to start a peasant rebellion. We're all smart people, and we're tired of being used as human CD players. The idea is to get together and brainstorm ideas on what we can do in Japan outside of education, which is a joke.
One of my ALT friends described it this way: The English education situation has been screwed up so thoroughly for so long by incompetents that it will take thousands of dedicated (need I mention foreign and underpaid?) geniuses to sort it all out. No thank you.
I'm not here to save the planet. That's not in my job description. Nobody is going to congratulate me on a job well done, at least in the Japanese public education system. Both the Japanese teachers I've worked with in my part time job say thank you, and tell me I'm doing a good job. I'm not going to receive more pay, or even get hired by my junior high school directly no matter how hard I bend over for them. And I wouldn't want to get hired by this school anyway, since it is the worst in Ageo, which makes it one of the worst in Saitama prefecture.
I don't see why I should have to settle for my current station. There are 29 work days left on my current contract, and I plan on having a viable alternative to this job by the end of them, even if it only means working for a private school instead of a public one, or at least changing companies and getting better pay.
Power to the People,
So me and my ALT friends are trying to start a peasant rebellion. We're all smart people, and we're tired of being used as human CD players. The idea is to get together and brainstorm ideas on what we can do in Japan outside of education, which is a joke.
One of my ALT friends described it this way: The English education situation has been screwed up so thoroughly for so long by incompetents that it will take thousands of dedicated (need I mention foreign and underpaid?) geniuses to sort it all out. No thank you.
I'm not here to save the planet. That's not in my job description. Nobody is going to congratulate me on a job well done, at least in the Japanese public education system. Both the Japanese teachers I've worked with in my part time job say thank you, and tell me I'm doing a good job. I'm not going to receive more pay, or even get hired by my junior high school directly no matter how hard I bend over for them. And I wouldn't want to get hired by this school anyway, since it is the worst in Ageo, which makes it one of the worst in Saitama prefecture.
I don't see why I should have to settle for my current station. There are 29 work days left on my current contract, and I plan on having a viable alternative to this job by the end of them, even if it only means working for a private school instead of a public one, or at least changing companies and getting better pay.
Power to the People,
Monday, February 08, 2010
More Job Apps
hey all,
I put in yet another round of job apps. I know it must seem like I put in a lot, but I actually counted that since August, I've only put in a whopping 31 applications. I got a reply from a potential employer which said they gave the job I wanted to someone else, but would I like to move 150 miles away from my goal for another job?
Classes have been something of a disaster lately. My 1st year teacher stopped talking to me again (besides which the 1st years are currently hundreds of miles away doing ski school) and my 3rd year students are busy doing 2nd year worksheets and doing writing practice (for which my presence is not needed in the classroom), so I've only been going to my 2nd year classes. My 2nd year English teacher clearly wants to kill each one of his students. Every time I come to class, his face, body posture, and tone of voice are really dangerous. I have to admit, even the classes which are usually well-behaved are starting to get on my nerves too. They haven't studied for most of the year and it shows, but at least before they pretended like they studied. Now they don't bother even doing that, and are loud and disrespectful in class. In the US this would not fly for a second, but in Japan it is against the rules to take a student out of class: he or she has a right to an education, even if he/she is actually disrupting class and preventing others from learning.
Changing topics completely, the maid cafe that we went to was really disappointing. The waitresses were dressed in high school uniforms, and the only thing slightly out of the ordinary was that all the food items were designed to be decorated: your pancakes get a special design in chocolate or maple syrup right at your table by the maid, the pizza gets a special dressing swirled into cute shapes, the omelet gets decorated with ketchup, etc. No one-on-one conversation, no paying to get your picture taken with the maid, no blowing on the (dangerously?) hot food for you, etc.
Cheers,
I put in yet another round of job apps. I know it must seem like I put in a lot, but I actually counted that since August, I've only put in a whopping 31 applications. I got a reply from a potential employer which said they gave the job I wanted to someone else, but would I like to move 150 miles away from my goal for another job?
