Keep on Chasing Rainbows, Fly High April 20, 2010
Posted by Earthdragonette in Cultural Exchange, Japanese GET, Julie Gets Philosophical, Student Moments.Tags: Japanese, jet, kanemoto, laughter, mosh pit, my #1 fan, penelope, reconciliation, stragglers, The Mentor
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Okay, so I may or may not be in the throes of a very intense Avantasia obsession. For those not in the know, Avantasia is a side project created by Edguy front man Tobias Sammet. It is also one of my favorite groups. It just came out with two new albums; I will probably listen to very little else for the next several weeks.
Pay particular attention to way that the chorus, Tobi, Jorn Lande, and Bob Catley dance around each other from 5:37 to 6:04. This may be my most beloved 27 seconds in the world of music.
~ So ~ that has very little to with Japan. But my day was (understandably) Japan-focused. So let’s direct our energies towards my memories, shall we?
Today’s weather was rainy and miserable, but I enjoyed myself. I’m also happy because I’m going on a field trip with my first years tomorrow and I think that it will be a lot of fun. I’ll be traveling with My #1 Fan and Kanemoto, so goodness knows what will happen.
Looking back, there are two particular events that I’d like to highlight.
The first happened after lunch (which in itself was enjoyable because I had a great chat with Penelope). Before I could return to the teacher’s room, my first years dragged me into in a mosh pit so that they could speak English and get “Julie Money” from me. (I used to give out stickers to reward efforts to communicate with me in English, but Julie Money is easier. It is also significantly more popular. ) This was entertaining and a quite fun.
Eventually the crowd died down, and I decided to walk around the school to see if I could inspire some stragglers to speak with me. On the second floor by the library, I found a mixed group of first and second year boys (mostly members of the ping-pong club). They greeted me with a surprising amount of enthusiasm and we proceeded to chat for about fifteen minutes. Other students eventually gathered around as well, but it was more civilized than the mosh pit.
I’m fond of this interaction because I had the chance to talk to students who are not part of my usual crowd. These are boys who I don’t speak with unless it’s related to a classroom activity, and so prior to our talk I couldn’t have said much about their ability to freely converse. I wasn’t unhappy with the content of our conversation; they genuinely wanted to know certain things about me and they did their best to ask it in English. I also gave away an absurd amount of Julie cash, and so they were happy with the exchange as well.
The rest of my day was busy preparing lesson plans for my elementary lessons, and it was while I was meeting with teachers at Thursday’s elementary school and speaking with The Mentor that the second Noteworthy Memory took place.
I don’t think I’ve ever properly explained my situation with The Mentor. I hint at it on the Cast of Characters page, but I think that’s about as much background as I’ve given you. It’s a kind of epic story, with a lot of twists and turns that I don’t understand and probably never will. The short version is this: I’ve worked with him since I arrived, when I first got here he was dismissive although not unfriendly. I went through a period where I had very poor lessons, he became dismissive and angry with me, and I grew to fear him more than any one else on the planet. In an attempt to redeem myself and wrestle my circumstances into submission I began to plan lessons in such a way that I felt he would be comfortable. Over time, my efforts paid off and he began to treat me like a human being. A few outside of school seminars, several after school meetings dedicated to discussing education and problem students, and almost four years of team teaching have finally Melted The Ice.
I wouldn’t go so far as to say that we’re friends, but he is most certainly one of my favorite people.
Okay, so that was … not … short.
Well, like I said: it’s an epic story.
The reason that I’ve gone to all of these efforts to get into The Mentor‘s favor is that he’s quite simply the best teacher I’ve ever seen in my life. His control over his classes is absolute, and the adoration and affection that he receives from his students is unparalleled. He works himself into the ground eight times over for their benefit; no activity is too time consuming and no personal crisis is beneath his notice. He was the one who taught me to think about why students do what they do. He showed me how, as a teacher, my responses to student behavior are critical and can have tremendous consequences without me even knowing it. Because of him, I was compelled to find a reason to make my position in this town a position that others could respect. The thought that this incredible teacher would find my lessons expendable or annoying was Not Acceptable. His anger with me indicated that I had alternative ways of conducting myself, and so I truly owe any and all my success to him.
