So Monday night was exercise, which was excellent. I then went to the Jusco, where I purchased Hoi Hoi traps to kill roaches. I had left the sheet which told me what roach traps to buy at Higashiyama (of course) so I ended up just going to a person who was working at the store and saying “Gokiburi wo koroshitai...” (I want to kill cockroaches!) and the nice lady took me right to the section and recommended some great products including the Hoi Hoi traps I've got scattered around my apartment now. Since I've put them out, I haven't seen a roach! I also purchased a Bento sushi for dinner (under $5 for a Sushi platter that would be almost twice that much in the States) and some milk. Suffice it to say, I was dead tired by the time I finished eating.
Even so, I didn't really get to bed until 12am, so I was tired on Tuesday too when I went to work. But biking woke me right up, first because of the exercise and second because I accidentally took the wrong road and had a real panic moment that my usual lack of direction would make me late for work. This was especially problematic because I also had to leave early to attend CPR training. So being late and and leaving early, BIG problem in any country.
Luckily, the road I was taking to Homi was roughly parallel to the road I should have taken (155, going to Seto) so when I realized after about 10 to 15 minutes that none of the landmarks I recognized were appearing, and that the Chome I was in was not on my map (they all aren't listed, alas) I asked for directions to Josui Station. That's the closest large thing that I figured people would know if I asked for directions. Then it was a quick left turn and lots of downhill riding, and I was actually not only right back on track, but I was actually right at my school! Turns out the road that I had taken to get to Josui station went right PAST my school!
So I was on-time for Toyota Yogo! Phew! It was also a real reminder that even if you've successfully walked or biked to a place once or twice before, that's no protection against being lost in Japan. At least if you're me. But while I'm still getting lost, my ability to handle it and get back on track is also definitely improved. And I am much more well able to deal with biking on hills, and getting better at understanding the Japanese road system. So yay!
Classes went well. Having made it my mission to greet and say goodbye to every student (or as many as I can) is beginning to show real signs of paying off. The kids now remember me, and some even pop out with a “good morning” or a high five unsolicited! It's very exciting!
I'm not sure how much of it is that they're learning good morning and the like from me, or that they're just getting over their shyness (it's incredibly hard to tell here--) but either way, I feel really great because it's beginning to feel more and more like my presence at this school (and all of them) is making a positive difference! And I'm getting to know the kids better, and they're getting to know me. It's great! I'm still terrible with names though at Toyota Yogo because I'm there more often, and I have more free time in which to talk to students individually, I'm probably doing the best of all of my schools with remembering specific children and teen's names.
Another exciting thing about working at Toyota Yogo is one of my coworkers, (name a blank, as usual, but he says his first job is fishing, and second job is as a teacher, really great guy) a nice older gentleman who worked at four schools for deaf children before coming to Toyota Yogo, is teaching me Japanese Sign Language. We have a great time chatting in the staff room about all kinds of things, and I usually pick up between 3-6 new signs every day I'm there, which (since he teachers me most of the signs in Japanese and English if he knows the English word – his English is really pretty good, so our conversations drift between the two languages) provides a great grounding for new vocabulary in addition to giving me a new language, and something else interesting to share with the kids at my various schools. The sign language helps me ground my Japanese, so I figure (like with any gesture) it will help them ground their English a bit as well. It's also totally fun!
I had to leave early for CPR and AED (it's a machine that shocks the heart if it's failing) training so after volunteering (inserting myself) into the third period songs class (far better than spending another useless 45 minutes in the staff room) I headed back to my neck of Toyota to go to City Hall. I also stopped at a 7-11 and treated myself to an American Dog, which is the Japanese version of a corn dog. It's about as healthy for you here as in the States, which is to say not very, but I loves me a corn dog. The corn dogs here are extra special because instead of having a thin layer of cornbread, they are thic like a fist. The hot dog is the same size as a standard hotdog, but the cornbread layer is about as thick around as the dog itself. It's made of delicious (though having tried 7-11's version and the Sankus version, I totally recommend Sankus more. The cornbread is a bit fluffier there, at least at the Sankus next to VITS Karaoke, where I buy my karaoke snacks. Of course, this is a wild generalization, so take it for what it's worth).
CPR training was fun because I got to hang out with some folks from my company that I hardly ever see because we're all off living our own lives and etc. (and the training was basically in English, though we ended up drifting into Japanese a lot because we had some very experienced Japanese speakers in our group (Lem) who could translate the more complicated questions and answers) We learned what to do when we see someone lying flat on the ground, clearly not moving. First, tap their shoulders vigorously and say in a loud voice “wakarimasuka!” (do you understand/are you okay enough to understand me?) and if they don't wake up, then call for help “dareka kite!” (da ray ka keetay)
After that, you check for breathing, and if they're not breathing, start CPR. Checking for a pulse takes too long, so we're not supposed to do that. Depending on how panicked I am in a real situation, I'll probably automatically check the gums though to see if they're blue, because that's what we do for cats. Blue is BAD, because it means the tissues aren't getting oxygen (probably not breathing); pink is good, it means that the tissues are at least getting O2. White is also bad, because it means that for whatever reason, there's blood loss or anemia (check for wound). But this is an aside. If they aren't breathing, start CPR.
Once someone comes, get the first person to call for an ambulance “kyuu kyuu sha wo yonde kudasai!” the second person gets to get the AED (heart shocker machine) “AED wo motte kite kudasai!” and then last person is charged with bringing as many people as possible: “ooku no hito yonde kudasai!” We all had fun with “ooku no hito yonde kudasai” for two reasons. First, nobody (at least sitting near me) had heard the phrase “ooku no hito” before. And most of these folks (with the exception of Justin, who has been here for 7 months, and me, getting on 7 weeks) have been here for at least 1-2 years. Lem's been here for 11 years. He may have heard it before though; but he's also taken the class before when he got his driver's license. So first we had to define “ooku no hito,” definition: lots and lots of people. I assume that the 'ooku' is some form of 多いOoi (many) though which one and why its being used this way, I have no idea.
The second reason for confusion revolving around “ooku no hito” was the question that two or three of us asked in various ways? Once you have all these “ooku no hito” gathered around, what do you do with them all? I've always heard that as a passserby, if there is an accident, and there are people gathered around (and someone is clearly handling the situation), the last thing you want to do is add yourself to the mass. Too many people can make a bad situation worse. But in Japan you want “ooku no hito” because they'll help you with the CPR. Apparently, people in Japan (according to my trainer) are very likely to know how to do the chest compressions as a matter of course, and since it takes six minutes from the phone call for the kyuukyuusha (ambulance) to arrive, you're going to need those extra hands to keep you from getting exhausted as you do the CPR. But if nobody comes at all, then you do two minutes of CPR and then run off and call for the ambulance. (Dial 119 for ambulance here. There's a different number for the police and fire department.)
The next part of our training was on proper use of the AED. I'd never seen an AED before. It's basically a machine about the size of an old Mac laptop (ie: thick as a brick, about a square foot around) that checks for heartrate and then delivers (if necessary) a shock to the heart. There are leads that stick to the chest, one over the upper right side of the chest (across from the heart), the other diagonally to the left, just below the ribcage. For a child under eight, you put one lead on the front of the chest in the center of the ribcage, and the other on the back. You also really need to take any metal off the chest and dry the area, otherwise it's bad things. The shock is pretty tough.
If the heart isn't beating at all, the AED doesn't give a shock, as unlike in the movies, jolting a flatline doesn't do anything useful. Our very important phrase that we learned here was “hanarete!” 離れて！It means, back up, get your hands off, etc. (separate/detach/release). This is actually a word in a song I'm trying learn for Karaoke, The Mass Missile's 愛の讃歌（あいのさんか）which is all in Kansai-ben apparently; this explains a lot about why I couldn't find a lot of the words in the dictionary. I'll never forget the meaning of this word though, because after Hanarete comes the shock. “Shoku shimasu!”
Like me, everyone I've talked to since the training has had some sort of experience with the word “hanarete” running through their minds or dreams. The AED is quite straightforward (though its all in Japanese) and none of us has any trouble learning how to use it.
During our training, there was also a news crew (TV and newspaper) taking pictures and videotaping us for TV and the paper. I did a short interview (in Japanese; it was me and two others of our group) about how I found the training to be useful which turned up on the six-o-clock local news! (including in Nagoya). I never got to see it, but throughout the week fellow teachers and one student, as well as a friend online, have mentioned that they saw me on TV. I wish I could find an online link to the interview so I could see it, but who knows. The nice people at Kosema however did clip the newspaper article out for me. I'm taking a picture of it to post online. I'm right in the center of the picture used in the article. This also gives you an indication about how stress-free life here is as our CPR class was actually newsworthy.
It's also, I'm sure, because we're foreign. Being foreign here in Japan, especially in school with the students, is a little like being a rock-star. People always want to talk to you and ask you questions, etc! Even so, in school, I still have some residual nervousness from my own Elementary School experience (where I was about as popular as a roadkill skunk). Sometimes I have to fight a diffuse fear when approaching students at random “oh god, they're not going to like me...!”
This is especially true with the fifth and sixth grades (where I was about as popular as a roadkill skunk that had been left out in the sun for two days) but with a bright smile and an energetic hello, everyone's around me chattering and giving high-fives etc! Just entering a school, often kids will wave at me from the windows, and I'll here in excited tones “it's Vash! Eigo sensei!” or some permutation of this. For a ham like me, this is ridiculously exciting! (it's also allowing me to exorcise some old demons.) Even so, I do tend to find myself drawn to the unpopular kids (or those with learning disabilities) though I try to spread myself as evenly as possible. As a general rule, the kids here are incredibly kind to each other. Any horsing around is not meant in a mean spirit that I've seen, though I'm only getting a very narrow window into this world, so I can't make any generalizations as I really don't know.
So that was my exciting Tuesday!
Phew these entries take a long time, especially when one has a backlog!
Hugs to all :)
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For more of my adventure in Japan and onwards, visit my blog: http://vashabroad.blogspot.com
Showing posts with label ALT. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ALT. Show all posts
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Take Your Blog to Work Day
So I've figured out what the problem was with my netbook screen and taking my computer around. There's a manufacturer's defect that I discovered in Japan (I'd noticed it vaguely in the States but hadn't used the computer enough to recognize what an annoying problem this was until it became my primary computer) which means that if my screen is too bright, it goes to a full white screen. I can either take three months and ship it back to the States to repair it, or just turn the brightness down on my screen. I've been going with Option B.
But I'd also thought there was a positional issue as depending on what angle I held the screen, it would sometimes or sometimes not go white. Because I thought there was something loose inside the monitor, I was reluctant to drag my computer on the road, thus turning my extra-portable netbook into a super small at home desktop. BUT: I realized yesterday that the reason why the screen goes white when I close it to hibernate is NOT positional, but instead due to the fact that the screen automatically goes back to its original brightness after it hibernates. And so, with a quick FN and the down arrow a couple of times, the problem is solved. This means that these free periods that have been driving me nuts are now valuable time for blogging and writing fiction. Wahoo!
Hence this exciting blog entry. Since I have about three hours of free time scattered through today (the teachers are doing いんかい (don't know the kanji for this one, and because I don't have internet here, had to use my denshi jisho, which while it was not especially informative in regards to this word, did let me know that 陰核 (いんかく- inkaku) is clitoris. What a difference a syllable makes! Wonder when I'm going to get to use that one?)
(scrolling down as my Japanese coworkers can actually read the Japanese on my computer)
Also, tonight I'm staying late to do aerobics with a group of other female teachers at the school. It was really fun the last time I did it, now almost a month ago (I had to miss last week to pick up my Gaijin Card at City Hall as I thought because I was a week late that they'd send it back or something, who knows). So instead of leaving at 4:45, I'm staying around the school until about 7, and exercise starts at about 5:30. This time, I'm going to try not to get my ass kicked aerobically by my desk neighbor's mother. I doubt that's going to come through for me though.
So anyway, onto more exciting things, like what I've been doing for the past few days. Since we last left our intrepid heroine, she was learning a bit of Portuguese at Nishihomi Elementary. My major trials at that time included not getting lesson plans or schedules from the schools through my company as expected, at thus having to go it blind almost every day. I am happy to say that problem has been resolved. Turns out there was a mistake in the spelling of my email address, so some random person in the world has been receiving my lesson plans and schedules, but it was not me. I'm super glad that the problem was something so minor, though it was incredibly frustrating and annoying at the time. As a result of receiving my schedule, I was able to prepare four lessons for Ohata, and all went basically smoothly.
I also got the number on that group of fourth grade boys that so thoroughly drove me up the wall last time I was there. Life in regards to school—because I was always completely unprepared—had been so gosh darned difficult that their behavior had nothing in it to rattle me at all, so there's a blessing in that I suppose. The ticket to getting them running my direction was a combination of TPR (total physical response), games involving fly swatters and a willingness to share with them how to say things like “poop” in English. Things went a little awry when I tried to slow things down for a food related song, but once we got out the fly swatters and I refused to do anything until they settled down, things were well on track. I feel like I'm about 85% there (mostly because I went against my gut and attempted the song in my lesson plan...the gut is usually right). It was kind of ironic because after the lesson, the HRT apologized for the boys not listening, and I felt that they had been leaps and bounds above the last time. And next time, we're all going to be marching well in tune. It was a lot of fun.
I also got to watch the school's preparation for 運動会（うんどうかい – undoukai), the Sports Festival. I took video of it which you can watch here:
Undoukai is a huge deal here in Japan. No joke. All of my schools are busily preparing for it, taking time from class to work on flags and routines, etc. It's really an amazing demonstration. At the above school, Ohata (time for class...gosh these times go so much faster with the netbook!) (back now, gosh I love blogging at school. I will take another break at a very soon point to say goodbye to all of the kids as they pass by the door of our staff room. Last time I taught them how to say “baby” with the baby in arms gesture, and they all got such a kick out of it!) It's like a huge school fair that centers around sports. Or at least that's what I think now. Probably after I experience the real thing, I'll have a different impression.
My day at Ohata went wildly well, and afterwards I was feeling a bit introverted, so I made the decision to go to Jusco and go grocery shopping, go running, and then head home to catch up on episodes of Dexter online. Luckily that plan didn't work out. Instead, as I was getting ready to head out running, I ran into (almost literally), Erin, another woman from our company, also from the States. She actually went to school in Pittsburgh, practically in my backyard globally speaking. She was on her way to get 100 yen/plate sushi at a chain sushi place and that sounded like fun so I asked if I could join her. She's blond haired and blue eyed, and I noticed we got stared at a lot more together than I usually do alone (since everyone just thinks I'm Brazilian). I had actually gotten Erin's email address at our last meeting, but lost it twice (me and paper...sigh...) which I regretted at the time quite a lot, but regretted even more after I found out she was a fantasy writer. So in Toyota, there are at least two speculative fiction writers! I feel so lucky!
We bonded on writing and geek stuff and about life in Japan, including, (maybe because we are American) a ten minute intensive discussion about teeth. Erin was telling me that she has a British friend who when he goes out with Americans absolutely refuses to let them (us) get started on teeth around him. Apparently as Americans we're obsessed with dental care. Truthfully, these days I do feel obsessed with dental care, though now that I found Listerine at the Jusco, my teeth aren't quite such a disaster as they were which is a major YAY!
Now I can shift my obsession from getting rid of my gingivitis to getting rid of the giant roaches that have begun to appear in my apartment. It's getting warmer and more humid, and as such I've seen two of these monsters in the last week, and that's two too many. They seem to range in size between half and three quarters of the length of my pinky. The first I wasn't able to kill (I assume it went back down the toilet) but the second I beat until it was not only dead but in half. I don't know where the second half went. I got the head, so the rest is probably still alive somewhere, probably starving, pooping and eventually decaying somewhere in my walls. I find this very disturbing if I think about it for any length of time.
Mike gave me a good eHow page on my Facebook which I read over. I also found this excellent website on roach (gokiburi) killing products in Japan, what they are called, how they work and where to find them. (http://www.jp41.com/living-in-japan/kill-cockroaches.php) I am every grateful for the internet for providing me with these gems of information. On the other hand, I'm also a bit exhausted because I got the bright idea to start researching this right before I went to bed, which meant that I (a) couldn't fall asleep last night because every small noise made me thing “they're coming out of the walls” and (b) I couldn't stay asleep last night because every small noise woke me up thinking “they're coming out of the walls.” I found a detailed and informative website (which I now can't find) that also showed pictures of all the different types of roaches in the world so that you can identify the ones that are plaguing you. (this is a large part of the reason for my sleepless night). I have a good feeling that in Japan, I'm dealing with some sort of radioactively enhanced German roach species. As of now, I've bleached all of my surfaces, sponge cleaned my floor with bleach cleaning supplies in the kitchen/hall, plugged my drains, and I'm buying roach killer and actual bleach tonight (I've been using a bleach based cleaning spray: I know it's bleach because of the smell).
What is upsetting though is that because I live in an apartment complex, aside from throwing bleach down the drains and buying roach traps, sprays and powders (this environment may be too humid for boric acid though), there isn't a whole lot I can do to keep the roaches from coming in from my neighbors. This isn't really much different from Philly, though at least in Philly I have five cats, three of whom are real killers (and of course, I don't use toxic roach killing products around my loveable kitties, but since I'm alone, gotta do what you gotta do). I'm just praying these roaches aren't the types that fly. I can barely deal with the groundbound ones.
But yes, there's more to life in Japan than teeth and killing roaches. Like everything else.