Classes have been something of a disaster lately. My 1st year teacher stopped talking to me again (besides which the 1st years are currently hundreds of miles away doing ski school) and my 3rd year students are busy doing 2nd year worksheets and doing writing practice (for which my presence is not needed in the classroom), so I've only been going to my 2nd year classes. My 2nd year English teacher clearly wants to kill each one of his students. Every time I come to class, his face, body posture, and tone of voice are really dangerous. I have to admit, even the classes which are usually well-behaved are starting to get on my nerves too. They haven't studied for most of the year and it shows, but at least before they pretended like they studied. Now they don't bother even doing that, and are loud and disrespectful in class. In the US this would not fly for a second, but in Japan it is against the rules to take a student out of class: he or she has a right to an education, even if he/she is actually disrupting class and preventing others from learning.
Changing topics completely, the maid cafe that we went to was really disappointing. The waitresses were dressed in high school uniforms, and the only thing slightly out of the ordinary was that all the food items were designed to be decorated: your pancakes get a special design in chocolate or maple syrup right at your table by the maid, the pizza gets a special dressing swirled into cute shapes, the omelet gets decorated with ketchup, etc. No one-on-one conversation, no paying to get your picture taken with the maid, no blowing on the (dangerously?) hot food for you, etc.
Cheers,
Sunday, February 07, 2010
Yoga Climber
hey all,
Pretty good weekend. Saturday was catching up with Bri, doing yoga and going shopping with Michi, and today Michi and I hit up a climbing gym a few stops away from my house. No bad falls for either of us lately, but Michi told me that recently there were 2 serious accidents at Jogasaki, where we went climbing towards the end of last November. It really was a kinda dangerous climbing location, so we should be glad that we came through OK.
Yoga class was a little easier this time, but some of the poses are still really difficult to do. Like the superman pose, for instance. The more difficult stretches for me involve sitting on the ground with one leg stretched out in front of you, and the other leg making a triangle: knee sticking out, and foot pressed against the other leg's thigh. You then grab (with the opposite side's hand: right leg, left hand; left leg, right hand) the foot of the stretched out leg, and twist it towards the middle of your body, rolling your whole torso onto one side.
Anyway, last week I took the class for free, but this time was number two so I had to register and decide what kind of visit plan I wanted to get. I went for 1 month/4 visits, since it is kinda fun, and it gives me an excuse to hang out with Michi. Michi herself goes something like 4 times a week. Only about $70, which is really cheap, but the registration fee by itself was something like $50.
One of my ALT friends has been itching to go to a maid cafe, and Michi actually said I should go once to see what it is like, so we're going to give that a try tomorrow.
That's all for now. Cheers,
Pretty good weekend. Saturday was catching up with Bri, doing yoga and going shopping with Michi, and today Michi and I hit up a climbing gym a few stops away from my house. No bad falls for either of us lately, but Michi told me that recently there were 2 serious accidents at Jogasaki, where we went climbing towards the end of last November. It really was a kinda dangerous climbing location, so we should be glad that we came through OK.
Yoga class was a little easier this time, but some of the poses are still really difficult to do. Like the superman pose, for instance. The more difficult stretches for me involve sitting on the ground with one leg stretched out in front of you, and the other leg making a triangle: knee sticking out, and foot pressed against the other leg's thigh. You then grab (with the opposite side's hand: right leg, left hand; left leg, right hand) the foot of the stretched out leg, and twist it towards the middle of your body, rolling your whole torso onto one side.
Anyway, last week I took the class for free, but this time was number two so I had to register and decide what kind of visit plan I wanted to get. I went for 1 month/4 visits, since it is kinda fun, and it gives me an excuse to hang out with Michi. Michi herself goes something like 4 times a week. Only about $70, which is really cheap, but the registration fee by itself was something like $50.