On a more personal level, is also the only teacher to have ever reached out to me when I’ve needed help. He’s the only one who has been willing to cross cultural and linguistic lines to help me improve my lessons. Over time, he’s extended his assistance into other areas (like culture or sports festivals), and so I also owe a lot of my non-English activities at Thursday’s school to him as well.
So … that’s The Mentor. And, as I said about 400 words ago, he figures into Tuesday’s second memory.
I got to Thursday’s elementary school at about 4:15, and I briefly met with the first through fourth home room teachers to discuss some ideas that I have regarding the content of this year’s lessons. When that was finished, I went by to chat with The Mentor about this week’s class. What began as a discussion about our lesson turned into a discussion about the English curriculum, and then we started to talk about how the new first years were adjusting at the middle school. This topic led to dialogue about problem students and books that he’s reading now to help him understand how he can work with them and integrate them into the rest of the class. He wants me to read these books, but he knows that the Japanese is still above my level. By the time that we finally parted ways, we’d talked for almost an hour.
I think what made me so happy about this exchange is that I feel as though he was telling me that he believes that I could be a teacher that works well with problem students. Given our history, I am (understandably) Ridiculously Happy whenever I receive positive reinforcement from him. I’m so glad that I was able to meet with him on a level playing field and discuss topics that we both find interesting. In addition, something exceptionally pleasant about our exchange was how much we laughed. To me, shared laughter is an indication of shared perspective. When I first got to Japan, he was the last person in the world I thought I would intellectually and socially reconcile with.
I am so glad that in that respect, I was totally and utterly mistaken.
Oh boy the ice will break
You’ll just feel your heart rending
Tuesdays Begin and End with ICE CREAM April 6, 2010
Posted by Earthdragonette in ice cream, Student Moments.Tags: Aphrodite, avril, changes, clemente, elementary school, first years, hannah montana, hermione, ice cream, Japan, jet, meetings, new student ceremony, penelope, spring term, The Awesome Vice Principal, The Mentor
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Ice cream is definitely the theme we’re working with for Tuesday’s “memory to cherish forever.” Not only is it impossible for me to choose just one meaningful moment out of so many, but in the afternoon, The Awesome Vice Principal (in an action true to form) surprised the staff room with delicious soft cream and Popsicles.
So, let’s get started. ICE CREAM.
~ I really enjoyed seeing my new first year students, and was very proud when they officially matriculated. I think that they were happy to see a familiar face at the middle school, and I was able to help them with small bits of etiquette and direction throughout the morning. It’s nice to know that they trust me, and that I can assist them through this transition.
~ There were lots of opportunities to interact with my 2nd and 3rd years, too. I spent some quality time with Hannah Montana, The Child, Penelope, Avril, Aphrodite, Clemente, and Hermione. Listening to their opinions about school politics and gossip is one of the best parts of my job.
~ Speaking of Clemente, he said one of the nicest things to me during one of the mid-morning breaks. Every class year is assigned a home room teacher and a sub-home room teacher. They take care of class planning and various administrative tasks. He told me that the third years thought I would be assigned as their sub-HRT and that they were really disappointed when I wasn’t. I explained that my position as an ALT keeps me from doing things like that, but I was touched by the thought. As I’ve said in the past, little comments like that one make me happy.
~ After all of the students had gone home, the middle school staff dragged tables and chairs outside and we had a huge picnic lunch underneath the cherry blossom trees. The weather was absolutely perfect for it, too: warm and sunny with a slight breeze. The new school nurse is a really funny lady, and she declared the dessert platter the property of the female staff members and told the men that they’d have to pay rock-paper-scissors with us if they wanted anything from it. With stunts like that one, I can tell that she and I are going to be friends.