After my great dinner with Erin, I headed to Jusco to finish up my grocery shopping. Just talking and hanging out with another writer here in Japan (and one who is actually working on a fiction project) was so inspirational for me! I started thinking about getting back to writing fiction, what I would write etc. None of this panned out on Friday, because by the time I was done grocery shopping, it was time to go to the Izakaya. I'd been neglecting Kogame (小亀) and putting my position as Jouren (常連) in doubt I felt, and I also just missed my Izakaya friends like Ito and Kato-san and Hitomi-chan, to name a few.
That said I was also EXHAUSTED so not at my best. This pushed my Japanese into the toilet because I could barely think, but I still had a great time. I also ended up meeting two very exciting people: our local Councilman Kamo Mikio and another man who is the father of the Toyota City's Olympic rower. We had a great time, and he gave me a Beijing Olympics pin from his son's go at the Beijing Olympics. His son is currently training for the next Olympics. He's in Slovakia, and I think there's a strong possibility that I agreed to go to Poland and Slovakia over summer vacation with these folks to meet him. I'm also going to be trying rowing in early June with a local team. I was so tired though, all of this completely slipped my mind when I talked to Steph the next morning, so I basically was like “oh no, nothing exciting happened. I just did my job.”
That night, I crawled home around 1:00am and passed out. I woke the next morning, chatted with Steph, watched some TV on my computer and then around 2:00pm decided it was time to do something useful with my day. Usually, around 11am or 11:30, I'd start looking on the internet for interesting places that were close enough to Toyota for me to bike to, but at 2pm, there wasn't much point in spending 1-2 hours on a bike just to come home, and I was still a little tired, so I just decided to explore my own backyard. Michael () supposedly has a painting in the Toyota Museum of Art, which is less than a kilometer from my apartment, so I figured why not go there and see it?
Of course, I wound up in the wrong building (because this is me in Japan) but this worked out because I saw an incredible Nomen mask exhibit and got to talk extensively with the artists. They explained to me about the world of the dead (Jigoku/hell) and how the masks were images of people in the land of the dead, their features frozen at the point of death, but at some point as charactures of how they had lived their lives (evil or good people). Hence some of the masks are scarier than others. This was really interesting and I had every confidence it would make it into a story in some way or shape.
After that, I decided to go running, and since I usually have no idea how far I'm running here I aimed for a Mcdonalds that a billboard at the part of Route 155 near my apartment said was three kilometers ahead. I figured if I ran that way once, and then ran back, it would be 6k. This was a great run! I actually ran a little bit longer because I (a) ran from my apartment to the sign and (b) kept running past my apartment and for about another five minutes because I didn't want to stop running on “Believe” from the Run Lola Run soundtrack. It did take me about 50 minutes to do this, which is slow, but I am happy to be getting back into shape today. Getting back into running definitely paid off at recess, when I played “Oni” (a form of tag) with some sixth grade boys. Fifteen minutes of flat out running. Good warmup for aerobics tonight I think.
After running I went home, cooked, and then finished watching the last season of Dexter. What a kicker of an ending. I am very sad. It feels weird, looking back over my weekend and thinking about how anti-social I felt. This was in part exhaustion, but also in part a shift in my understanding of my life here. I'm working to get back the things that were important to me in Philly, including running, biking and of course writing. These things do require one has some time to herself and some reflection. That's not to say I'm going into hermitage, not by any means, (this weekend is already filling up) but I just wasn't up to my usual level of socialization this weekend.
On Sunday I started Japanese classes at TIA. It seems a LOT of people tested into class A, which was a huge problem for the class A teacher who was a bit overwhelmed. The class is entirely in Japanese. This is not an immersion method exactly; it's because Japanese is the one language that all of us have in common here. This is completely obvious, but it was also a real mental flip for me, who is used to thinking of English (even now) as the primary language through which I get information. If there was another theme for my weekend, it was illustration of the shift in understanding that here, Japanese really is the default language. I know this intellectually, but instinctually, it's still weird.
So the entire class really was in Japanese. The other Japanese class I took in Philly (at the Japanese Language School) attempted to do this, but it was very easy (too easy) for everyone to drift back into English if something didn't make sense or wasn't completely clear. At this class, the teacher spoke in Japanese for the entire time. In this class, I also was the only American, and one of only three primary English speakers (two of whom were native Japanese who had learned English at International School in Japan and felt more comfortable with it, hence their taking this class). I had a couple of questions, one of which I asked the teacher, and the second I ended up talking to one of my classmates about 苦手 (にがて/nigate) which means things that others can do that you can't do; looking it up in my denshi jishou, it said “weak point” which also makes sense.
The first thing we did after basic classroom setup was Jikoshoukai. I volunteered to go first. I've given my Jikoshoukai in English and Japanese about a million times here so it holds no fear for me. But even if it had held fear for me, I'd have volunteered to go first (or in the first few people) because you don't learn anything if you don't put yourself out there. Which is why I volunteered to go in the first three for the exercise that included 'nigate' because I wanted to really use it where the rubber hit the road. I think I am going to really enjoy this class and learn a lot, which is very exciting.
After class, I had the chance to go to a BBQ in Nagoya, but before I went I wanted to make another go at the Toyota Art Museum to see Michael's painting. Of course I left my SD card for my camera in my apartment so I had to make two trips, and by the time all of that had happened, it was too late to go to Nagoya. Truthfully, I wasn't too upset about this because I was feeling introverted, so instead I went to the museum, enjoyed the art, then went outside and took my netbook for a spin. The exhibits at the museum had an otherworldly quality that was excellent in regards to giving me fodder for writing, and outside that evening I did start the first few paragraphs of a story. It's still in progress, so I'm not going to talk anymore on that until I have a draft. We'll see. (if not this than something else)
When I got home, I beat that roach to death. And cleaned. And ate. And cleaned. And talked to my grandfather and uncle on the phone. And cleaned some more. Still have some more cleaning to do.
Which brings us back to today. This has been a good day. It's now 4:30pm. All of my coworkers with the exception of the Tea Lady (a lovely older woman whose job it is to serve tea, organize and clean things as far as I can tell. It's a big job, and she's always working) and one other teacher have been involved in meetings all afternoon. This gave me the room practically to myself, a little lonely but okay. Now everyone has returned (yay!) and are handing out food products (double yay!). The room is filled with cheerful (and relieved) chatter as well as some whispered gossip. I am like a rock in a stream. I'm here, I have a place, but in regards to being effected by the movements of this flow, I'm just here. Typing.
Today I only had three classes, which ordinarily would have been reason for madness, but thanks to having my netbook, it was all good. My lessons today all went surprisingly well.
The most interesting was the first, where we had some four visitors, older gentlemen with salt and pepper hair in full suit and ties who looked over our class with serious expressions and notepads. Yikes! But the lesson went well, and I think we made a good impression. And clearly this was a serious situation, because I've been thanked by about 5 different people at school for doing the lesson today, including the Principal. So at least my three hours of preparation for this lesson plan actually paid off. That and having Jun-sensei, my HRT for this class, who is excellent. He had lots of great ideas for this lesson, which made it a success. Alone, I doubt that would have happened.
After that, it was days of the week with first graders. They did better at it than I'd thought they would because clearly they'd reviewed these before and even had a cute days of the week song that they mostly knew. Still, a lot of this broke down at the games section. None of them could handle the whisper race, though they tried gainfully. I guess I'm not the only one who can't understand small Japanese children when they whisper. And for Fruits Baskets, they all kept forgetting what day of the week they were, so that was a bit of a disaster too. This is in part, because as my HRT said, they're really only good with Sunday through Tuesday. Wednesday through Saturday tends to bite the dust. But everyone had fun. And they're six-year-olds, so yeah.
Last up was second graders and animals. Those kids got a huge kick out of playing Karuta and giving me viciously hard low fives. My palms were actually red when they were done. But all in good fun.
Now, it is almost time for exercise. I have been to the convenience store and gotten some food, so hopefully my blood sugar won't plummet halfway through the lesson. I also got some instant curry from the Conbini, and some kind of Mochi snack from a store near the Conbini. It was sweet and delicious. There's an entire curry section on the Jusco grocery store, but I still couldn't find the same instant curry that's in my cupboard. But the conbini had something close. Also got some ready to go Donburi. If it's like other ready made food here, it's sure to make a delicious dinner. After exercise and roach spray buying, I don't think I'm going to be up for much by way of cooking.
Ja ne!
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For more of my adventures in Japan and onwards, please visit my blog at http://vashabroad.blogspot.com
But I'd also thought there was a positional issue as depending on what angle I held the screen, it would sometimes or sometimes not go white. Because I thought there was something loose inside the monitor, I was reluctant to drag my computer on the road, thus turning my extra-portable netbook into a super small at home desktop. BUT: I realized yesterday that the reason why the screen goes white when I close it to hibernate is NOT positional, but instead due to the fact that the screen automatically goes back to its original brightness after it hibernates. And so, with a quick FN and the down arrow a couple of times, the problem is solved. This means that these free periods that have been driving me nuts are now valuable time for blogging and writing fiction. Wahoo!
Hence this exciting blog entry. Since I have about three hours of free time scattered through today (the teachers are doing いんかい (don't know the kanji for this one, and because I don't have internet here, had to use my denshi jisho, which while it was not especially informative in regards to this word, did let me know that 陰核 (いんかく- inkaku) is clitoris. What a difference a syllable makes! Wonder when I'm going to get to use that one?)
(scrolling down as my Japanese coworkers can actually read the Japanese on my computer)
Also, tonight I'm staying late to do aerobics with a group of other female teachers at the school. It was really fun the last time I did it, now almost a month ago (I had to miss last week to pick up my Gaijin Card at City Hall as I thought because I was a week late that they'd send it back or something, who knows). So instead of leaving at 4:45, I'm staying around the school until about 7, and exercise starts at about 5:30. This time, I'm going to try not to get my ass kicked aerobically by my desk neighbor's mother. I doubt that's going to come through for me though.
So anyway, onto more exciting things, like what I've been doing for the past few days. Since we last left our intrepid heroine, she was learning a bit of Portuguese at Nishihomi Elementary. My major trials at that time included not getting lesson plans or schedules from the schools through my company as expected, at thus having to go it blind almost every day. I am happy to say that problem has been resolved. Turns out there was a mistake in the spelling of my email address, so some random person in the world has been receiving my lesson plans and schedules, but it was not me. I'm super glad that the problem was something so minor, though it was incredibly frustrating and annoying at the time. As a result of receiving my schedule, I was able to prepare four lessons for Ohata, and all went basically smoothly.
I also got the number on that group of fourth grade boys that so thoroughly drove me up the wall last time I was there. Life in regards to school—because I was always completely unprepared—had been so gosh darned difficult that their behavior had nothing in it to rattle me at all, so there's a blessing in that I suppose. The ticket to getting them running my direction was a combination of TPR (total physical response), games involving fly swatters and a willingness to share with them how to say things like “poop” in English. Things went a little awry when I tried to slow things down for a food related song, but once we got out the fly swatters and I refused to do anything until they settled down, things were well on track. I feel like I'm about 85% there (mostly because I went against my gut and attempted the song in my lesson plan...the gut is usually right). It was kind of ironic because after the lesson, the HRT apologized for the boys not listening, and I felt that they had been leaps and bounds above the last time. And next time, we're all going to be marching well in tune. It was a lot of fun.
I also got to watch the school's preparation for 運動会（うんどうかい – undoukai), the Sports Festival. I took video of it which you can watch here:
Undoukai is a huge deal here in Japan. No joke. All of my schools are busily preparing for it, taking time from class to work on flags and routines, etc. It's really an amazing demonstration. At the above school, Ohata (time for class...gosh these times go so much faster with the netbook!) (back now, gosh I love blogging at school. I will take another break at a very soon point to say goodbye to all of the kids as they pass by the door of our staff room. Last time I taught them how to say “baby” with the baby in arms gesture, and they all got such a kick out of it!) It's like a huge school fair that centers around sports. Or at least that's what I think now. Probably after I experience the real thing, I'll have a different impression.
My day at Ohata went wildly well, and afterwards I was feeling a bit introverted, so I made the decision to go to Jusco and go grocery shopping, go running, and then head home to catch up on episodes of Dexter online. Luckily that plan didn't work out. Instead, as I was getting ready to head out running, I ran into (almost literally), Erin, another woman from our company, also from the States. She actually went to school in Pittsburgh, practically in my backyard globally speaking. She was on her way to get 100 yen/plate sushi at a chain sushi place and that sounded like fun so I asked if I could join her. She's blond haired and blue eyed, and I noticed we got stared at a lot more together than I usually do alone (since everyone just thinks I'm Brazilian). I had actually gotten Erin's email address at our last meeting, but lost it twice (me and paper...sigh...) which I regretted at the time quite a lot, but regretted even more after I found out she was a fantasy writer. So in Toyota, there are at least two speculative fiction writers! I feel so lucky!
We bonded on writing and geek stuff and about life in Japan, including, (maybe because we are American) a ten minute intensive discussion about teeth. Erin was telling me that she has a British friend who when he goes out with Americans absolutely refuses to let them (us) get started on teeth around him. Apparently as Americans we're obsessed with dental care. Truthfully, these days I do feel obsessed with dental care, though now that I found Listerine at the Jusco, my teeth aren't quite such a disaster as they were which is a major YAY!
Now I can shift my obsession from getting rid of my gingivitis to getting rid of the giant roaches that have begun to appear in my apartment. It's getting warmer and more humid, and as such I've seen two of these monsters in the last week, and that's two too many. They seem to range in size between half and three quarters of the length of my pinky. The first I wasn't able to kill (I assume it went back down the toilet) but the second I beat until it was not only dead but in half. I don't know where the second half went. I got the head, so the rest is probably still alive somewhere, probably starving, pooping and eventually decaying somewhere in my walls. I find this very disturbing if I think about it for any length of time.
Mike gave me a good eHow page on my Facebook which I read over. I also found this excellent website on roach (gokiburi) killing products in Japan, what they are called, how they work and where to find them. (http://www.jp41.com/living-in-japan/kill-cockroaches.php) I am every grateful for the internet for providing me with these gems of information. On the other hand, I'm also a bit exhausted because I got the bright idea to start researching this right before I went to bed, which meant that I (a) couldn't fall asleep last night because every small noise made me thing “they're coming out of the walls” and (b) I couldn't stay asleep last night because every small noise woke me up thinking “they're coming out of the walls.” I found a detailed and informative website (which I now can't find) that also showed pictures of all the different types of roaches in the world so that you can identify the ones that are plaguing you. (this is a large part of the reason for my sleepless night). I have a good feeling that in Japan, I'm dealing with some sort of radioactively enhanced German roach species. As of now, I've bleached all of my surfaces, sponge cleaned my floor with bleach cleaning supplies in the kitchen/hall, plugged my drains, and I'm buying roach killer and actual bleach tonight (I've been using a bleach based cleaning spray: I know it's bleach because of the smell).
What is upsetting though is that because I live in an apartment complex, aside from throwing bleach down the drains and buying roach traps, sprays and powders (this environment may be too humid for boric acid though), there isn't a whole lot I can do to keep the roaches from coming in from my neighbors. This isn't really much different from Philly, though at least in Philly I have five cats, three of whom are real killers (and of course, I don't use toxic roach killing products around my loveable kitties, but since I'm alone, gotta do what you gotta do). I'm just praying these roaches aren't the types that fly. I can barely deal with the groundbound ones.
But yes, there's more to life in Japan than teeth and killing roaches. Like everything else.
After my great dinner with Erin, I headed to Jusco to finish up my grocery shopping. Just talking and hanging out with another writer here in Japan (and one who is actually working on a fiction project) was so inspirational for me! I started thinking about getting back to writing fiction, what I would write etc. None of this panned out on Friday, because by the time I was done grocery shopping, it was time to go to the Izakaya. I'd been neglecting Kogame (小亀) and putting my position as Jouren (常連) in doubt I felt, and I also just missed my Izakaya friends like Ito and Kato-san and Hitomi-chan, to name a few.
That said I was also EXHAUSTED so not at my best. This pushed my Japanese into the toilet because I could barely think, but I still had a great time. I also ended up meeting two very exciting people: our local Councilman Kamo Mikio and another man who is the father of the Toyota City's Olympic rower. We had a great time, and he gave me a Beijing Olympics pin from his son's go at the Beijing Olympics. His son is currently training for the next Olympics. He's in Slovakia, and I think there's a strong possibility that I agreed to go to Poland and Slovakia over summer vacation with these folks to meet him. I'm also going to be trying rowing in early June with a local team. I was so tired though, all of this completely slipped my mind when I talked to Steph the next morning, so I basically was like “oh no, nothing exciting happened. I just did my job.”
That night, I crawled home around 1:00am and passed out. I woke the next morning, chatted with Steph, watched some TV on my computer and then around 2:00pm decided it was time to do something useful with my day. Usually, around 11am or 11:30, I'd start looking on the internet for interesting places that were close enough to Toyota for me to bike to, but at 2pm, there wasn't much point in spending 1-2 hours on a bike just to come home, and I was still a little tired, so I just decided to explore my own backyard. Michael () supposedly has a painting in the Toyota Museum of Art, which is less than a kilometer from my apartment, so I figured why not go there and see it?
Of course, I wound up in the wrong building (because this is me in Japan) but this worked out because I saw an incredible Nomen mask exhibit and got to talk extensively with the artists. They explained to me about the world of the dead (Jigoku/hell) and how the masks were images of people in the land of the dead, their features frozen at the point of death, but at some point as charactures of how they had lived their lives (evil or good people). Hence some of the masks are scarier than others. This was really interesting and I had every confidence it would make it into a story in some way or shape.