One of my ALT friends has been itching to go to a maid cafe, and Michi actually said I should go once to see what it is like, so we're going to give that a try tomorrow.
That's all for now. Cheers,
Thursday, February 04, 2010
Oh Bother
hey all,
I did not teach any classes today or yesterday, and as usual nobody seems to care. I've been studying Japanese, and also making some grammar worksheets which I will probably use for my next school. My ear infection seems to be getting a bit better: at least the pain and sensitivity are going down a bit. I ran into one of my fellow ALTs while shopping for a binder, and we ended up talking in a donut shop for an hour or so before my part time job. He used to work at my junior high school, so he really knows what's wrong with it and can sympathize, since most other schools in our city are better than mine. We did manage to put a positive spin on it though: at least I'm learning a lot of ways NOT to do things.
I'm looking forward to tomorrow because I teach at my elementary school. The weekend should be good as well, but we'll see. The current plan is to do yoga Saturday afternoon with Michi, then go shopping, and probably go climbing Sunday.
Cheers,
I did not teach any classes today or yesterday, and as usual nobody seems to care. I've been studying Japanese, and also making some grammar worksheets which I will probably use for my next school. My ear infection seems to be getting a bit better: at least the pain and sensitivity are going down a bit. I ran into one of my fellow ALTs while shopping for a binder, and we ended up talking in a donut shop for an hour or so before my part time job. He used to work at my junior high school, so he really knows what's wrong with it and can sympathize, since most other schools in our city are better than mine. We did manage to put a positive spin on it though: at least I'm learning a lot of ways NOT to do things.
I'm looking forward to tomorrow because I teach at my elementary school. The weekend should be good as well, but we'll see. The current plan is to do yoga Saturday afternoon with Michi, then go shopping, and probably go climbing Sunday.
Cheers,
Wednesday, February 03, 2010
Class, Or Something Like It
hey all,
Today I didn't have classes at all: I corrected some writing practice worksheets for my 3rd year students, and spent most of the rest of the time studying Japanese. For some reason, 80% or more of my 3rd year students think that "want to" + NOUN is an OK sentence pattern:
We did in fact get some snow the other day, and right now it is also snowing. Most of it will probably be gone by the morning, but the local agencies don't seem to know what to do about it.
I seem to have an ear infection, so it's been a little hard to sleep and also difficult to keep focus at work.
I actually just got back from a trip to the bar with some ALTs. Really good night tonight.
Cheers,
Today I didn't have classes at all: I corrected some writing practice worksheets for my 3rd year students, and spent most of the rest of the time studying Japanese. For some reason, 80% or more of my 3rd year students think that "want to" + NOUN is an OK sentence pattern:
I want to cat
is a particularly popular sentence. You know what? I want to cat, too. If I had the time, I'd cat all over town. Just last night, me and your momma were catting all night long.
Anyway, they also made lots of mistakes with a/the/my, so I made a worksheet that explained when and how to use them. But "want to" + NOUN is such an idiotic mistake that I seriously can't think how to correct it, other than pointing out the obvious grammatical clues that they aren't picking up on.
We did in fact get some snow the other day, and right now it is also snowing. Most of it will probably be gone by the morning, but the local agencies don't seem to know what to do about it.
I seem to have an ear infection, so it's been a little hard to sleep and also difficult to keep focus at work.
I actually just got back from a trip to the bar with some ALTs. Really good night tonight.
Cheers,
Monday, February 01, 2010
February
hey all,
Despite the nice, unseasonably warm weather yesterday, tonight we are supposed to get snow. We have gotten a little ice before, but not really any snow to speak of. If you've checked out my pictures from Nikko, you'll see lots of snow there, but that is over 3 hours to the North of Tokyo.