~ In the afternoon, I had a really nice meeting with The Mentor at Thursday’s elementary school. As I previously surmised, not a whole lot is changing about my schedule this year (despite the heart attack and nervous breakdown that my town’s administration gave me last February). I will still (more or less) be teaching the first through fourth years. The only real change from last year is that I’ll be teaching the fifth and sixth grades once a week, and so that increases my class load a bit. I’m not really worried about it, though. I have a feeling that things will work out fine.
~ A final memory from yesterday that I’d like to hold on to happened just before I left to go home. After we’d finished our ice cream, Apollonius invited us to the lunchroom so that he could show us how to use the new electronic Smart Board that our school just bought. It’s an electronic whiteboard that connects to computers, televisions, projectors… just about anything really. We spent about half an hour looking at its various features, and even took about ten minutes to play a game using Japanese kanji. Running back and forth to this blackboard to win points for my team was surprisingly fun. I liked how this rounded out the events of the day, and put many things into perspective. We’re all here to learn – even the teachers – and we’re supposed to do anything we can to help each other in this process. I like being a part of a team that takes this task seriously.
Wednesday will be the first day that the students are in school during the mostly-normal hours, although the first years will go home early. I’m sure I’ll have more than a few memories to regale you with when all is said and done. I anticipate a lot of very loud, very spastic interactions.
I’m a friend by your side
Never gonna be alone
Elementary Graduation Shenanigans: Part I March 19, 2010
Posted by Earthdragonette in Just Bizarre, Lessons Learned.Tags: elementary school, graduation week, humility, Japan, lisa douglas, not sophisticated, projects, The Mentor, winter term
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So, as of now I’m writing from two solid days of elementary school graduation activity. Even though this is my fourth year, this is the first year that I’ve been involved in these graduations to any degree; in the past, my schedule was such that I was assigned to one of my middle schools on the day that the elementary schools held their ceremonies.
Thursday was a lot busier than I anticipated, and I found myself (somewhat reluctantly because I had some work to do) drawn into the preparations for Friday’s ceremony. I had the opportunity to see the final graduation practice, and I also had two productive classes with the third and fourth years.
In the afternoon, the first, second, third, and sixth graders were dismissed early and the fourth and fifth years were assigned tasks around the school. Normally, these are the kinds of activities that make me very happy; it’s a great opportunity to wander around the school, talk to the students, and be useful. On Thursday, though, I still had a stack of letters waiting for me and so opted to stay back in the teacher’s room to finish them (we can thank Monday through Wednesday’s jaunt through Procrastinationland for that predicament).
The elementary school’s secretary, however, had other ideas.
Before I begin my tale of Awkward and Woe, let me preface it by saying that I like this woman very much. She is probably one of the most sophisticated people that I’ve met in my four years here, and I find her stories of escaping the countryside to frolic in Tokyo immensely entertaining. If it weren’t for her vibrant use of the local dialect, I would theorize that she is from somewhere much more interesting and civilized. Yet, she’s 100% native, and proves this by how often she tosses out the most ridiculous idioms that one would only hear in the heart of Kansai Japan. Since she is one of the reasons that I enjoy going to the Thursday elementary school as much as I do, I’ll go ahead and make her a character. I present to you Lisa Douglas.**
So, I was minding my own business and trying to finish my letters, when Lisa Douglas approached me for assistance. In many Japanese schools, when students graduate, their certificates are rolled up into decorative tubes. Depending on the school’s tradition, the tubes are sometimes decorated with ribbons or flowers. She had 25 tubes to decorate and asked if I would lend her a hand.
I’m going to let you in on a (not so very) secret: I am not the most arts and crafty person in the world. I can write (to some degree…), I can cook, I can occasionally knit or cross stitch, and I know enough about layout and design so that I can make relatively interesting posters for my students every month.