After that, I decided to go running, and since I usually have no idea how far I'm running here I aimed for a Mcdonalds that a billboard at the part of Route 155 near my apartment said was three kilometers ahead. I figured if I ran that way once, and then ran back, it would be 6k. This was a great run! I actually ran a little bit longer because I (a) ran from my apartment to the sign and (b) kept running past my apartment and for about another five minutes because I didn't want to stop running on “Believe” from the Run Lola Run soundtrack. It did take me about 50 minutes to do this, which is slow, but I am happy to be getting back into shape today. Getting back into running definitely paid off at recess, when I played “Oni” (a form of tag) with some sixth grade boys. Fifteen minutes of flat out running. Good warmup for aerobics tonight I think.
After running I went home, cooked, and then finished watching the last season of Dexter. What a kicker of an ending. I am very sad. It feels weird, looking back over my weekend and thinking about how anti-social I felt. This was in part exhaustion, but also in part a shift in my understanding of my life here. I'm working to get back the things that were important to me in Philly, including running, biking and of course writing. These things do require one has some time to herself and some reflection. That's not to say I'm going into hermitage, not by any means, (this weekend is already filling up) but I just wasn't up to my usual level of socialization this weekend.
On Sunday I started Japanese classes at TIA. It seems a LOT of people tested into class A, which was a huge problem for the class A teacher who was a bit overwhelmed. The class is entirely in Japanese. This is not an immersion method exactly; it's because Japanese is the one language that all of us have in common here. This is completely obvious, but it was also a real mental flip for me, who is used to thinking of English (even now) as the primary language through which I get information. If there was another theme for my weekend, it was illustration of the shift in understanding that here, Japanese really is the default language. I know this intellectually, but instinctually, it's still weird.
So the entire class really was in Japanese. The other Japanese class I took in Philly (at the Japanese Language School) attempted to do this, but it was very easy (too easy) for everyone to drift back into English if something didn't make sense or wasn't completely clear. At this class, the teacher spoke in Japanese for the entire time. In this class, I also was the only American, and one of only three primary English speakers (two of whom were native Japanese who had learned English at International School in Japan and felt more comfortable with it, hence their taking this class). I had a couple of questions, one of which I asked the teacher, and the second I ended up talking to one of my classmates about 苦手 (にがて/nigate) which means things that others can do that you can't do; looking it up in my denshi jishou, it said “weak point” which also makes sense.
The first thing we did after basic classroom setup was Jikoshoukai. I volunteered to go first. I've given my Jikoshoukai in English and Japanese about a million times here so it holds no fear for me. But even if it had held fear for me, I'd have volunteered to go first (or in the first few people) because you don't learn anything if you don't put yourself out there. Which is why I volunteered to go in the first three for the exercise that included 'nigate' because I wanted to really use it where the rubber hit the road. I think I am going to really enjoy this class and learn a lot, which is very exciting.
After class, I had the chance to go to a BBQ in Nagoya, but before I went I wanted to make another go at the Toyota Art Museum to see Michael's painting. Of course I left my SD card for my camera in my apartment so I had to make two trips, and by the time all of that had happened, it was too late to go to Nagoya. Truthfully, I wasn't too upset about this because I was feeling introverted, so instead I went to the museum, enjoyed the art, then went outside and took my netbook for a spin. The exhibits at the museum had an otherworldly quality that was excellent in regards to giving me fodder for writing, and outside that evening I did start the first few paragraphs of a story. It's still in progress, so I'm not going to talk anymore on that until I have a draft. We'll see. (if not this than something else)
When I got home, I beat that roach to death. And cleaned. And ate. And cleaned. And talked to my grandfather and uncle on the phone. And cleaned some more. Still have some more cleaning to do.
Which brings us back to today. This has been a good day. It's now 4:30pm. All of my coworkers with the exception of the Tea Lady (a lovely older woman whose job it is to serve tea, organize and clean things as far as I can tell. It's a big job, and she's always working) and one other teacher have been involved in meetings all afternoon. This gave me the room practically to myself, a little lonely but okay. Now everyone has returned (yay!) and are handing out food products (double yay!). The room is filled with cheerful (and relieved) chatter as well as some whispered gossip. I am like a rock in a stream. I'm here, I have a place, but in regards to being effected by the movements of this flow, I'm just here. Typing.
Today I only had three classes, which ordinarily would have been reason for madness, but thanks to having my netbook, it was all good. My lessons today all went surprisingly well.
The most interesting was the first, where we had some four visitors, older gentlemen with salt and pepper hair in full suit and ties who looked over our class with serious expressions and notepads. Yikes! But the lesson went well, and I think we made a good impression. And clearly this was a serious situation, because I've been thanked by about 5 different people at school for doing the lesson today, including the Principal. So at least my three hours of preparation for this lesson plan actually paid off. That and having Jun-sensei, my HRT for this class, who is excellent. He had lots of great ideas for this lesson, which made it a success. Alone, I doubt that would have happened.
After that, it was days of the week with first graders. They did better at it than I'd thought they would because clearly they'd reviewed these before and even had a cute days of the week song that they mostly knew. Still, a lot of this broke down at the games section. None of them could handle the whisper race, though they tried gainfully. I guess I'm not the only one who can't understand small Japanese children when they whisper. And for Fruits Baskets, they all kept forgetting what day of the week they were, so that was a bit of a disaster too. This is in part, because as my HRT said, they're really only good with Sunday through Tuesday. Wednesday through Saturday tends to bite the dust. But everyone had fun. And they're six-year-olds, so yeah.
Last up was second graders and animals. Those kids got a huge kick out of playing Karuta and giving me viciously hard low fives. My palms were actually red when they were done. But all in good fun.
Now, it is almost time for exercise. I have been to the convenience store and gotten some food, so hopefully my blood sugar won't plummet halfway through the lesson. I also got some instant curry from the Conbini, and some kind of Mochi snack from a store near the Conbini. It was sweet and delicious. There's an entire curry section on the Jusco grocery store, but I still couldn't find the same instant curry that's in my cupboard. But the conbini had something close. Also got some ready to go Donburi. If it's like other ready made food here, it's sure to make a delicious dinner. After exercise and roach spray buying, I don't think I'm going to be up for much by way of cooking.
Ja ne!
--
For more of my adventures in Japan and onwards, please visit my blog at http://vashabroad.blogspot.com
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Days Gone By
Boy life got away from me this week! As usual, so much happens even in a day, it's hard to categorize, so catching up on four days is really going to be a challenge. And one I think would be best approached obliquely. So here goes:
It's been another great week of meeting people, going to cool places, and teaching (both in the victories and the “try agains”).
On Sunday I signed up for Japanese classes at TIA (Toyota International Association) and took a test to place me in the correct class. To my surprise (and delight), I placed into level A, the top level class they offer. This was kind of awesome, especially considering I've only been here about 5 weeks. Luckily, the fact that I'm always asking people “what did you say?” or “I'm sorry, I don't understand what you're saying because I don't have a lot of vocabulary or grammar” definitely keeps my feet on the ground though in regards to my Japanese abilities. I have a lot to learn and I'm very excited to start classes this upcoming Sunday.
Also on Sunday I had the pleasure of attending Makato-san's International English conversation get together at Aichi University, where I met some awesome people (that I still need to put into my phone and email...busy week, yeah!) and had a fantastic time chatting and learning Salsa dance! This was a really great time! I also met some fine folks from the Garbage Rangers, who once a month in Power Rangers costume pick up garbage around Nagoya. I'm going to check out their next outing. Only in Japan! Have I mentioned how great (and interesting) life is here yet?!
On Monday, it was back to work! I started the week at Higashiyama, and since I had a schedule with lesson topics, etc, was able to do a much better job than last time, especially with the Animals lesson for the first graders. I really love all ages of kids, but there's an special place in my heart for the first graders and second graders because they are so outgoing and up for anything. As the kids get older, they get a little shyer, and by fifth grade especially, (and I remember this from my own childhood), peer pressure is a real PITA. You have to work a bit harder with the older kids to get them involved, but they do make up for it by having more mature conversations (and also speaking more clear Japanese. I feel terrible about it, but little kids' Japanese I have an especially hard time understanding). I am also developing better relationships with all of the teachers in this school, which is great! They are also beginning to tell me more about what the kids know (and don't know) so I can plan more appropriate lessons. This is a huge help!
I also had a chance to go running on Monday night. What a great idea! I ran for about 40 minutes and felt so sore, tired, and great! It was a wonderful decision that I repeated tonight for a half hour. I'm getting back into a 3 day a week running schedule for sure! Now if only I could figure out how far I was actually going.
On Tuesday, I went for the first time to Nishihomi Elementary. I admit, on the train (I intended to bike but it was raining and I was running late) I felt a bit nervous about once again having another first day in another brand new school (how would it go?) but this school was an absolute joy. Of course, there were scheduling concerns (I didn't receive any of the lesson plans they made – big shock...not—so I only had prepared for Jikoshoukai. But the teachers there were excellent about giving me the information, plans and materials I needed so the lessons went well anyhow. Also, the kids here hail from all over the world (mostly from South America: specifically Brazil and Peru, and the Philippines, though other countries were also represented), and the mix of cultures gave the school a unique energy. The kids were very outgoing. For example, during my Jikoshoukai section of my lesson with the fifth graders, when I was asking where people were from, the kids were absolutely excited to shout out their countries or origin and were quite excited when I held out my Brazil flashcard and placed it on the map. (I need one for Peru and the Philippines too).
Later, when talking about the difference in pronunciation of Karaoke in Japan and the States, one of the girls (and here the girls were much less shy than at my other schools, a huge difference) shouted out Musikow, which is what Karaoke is called in Brazilian Portuguese. So I was able to incorporate it into the lesson, and learn some Portuguese as well.
The fourth graders were also ridiculously excited after class to tell me how to say all kinds of things in various languages (as I taught English), so I learned how to say Good morning in Philippino, Brazilian Portuguese, and one girl, who spoke five languages (Italian, Portuguese, Philippino, Chinese and Japanese) also told me how to say “I love you” in Italian. I wrote all of these down and will have them memorized by the week after next when I return. One of my fellow teachers (Kana-sensei, who translates between English, Japanese and Portuguese for the school...omg!) also taught me a fair number of words and phrases in Portuguese, including “Eu nao falo Portuguese” which means “I don't speak Portuguese” and “Sou Americana” which means “I am American.” So now when random people walk up to me and start talking to me in Portuguese, I can whip that out. (though by the end of my year working at Nishihomi, I should speak some Portuguese at least).
Also, I learned Good Morning “Bon Dia” (pronounced Bone Jia) and Good Afternoon: “Bon Tarde” (pr. Bon Tarji (long e sound at end). In Brazilian Portuguese, the D's tend to go to J's, though this isn't a fast rule. If you want to ask “how you you?” you ask “Tudo Bem” but this D is pronounced like a D and the E in Bem is long (Beem). I'm good = Estou Bem. There is a difference in To Be adjectives in Portuguese depending on if the is is referring to a changeable vs. unchangeable state. So Sou Americana is an unchangeable state. (theoretically). I was born American and will probably die American. Whereas I'm good--Estou bem--is a changeable state; I'm good now, but maybe tomorrow, not so good. I found this to be wildly interesting, and it may end up being the core of a story...not sure yet. In general though, you can see in the grammar and words relationships between Spanish and Portuguese, which is helpful as I did take Spanish in High School, though I forgot pretty much all of it.
Then it was back home where I tried out the instant curry beef I'd bought at Jusco. So good! Just a few minutes in boiling water in it's metal container, and three minutes of cooking yakisoba noodles, and I had a delicious curry beef with veggies (some I added) and I have three more packets. Definitely going to have more curry soon! I also did a great deal of lesson planning for today. More than I'd have liked since it took close to five hours. That's in large part because the lesson they wanted wasn't compatible with my teaching materials.
Also, I had to do another lesson on animals, as the one I had was way to simplistic for the older kids (there's a difference between first and fourth graders). To my surprise though, all of my lessons went well today. This was by far the best day I've had at this school, so all of my prep work really paid off! Hopefully though, this will get faster (looks like my next few weeks of lessons are compatible with my teaching materials, thank God.
Then it was running tonight, yakisoba noodles with veggies and way too many chocolate wafers. I also watched this week's episode of House which was great! And if anyone's been keeping up with the new season of Dr. Who, I must admit I'm really liking the new Doctor. Not that I don't love David Tennant (because if he called...) but the new guy is doing a hugely great job with the role too. And I love Amy. She reminds me a little of me except less commitment phobic. (yeah, that's kind of sad). Also, the writing this season (except the first episode which was a bit weak in my estimation) has been really great! Not that I expected less of Stephen Moffet.
Nuff said, off to shower and bed!
--
Read more about my adventures in Japan and abroad at http://vashabroad.blogspot.com
It's been another great week of meeting people, going to cool places, and teaching (both in the victories and the “try agains”).
On Sunday I signed up for Japanese classes at TIA (Toyota International Association) and took a test to place me in the correct class. To my surprise (and delight), I placed into level A, the top level class they offer. This was kind of awesome, especially considering I've only been here about 5 weeks. Luckily, the fact that I'm always asking people “what did you say?” or “I'm sorry, I don't understand what you're saying because I don't have a lot of vocabulary or grammar” definitely keeps my feet on the ground though in regards to my Japanese abilities. I have a lot to learn and I'm very excited to start classes this upcoming Sunday.
Also on Sunday I had the pleasure of attending Makato-san's International English conversation get together at Aichi University, where I met some awesome people (that I still need to put into my phone and email...busy week, yeah!) and had a fantastic time chatting and learning Salsa dance! This was a really great time! I also met some fine folks from the Garbage Rangers, who once a month in Power Rangers costume pick up garbage around Nagoya. I'm going to check out their next outing. Only in Japan! Have I mentioned how great (and interesting) life is here yet?!
On Monday, it was back to work! I started the week at Higashiyama, and since I had a schedule with lesson topics, etc, was able to do a much better job than last time, especially with the Animals lesson for the first graders. I really love all ages of kids, but there's an special place in my heart for the first graders and second graders because they are so outgoing and up for anything. As the kids get older, they get a little shyer, and by fifth grade especially, (and I remember this from my own childhood), peer pressure is a real PITA. You have to work a bit harder with the older kids to get them involved, but they do make up for it by having more mature conversations (and also speaking more clear Japanese. I feel terrible about it, but little kids' Japanese I have an especially hard time understanding). I am also developing better relationships with all of the teachers in this school, which is great! They are also beginning to tell me more about what the kids know (and don't know) so I can plan more appropriate lessons. This is a huge help!
I also had a chance to go running on Monday night. What a great idea! I ran for about 40 minutes and felt so sore, tired, and great! It was a wonderful decision that I repeated tonight for a half hour. I'm getting back into a 3 day a week running schedule for sure! Now if only I could figure out how far I was actually going.
On Tuesday, I went for the first time to Nishihomi Elementary. I admit, on the train (I intended to bike but it was raining and I was running late) I felt a bit nervous about once again having another first day in another brand new school (how would it go?) but this school was an absolute joy. Of course, there were scheduling concerns (I didn't receive any of the lesson plans they made – big shock...not—so I only had prepared for Jikoshoukai. But the teachers there were excellent about giving me the information, plans and materials I needed so the lessons went well anyhow. Also, the kids here hail from all over the world (mostly from South America: specifically Brazil and Peru, and the Philippines, though other countries were also represented), and the mix of cultures gave the school a unique energy. The kids were very outgoing. For example, during my Jikoshoukai section of my lesson with the fifth graders, when I was asking where people were from, the kids were absolutely excited to shout out their countries or origin and were quite excited when I held out my Brazil flashcard and placed it on the map. (I need one for Peru and the Philippines too).
Later, when talking about the difference in pronunciation of Karaoke in Japan and the States, one of the girls (and here the girls were much less shy than at my other schools, a huge difference) shouted out Musikow, which is what Karaoke is called in Brazilian Portuguese. So I was able to incorporate it into the lesson, and learn some Portuguese as well.
The fourth graders were also ridiculously excited after class to tell me how to say all kinds of things in various languages (as I taught English), so I learned how to say Good morning in Philippino, Brazilian Portuguese, and one girl, who spoke five languages (Italian, Portuguese, Philippino, Chinese and Japanese) also told me how to say “I love you” in Italian. I wrote all of these down and will have them memorized by the week after next when I return. One of my fellow teachers (Kana-sensei, who translates between English, Japanese and Portuguese for the school...omg!) also taught me a fair number of words and phrases in Portuguese, including “Eu nao falo Portuguese” which means “I don't speak Portuguese” and “Sou Americana” which means “I am American.” So now when random people walk up to me and start talking to me in Portuguese, I can whip that out. (though by the end of my year working at Nishihomi, I should speak some Portuguese at least).
Also, I learned Good Morning “Bon Dia” (pronounced Bone Jia) and Good Afternoon: “Bon Tarde” (pr. Bon Tarji (long e sound at end). In Brazilian Portuguese, the D's tend to go to J's, though this isn't a fast rule. If you want to ask “how you you?” you ask “Tudo Bem” but this D is pronounced like a D and the E in Bem is long (Beem). I'm good = Estou Bem. There is a difference in To Be adjectives in Portuguese depending on if the is is referring to a changeable vs. unchangeable state. So Sou Americana is an unchangeable state. (theoretically). I was born American and will probably die American. Whereas I'm good--Estou bem--is a changeable state; I'm good now, but maybe tomorrow, not so good. I found this to be wildly interesting, and it may end up being the core of a story...not sure yet. In general though, you can see in the grammar and words relationships between Spanish and Portuguese, which is helpful as I did take Spanish in High School, though I forgot pretty much all of it.