Last week, my 3rd year teacher asked me to make some writing practice worksheets for her students. They have a big test coming up, and most of them would probably get 0 points on the writing section. So, I made a bunch of example paragraphs, written in both Japanese and English about topics like my hobbies, favorite sport, family, friends, and favorite subject. Below each example paragraph is a blank section to write about 5 or 6 sentences. But apparently this was a little too complicated. She also wanted some fill-in-the-blank style handy key sentences which the students could essentially copy down, and only change the personally relevant parts of. This, I'd argue, might be OK for someone who has only studied a language for a few months or less: the equivalent of an English phrasebook, good for someone who doesn't really understand the workings of the language they're trying to communicate in, but ultimately doesn't have the time or doesn't care about actually doing so (that is, actually trying to communicate in another language). But these students have studied English for 3 years, surely a little genuine self-expression is something they should be able to do...
Ah but wait, we are in Japan, where showing your true feelings is in most situations something of a no-no, and we are dealing with 3rd year junior high school students who are the least expressive group of people I've ever met, and on top of all that, my school is just not very good. My 2nd year teacher is clearly fed up with his students not studying and not trying hard. But what is the point? They aren't going to get held back: no matter how poorly you do in your classes, if you're a 2nd year student this year, next year you will become a 3rd year student, and thus be taking all 3rd year classes with your 3rd year classmates...despite the fact that you can't tell the difference between n and h, b and d, or hear the difference between v and b (I'm willing to forgive the L/R thing, because every Japanese person I've ever met can't do it), let alone correctly conjugate verbs, place the subject, verb and object in the correct spots, or in general deal with the fact that English grammar and Japanese grammar are in any way different.
Hmm. This started as a neutral post, and somehow became a little rant. Anyway, I'm putting in some more applications for Tokyo positions, but as usual my hopes are not high. I didn't get to study Japanese too much today, so I'm going to take a shower, then study for an hour before going to bed.
Cheers,
Despite the nice, unseasonably warm weather yesterday, tonight we are supposed to get snow. We have gotten a little ice before, but not really any snow to speak of. If you've checked out my pictures from Nikko, you'll see lots of snow there, but that is over 3 hours to the North of Tokyo.
Last week, my 3rd year teacher asked me to make some writing practice worksheets for her students. They have a big test coming up, and most of them would probably get 0 points on the writing section. So, I made a bunch of example paragraphs, written in both Japanese and English about topics like my hobbies, favorite sport, family, friends, and favorite subject. Below each example paragraph is a blank section to write about 5 or 6 sentences. But apparently this was a little too complicated. She also wanted some fill-in-the-blank style handy key sentences which the students could essentially copy down, and only change the personally relevant parts of. This, I'd argue, might be OK for someone who has only studied a language for a few months or less: the equivalent of an English phrasebook, good for someone who doesn't really understand the workings of the language they're trying to communicate in, but ultimately doesn't have the time or doesn't care about actually doing so (that is, actually trying to communicate in another language). But these students have studied English for 3 years, surely a little genuine self-expression is something they should be able to do...
Ah but wait, we are in Japan, where showing your true feelings is in most situations something of a no-no, and we are dealing with 3rd year junior high school students who are the least expressive group of people I've ever met, and on top of all that, my school is just not very good. My 2nd year teacher is clearly fed up with his students not studying and not trying hard. But what is the point? They aren't going to get held back: no matter how poorly you do in your classes, if you're a 2nd year student this year, next year you will become a 3rd year student, and thus be taking all 3rd year classes with your 3rd year classmates...despite the fact that you can't tell the difference between n and h, b and d, or hear the difference between v and b (I'm willing to forgive the L/R thing, because every Japanese person I've ever met can't do it), let alone correctly conjugate verbs, place the subject, verb and object in the correct spots, or in general deal with the fact that English grammar and Japanese grammar are in any way different.
Hmm. This started as a neutral post, and somehow became a little rant. Anyway, I'm putting in some more applications for Tokyo positions, but as usual my hopes are not high. I didn't get to study Japanese too much today, so I'm going to take a shower, then study for an hour before going to bed.
Cheers,
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)