But, I cannot: draw, paint, sculpt, papier-mâché, properly wrap Christmas gifts, use felt in any way that doesn’t involve inadvertently gluing it to different parts of my body, make braided/beaded/sequined anything, sew, darn, patch, or cut paper in a straight line. To illustrate this point further – do you know how when you were in elementary school, you would look at a wall of student artwork and see that one unfortunate picture suffocating under about fifteen layers of paint and oil pastel? The picture where it was obvious that the child’s attempt to correct a small mistake had morphed into an even larger one and every subsequent attempt to bring the picture back into focus only added on another two pounds of writing compound?
Yessir. That was my picture.
That being said, asking me to wrap these certificate tubes with lacey, intricate ribbon was quite brave of her. There may or may not have been a 72% chance that I would miscalculate and somehow hang myself.
Still, some sort of universal goodwill was on my side, and I completed my task without incident. Although the half-hour or so that I worked on the tubes was both stressful and tense, I a) didn’t break anything and b) carried on a relatively intelligible conversation with Lisa.
It was after I finished that we began to run into problems.
The first issue was no one’s fault but my own and was a product of my extreme shyness and general lack of finesse that manifest when I’m in an almost empty room with Lisa and The Mentor (yet another secret for you: The Mentor kind of terrifies me).
What we had was a rather substantial breakdown in communication between What I Intended to Say and What I Actually Said.
Observe:
Lisa: So, Julie, where are you going for spring break?
What I Intended to Say: Oh, I’m going to Osaka for a few days.
What I said: Oh, I’m going to Osaka for a few days.
So far, so good.
Lisa: That’s right, you told me. Are you going by yourself?
What I Intended to Say: Yes, but it’s no problem. I’m looking forward to relaxing.
What I Said: Yes, but it’s no problem. I want to relax and get away from people for a few days.
Not so different, no, but recall my aforementioned modus operandi. Small Mistake = Over Exuberant Efforts to Correct It = Unfortunate Mess.
Lisa: Well, I can see how you must be very tired.
What I Intended to Say: Yes, so, I’m looking forward to relaxing by myself for a few days.
What I Said: Yes. Er, don’t get me wrong, I really do like people. I mean, well, I’m traveling alone, but I’ll probably text my father the whole time. I always text him when I travel. He asks me questions and I send him pictures of the places that I visit! It’s like we travel together!!!
It was at this point that my inside voice walked up to my outside voice, kicked it in the shin, informed it that it was own it’s own, bid it farewell, and retired for the evening.
I’d continue to give you a play by play account of how I willingly sacrificed my dignity in the name of over articulating my plans for Spring Break, but I think that you can imagine how things went.
Still, God Bless Lisa, the woman didn’t even bat an eye. Sophistication in motion, I tell you. Sophistication. She took each of my vain attempts to correct my initial mistake in stride, and shooed away my subsequent apologies as if the foreign language teacher dishing about how she and her father are BFF were an everyday occurrence. (Which we are and which I am not ashamed of, but I probably don’t need to be broadcasting this in Extreme Detail to my coworkers via Julie FM.)
Things proceeded steadily downhill from there. The next task in Preparing the Certificate Tubes project required us to put these tubes into a box. One would think that this would be a relatively simple task, where Step 1 is to find a box and Step 2 is to put the tubes into that box. Like most things, though, it wasn’t that simple. First, we had to find a way to keep the tubes separated while they were in the box, so that they wouldn’t brush against each other and crush the frilly bows. Orchestrating this took up a lot of space in the one box that we had, so we had to then make another box for the leftover tubes. Due to a variety of factors (one large one being that I misunderstood her directions and nearly ruined the wrapping paper that we were using), what should have taken one hour took two hours, and it was after 4:30 before we finally pulled ourselves from our nest of tape, paper, and cardboard. It was with bleary eyes that I packed up my things, shrugged into my warm cloak of Shame and Humility, and shuffled out the door. Lisa, true to form, warmly wished me a good evening. The Mentor was also gracious in his thanks for my efforts.