Then it was back home where I tried out the instant curry beef I'd bought at Jusco. So good! Just a few minutes in boiling water in it's metal container, and three minutes of cooking yakisoba noodles, and I had a delicious curry beef with veggies (some I added) and I have three more packets. Definitely going to have more curry soon! I also did a great deal of lesson planning for today. More than I'd have liked since it took close to five hours. That's in large part because the lesson they wanted wasn't compatible with my teaching materials.
Also, I had to do another lesson on animals, as the one I had was way to simplistic for the older kids (there's a difference between first and fourth graders). To my surprise though, all of my lessons went well today. This was by far the best day I've had at this school, so all of my prep work really paid off! Hopefully though, this will get faster (looks like my next few weeks of lessons are compatible with my teaching materials, thank God.
Then it was running tonight, yakisoba noodles with veggies and way too many chocolate wafers. I also watched this week's episode of House which was great! And if anyone's been keeping up with the new season of Dr. Who, I must admit I'm really liking the new Doctor. Not that I don't love David Tennant (because if he called...) but the new guy is doing a hugely great job with the role too. And I love Amy. She reminds me a little of me except less commitment phobic. (yeah, that's kind of sad). Also, the writing this season (except the first episode which was a bit weak in my estimation) has been really great! Not that I expected less of Stephen Moffet.
Nuff said, off to shower and bed!
--
Read more about my adventures in Japan and abroad at http://vashabroad.blogspot.com
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Josui by Bike and Back to School
So I made the bike ride to Josui today in about 35 minutes. That was around 3 miles, with one minor point of being lost when I was about three blocks from the school. In short, a highly successful bike ride. I'm definitely slow though. One of the other teachers I was talking with at lunch makes the same ride (coming from the station, so mine is a wee bit longer as my apartment is a hint farther away, but still) in about 25 minutes. Still, biking is so worth it! (and it saves me money...yes, I get transportation reimbursed, but that takes a month at least. I'd much rather have my money now than later.)
I was also so much more cheerful today, having biked instead of taken the train. I am happier when I get more exercise. As a result, I really want to bike tomorrow to Ibo Elementary. It's only about 4.1 miles, an extra mile along the same road. But I really need to be early tomorrow in order to discuss lesson planning as I'm not 100% sure what they want (or even 30% sure actually), and of course I didn't get a fax even though I saw one of the teachers filling out the paperwork when I left on Friday. I absolutely hate this lesson planning process. As a result, I wrote out three lesson plans for where I'm assuming my students are in the book. Hopefully one of them will be close enough. But that means I didn't do much else tonight besides eat.
But about today, to keep it short (need to go to bed early), today was a great day! Etsui and Shion both made it into today, which made me very happy (and Etsui-kun had a fine time giving me the high give with vigor and repetition. Must have thought I was a cat). I also got to hang out with one of my highschoolers (whose favorite color is pink) and learned the Kanji for her name, so now I'll stop forgetting it. She's really into J-pop, anime and dramas, so we had some great bonding in regards to Arashi and Hana Yori Dango.
Another major bonus of today was being asked to teach a song about standing under a chestnut tree, which had a Japanese translation not only of the words, but also of the gestures that were supposed to go with every part of the song. So now I've got bunches of flashcards with such things as "put both hands on your head," "sway" "spread your arms," etc. Before that class, I had a free period, so I went through and memorized the new vocabulary in the song as well as starting on the gestures. This was a huge benefit because the teachers were asking me things like "what does 'spread' mean" and I was able to say Hirogeru (with the gesture), which I had just learned by studying the vocabulary of the song in reverse. Super cool!
Also, as a general note, today was just stunning. Warm, sunny, beautiful. Actually even a little hot. I am NOT looking forward to true summer here though. As of now, I've already taken the blanket off of my futon and am going to sleep with the deck door open tonight (for airflow. We're not yet ready for the AC, but a little aiflow wouldn't kill anyone.
Also, at the foreign goods store near my house, they had wheat bread again! (YAY!) And I was able to pick up some powder to make Thai Coconut Curry, so I know what I'm doing with that chicken in my freezer, that is as soon as I get some pineapple. In fact, I definitely overspent at the foreign good store. I avoided the good grocery store in Josui because I didn't want to spend a bunch of money on more food, so I just spent money at the foreign goods store instead. What can I say, I like having a well stocked fridge. As it is, I'm getting nervous as I'm down to just one bunch of Bok Choy. (I eat it almost everyday)
In short, it was a nice, boring day!
Tomorrow promises to be more stressful. I'm nervous about it, in part because I feel like I must have lost or not written down some critical information about tomorrow's lessons, which is probably why I tried so hard to cover my bases tonight. I really wish that the schools would just send the faxes though. It would be so much easier and better for all of us.
Anyway, gotta shower and bed. Tomorrow's entry should be more meaty, hopefully with positive memories :)
I was also so much more cheerful today, having biked instead of taken the train. I am happier when I get more exercise. As a result, I really want to bike tomorrow to Ibo Elementary. It's only about 4.1 miles, an extra mile along the same road. But I really need to be early tomorrow in order to discuss lesson planning as I'm not 100% sure what they want (or even 30% sure actually), and of course I didn't get a fax even though I saw one of the teachers filling out the paperwork when I left on Friday. I absolutely hate this lesson planning process. As a result, I wrote out three lesson plans for where I'm assuming my students are in the book. Hopefully one of them will be close enough. But that means I didn't do much else tonight besides eat.
But about today, to keep it short (need to go to bed early), today was a great day! Etsui and Shion both made it into today, which made me very happy (and Etsui-kun had a fine time giving me the high give with vigor and repetition. Must have thought I was a cat). I also got to hang out with one of my highschoolers (whose favorite color is pink) and learned the Kanji for her name, so now I'll stop forgetting it. She's really into J-pop, anime and dramas, so we had some great bonding in regards to Arashi and Hana Yori Dango.
Another major bonus of today was being asked to teach a song about standing under a chestnut tree, which had a Japanese translation not only of the words, but also of the gestures that were supposed to go with every part of the song. So now I've got bunches of flashcards with such things as "put both hands on your head," "sway" "spread your arms," etc. Before that class, I had a free period, so I went through and memorized the new vocabulary in the song as well as starting on the gestures. This was a huge benefit because the teachers were asking me things like "what does 'spread' mean" and I was able to say Hirogeru (with the gesture), which I had just learned by studying the vocabulary of the song in reverse. Super cool!
Also, as a general note, today was just stunning. Warm, sunny, beautiful. Actually even a little hot. I am NOT looking forward to true summer here though. As of now, I've already taken the blanket off of my futon and am going to sleep with the deck door open tonight (for airflow. We're not yet ready for the AC, but a little aiflow wouldn't kill anyone.
Also, at the foreign goods store near my house, they had wheat bread again! (YAY!) And I was able to pick up some powder to make Thai Coconut Curry, so I know what I'm doing with that chicken in my freezer, that is as soon as I get some pineapple. In fact, I definitely overspent at the foreign good store. I avoided the good grocery store in Josui because I didn't want to spend a bunch of money on more food, so I just spent money at the foreign goods store instead. What can I say, I like having a well stocked fridge. As it is, I'm getting nervous as I'm down to just one bunch of Bok Choy. (I eat it almost everyday)
In short, it was a nice, boring day!
Tomorrow promises to be more stressful. I'm nervous about it, in part because I feel like I must have lost or not written down some critical information about tomorrow's lessons, which is probably why I tried so hard to cover my bases tonight. I really wish that the schools would just send the faxes though. It would be so much easier and better for all of us.
Anyway, gotta shower and bed. Tomorrow's entry should be more meaty, hopefully with positive memories :)
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Pearls and Wisdom on an Endlessly Looping String
As is the usual, so much has happened in the two short days since I've directly talked about my life here that it seems like a week at least! Okay, maybe not that long, but still, it's been busy and fun!
First, on the teaching front, I spent Wednesday at Kosema Elementary, by far my easiest school (as of now) as they have a crazy organized curriculum, require nothing from me by way of lesson planning, and have two other English teachers in training assisting with each class, as well as the HRT and me. In short, this school is a dream! (alas, they only need me every other week...but still, it's made of fun!). They outsource their curriculum and lesson plans to at least two other local schools as well, and are basically a living model of an ideal of English education for Japanese Public Elementary Schools. Or they should be at least. I really can't wax positively enough in this regard.
As an additional bonus, on Wednesday, there was a special observer/adviser, Kawaki-sensei (川木 – she explained the Kanji of her name to me as River Tree, so that should be right!）She was a retired teacher and Principal who now does this part time consulting gig. She observed our classes and gave huge tons of great advice. And her English was GREAT, so I actually understood her advice! I clearly have a lot to work on in regards to discipline and organization (though in my defense, the lesson that we gave was not one I planned. A lot of her advice had to do with improving the lesson plan, something I deeply appreciated because many of the faults she saw in the lesson plan that she critiqued were faults and problems in my own lesson planning as well). A lot of her advice we also received in varying forms in training, but in this sense, she was directly critiquing my performance as I had just performed it, so I was able to more easily process her advice and thoughts and directly apply them to my future work here (I hope!).
She also gave a good sample idea of lesson flow that I'm going to share here (largely for my own benefit. It's better to have a record of these things). Again, much of this was covered in some form in our training, but we've had so much information given to us through training (three so far—very happy about this and the training Altia provides: this is in no way a critique). But sometimes I'm not able to sort out from our training what is the most important or applicable in each situation (information overload: I need google in my brain), so this was great for offering a more focused perspective.
(an aside on brain chips: it was very exciting to hear at one of the recent Cafe Science lectures on neuroscience that as a possible future treatment for Alzheimer's patients, we are making some progress with imprinting memories onto chips installed on the brain surface and then having them be accessible to the brain. From there, it's a short jump to chipped encyclopedias, chipped languages, the internal internet connection, and etc. Actually, I have no idea if it's a short step or not (and all of those things I just listed are quite different in regards to brain usage), but I want to think it is a short step because time is marching onwards into that darkness. I'm already 31, and just last year I finally got my electronic book that connects to the internet that I've wanted since I was nine or eleven (time...what is time?) and found out through someone else's imagination in print that such things could exist (yay Kindle!). Hopefully by the time I'm 80, I'll be able to download into the internet. (And what is the mind anyway? A collection of data? I'm sure it's more than that, some quantum mechanical effects strung like pearls on an infinitely looping string (ie: quantum mechanics, the words that those of us who don't really understand quantum mechanics wave when we really want to say, “oh, it's some magical thing I don't really understand,” ...wait—is that just me (?) (and what's up with the weirdo parenthetical (par(enthet)ical) thought loop anyway ((?)) okay) this) is) getting) ridiculous) end of aside.))))
Sample Lesson Flow:
Of course, aspects of this lesson model (as Kawaki-sensei readily stated) will not work when you're the only teacher in the classroom (or if it's just you and one other teacher), but it was great to see the tiny steps and transitions broken down, to get a better feel for how learning takes place on the micro-level. Also, it's a testament to how seriously Kosema takes their English education that they brought in an adviser who was so detailed and critical of the lessons, which in my perspective are some of the most successful ones I've been a part of at any of my schools. Kawaki-sensei also consults with other schools, a huge privilege and advantage considering how helpful she was to me.
Moving on from work, last night Mie and I went to see Alice and Wonderland in 3D, dubbed into Japanese. It was super fun, and because I know the Alice in Wonderland story quite well, I was easily able to follow along with the film even without understanding every bit of the dialogue. Mie really enjoyed the movie too. Afterwards, we went to Gasto, a family restaurant that resembled Denny's but had much better food. It was cheap and we hung out talking and hanging out until after 1 AM. Mie is such an awesome friend! (we're going clubbing tomorrow).
For some reason, I didn't go to bed last night until close to 4am, so I ended up actually sleeping in this morning until after 10am. Good thing I woke up, because I had to meet Ryuichi for lunch at 12 noon! It was great to catch up (and get to know him better). Ryuichi is visiting Japan for the next two weeks, seeing family, getting paperwork sorted out and hanging out with folks. I can't imagine how hard it must be to be visiting home for such a short time after having been away for over a year. (he also used this trip to meet his in-laws, who he hadn't met before he married his wife—I couldn't believe it!) It was clear Ryuichi has a zillion people and places to see, and I was very glad we got to hang out for so long. Ryuichi is made of awesome! We also had a great lunch at Sazakiya (I know I've got this name wrong), an Italian style restaurant that is dirt cheap and delicious. I actually had escargot for under $5.00 US. As I have so much food in my house, I really only eat out with other people, so it was great to have this opportunity as well.
After lunch, Ryuichi had to move onto his next event (though we are going to touch base again before he leaves), so since it was stunning weather, I stopped by my house, picked up some snacks, dressed a bit more warmly and set out for a day of random biking. I picked a new direction from my house and just biked. (occasionally snapping pictures—I really have to get the last week uploaded...if facebook keeps being obnoxious, I'm going to have to go back to Photobucket I think.) I quickly got lost, but eventually I saw an Oiden bus heading for Toyotashi Station (I'm so glad I'm placed right next to the train station...it makes my life so much easier!) so I just followed the busline for a while until I saw the Toyota Stadium in the distance.
Knowing I was close enough to home, I decided to divert towards a park and walked and biked around a bit more, until the sun looked like it was beginning to get low. In the process, I found a fantastic shrine and Umetsubo! Everytime I take the train towards Josui, I see the Umetsubo station and area and think “wow, that looks cool, sometime I should go there!” and today, totally at random, I did! I was also very proud of myself for finding my way out of Umetsubo (again, as I was biking at random I saw a bus stop, realized it was on the route heading for Toyota-shi, and followed it until I saw the Makurazakaya which let me know I had arrived at Toyota station).
My evening was less exciting. I cooked potatoes, onions, garlic and carrots in olive oil on a slow saute (with cinnamon, light sugar and nutmeg...couldn't decide what I wanted to do with this dish) as well as my usual stir fried veggies with miso this time. The potatoes turned out at first just okay but not stunning, but they became great when I added butter and salt! And the stir fried veggies were as always good, but it was a weird food combination. I also caught up on House MD online and chatted with friends with chat programs. Wildly exciting stuff, I know.
So now we're caught up. Tomorrow, more fun stuff on the docket, possibly even a trip to Nagoya Castle! We'll see!
First, on the teaching front, I spent Wednesday at Kosema Elementary, by far my easiest school (as of now) as they have a crazy organized curriculum, require nothing from me by way of lesson planning, and have two other English teachers in training assisting with each class, as well as the HRT and me. In short, this school is a dream! (alas, they only need me every other week...but still, it's made of fun!). They outsource their curriculum and lesson plans to at least two other local schools as well, and are basically a living model of an ideal of English education for Japanese Public Elementary Schools. Or they should be at least. I really can't wax positively enough in this regard.
As an additional bonus, on Wednesday, there was a special observer/adviser, Kawaki-sensei (川木 – she explained the Kanji of her name to me as River Tree, so that should be right!）She was a retired teacher and Principal who now does this part time consulting gig. She observed our classes and gave huge tons of great advice. And her English was GREAT, so I actually understood her advice! I clearly have a lot to work on in regards to discipline and organization (though in my defense, the lesson that we gave was not one I planned. A lot of her advice had to do with improving the lesson plan, something I deeply appreciated because many of the faults she saw in the lesson plan that she critiqued were faults and problems in my own lesson planning as well). A lot of her advice we also received in varying forms in training, but in this sense, she was directly critiquing my performance as I had just performed it, so I was able to more easily process her advice and thoughts and directly apply them to my future work here (I hope!).
She also gave a good sample idea of lesson flow that I'm going to share here (largely for my own benefit. It's better to have a record of these things). Again, much of this was covered in some form in our training, but we've had so much information given to us through training (three so far—very happy about this and the training Altia provides: this is in no way a critique). But sometimes I'm not able to sort out from our training what is the most important or applicable in each situation (information overload: I need google in my brain), so this was great for offering a more focused perspective.
(an aside on brain chips: it was very exciting to hear at one of the recent Cafe Science lectures on neuroscience that as a possible future treatment for Alzheimer's patients, we are making some progress with imprinting memories onto chips installed on the brain surface and then having them be accessible to the brain. From there, it's a short jump to chipped encyclopedias, chipped languages, the internal internet connection, and etc. Actually, I have no idea if it's a short step or not (and all of those things I just listed are quite different in regards to brain usage), but I want to think it is a short step because time is marching onwards into that darkness. I'm already 31, and just last year I finally got my electronic book that connects to the internet that I've wanted since I was nine or eleven (time...what is time?) and found out through someone else's imagination in print that such things could exist (yay Kindle!). Hopefully by the time I'm 80, I'll be able to download into the internet. (And what is the mind anyway? A collection of data? I'm sure it's more than that, some quantum mechanical effects strung like pearls on an infinitely looping string (ie: quantum mechanics, the words that those of us who don't really understand quantum mechanics wave when we really want to say, “oh, it's some magical thing I don't really understand,” ...wait—is that just me (?) (and what's up with the weirdo parenthetical (par(enthet)ical) thought loop anyway ((?)) okay) this) is) getting) ridiculous) end of aside.))))
Sample Lesson Flow:
Topic: Greetings: (IE: more than just “I'm fine thank you and how are you?” See the last entry for my thoughts on this)
- Start with flashcards, repetition with LARGE GESTURES.
- Move towards having students guess the emotion from the gesture associated with it.
- Teach conversational structure: Listening/repetition.
- Split class in half. One half asks question (eg: How are you today?) Other half responds in full sentence, after looking at teacher giving gesture to figure out answer. For the class that is asking the question, pronunciation and the like can be checked. The other half of the class has to think about associating meaning to word. After all vocabulary has been covered, switch teams.
