Monday I started “work”. And by work, I mean cleaning off the desk I was given and sorting through all the previous JETs’ paperwork, games, and worksheets. Not to mention all the past textbooks that were piled everywhere. It made me wonder if there was a sort of packrat mentality to these teachers since it did not look like anything had been thrown away for the past ten years. It would be a few months into my work when I finally threw away the gigantic pile of crap papers that lingered on my desk, though. However, the cleaning process took up most of the morning and then Sakuma came to get me so that we could continue the process of me becoming a resident of Iwaki by going to countless offices and filling out unending amounts of paperwork. Luckily, I also received my phone that day. Unluckily, it took four hours. However, after reading the rants from other JETs on Facebook, I can consider myself lucky it only took me four hours and I got my phone so quickly after I arrived. Some did not receive a phone until a month or more into their work, and others had to make multiple trips to the phone store with their JTE before they could receive a phone. Also, along those same lines of other ALTs not receiving things until months into their job, I did not have any problem with getting internet—which is great since my hobby is making YouTube videos. My predecessor had internet, and I just continued to use it and pay for it until their contract was up and then with only a few days without it, I was back online with my contract started. I know, I know, I am lucky.
The only issue was that my phone was in Japanese. However it was not too hard to just keep pushing buttons until I figured out what they were for. Plus it was good Japanese practice. So, since it was summer still and the students were only taking extra lessons, I did not have any classes to teach. Which was totally fine with me because I felt that I still needed to get adjusted to my life here in Japan and to get to know the teachers. I spent most of my summer days wandering the halls, getting to know the layout of the school (i.e. where the vending machines were), playing on Facebook, pinning things on Pinterest, studying Japanese, and of course creating my first lesson (which I would give hundreds of times) which was my self-introduction. Now I had heard that there are many ways to do a self-introduction and the best way it to get the students to interact with you so that it is not just you giving a lecture about yourself (because, honestly, no one wants to listen to someone talk about themselves for an hour). So, after quite a few revisions, I came up with a fun starter game—2 truths and a lie. It was an easy way to get the students involved with learning about me in a way that is not too intimidating for them. Basically I explained the rules of the game and then wrote my three things on the board. I gave them a minute to talk to each other to a) figure out the meaning of what I wrote, and b) guess which one was the lie. I then had them raise their hands depending on what they chose. It was a fun way to get them interested and their minds working as to who I actually was. My schedule for the summer weeks were just to come in Monday through Friday and sit at my desk from 8:30-4:15. Luckily it ended quickly and I was able to get started on teaching and creating new lessons each week. Let me tell you about my schedule. Since I am a high school ALT, I have much fewer schools than those who teach at an elementary level. I only have four schools that I go to whereas they might have upwards of eight. My main school that I go to is Sakuragaoka, and as I said before, I go there Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. My Tuesday school is called Heiko, and my Thursday school is called Tono. My fourth school is called Midori no Mori and I only go there once a month. Usually my schedule is from 8:30-4:15, but sometimes I participate in club activities and am at school until 6:30 or 7. I have participated in girls’ soccer at Sakuragaoka, kendo at Sakuragaoka, karate club at Heiko, English club at Sakuragaoka, and also muscle training at Heiko. While I know that it is unusual to go to that many clubs, I also find that I haven’t quite found my niche. I wanted to play soccer because that is what I knew (since I played it in high school). English club was thrust upon me, but I am really enjoying it now. I wanted to do karate club because it was the style that I did in college, but I found that it was just too awkward for me to be there because no one talked to me and I was really just on my own. So, recently, I did muscle training with two other English teachers (one of which was the instructor/coach) and enjoyed that a lot since they talked to me and it was a good workout. My suggestion is to find what makes you happy and then go with it whether you are good at it or not. After school started, I was thrust into the world of teaching. Which was fine with me because that is what I love doing. Luckily, I have JTEs who are willing and want to talk to me about the grammar points that they want me to include in my lessons at Sakuragaoka. At Heiko, I mostly create games that use a low level of English, and at Tono, I am mostly used for my English accent, but sometimes I help create activities, too. My lessons at Sakuragaoka range from worksheets to commercials. Basically, if I can think of an activity that uses the grammar point, I will. Otherwise as a fallback, I will create a worksheet that has the students writing sentences in English and then using them as crutches for conversation. Sometimes they don’t work as well as I wish they did, but sometimes they are awesome. It usually depends on how excited and willing the students are to participate. Luckily I only have a few classes where the students just are not willing to be excited about anything I present to them.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Myself
Video blogger and now a blogger as well. My life in Japan has changed me for the better. However, it wasn't easy... Archives
September 2016
Categories
All
|