So… in what way is this memory of afternoon gaffes worth holding on to?
I suppose I’d like to keep it with me, instead of burying it in the backyard with all of my other Embarrassing Exploits (a veritable graveyard if there ever was one), because the discomfort that I’m feeling from my interactions with Lisa are the product of putting myself in new circumstances. They’re growth pains. At least, I hope they’re growth pains and not just the pains of trying to do something that I’m really not meant to do.
My theory here is that with practice, I will cultivate more of an ability to navigate Japanese social occasions with grace and charm. Or, at least, with the ability to make my outside voice pay a little more attention to that inside one.
Still, it goes to show that like my pictures, spending time with me is perhaps a little unusual, a bit on the intense side, and always interesting.
**This is a reference to Green Acres, and an indication that I perhaps indulged in Nick at Nite a little too often as a child. Please, oh pretty please, somebody get this reference. Do not let me be super old and nerdy.
Isn’t poetry one of the biggest gifts to forget our daily life of sorrow?
How about March? Let’s try March. March 1, 2010
Posted by Earthdragonette in Apologies, Just Bizarre, Taking Initiative.Tags: catching up, culture shock, Japan, job crisis, The Mentor, The Supervisor, vanilla ice cream, winter term
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Which is to say, let’s try blogging through the month of March. I don’t know how this is going to go – February came, it saw, it conquered, and it left me with general feelings of fear and trepidation about how the rest of 2010 will fare.
I really do apologize for dropping all endeavors – even vague, Youtube-focused attempts – to update consistently over the past few weeks. I wish I were joking when I say that something happened every day to derail me from my attempts to Bring You Into My World, Etc. Some of those things were good, some were bad, and all of it was exhausting. The pace is slightly calmer now, but I do not trust it and so I don’t think we’ll be able to have our nice, leisurely and detail-filled FEBRUARY RECAP the way I’d planned.
So, very quickly, here are things of note. As to February’s memories, let’s just say I’m thankful to my students for being the hyperactive vessels of snark and hormones, my coworkers for fighting bureaucracy in my name, the Supervisor for going through culture shock with me, my father for listening to me lose my mind on a daily basis, my friends for picking up the phone at odd hours of the night so I could attempt to verbally tear down my opponents, and vanilla ice cream because it’s neither chocolate, nor a pastry, and therefore I can eat it during Lent.
1) My job is to do … what?
I wrote about this before and promised the tantalizing details. Unfortunately for us, these details have changed several times since that original post and the whole “What we want Julie to do next year” theme is now being considered and debated even as we speak. Briefly, this is how it breaks down:
~ Up until last year, technically, no time was allotted in the elementary school curriculum to allow for English lessons. Most schools had them anyway, and would take time away from other lessons (life learning lessons, Japanese lessons, math lessons, etc.) so that students could have the occasional English class.
~ This isn’t a very organized system, and so as of this past year, the Ministry of Education has attempted to enforce this rule, threatening school systems with penalties if they don’t comply.
~ Also this year, the fifth and sixth grades had their curriculums changed to allow for up to 4 English classes a month.
~ My schools enjoy their English lessons, so this year I’ve been working with the 1st through 4th grades once (or twice) a month, and the 5th and 6th grades about twice a month.
~ My district wants to stop the elementary education in the 1st through 4th grades, as per the Ministry of Education’s order. They also want me to write up 70 lesson plans by next year so that the lessons in the 5th and 6th grades at my schools will be more standardized as the ALTs and home room teachers change. This request means an incredible amount of work for me during the next year, especially since starting in April, I’m going to be teaching the 5th and 6th grades once a week. In addition, I am expected to work more closely with the home room teacher. These home room teachers are very tricky to get in touch with. The Mentor is an exception to this rule.