- Game/Activity: Pass the ball: person receiving answers question, person passing asks it. (don't let little kids throw the ball! I made this mistake)
- Game possibility: fruits basket (like we played in class)
- Pair work: Kids have to get through all of the question/answers quickly and sit down. Fastest group pairs win.
- Last: teacher asks about real feelings to students individually.
Of course, aspects of this lesson model (as Kawaki-sensei readily stated) will not work when you're the only teacher in the classroom (or if it's just you and one other teacher), but it was great to see the tiny steps and transitions broken down, to get a better feel for how learning takes place on the micro-level. Also, it's a testament to how seriously Kosema takes their English education that they brought in an adviser who was so detailed and critical of the lessons, which in my perspective are some of the most successful ones I've been a part of at any of my schools. Kawaki-sensei also consults with other schools, a huge privilege and advantage considering how helpful she was to me.
Moving on from work, last night Mie and I went to see Alice and Wonderland in 3D, dubbed into Japanese. It was super fun, and because I know the Alice in Wonderland story quite well, I was easily able to follow along with the film even without understanding every bit of the dialogue. Mie really enjoyed the movie too. Afterwards, we went to Gasto, a family restaurant that resembled Denny's but had much better food. It was cheap and we hung out talking and hanging out until after 1 AM. Mie is such an awesome friend! (we're going clubbing tomorrow).
For some reason, I didn't go to bed last night until close to 4am, so I ended up actually sleeping in this morning until after 10am. Good thing I woke up, because I had to meet Ryuichi for lunch at 12 noon! It was great to catch up (and get to know him better). Ryuichi is visiting Japan for the next two weeks, seeing family, getting paperwork sorted out and hanging out with folks. I can't imagine how hard it must be to be visiting home for such a short time after having been away for over a year. (he also used this trip to meet his in-laws, who he hadn't met before he married his wife—I couldn't believe it!) It was clear Ryuichi has a zillion people and places to see, and I was very glad we got to hang out for so long. Ryuichi is made of awesome! We also had a great lunch at Sazakiya (I know I've got this name wrong), an Italian style restaurant that is dirt cheap and delicious. I actually had escargot for under $5.00 US. As I have so much food in my house, I really only eat out with other people, so it was great to have this opportunity as well.
After lunch, Ryuichi had to move onto his next event (though we are going to touch base again before he leaves), so since it was stunning weather, I stopped by my house, picked up some snacks, dressed a bit more warmly and set out for a day of random biking. I picked a new direction from my house and just biked. (occasionally snapping pictures—I really have to get the last week uploaded...if facebook keeps being obnoxious, I'm going to have to go back to Photobucket I think.) I quickly got lost, but eventually I saw an Oiden bus heading for Toyotashi Station (I'm so glad I'm placed right next to the train station...it makes my life so much easier!) so I just followed the busline for a while until I saw the Toyota Stadium in the distance.
Knowing I was close enough to home, I decided to divert towards a park and walked and biked around a bit more, until the sun looked like it was beginning to get low. In the process, I found a fantastic shrine and Umetsubo! Everytime I take the train towards Josui, I see the Umetsubo station and area and think “wow, that looks cool, sometime I should go there!” and today, totally at random, I did! I was also very proud of myself for finding my way out of Umetsubo (again, as I was biking at random I saw a bus stop, realized it was on the route heading for Toyota-shi, and followed it until I saw the Makurazakaya which let me know I had arrived at Toyota station).
My evening was less exciting. I cooked potatoes, onions, garlic and carrots in olive oil on a slow saute (with cinnamon, light sugar and nutmeg...couldn't decide what I wanted to do with this dish) as well as my usual stir fried veggies with miso this time. The potatoes turned out at first just okay but not stunning, but they became great when I added butter and salt! And the stir fried veggies were as always good, but it was a weird food combination. I also caught up on House MD online and chatted with friends with chat programs. Wildly exciting stuff, I know.
So now we're caught up. Tomorrow, more fun stuff on the docket, possibly even a trip to Nagoya Castle! We'll see!
Imfinethankyouandhowareyou!
Though I've only been here in Japan for a short time, like many ALTs and other foreign English teachers here in Japan, I've developed my own rather complex relationship with the “How are you today?” “I'm fine thank you and you,” conversational dynamic that EVERY Japanese school child has drilled into them from the moment they step into any kind of English class. This statement is so reflexive among children and adults, when asked the question “How are you?” they often blurt out the response without thinking, and then at the end of the statement stand blinking, eyes a little bit glazed like they just ran a really short sprint. This is especially true of adults. Kind of like if someone walked up to you and asked: “What is the numerical value of Pi” and you were well into 3.14159 before you even realized you'd started talking. And then you stop, gaze expectantly at the questioner, not 100% sure if you got it right but hopeful at least.
There are pluses and minuses to this. I admit, when I first arrived in Japan, and I'd say hello to some random school aged child as I wandered about, I found it charming and a bit comforting to know at least that I could have some kind of English conversation with somebody. But as I started teaching, greeting students by the tens and hundreds, the weaknesses of this drilled conversation pattern also became obvious. Like when I'd say “hello” or “good morning” to a student and they'd respond with “I'm fine thank you and you?” Or “I'mfinethankyou” or “HelloI'mfinethankyouandyou?” it became painfully obvious that as a rule, this response has very little meaning to my students beyond “it's what you say after hello, well, at some point after hello, yeah.”
I think this is complicated for a number of reasons. The first is that in Japan, from my experience, there isn't an equivalent phrase that holds the same weight. I'll occasionally ask someone if they're Genki? (“Ogenki desu ka?” or “Genki?”) and while I do get a response, it's not a standard greeting. “Genki,” in this usage, seems to read more to me like “So, are you in good spirits, with good energy and ready to conquer your day?!” Not quite the same thing. There's also “choushi wa dou desu ka?” which I think is closer in meaning to “how are you?” but it's not a standard greeting by any means, at least not in regards to how people talk to me.
So already we're having some cross cultural confusion (and as an aside, a confusion that doesn't exist in Chinese, as Chinese has Ni hao ma?” which appears to be quite similar in usage to “how are you?” at least from the Mandarin class I took.) And now, after participating in a number of classes where this construction has been taught and reinforced, I've noticed some interesting interpretations of “fine” that have lent me some insight into why it's so prevalent.
The first and most obvious is that “I'm fine thank you,” is about the most innocuous possible way to answer this question. You're not going to offend someone or confuse them in any way with “I'm fine thank you and you.” So in that sense, it's a good answer to start with. Like in the same way that when we start learning Japanese, we're generally taught the ~masu forms first. In my opinion, this does us (gaikokujin) as budding Japanese speakers a far greater disservice than “I'm fine thank you and you,” will ever do to budding English speakers, as learning the ~masu forms as our primary gateway into verb conjugation gives us an unnatural relationship with the Japanese verb. Even with the massive amount of studying I've tried to do working from the plain form of the verb, (and I started early on this) because I learned many of the basic verbs as~masu first, under stress I drop back into them, (or I don't recognize the plain form when I hear it) which is unfortunate in regards to natural speaking and comprehension. But it is what it is, and the imperative not to make an ass out of yourself in another country is of huge importance.
The second reason that I've noticed is a bit more subtle, and maybe related to the fact that there really isn't an expression like “How are you?” that holds the same weight and usage here (in my experience, which is limited and narrow, so take this as you will). In multiple classes, I've seen the word “fine” translated by teachers as “genki!” This is often accompanied by a muscle flexing “strong” gesture and a huge smile. In short, in Japan “fine” (seems like it) equals “genki,” that is “in good spirits, with good energy and ready to conquer your day!”
Of course, “fine” doesn't really have that same undercurrent of meaning. It's right around “can't complain” on the scale of general life happiness, that is “yeah, I'm alive. Nothing's particularly wrong. Nothing's particularly right. Gonna try and get some stuff done today I guess. Yeah.” This is a subtle but rather important distinction in my mind, and one explanation for why teachers and the school system here are so intense about getting this phrase into the kids early on. And in defense of it, as a default, it's not a bad choice. I mean, if we taught the kids “I'm feeling awesome, in good cheer and ready to face my day!” that would be a bit much.
The thing to do in regards to this is to really get students to think of “how are you?” as a question, as opposed to a general greeting. This is a bit problematic because to a large degree “how are you” is used as a general greeting in English. Truthfully, how many of us are really looking for an in depth answer to this question, most of the time? As we move more to colloquial speech, the answer to this becomes obviously NO. For example, there's the Philly conversational staple:
In schools, there is a solid movement towards teaching students IN THE LESSON about other responses, what they mean, pronunciation, etc. But if asked the question, the teacher always as a default pushes the kids right back to “fine thank you and you.” It's a generational ingrained reflex. What can you do? I've been trying out a variety of solutions. This week my approach has been to work within the fine dynamic and add other words, to show that there are gradations of fine. So this week, I've been saying “I'm SUPER fine!” with a huge thumbs up and a vaguely 70's tone. I also (as a rule) make sure to teach "great, good, and okay" (or reinforce it) in every greetings related class. Probably I use “great” the most. For me, it's the closest to “genki” and I feel “genki” most of the time here. I've also tried to teach other physical responses “I'm stinky” “I'm hungry” etc. As I said before, the schools are really working at this too. At least the ones I work at.
Ultimately, the distinction of what does “How are you?” mean in what context, and how upbeat the response needs to be (in Japan, it's important to be Genki; in the States, it's important to be plugging along without complaint, it seems to me). So while “I'm fine” doesn't mean “genki” to me, it does mean “normal, alright, no worries,” which carries the same conversational weight as “genki”, if not the exact same meaning related weight.
I'm sure as time advances and I learn more, I'll have other, probably opposing thoughts on this subject. But here is a snapshot of my current thought process. How am I? I'm fine, okay, good, great, in good cheer and ready to conquer my dreams! Literally. That is, to bed.
Tomorrow: back to our regularly schedule daily summaries.
There are pluses and minuses to this. I admit, when I first arrived in Japan, and I'd say hello to some random school aged child as I wandered about, I found it charming and a bit comforting to know at least that I could have some kind of English conversation with somebody. But as I started teaching, greeting students by the tens and hundreds, the weaknesses of this drilled conversation pattern also became obvious. Like when I'd say “hello” or “good morning” to a student and they'd respond with “I'm fine thank you and you?” Or “I'mfinethankyou” or “HelloI'mfinethankyouandyou?” it became painfully obvious that as a rule, this response has very little meaning to my students beyond “it's what you say after hello, well, at some point after hello, yeah.”
I think this is complicated for a number of reasons. The first is that in Japan, from my experience, there isn't an equivalent phrase that holds the same weight. I'll occasionally ask someone if they're Genki? (“Ogenki desu ka?” or “Genki?”) and while I do get a response, it's not a standard greeting. “Genki,” in this usage, seems to read more to me like “So, are you in good spirits, with good energy and ready to conquer your day?!” Not quite the same thing. There's also “choushi wa dou desu ka?” which I think is closer in meaning to “how are you?” but it's not a standard greeting by any means, at least not in regards to how people talk to me.
So already we're having some cross cultural confusion (and as an aside, a confusion that doesn't exist in Chinese, as Chinese has Ni hao ma?” which appears to be quite similar in usage to “how are you?” at least from the Mandarin class I took.) And now, after participating in a number of classes where this construction has been taught and reinforced, I've noticed some interesting interpretations of “fine” that have lent me some insight into why it's so prevalent.
The first and most obvious is that “I'm fine thank you,” is about the most innocuous possible way to answer this question. You're not going to offend someone or confuse them in any way with “I'm fine thank you and you.” So in that sense, it's a good answer to start with. Like in the same way that when we start learning Japanese, we're generally taught the ~masu forms first. In my opinion, this does us (gaikokujin) as budding Japanese speakers a far greater disservice than “I'm fine thank you and you,” will ever do to budding English speakers, as learning the ~masu forms as our primary gateway into verb conjugation gives us an unnatural relationship with the Japanese verb. Even with the massive amount of studying I've tried to do working from the plain form of the verb, (and I started early on this) because I learned many of the basic verbs as~masu first, under stress I drop back into them, (or I don't recognize the plain form when I hear it) which is unfortunate in regards to natural speaking and comprehension. But it is what it is, and the imperative not to make an ass out of yourself in another country is of huge importance.
The second reason that I've noticed is a bit more subtle, and maybe related to the fact that there really isn't an expression like “How are you?” that holds the same weight and usage here (in my experience, which is limited and narrow, so take this as you will). In multiple classes, I've seen the word “fine” translated by teachers as “genki!” This is often accompanied by a muscle flexing “strong” gesture and a huge smile. In short, in Japan “fine” (seems like it) equals “genki,” that is “in good spirits, with good energy and ready to conquer your day!”
Of course, “fine” doesn't really have that same undercurrent of meaning. It's right around “can't complain” on the scale of general life happiness, that is “yeah, I'm alive. Nothing's particularly wrong. Nothing's particularly right. Gonna try and get some stuff done today I guess. Yeah.” This is a subtle but rather important distinction in my mind, and one explanation for why teachers and the school system here are so intense about getting this phrase into the kids early on. And in defense of it, as a default, it's not a bad choice. I mean, if we taught the kids “I'm feeling awesome, in good cheer and ready to face my day!” that would be a bit much.
The thing to do in regards to this is to really get students to think of “how are you?” as a question, as opposed to a general greeting. This is a bit problematic because to a large degree “how are you” is used as a general greeting in English. Truthfully, how many of us are really looking for an in depth answer to this question, most of the time? As we move more to colloquial speech, the answer to this becomes obviously NO. For example, there's the Philly conversational staple:
Question: “Hey, hiya doin'?”As an aside, if I'm not thinking about it, I drift into “Hiya doin'” which is always met here with a blank stare. In the States, I never ask “How are you?” as an exact phrase, unless I think something is actually going wrong with one of my friends. Which does actually dovetail back to the original problem of what does “How are you? “ actually mean? And maybe lend some insight into the general ALT's instinctual movement towards adding variety and nuance to this conversational dynamic. Regionally speaking, we have two “how are you”s , the general greeting (which “I'm fine thank you” is as good as any neutral answer) and then the “How are you?” as a request for information, which ultimately is a lot more common (as other regional phrasings seem to replace the more formal “how are you” as a general greeting.)
Response: “Yeah, hiya doin?” which serves the same function as “hello”.
In schools, there is a solid movement towards teaching students IN THE LESSON about other responses, what they mean, pronunciation, etc. But if asked the question, the teacher always as a default pushes the kids right back to “fine thank you and you.” It's a generational ingrained reflex. What can you do? I've been trying out a variety of solutions. This week my approach has been to work within the fine dynamic and add other words, to show that there are gradations of fine. So this week, I've been saying “I'm SUPER fine!” with a huge thumbs up and a vaguely 70's tone. I also (as a rule) make sure to teach "great, good, and okay" (or reinforce it) in every greetings related class. Probably I use “great” the most. For me, it's the closest to “genki” and I feel “genki” most of the time here. I've also tried to teach other physical responses “I'm stinky” “I'm hungry” etc. As I said before, the schools are really working at this too. At least the ones I work at.
Ultimately, the distinction of what does “How are you?” mean in what context, and how upbeat the response needs to be (in Japan, it's important to be Genki; in the States, it's important to be plugging along without complaint, it seems to me). So while “I'm fine” doesn't mean “genki” to me, it does mean “normal, alright, no worries,” which carries the same conversational weight as “genki”, if not the exact same meaning related weight.
I'm sure as time advances and I learn more, I'll have other, probably opposing thoughts on this subject. But here is a snapshot of my current thought process. How am I? I'm fine, okay, good, great, in good cheer and ready to conquer my dreams! Literally. That is, to bed.
Tomorrow: back to our regularly schedule daily summaries.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Looking Up!
Today was not a perfect day by any means, but as an overall trend, it's definitely looking up. I woke up this morning tired and sluggish (unusual for me in Japan) and then inched my way out of bed to make breakfast. Today was an easy breakfast: I'd boiled an egg last night, and with an Onigiri I'd picked up at the grocery store plus of course my usual bran flakes and juice made for a relatively light but filling meal. It was supposed to be raining today, so I left my house with the intention of biking to the bus, but as I approached the bus station, that plan was nixed for two very important reasons: 1. I was running late and 2. I only had ichiman in cash (that's like a $100 bill). In Japan, it's not unusual to just drop a $100 and most places will take it and change it without even blinking (I eventually changed it this evening at the Post Office, having made less than 500 yen ($5) in purchases. Still, getting ichiman changed on a bus seemed like a stretch, and it wasn't really raining anyway (and I needed the exercise), so I decided to bike it instead.
It's a testament to how tired I was that simply biking didn't immediately energize me and lighten my mood. I wasn't grumpy when I got to school, but I wasn't exactly my usual bouncing off the walls self either. The kids brightened me up quite a bit though, and unlike last week where I had nothing planned or conceived for this school, this week I'd constructed two lesson plans around the same theme of months, spent the night before constructing paper dice for the board game that we were playing (came with my teaching materials to enlarge...have I mentioned how thrilled I am with my company's teaching materials?! Seriously, in this regard, the company is absolutely top notch.
When I arrived, my Tanto Sensei ran to me and handed me an enlarged monthly schedule for May for me to look over. It wasn't the most detailed thing in the world, but at least I have an idea of topics, and much more of it was in English, which does make lesson planning a good deal easier. Also, I was able to talk to her about taking a look at the CD Rom my company had given the school so that she would have some idea of the materials I come to the table with, as well as some sample lesson plans for various topics in Japanese that I also have copied in my materials in English. I made sure to emphasize how much easier this would make lesson planning for her and her teachers, and she seemed receptive, which was a huge relief and joy!