~ Recently, administrators from my district met with the principals of the elementary schools in my town and gave them the order to stop English classes for 1st through 4th grades. The elementary principals more or less refused to do it, saying that they worried about the effects of suddenly stopping years of English lessons (as far as the third and fourth grade students are concerned).
~ As a result, I’m not exactly sure what’s going to happen next year as far as those lessons are concerned. I spoke with The Mentor yesterday, and he doesn’t know either. He says it’s likely I’ll still have lessons with the third and fourth years, but they may stop the first and second year English lessons.
~ When all of this began, I had Very Strong Opinions about what should be done, but at this point I’m too tired to muster up Arguments for Teaching Young Children English. This whole situation has gotten so complicated, and any time I do voice my dissent, my coworkers and The Supervisor think I’m just complaining that I have to change the way that I handle my lessons, which is not the case. So, I’m waiting for the orders from Central Command, as it were, and I’ll do what they tell me. It’s kind of nice to be the lowest on the chain of command in this respect – I don’t have to make any major decisions. I just have to plan lessons.
So, that’s The Job Stuff.
2) And aside from the job stuff..
~ One of my favorite uncles passed away.
~ My cat I’ve had since I was in fifth grade died.
~ The father of one of my coworkers died, and so I got to see a Japanese-style funeral wake. That was both interesting and uncomfortable.
~ Nearly four years in Japan doesn’t exempt me from the occasional episode of culture shock. To comfort myself during this period, I’ve been listening to obnoxiously American and/or European music while cooking things that do not resemble Japanese food in any way, shape or form.
~ The evil tooth is no longer very evil, so at least there’s that. It’s the evil crown, that I’m now fighting, where “evil” means “expensive” and “expensive” means “it will require money that I would rather spend in Osaka during Spring Break”.
~ My third years are set to graduate next Tuesday, and so we have only about a week left with The Savant, Mary Sunshine, Macho Man, The Boss, and Co.
And, I think that’s the major stuff. Work has been more demanding than usual, recently, and so trying to juggle my schedule and keep my sanity through the upheavals in my life and in the lives of others has been interesting. Although I am of the opinion that times such as these are the ones that leave lasting impressions on our character, right about now I think I’m done with character growth. I’m ready for … well, not spring because Japanese spring = killer centipedes and an impending rainy season. Summer, then. July/August, if we’re to be honest.
What I’m trying to say is that I want to back to the beach.
Welcome to the Theater of Salvation
Thank God for chocolate chip cookies. February 14, 2010
Posted by Earthdragonette in Apologies, Just Bizarre, Lessons Learned, Student Moments.Tags: avatar, elementary school, elementary students, emo, fievel, Japan, Japanese, Mary Sunshine, my little monkey, sixth years, teaching get, The Mentor, The Savant, update
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Because they are what saved my sanity this week.
I apologize for more or less taking a week off from writing. This week was a bit “difficult,” because I was “feeling culture shock” and so slightly “emo.”
When I first got to Japan, I clung to the belief that the longer I was here, the less I would suffer from culture shock. This is both true and not true. Although it doesn’t happen to me as often as it did when I first arrived, there are still moments when I feel confused, overwhelmed, misunderstood, and unappreciated. I think the more that time passes, the more my culture shock manifests when I feel as though my schools are taking advantage of me or being even ever-so-slightly condescending about my foreigner status. Once the month of February begins, the chances of me getting this kind of culture shock increase exponentially. For a variety of reasons (which I will not go into, but one of them happens to be that all of my pets tend to die in February), I am not a fan of the second month of the year.
And on that note, let’s move on…
So we appear to be seven memories behind schedule. To keep this from becoming unnecessarily long, we’ll just quickly go day by day.