My first lesson was a disaster: mainly because I had misjudged how much of the material (the months) the students had understood from this week and last week, so as a result, when game-time came around, they were totally lost. The game I'd had planned “Stereo Game” which was suggested in our Eigo-Note teaching materials, was in one (Japanese) word: taihen. This game basically involved 12 volunteer students choosing one of the months flashcards, keeping it secret from the rest of the class, and then with the class prompted question “What month is this” all were supposed to simultaneously respond “It's _______________ (month).
Yeah. No.
That didn't even begin to happen. .Only three or four of my children had any idea what month they were holding, the sample question flopped like a decomposing fish, and it was pain all around. I tried to rework the game into a drill exercise with minimal success, then had them repeat through the months again before moving onto the second game (the board game) which was moderately more successful, possibly because they only had five minutes ot play. I hadn't had a chance to talk with any of my HRTs before class today either, so they had no idea what we were doing. That added an additional level of pain.
That said, I was grateful to all of my HRTs today, who really took what I had and ran with it. I'm learning so much about how to teach with this age group just by watching their techniques. I also have to change my way of interpreting blank expressions and lackluster response from the students from “oh, they're bored. We should do something more interesting.” to “Oh, they're confused, we should do more drilling and repetition.” As the day advanced, I got a better feel for what an appropriate level of repetition and drilling was and when and how to start setting up the games. All in all, a win.
At the end of the day, my last two classes (fifth graders) were canceled as the students were preparing for the school's Undokai (Sports Festival, a HUGE deal in Japan) so I ended up reading stories and playing games with the first graders. They were oodles of fun! They kept pointing at colors and saying the names of them, and we did an animal names lesson which they all jumped right in for. I had them hopping around saying “rabbit!” and doing the elephant trunk while saying “elephant” etc. At the end of class, they all piled on me, clinging and chattering. It was sooo cute! Also, my buddy who loves Michael Jackson and I spent some time wandering around the building as the day ended. He was looking for his brother, and somehow our path had some likelihood of leading to finding him; I have no idea how or why but better that than sitting in the staff room I say.
(also, as an aside, I'm going to get to be at the May 22nd Sports Festival at Higashiyama. This not only means I get to see this very important festival, but also that I get the following Monday off. Score!)
Today I was very aware of how little I understand on all fronts. I'm amazed at the amount of communication I've been able to manage, don't get me wrong, but the finer points of even basic conversation are still lost on me. And my brain attempting to process everything has definitely lead to fatigue and periods of not being able to think well. This is frustrating, but I'm assuming part of the process. I feel in some way like I've hit a plateau and I'm not sure how to scale it. That may just be the tired talking though.
And on that note, I'm going to hit the sack. The tired is as the tired does.
Night to all!
It's a testament to how tired I was that simply biking didn't immediately energize me and lighten my mood. I wasn't grumpy when I got to school, but I wasn't exactly my usual bouncing off the walls self either. The kids brightened me up quite a bit though, and unlike last week where I had nothing planned or conceived for this school, this week I'd constructed two lesson plans around the same theme of months, spent the night before constructing paper dice for the board game that we were playing (came with my teaching materials to enlarge...have I mentioned how thrilled I am with my company's teaching materials?! Seriously, in this regard, the company is absolutely top notch.
When I arrived, my Tanto Sensei ran to me and handed me an enlarged monthly schedule for May for me to look over. It wasn't the most detailed thing in the world, but at least I have an idea of topics, and much more of it was in English, which does make lesson planning a good deal easier. Also, I was able to talk to her about taking a look at the CD Rom my company had given the school so that she would have some idea of the materials I come to the table with, as well as some sample lesson plans for various topics in Japanese that I also have copied in my materials in English. I made sure to emphasize how much easier this would make lesson planning for her and her teachers, and she seemed receptive, which was a huge relief and joy!
My first lesson was a disaster: mainly because I had misjudged how much of the material (the months) the students had understood from this week and last week, so as a result, when game-time came around, they were totally lost. The game I'd had planned “Stereo Game” which was suggested in our Eigo-Note teaching materials, was in one (Japanese) word: taihen. This game basically involved 12 volunteer students choosing one of the months flashcards, keeping it secret from the rest of the class, and then with the class prompted question “What month is this” all were supposed to simultaneously respond “It's _______________ (month).
Yeah. No.
That didn't even begin to happen. .Only three or four of my children had any idea what month they were holding, the sample question flopped like a decomposing fish, and it was pain all around. I tried to rework the game into a drill exercise with minimal success, then had them repeat through the months again before moving onto the second game (the board game) which was moderately more successful, possibly because they only had five minutes ot play. I hadn't had a chance to talk with any of my HRTs before class today either, so they had no idea what we were doing. That added an additional level of pain.
That said, I was grateful to all of my HRTs today, who really took what I had and ran with it. I'm learning so much about how to teach with this age group just by watching their techniques. I also have to change my way of interpreting blank expressions and lackluster response from the students from “oh, they're bored. We should do something more interesting.” to “Oh, they're confused, we should do more drilling and repetition.” As the day advanced, I got a better feel for what an appropriate level of repetition and drilling was and when and how to start setting up the games. All in all, a win.
At the end of the day, my last two classes (fifth graders) were canceled as the students were preparing for the school's Undokai (Sports Festival, a HUGE deal in Japan) so I ended up reading stories and playing games with the first graders. They were oodles of fun! They kept pointing at colors and saying the names of them, and we did an animal names lesson which they all jumped right in for. I had them hopping around saying “rabbit!” and doing the elephant trunk while saying “elephant” etc. At the end of class, they all piled on me, clinging and chattering. It was sooo cute! Also, my buddy who loves Michael Jackson and I spent some time wandering around the building as the day ended. He was looking for his brother, and somehow our path had some likelihood of leading to finding him; I have no idea how or why but better that than sitting in the staff room I say.
(also, as an aside, I'm going to get to be at the May 22nd Sports Festival at Higashiyama. This not only means I get to see this very important festival, but also that I get the following Monday off. Score!)
Today I was very aware of how little I understand on all fronts. I'm amazed at the amount of communication I've been able to manage, don't get me wrong, but the finer points of even basic conversation are still lost on me. And my brain attempting to process everything has definitely lead to fatigue and periods of not being able to think well. This is frustrating, but I'm assuming part of the process. I feel in some way like I've hit a plateau and I'm not sure how to scale it. That may just be the tired talking though.
And on that note, I'm going to hit the sack. The tired is as the tired does.
Night to all!
Chicken Dancing and Blowing Bubbles Under a Perfect Toyota Sun
Though I'd best be asleep soon, my day doesn't feel complete unless I write out my blog. So I'm sitting here, hot cocoa and crackers with cream cheese and jelly at my side, speeding through the memories of my day. First, beautiful weather. Sunny and about 68 degrees, My day at Toyota Yogo began with a cheerful greeting to my fellow teachers and then to the students (in English) as they entered the school. Now that I've made this my personal job, I'm beginning to get to know (at least by face and wave) some of the students I'm not teaching directly, which is fun! After the last student had been greeted, I headed over to the Elementary School area and hung out with the kids as they went through their morning routines. I lucked out today; one of the teachers had me hanging out with a particular student (Sarie) who was bright and talkative and pretty much up for anything.
While I'm mainly there for the students, the teacher are always having lots of questions, so I spend a fair amount of time talking with them as I'm with the students (especially in these morning visits, as I'm not technically teaching anything). So today, as I was showing Sarie the chicken outside (there are four chickens at this school, as well as a rabbit and a duck. They are in various pens...not food, just ambiance). So I explained that the “niwatori” (chicken in Japanese, literally means 'garden bird') outside was “chicken” in English, and one of the teachers asked what we called the meat, to which I replied “chicken.” (and then we did the Chicken Dance a little)
The word chicken got me and one of the teachers into a discussion about beef vs. cow, pork vs. pig, etc. But chicken has no meat word; it's just chicken. This reminded me of the Teaching Company's History of the English Language I had been listening to before I left, and as it sprang to mind, I barreled ahead with an attempt to explain the reason why some foods have different words for the cooked meat than the animal (many languages do not make this distinction, as ours doesn't when it comes to chicken).
My Japanese was not up to the Norman Invasion of England, though I did write 1066 on the board and started with “back in history, in 1066, in England, the French battled and took over so all the cooked meat words are from French.” This is vastly oversimplified and vague, but I managed to get enough across that the HRT understood what I was saying (maybe she'd learned it in history class or something) so it felt like a huge win. It's amazing the amount of communication one can have at random points even with minimal language skills.
The day also included such high points as blowing bubbles outside in the warm spring sun with the Elementary School kids; teaching a high school English self introduction lesson where I got to explain that my birthday is the shortest day of the year, while my best friend's birthday is on the longest. (a mix of Japanese and English on that one, but once one person gets it, they usually fill the others in), a wonderful song period where I got to hear and start to practice the Toyota Yogo School song (I snuck in for that class during one of my free periods); and of course, saying goodbye to everyone as they left. I also got a good start on another of my personal projects: teaching the high schoolers the "what's up?" "nothing much, just chillin'" conversational dynamic and meaning. One of my students, Takeshi, has got the words down, and I think I was able to convey the versatility of 'just chillin,' as it can mean, relaxed, happy, okay, hanging out with friends, having a good conversation, and more...
Sadly, Etsushi and Shion both weren't in school today...maybe they don't come on Mondays but I'm hoping they are well. (this was the only way in which my day felt a little incomplete; well that and we had Natto. It's not horrible, but it's not my favorite thing, and I thought it only came up once a month. Apparently Toyota Yogo is on a different food schedule than my other schools, but oh well).
I also picked up a fantastic pair of dresses off of the 999 yen rack (about $10 US) on my way to grocery shopping at the Josui supercomplex (this is actually my favorite grocery store I've found here...even beats Jusco). I didn't expect either to fit either dress but both did and they both looked so awesome I had to buy them. Now I have clothes for clubbing, and a nice spring dress; I'm feeling like I'm really settling in now! If only I could get some more WOC conditioner; I've been using it sparingly, but there's an obvious difference when I use the proper conditioner as opposed to just the regular Pantene for damaged hair. My hair needs extra moisture, but it's not damaged (just mixed), so while the damaged hair products are better than nothing, they still leave my hair a fuzzy mess.
Tonight's dinner was a bento sushi box (for less than 500 yen, I got a bento box that would have been twice that easily in Philly, and oh so tasty), the standard stir fried veggies (with bok choy), a potato-carrot patty and chocolate covered strawberries with chocolate wafers. The food here is so good, I just keep eating and eating. Luckily I'm getting a lot of exercise too! Hopefully enough to offset this great home cooking.
Now, to bed!
While I'm mainly there for the students, the teacher are always having lots of questions, so I spend a fair amount of time talking with them as I'm with the students (especially in these morning visits, as I'm not technically teaching anything). So today, as I was showing Sarie the chicken outside (there are four chickens at this school, as well as a rabbit and a duck. They are in various pens...not food, just ambiance). So I explained that the “niwatori” (chicken in Japanese, literally means 'garden bird') outside was “chicken” in English, and one of the teachers asked what we called the meat, to which I replied “chicken.” (and then we did the Chicken Dance a little)
The word chicken got me and one of the teachers into a discussion about beef vs. cow, pork vs. pig, etc. But chicken has no meat word; it's just chicken. This reminded me of the Teaching Company's History of the English Language I had been listening to before I left, and as it sprang to mind, I barreled ahead with an attempt to explain the reason why some foods have different words for the cooked meat than the animal (many languages do not make this distinction, as ours doesn't when it comes to chicken).
My Japanese was not up to the Norman Invasion of England, though I did write 1066 on the board and started with “back in history, in 1066, in England, the French battled and took over so all the cooked meat words are from French.” This is vastly oversimplified and vague, but I managed to get enough across that the HRT understood what I was saying (maybe she'd learned it in history class or something) so it felt like a huge win. It's amazing the amount of communication one can have at random points even with minimal language skills.
The day also included such high points as blowing bubbles outside in the warm spring sun with the Elementary School kids; teaching a high school English self introduction lesson where I got to explain that my birthday is the shortest day of the year, while my best friend's birthday is on the longest. (a mix of Japanese and English on that one, but once one person gets it, they usually fill the others in), a wonderful song period where I got to hear and start to practice the Toyota Yogo School song (I snuck in for that class during one of my free periods); and of course, saying goodbye to everyone as they left. I also got a good start on another of my personal projects: teaching the high schoolers the "what's up?" "nothing much, just chillin'" conversational dynamic and meaning. One of my students, Takeshi, has got the words down, and I think I was able to convey the versatility of 'just chillin,' as it can mean, relaxed, happy, okay, hanging out with friends, having a good conversation, and more...
Sadly, Etsushi and Shion both weren't in school today...maybe they don't come on Mondays but I'm hoping they are well. (this was the only way in which my day felt a little incomplete; well that and we had Natto. It's not horrible, but it's not my favorite thing, and I thought it only came up once a month. Apparently Toyota Yogo is on a different food schedule than my other schools, but oh well).
I also picked up a fantastic pair of dresses off of the 999 yen rack (about $10 US) on my way to grocery shopping at the Josui supercomplex (this is actually my favorite grocery store I've found here...even beats Jusco). I didn't expect either to fit either dress but both did and they both looked so awesome I had to buy them. Now I have clothes for clubbing, and a nice spring dress; I'm feeling like I'm really settling in now! If only I could get some more WOC conditioner; I've been using it sparingly, but there's an obvious difference when I use the proper conditioner as opposed to just the regular Pantene for damaged hair. My hair needs extra moisture, but it's not damaged (just mixed), so while the damaged hair products are better than nothing, they still leave my hair a fuzzy mess.
Tonight's dinner was a bento sushi box (for less than 500 yen, I got a bento box that would have been twice that easily in Philly, and oh so tasty), the standard stir fried veggies (with bok choy), a potato-carrot patty and chocolate covered strawberries with chocolate wafers. The food here is so good, I just keep eating and eating. Luckily I'm getting a lot of exercise too! Hopefully enough to offset this great home cooking.
Now, to bed!
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Howl's Moving Nagoya
Of course, I got lost finding the building for training. It was one of those mornings. First, I ran out of my house with everything I didn't need for my day, and next to nothing I needed. Then, in trying for my train, I go to the Shin Toyota Station instead of the Toyota Station (they are literally a block apart connected by an overpass, and I'm always getting mixed up which train leaves from which station) so by the time I get back to the proper station, I've just missed the early train. Now I'm stuck taking the Meitetsu to Chiryu (the one which will get me there on time if I don't have any problems...uh-oh...in Japan, land navigation is ALWAYS problems for me). This set of trains is a trip that I've only done once, in the opposite direction on the day I came to Toyota, where afterwards I spent almost an hour wandering around the city trying to find my apartment. This is not fortuitous.
Worse, as the train is leaving Toyota Station, I reach into my bag to refresh my memory on the map and directions to the meeting place. Nothing. That's right. I forgot the MOST IMPORTANT thing – my printout of name and address of and the map to the venue where training is being held. Two words. Totally Frakked!
I managed to go online with my (super expensive and confusing) cell phone, check my email and get the basic information, directions, etc. (Lord knows how much that cost) to the training, as well as my supervisor's phone number which for some bizarre reason I hadn't entered into my cell...stupid! I also texted another ALT friend in the company to see if he knew the training venue. All of these things counted for naught though as, when following the instructions, I left the train station via the WRONG EXIT. Japan is a bit like Howl's Moving Castle: if you go out the wrong exit, you end up in an entirely different place than you planned with no way back to the proper place without entering the Castle again—a debatable process.
So I'm outside looking for a Koban (police box), seeing nothing (though in my defense I'm not 100% sure what a Koban looks like anyway) so I ask a guy if he sees a Koban. Nope. Then somehow in the process of asking for further directions, he tells me that I'm at the wrong train station and that I should go back to Kanayama. Next, I call my supervisor and but he doesn't pick up his phone. Now, the smart thing to do at that point would have been to go back into the Nagoya Train Station, find the Visitor's Center and ask them for (yet another) English Map and directions.
But I was tired, stressed out and still a bit sick from this cold that I've been barely staving off since since Wednesday--it's been like waiting for a sneeze: I have a cold, no I don't, yes I do, no I don't...FRAK! Just sneeze already! So instead of doing the smart thing, I did the stupid thing, which was run back to the Subway and start back for Kanayama. What I'm going to do after that is a mystery to me. At the transfer station, my brain kicks back in again, so I go back online--luckily my phone plan-- think-cuts my internet fees at around 4 Sen (about $40/month) but that maybe with a different EZ Plan, so who the hell knows how much money I'm spending looking this crap up online anyway. I'm thinking of going to the cell phone company and asking as a part of my today plan.
And yes, my directions did say Nagoya Station, so now, a half hour later, I'm on my way back to Nagoya Station (where I started). There I find the Visitor's Center, find out that my mistake was going out the wrong exit, and five minutes later (English map in hand), I'm at training.
Training, (the parts I was there for) was quite excellent. We gained more teaching tools and learned more about planning dynamic lessons. I really liked the demonstration and practice on incorporating skits into your lessons, as well as how to use the Karaoke tracks of our teaching songs to create your own teaching songs based on different topics. Also, I got some good personal advice on how to be more effective using flashcards to setup students for activities, producing grammar, etc. All good stuff. It was also great to catch up with the folks from orientation! I also had an amazing lunch, for less than 1 sen (under $10) I had an amazing beef and onion dish with salad and rice. It was so delicious, writing about it, I'm having mouth watering flashbacks!
After training, a group of us went out for a night on the town! That is, hours of Karaoke with Nomihoudai (all you can drink). We were pretty bombed three hours later when the Karaoke place told us that we had to go (there was a line). Towards the end Mie joined us. Afterwards, most everyone went their own ways. I hung out further with Eric, Mie, Ben, Pam and others as we went back to the Nagoya station for food (for me and others) and for the train (as three of our party had to catch the Shinkansen to go home). At this point, I was hungry and definitely working my way to really sick, so while I'd have loved to have stayed out longer, I decided to hitch a ride home with Mie. Eric stayed on, with directions to some clubs and the Manga Cafe, so he could party all night. (I'd have loved to have done this too, but I was too sick. Today, after a night at home, I'm feeling worlds better though).
In short, rough start to the day, but good on the followthrough!
Worse, as the train is leaving Toyota Station, I reach into my bag to refresh my memory on the map and directions to the meeting place. Nothing. That's right. I forgot the MOST IMPORTANT thing – my printout of name and address of and the map to the venue where training is being held. Two words. Totally Frakked!
I managed to go online with my (super expensive and confusing) cell phone, check my email and get the basic information, directions, etc. (Lord knows how much that cost) to the training, as well as my supervisor's phone number which for some bizarre reason I hadn't entered into my cell...stupid! I also texted another ALT friend in the company to see if he knew the training venue. All of these things counted for naught though as, when following the instructions, I left the train station via the WRONG EXIT. Japan is a bit like Howl's Moving Castle: if you go out the wrong exit, you end up in an entirely different place than you planned with no way back to the proper place without entering the Castle again—a debatable process.
So I'm outside looking for a Koban (police box), seeing nothing (though in my defense I'm not 100% sure what a Koban looks like anyway) so I ask a guy if he sees a Koban. Nope. Then somehow in the process of asking for further directions, he tells me that I'm at the wrong train station and that I should go back to Kanayama. Next, I call my supervisor and but he doesn't pick up his phone. Now, the smart thing to do at that point would have been to go back into the Nagoya Train Station, find the Visitor's Center and ask them for (yet another) English Map and directions.
But I was tired, stressed out and still a bit sick from this cold that I've been barely staving off since since Wednesday--it's been like waiting for a sneeze: I have a cold, no I don't, yes I do, no I don't...FRAK! Just sneeze already! So instead of doing the smart thing, I did the stupid thing, which was run back to the Subway and start back for Kanayama. What I'm going to do after that is a mystery to me. At the transfer station, my brain kicks back in again, so I go back online--luckily my phone plan-- think-cuts my internet fees at around 4 Sen (about $40/month) but that maybe with a different EZ Plan, so who the hell knows how much money I'm spending looking this crap up online anyway. I'm thinking of going to the cell phone company and asking as a part of my today plan.
And yes, my directions did say Nagoya Station, so now, a half hour later, I'm on my way back to Nagoya Station (where I started). There I find the Visitor's Center, find out that my mistake was going out the wrong exit, and five minutes later (English map in hand), I'm at training.
Training, (the parts I was there for) was quite excellent. We gained more teaching tools and learned more about planning dynamic lessons. I really liked the demonstration and practice on incorporating skits into your lessons, as well as how to use the Karaoke tracks of our teaching songs to create your own teaching songs based on different topics. Also, I got some good personal advice on how to be more effective using flashcards to setup students for activities, producing grammar, etc. All good stuff. It was also great to catch up with the folks from orientation! I also had an amazing lunch, for less than 1 sen (under $10) I had an amazing beef and onion dish with salad and rice. It was so delicious, writing about it, I'm having mouth watering flashbacks!
After training, a group of us went out for a night on the town! That is, hours of Karaoke with Nomihoudai (all you can drink). We were pretty bombed three hours later when the Karaoke place told us that we had to go (there was a line). Towards the end Mie joined us. Afterwards, most everyone went their own ways. I hung out further with Eric, Mie, Ben, Pam and others as we went back to the Nagoya station for food (for me and others) and for the train (as three of our party had to catch the Shinkansen to go home). At this point, I was hungry and definitely working my way to really sick, so while I'd have loved to have stayed out longer, I decided to hitch a ride home with Mie. Eric stayed on, with directions to some clubs and the Manga Cafe, so he could party all night. (I'd have loved to have done this too, but I was too sick. Today, after a night at home, I'm feeling worlds better though).
In short, rough start to the day, but good on the followthrough!
Friday, April 23, 2010
Ibo, Black Socks and MORE CATS!
This is going to be a short entry because I have to be up early tomorrow to go to Nagoya for more followup training. But I wanted to say a few words about my experience today at Ibo Elementary, mainly because it was soooo much fun! I am really going to enjoy teaching here. The kids aren't shy at all; they are very forthcoming with questions and jump right in for lessons. The younger kids got a huge kick out of my cat's names and “MORE CATS!” (I always ask “how many cats do I have” and have the kids guess, starting at one and going up to five, with each raise in number of cats getting the kids to say MORE CATS!)
The sixth graders especially loved it when I pulled my hair out of my scrunchie and headbanged a bit with my PHI LA DEL PHI A chant! (where we clap on each syllable). You never know how kids are going to take the crazy, but this group just loved it so we had an excellent time. The HRT was also in stitches. And with the older kids (5th and 6th grade), I usually have an explicit question and answer time (the younger kids sometimes ask questions, which I on the spot answer, but they get shy if asked to produce questions on their own as a part of the lesson, so I tend to leave that for the older kids). Sometimes they ask in Japanese, sometimes in English. I answer in English, if I can translating their question into English and having them repeat it to me in English before answering. (I get a lot of the same questions, so this isn't as hard as it sounds). If the question is beyond my Japanese, often the HRT will translate for me, which is hugely helpful.
Today I got the usual “What are your cats' names” which leads me into a lesson on SKINNY and FAT as well as translating their names, which are all thankfully character or physical traits. (Littlecat is LITTLE plus CAT, etc). It's a painless way to teach vocabulary. Usually the names get lost in the shuffle, but Skinny and Fat sticks. I always draw pictures of my cats, starting with two normal looking ones and then having them get progressively fatter (larger circles for the body) until I get to Boo Boo (who actually is a skinny cat now, but it's better for the lesson to use him as the fattest) where I draw a giant circle for the body with a tiny head. This has the kids in stitches (from grades 1-6 that I've used it for). I've found this lesson only works though if the kids ask me about my cats first. If I just try to bring it up, the kids are bored (I only tried this once).
Today, I also had the privilege of working with the Special Needs class at the school (three adorable children who seem to have learning disabilities and some degree of mental retardation) This was a last minute addition to the schedule, I think a direct result of my conversation with the Kyoto sensei where I mentioned that I was also working at Toyota Yogo. I made an attempt at my Jikoshoukai lesson, but it wasn't flying at all, so we broke that off and ended up just doing songs. I started with Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes which was a huge hit, and then moved onto Row, Row, Row Your Boat, did a brief sting of “Doing the Butt, Sexy Sexy” since Nagomi-chan really wanted to bump butts during Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.
Then, still having 15 minutes, started dredging back through my memory for Camp Songs. I was wearing black socks, so I took one off and said “this is a song about Black Socks,” showing the socks, pointing to the childrens' socks etc. Then I somehow managed a passable translation of the songs' lyrics as I was singing them a verse at a time: “Black socks, they never get dirty, the longer you wear them the stronger they get...” I had to impromptu the gestures (the kids adored all of my gestures and imitated quite well, especially Yuna-chan, who became my great friend for the day). Next part: “...sometimes, I think I should launder them, but something keeps telling me, don't wash them yet, not yet, not yet...” This song is meant to be sung in a round, but that wasn't happening today. Still it was great fun for all!
To wrap up, we did the first part of “So Long, Farewell, Avidazane, Goodbye” complete with dramatic goodbye gestures. As I was doing my songs with the kids, the Kyoto-sensei (Vice Principal - I noticed him in the middle of “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” was standing at the window to the classroom, imitating the gestures and trying to learn the words. It was clear this lesson was a hit for all concerned (and I made sure to talk extra loud with my explanations). Later on, when I joined Yuna-chan for Souji time (while we were waiting for brooms I started doing Head Shoulders Knees and Toes with her again, and she just lit up and immediately joined in. I also was talking to some of the other kids in our cleaning group about the Karate Kid: wax on, wax off. I can't believe that movie is so old now!
Oh yeah, and for Kyuushoku lunch we had a dessert crepe: Strawberry! (we never get dessert, so this was very exciting for me! I'm also still waiting in breathless anticipation of the Chocolate Milk, as I was chatting about with one of my HRTs today in the staff room, much to her amusement.) I ate lunch with the first graders, who were sooo talking my ear off and showering me with questions. Someone had taught them the names of a bunch of fruits in English, so they were gleefully relaying this information to me, as well as asking me how to say this and that in English. One girl asked about something in the soup, and I was like "Mezurashii" (no idea...it's brand new to me). That was laughter all around!
In short, I had a great time at Ibo, and while my cold is getting worse, it's been a good day all around. Now to go to bed so I'm well enough to do training and the all night party that follows.
The sixth graders especially loved it when I pulled my hair out of my scrunchie and headbanged a bit with my PHI LA DEL PHI A chant! (where we clap on each syllable). You never know how kids are going to take the crazy, but this group just loved it so we had an excellent time. The HRT was also in stitches. And with the older kids (5th and 6th grade), I usually have an explicit question and answer time (the younger kids sometimes ask questions, which I on the spot answer, but they get shy if asked to produce questions on their own as a part of the lesson, so I tend to leave that for the older kids). Sometimes they ask in Japanese, sometimes in English. I answer in English, if I can translating their question into English and having them repeat it to me in English before answering. (I get a lot of the same questions, so this isn't as hard as it sounds). If the question is beyond my Japanese, often the HRT will translate for me, which is hugely helpful.
Today I got the usual “What are your cats' names” which leads me into a lesson on SKINNY and FAT as well as translating their names, which are all thankfully character or physical traits. (Littlecat is LITTLE plus CAT, etc). It's a painless way to teach vocabulary. Usually the names get lost in the shuffle, but Skinny and Fat sticks. I always draw pictures of my cats, starting with two normal looking ones and then having them get progressively fatter (larger circles for the body) until I get to Boo Boo (who actually is a skinny cat now, but it's better for the lesson to use him as the fattest) where I draw a giant circle for the body with a tiny head. This has the kids in stitches (from grades 1-6 that I've used it for). I've found this lesson only works though if the kids ask me about my cats first. If I just try to bring it up, the kids are bored (I only tried this once).
Today, I also had the privilege of working with the Special Needs class at the school (three adorable children who seem to have learning disabilities and some degree of mental retardation) This was a last minute addition to the schedule, I think a direct result of my conversation with the Kyoto sensei where I mentioned that I was also working at Toyota Yogo. I made an attempt at my Jikoshoukai lesson, but it wasn't flying at all, so we broke that off and ended up just doing songs. I started with Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes which was a huge hit, and then moved onto Row, Row, Row Your Boat, did a brief sting of “Doing the Butt, Sexy Sexy” since Nagomi-chan really wanted to bump butts during Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.
Then, still having 15 minutes, started dredging back through my memory for Camp Songs. I was wearing black socks, so I took one off and said “this is a song about Black Socks,” showing the socks, pointing to the childrens' socks etc. Then I somehow managed a passable translation of the songs' lyrics as I was singing them a verse at a time: “Black socks, they never get dirty, the longer you wear them the stronger they get...” I had to impromptu the gestures (the kids adored all of my gestures and imitated quite well, especially Yuna-chan, who became my great friend for the day). Next part: “...sometimes, I think I should launder them, but something keeps telling me, don't wash them yet, not yet, not yet...” This song is meant to be sung in a round, but that wasn't happening today. Still it was great fun for all!
To wrap up, we did the first part of “So Long, Farewell, Avidazane, Goodbye” complete with dramatic goodbye gestures. As I was doing my songs with the kids, the Kyoto-sensei (Vice Principal - I noticed him in the middle of “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” was standing at the window to the classroom, imitating the gestures and trying to learn the words. It was clear this lesson was a hit for all concerned (and I made sure to talk extra loud with my explanations). Later on, when I joined Yuna-chan for Souji time (while we were waiting for brooms I started doing Head Shoulders Knees and Toes with her again, and she just lit up and immediately joined in. I also was talking to some of the other kids in our cleaning group about the Karate Kid: wax on, wax off. I can't believe that movie is so old now!
Oh yeah, and for Kyuushoku lunch we had a dessert crepe: Strawberry! (we never get dessert, so this was very exciting for me! I'm also still waiting in breathless anticipation of the Chocolate Milk, as I was chatting about with one of my HRTs today in the staff room, much to her amusement.) I ate lunch with the first graders, who were sooo talking my ear off and showering me with questions. Someone had taught them the names of a bunch of fruits in English, so they were gleefully relaying this information to me, as well as asking me how to say this and that in English. One girl asked about something in the soup, and I was like "Mezurashii" (no idea...it's brand new to me). That was laughter all around!
In short, I had a great time at Ibo, and while my cold is getting worse, it's been a good day all around. Now to go to bed so I'm well enough to do training and the all night party that follows.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Reorientation
My new morning routine at Toyota Yogo of greeting the students and chatting with as many as I can individually has absolutely been a success! Not only am I much happier, but it's a joy to see the smiling faces of my students. Of course, like all Japanese kids, when asked how they're doing, they are drilled with the “I'm fine thank you and you.” all pushed out as though it were only one word. Occasionally, especially in the class before school lunch, I'll get “I'm hungry,” or “I'm tired” but “I'm fine thank you and you,” is definitely the standard. So it was a joy today at school lunch when Tommy (that's not his real name, but he asked me to call him that) came over and asked, “What's up?” (clearly the last ALT had taught him and at least one of the other boys that phrase. We all do our part to break the conversational chains of “I'm fine thank you and you” in our own ways.)
Tommy delivered the “what's up” so perfectly (and it was such a surprise), that I immediately responded in the natural way, “Nothing much, just chillin' chillin.” to which he stared somewhat blankly at me. So now I know what I'm going to be teaching my Toyota Yogo High Schoolers next week. It's so great to have such a variety of ages of students at Toyota Yogo. I have kids from ages 6 to 17; it provides a huge amount of great variety! Today at school lunch, I was sitting next to Shinobu, a middle school girl (one of a pair of twins) who after a little bit began to (very quietly) start chattering away at me (in Japanese) about music. I didn't understand most of it. That's in part because she was a little shy and thus quiet. But we still had a good time.
I had to leave early today for the monthly meeting of our company's Toyota City ALTs. This meant I could only stay for about five minutes of the High School class, which was a shame because that's my favorite class. We were talking about hobbies, so first I had to read the dialogue from the textbook between Aki and Tom, who were talking about their various hobbies. This was a huge step up from “Whose Wedding? from last class, which featured a woman tricking her longtime boyfriend into marrying her by planning their wedding behind his back (telling him that it was his friend's and getting his friend involved as well) so he didn't know he was getting married until he got there. Anyone else taking bets for how long it's going to be before these two are on Dr. Phil?
So the hobbies dialogue was a major improvement. I made sure to deliver the male and female voices with suitable over the top drama (and clarity), and had them repeat the lines of dialogue with gusto (in appropriate voices). My sensei was cracking up, and the kids seemed engaged (I did make sure to correct their pronunciation also if it was off...fun doesn't meal lax, lol). Then I had to run for the train. Here I lucked out again, because as I was leaving the parking lot, one of the HRTs was driving Shion (one of my two first graders from last week's class) and her grandmother home. She offered me a ride to the train station (it was raining all day) and I gleefully took it. This also gave me a chance to chat with Shion (she's so adorable) all the way back to the train station.
After only a very minor period of lostness finding the right room in the right City Hall building (there are two of them connected by a bridge), I made it our monthly meeting. I'm incredibly glad we have this monthly gathering. It gives us additional training, ideas, and a chance to talk with each other about what's going on at our schools. It was reassuring to know I wasn't the only one having problems with scheduling and lesson plans (though from the rather shocked expressions of others around the table, I was definitely on the higher end of initial startup problems). It also gave me some perspective into why things at these schools are starting out so rough. First, all of the schools are preparing for the upcoming Sports Festival (a huge deal at Japanese schools) and also the HRTs are doing home visits to parents. In short, they're overwhelmed. As a result, little things like ME are getting wholly lost in the shuffle. This doesn't make my life any easier, but it does give me perspective, which is good.
That said, it seems I'm supposed to have over a week to prepare lessons, as well as be given very specific guidelines through these faxes about what we're doing in class. I'd really be happy to see this happen soon. Even one day of notice would be most excellent.
I am feeling much better though about my company and the big picture about how things work (and why at points I'm getting the short end of the stick). The people at my company clearly are working very hard and trying their best as are the people at my schools, both of whom work crazy hours. I thought I was a hard worker, but the Japanese work ethic puts me to shame. You can recognize this by the huge number of people you see passed out on the trains and buses at the end of the day; clearly worked to exhaustion. (I'm not advocating this...just an observation). But in the Japanese school system, there are just some systemic things that seem designed to make life as difficult as possible. It sucks, but there you are. I'm just glad to know that most of these issues are (a) not the usual and (b) going to be resolved.
This Saturday, we have followup training in Nagoya. While I'd like a full weekend sometime, I'm happy to be going to Nagoya for the training. It gives me a chance to touch base with the people that I met in Orientation, hopefully get some new job related skills, and of course party all night and spend another early morning passed out in a Manga Cafe! There will be drinking and Karaoke and maybe some clubbing! Mie has also said she wants to join in for the insanity! (Mie is the total bomb! I'm so glad I met her!) I'm going to check in with a couple of the other younger teachers that I've met over the past few weeks and see if other are going to be in the area and down for a night of partying as well. I'd probably have been to cheap to go to Nagoya for the second weekend in a row, but since our transit is reimbursed, I figure, let's make it count!
Dinner at Vash's: Vegetable Stir Fry (onion, bean sprouts, sweet red pepper, and carrots) over noodles with Shrimp and Pork in delicious wok sauce I picked up at the grocery store. Side of avocado and sliced tomato. Drink: Mix of mango, orange and lychee juice with whole lychee inside. Dessert: Strawberries rolled in chocolate (homemade sauce) with side of buttered chocolate bread with strawberry jam.
Cooking at home is negating all of the good exercise I'm doing in the maintaining my waistline department, but ohhh, it's so tasty! And today at the foreign goods store, I found a loaf of wheat bread! I'm soooo happy about this! Now I just need to buy cinnamon, nutmeg and syrup so I can make a good french toast (already have the vanilla extract and milk). And maybe some vanilla yogurt or sour cream for dipping... (I also have everything I need to make hummus except the blender. Shveta gave me a hand blender which should be arriving from the USA sometime soon, I hope)
There was only one down point to my day: I had a major scare this evening when I thought I had lost my camera. Thankfully, it was hiding in with some of my teaching materials. I'm so glad! Phew!
Another great day in Toyota! Tomorrow, back to the beginning at another new to me school: Ibo Elementary.
Tommy delivered the “what's up” so perfectly (and it was such a surprise), that I immediately responded in the natural way, “Nothing much, just chillin' chillin.” to which he stared somewhat blankly at me. So now I know what I'm going to be teaching my Toyota Yogo High Schoolers next week. It's so great to have such a variety of ages of students at Toyota Yogo. I have kids from ages 6 to 17; it provides a huge amount of great variety! Today at school lunch, I was sitting next to Shinobu, a middle school girl (one of a pair of twins) who after a little bit began to (very quietly) start chattering away at me (in Japanese) about music. I didn't understand most of it. That's in part because she was a little shy and thus quiet. But we still had a good time.
I had to leave early today for the monthly meeting of our company's Toyota City ALTs. This meant I could only stay for about five minutes of the High School class, which was a shame because that's my favorite class. We were talking about hobbies, so first I had to read the dialogue from the textbook between Aki and Tom, who were talking about their various hobbies. This was a huge step up from “Whose Wedding? from last class, which featured a woman tricking her longtime boyfriend into marrying her by planning their wedding behind his back (telling him that it was his friend's and getting his friend involved as well) so he didn't know he was getting married until he got there. Anyone else taking bets for how long it's going to be before these two are on Dr. Phil?
So the hobbies dialogue was a major improvement. I made sure to deliver the male and female voices with suitable over the top drama (and clarity), and had them repeat the lines of dialogue with gusto (in appropriate voices). My sensei was cracking up, and the kids seemed engaged (I did make sure to correct their pronunciation also if it was off...fun doesn't meal lax, lol). Then I had to run for the train. Here I lucked out again, because as I was leaving the parking lot, one of the HRTs was driving Shion (one of my two first graders from last week's class) and her grandmother home. She offered me a ride to the train station (it was raining all day) and I gleefully took it. This also gave me a chance to chat with Shion (she's so adorable) all the way back to the train station.
After only a very minor period of lostness finding the right room in the right City Hall building (there are two of them connected by a bridge), I made it our monthly meeting. I'm incredibly glad we have this monthly gathering. It gives us additional training, ideas, and a chance to talk with each other about what's going on at our schools. It was reassuring to know I wasn't the only one having problems with scheduling and lesson plans (though from the rather shocked expressions of others around the table, I was definitely on the higher end of initial startup problems). It also gave me some perspective into why things at these schools are starting out so rough. First, all of the schools are preparing for the upcoming Sports Festival (a huge deal at Japanese schools) and also the HRTs are doing home visits to parents. In short, they're overwhelmed. As a result, little things like ME are getting wholly lost in the shuffle. This doesn't make my life any easier, but it does give me perspective, which is good.
That said, it seems I'm supposed to have over a week to prepare lessons, as well as be given very specific guidelines through these faxes about what we're doing in class. I'd really be happy to see this happen soon. Even one day of notice would be most excellent.
I am feeling much better though about my company and the big picture about how things work (and why at points I'm getting the short end of the stick). The people at my company clearly are working very hard and trying their best as are the people at my schools, both of whom work crazy hours. I thought I was a hard worker, but the Japanese work ethic puts me to shame. You can recognize this by the huge number of people you see passed out on the trains and buses at the end of the day; clearly worked to exhaustion. (I'm not advocating this...just an observation). But in the Japanese school system, there are just some systemic things that seem designed to make life as difficult as possible. It sucks, but there you are. I'm just glad to know that most of these issues are (a) not the usual and (b) going to be resolved.
This Saturday, we have followup training in Nagoya. While I'd like a full weekend sometime, I'm happy to be going to Nagoya for the training. It gives me a chance to touch base with the people that I met in Orientation, hopefully get some new job related skills, and of course party all night and spend another early morning passed out in a Manga Cafe! There will be drinking and Karaoke and maybe some clubbing! Mie has also said she wants to join in for the insanity! (Mie is the total bomb! I'm so glad I met her!) I'm going to check in with a couple of the other younger teachers that I've met over the past few weeks and see if other are going to be in the area and down for a night of partying as well. I'd probably have been to cheap to go to Nagoya for the second weekend in a row, but since our transit is reimbursed, I figure, let's make it count!
Dinner at Vash's: Vegetable Stir Fry (onion, bean sprouts, sweet red pepper, and carrots) over noodles with Shrimp and Pork in delicious wok sauce I picked up at the grocery store. Side of avocado and sliced tomato. Drink: Mix of mango, orange and lychee juice with whole lychee inside. Dessert: Strawberries rolled in chocolate (homemade sauce) with side of buttered chocolate bread with strawberry jam.
Cooking at home is negating all of the good exercise I'm doing in the maintaining my waistline department, but ohhh, it's so tasty! And today at the foreign goods store, I found a loaf of wheat bread! I'm soooo happy about this! Now I just need to buy cinnamon, nutmeg and syrup so I can make a good french toast (already have the vanilla extract and milk). And maybe some vanilla yogurt or sour cream for dipping... (I also have everything I need to make hummus except the blender. Shveta gave me a hand blender which should be arriving from the USA sometime soon, I hope)
There was only one down point to my day: I had a major scare this evening when I thought I had lost my camera. Thankfully, it was hiding in with some of my teaching materials. I'm so glad! Phew!
Another great day in Toyota! Tomorrow, back to the beginning at another new to me school: Ibo Elementary.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
More Than Just April
Today at Higashiyama had it's own series of ups and downs. More downs than I would like (all in relationship to giving me the right information in order to plan an effective lesson!). On Monday, when I was totally unprepared, I spoke with the head English teacher and let her know that I needed some ide a of what to teach for my lessons, since I hadn't received said fax. She gave me some fairly specific information, stating that I was supposed to be teaching the same topic (and class) to the 5th and 6th grade classes today, pointing me to specific pages in the Eigo-note textbook and telling me exactly what exercises I should be doing. Seems simple enough, right?
Except that the fifth graders aren't using that book yet, and they aren't supposed to be learning dates so the “When's your birthday? My birthday is...” schema doesn't work, They barely know months of the year. Also, they can't really write well in English yet (something that my lesson assumed they could do, solely because the exercises that the head English teacher gave me required writing. So my first fifth grade class was a disaster (not as much of a disaster as my first Monday class, but still, quite painful). The kids didn't have the knowledge base to understand my lesson, and I kept having to shift things around and backtrack in order to get them to be able to participate at all. And so the kids and I were quite frustrated. I did my best not to let my frustration show (of course). This wasn't their fault!
This lesson and these concepts aren't even in the Eigo-Note curriculum for fifth graders, at least according to the teaching materials that my company gave me, which I looked up at the end of the day, after my last class, when I realized fully how little of my lesson the kids were actually understanding. (my last HRT was a real dream, but all of the teachers today were helpful. We were all just caught under the same bus of misinformation.)
Then, to put the cherry on the Sundae of disorganization and confusion, I found out when I apologized again to one of my fifth grade HRTs about the class (and told him that I didn't really know what the students here knew and didn't know, to which he responded that they hadn't really learned months yet (though we'd done some of that work in class) and that the birthday lesson (with ordinal numbers) was just too difficult for them. I walked him over to the calendar for me, posted on the wall) which included my topics for each day, and he squinted at it and said that the lessons were out of order.
The next lesson “what month is this,” should actually have come before the “when's your birthday?” lesson. Which makes a heck of a lot more sense! So now I'm in an awful position for the next class too. The lesson will be way too easy for the sixth graders, who already know what month it is and also know ordinal numbers (though I will review that), and it will also be a step back for the fifth graders, who also now know the months. I can make it work for the fifth graders (because they need the review considering how things were dumped on them), but the sixth graders are going to need some new material.
This week does not fill me with confidence in regards to my future lesson planning at this school, even if I do get this mythical fax with instructions about what I'm supposed to be doing. I'm trying to have some general, nonspecific conversations with my HRTs directly (as best as can be done within the context of our contract) about the general trend of the curriculum, so I can at least not be so wildly off base about what we're supposed to be doing, but, as I said, the results so far are not filling me with the happy. It's incredibly frustrating to try and construct lesson plans when you (a) don't know what the kids know and (b) aren't given accurate information about what the kids are supposed to be doing. I am grateful to the majority of my HRTs there, who today really did their best to have my back.
That said, there were some solid victories and fun moments for me today. First, it was 75 degrees today and sunny, so I decided to skip the bus and make the long bike ride to school again. What a great decision! The weather and exercise put me in a good mood for the morning, and after school I was able to bike around Toyota, get lost, and eventually reorient myself to find my way home...a huge accomplishment in Japan. Also in regards to life in school, there were some shining moments. First, I stopped at the convenience store before school and picked up some candies for all of the teachers (just on a whim). I gave these out after the students got home, and they were very well received. In fact, so well received that I was given permission to partake of the ice-cream bars that the principal had put in the freezer for the staff...wahoo!
Also, after school, there were two boys whose mom was coming to get them but who was running late. The boys came over and chatted with me. They barely spoke English, and I barely speak Japanese, but the younger one Naoshi (I think) wanted to show me his award (for something I didn't understand but I congratulated him profusely—he looked like he was about seven) and his older brother (whose name didn't catch) LOVED Michael Jackson. He started out just randomly chattering and then asked me if I liked Michael Jackson. When I said yes and started singing a little bit of Thriller with a poor attempt at a moonwalk in slippers, he got so excited, he started mimicking Michael Jackson moves and then did a really solid rendition of the chorus of “Billie Jean.” He looked to be about ten.
We had a great time! He asked if there were really blue eyed people in America, and I said yes we had blue eyed people, and green eyed people, but my eyes were brown. Then we had an in depth sharing of our various birthmarks) and some discussion about how there weren't any pink or purple eyed people in America, and that the only red eyed people I knew of were albinos (which I don't think made it across...that was a difficult concept).
I was sad to see them go. It was certainly my most productive conversation and teaching moment of the day. Also, this entire conversation was happening in the staff room, under the amused gazes of the other teachers; they kept thanking me and I kept saying it had been no problem and fun. I wish those two kids would come back and talk to me again. I had an hour and a half at the end of the day with, of course, nothing to do. Singing Michael Jackson with kids was a far more productive use of my time than banging my head against the “what month is it” lesson planning strategy.
After biking for an hour and a half around Toyota, taking the long way home, I found my way to VITS and did a couple of hours of Karaoke. The staff there all knows me, and the one guy was very excited that I'd bought a cell phone. I was able to chat with him for a bit. I'm not sure if they find me amusing or pathetic in my 1-3x/week Karaoke alone evenings, but it's fun for me and I'm happy to be remembered for whatever reason. I really love going through the menus, trying out new songs and old favorites and just generally singing. Karaoke with friends is GREAT! But there's also something to Karaoke by oneself. It's relaxing, low stress, and ultimately an act of discovery. Especially since my reading speed is at the point that I can try out new songs at random that seem interesting to me (provided they are not TOO fast).
I also tried making a new vegetable stir fry today: Chinese sprouts (the kind you throw on Pho), onions, these really cool thin and tiny Japanese mushrooms, pork with a special sauce I bought at the grocery store. It turned out great! So all in all, while there were some rocks in the road of my day, it was ultimately a good one.
Except that the fifth graders aren't using that book yet, and they aren't supposed to be learning dates so the “When's your birthday? My birthday is...” schema doesn't work, They barely know months of the year. Also, they can't really write well in English yet (something that my lesson assumed they could do, solely because the exercises that the head English teacher gave me required writing. So my first fifth grade class was a disaster (not as much of a disaster as my first Monday class, but still, quite painful). The kids didn't have the knowledge base to understand my lesson, and I kept having to shift things around and backtrack in order to get them to be able to participate at all. And so the kids and I were quite frustrated. I did my best not to let my frustration show (of course). This wasn't their fault!
This lesson and these concepts aren't even in the Eigo-Note curriculum for fifth graders, at least according to the teaching materials that my company gave me, which I looked up at the end of the day, after my last class, when I realized fully how little of my lesson the kids were actually understanding. (my last HRT was a real dream, but all of the teachers today were helpful. We were all just caught under the same bus of misinformation.)
Then, to put the cherry on the Sundae of disorganization and confusion, I found out when I apologized again to one of my fifth grade HRTs about the class (and told him that I didn't really know what the students here knew and didn't know, to which he responded that they hadn't really learned months yet (though we'd done some of that work in class) and that the birthday lesson (with ordinal numbers) was just too difficult for them. I walked him over to the calendar for me, posted on the wall) which included my topics for each day, and he squinted at it and said that the lessons were out of order.
The next lesson “what month is this,” should actually have come before the “when's your birthday?” lesson. Which makes a heck of a lot more sense! So now I'm in an awful position for the next class too. The lesson will be way too easy for the sixth graders, who already know what month it is and also know ordinal numbers (though I will review that), and it will also be a step back for the fifth graders, who also now know the months. I can make it work for the fifth graders (because they need the review considering how things were dumped on them), but the sixth graders are going to need some new material.
This week does not fill me with confidence in regards to my future lesson planning at this school, even if I do get this mythical fax with instructions about what I'm supposed to be doing. I'm trying to have some general, nonspecific conversations with my HRTs directly (as best as can be done within the context of our contract) about the general trend of the curriculum, so I can at least not be so wildly off base about what we're supposed to be doing, but, as I said, the results so far are not filling me with the happy. It's incredibly frustrating to try and construct lesson plans when you (a) don't know what the kids know and (b) aren't given accurate information about what the kids are supposed to be doing. I am grateful to the majority of my HRTs there, who today really did their best to have my back.
That said, there were some solid victories and fun moments for me today. First, it was 75 degrees today and sunny, so I decided to skip the bus and make the long bike ride to school again. What a great decision! The weather and exercise put me in a good mood for the morning, and after school I was able to bike around Toyota, get lost, and eventually reorient myself to find my way home...a huge accomplishment in Japan. Also in regards to life in school, there were some shining moments. First, I stopped at the convenience store before school and picked up some candies for all of the teachers (just on a whim). I gave these out after the students got home, and they were very well received. In fact, so well received that I was given permission to partake of the ice-cream bars that the principal had put in the freezer for the staff...wahoo!
Also, after school, there were two boys whose mom was coming to get them but who was running late. The boys came over and chatted with me. They barely spoke English, and I barely speak Japanese, but the younger one Naoshi (I think) wanted to show me his award (for something I didn't understand but I congratulated him profusely—he looked like he was about seven) and his older brother (whose name didn't catch) LOVED Michael Jackson. He started out just randomly chattering and then asked me if I liked Michael Jackson. When I said yes and started singing a little bit of Thriller with a poor attempt at a moonwalk in slippers, he got so excited, he started mimicking Michael Jackson moves and then did a really solid rendition of the chorus of “Billie Jean.” He looked to be about ten.
We had a great time! He asked if there were really blue eyed people in America, and I said yes we had blue eyed people, and green eyed people, but my eyes were brown. Then we had an in depth sharing of our various birthmarks) and some discussion about how there weren't any pink or purple eyed people in America, and that the only red eyed people I knew of were albinos (which I don't think made it across...that was a difficult concept).
I was sad to see them go. It was certainly my most productive conversation and teaching moment of the day. Also, this entire conversation was happening in the staff room, under the amused gazes of the other teachers; they kept thanking me and I kept saying it had been no problem and fun. I wish those two kids would come back and talk to me again. I had an hour and a half at the end of the day with, of course, nothing to do. Singing Michael Jackson with kids was a far more productive use of my time than banging my head against the “what month is it” lesson planning strategy.
After biking for an hour and a half around Toyota, taking the long way home, I found my way to VITS and did a couple of hours of Karaoke. The staff there all knows me, and the one guy was very excited that I'd bought a cell phone. I was able to chat with him for a bit. I'm not sure if they find me amusing or pathetic in my 1-3x/week Karaoke alone evenings, but it's fun for me and I'm happy to be remembered for whatever reason. I really love going through the menus, trying out new songs and old favorites and just generally singing. Karaoke with friends is GREAT! But there's also something to Karaoke by oneself. It's relaxing, low stress, and ultimately an act of discovery. Especially since my reading speed is at the point that I can try out new songs at random that seem interesting to me (provided they are not TOO fast).
I also tried making a new vegetable stir fry today: Chinese sprouts (the kind you throw on Pho), onions, these really cool thin and tiny Japanese mushrooms, pork with a special sauce I bought at the grocery store. It turned out great! So all in all, while there were some rocks in the road of my day, it was ultimately a good one.
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