Monday
This was the beginning of my Ms. Grumpy McGrumpgrump phase, so looking back on this all I really recall is a dark cloud of … er, grumpiness. One saving grace about the day, though, happened when I went by Thursday’s elementary school to talk to The Mentor about the class we were going to have on Wednesday. When I arrived, the teachers at the school were extremely friendly and welcoming. Even The Mentor, who occasionally bristles at me interrupting his afternoon plans so we can chat, was happy to see me and quite helpful.
Tuesday
This was one of those days where I Did. Not. Want. To. Go. To. Work. This happens very rarely, and even I was surprised by the vehemence of my emotions. Still, I pulled myself together and managed to get out the door and to school. I’m glad that I was able to do this, because the class I had with The Savant, Mary Sunshine, The Boss, Hyde, and The Policeman was worth it. More than worth it. It’s probably the best class I’ve ever had with them, and we’ve had some pretty amazing ones.
The kids have been testing a lot lately, and so I thought a free day with a music video and a trivia/review game would be good therapy for them. I was right, and we all really enjoyed the activities. I’m not sure if the kids were inspired, insane, or perhaps some combination of the two. Whatever it was, they were hilarious. The Savant took it upon himself to police and overly analyze every team’s answer to every question given, and he challenged me on obscure grammatical points. The Boss kept flattering me in an attempt to get me to call on his team again after they’d given an incorrect answer. At one point Hyde tackled The Savant in an attempt to keep him from answering a question. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard in class before. Those 50 minutes made my week.
Wednesday
This was a pretty standard day at Thursday’s elementary school. I was here a day early because we had a holiday on Thursday, and so my schedule shifted around a bit. Anyway, after school, I spent a rather enjoyable fifteen minutes goofing off with Fievel and his brother, who had to stay behind to wait for their bus. The War Between Fievel and My Little Monkey has more or less resolved into a stalemate. When The Monkey is around, Fievel tends to make himself scarce, and when Fievel is around, The Monkey quickly loses interest. Usually Fievel gets to me first, and so I haven’t had a chance to see The Monkey a lot since the third term started. Still, both are around to some degree and both still regard me as a walking, talking jungle gym.
Wednesday was also noteworthy because I got to see Avatar for a third time. ^_____^
Thursday
I was thankful because my second visit to the dentist to deal with this root canal treatment went well. Days without tooth pain are, by default, good days.
Friday
This was spent at, not surprisingly, Friday’s elementary school. Although I’m tempted to use some time I spent with my sixth years as this day’s memory, something else happened that was more exciting.
On Wednesday of last week, the teachers at Friday’s elementary school had a meeting about the English program. I wasn’t able to attend the meeting (mostly because I wasn’t invited), but the principal came by my desk on Friday to talk to me about it. To make a long conversation short, here’s what she told me:
1) The fifth and sixth grade teachers want more of my input regarding their lessons during this next school year.
2) The first through fourth grade teachers are also willing to make more time to talk to me prior to our classes.
3) The teachers are interested in having me involved in other subjects besides English.
Yeah, number three made me do a double take, too. I was most definitely *not* expecting that little gem.
So, here’s the story as far as I understand it. The teachers know that my plan is to go back to the States to teach, and they’ve noticed that I’ve been going to a lot of the training seminars and lectures around town. I suppose this has made an impression on them, because now they’re interested in having me in more of a “ALT/Teacher in Training” role. I think the rationale here is that it will give me an opportunity to get more experience, and it will also create a closer working relationship between the homeroom teachers and me. With this system, they’ll feel a bit more comfortable around me and we can talk more about what could happen in the English lessons.
To make this happen, I think the plan is for me to start observing some of the regular language arts and math classes. If things go well and I begin to get involved, then the school is open to me eventually trying my hand at teaching a lesson or two myself. I didn’t even know that this opportunity was possible, and I’m really excited about it. As you can probably surmise, this news did a lot to soften the negative mood I’d been in throughout the week.
And seeing Avatar a fourth time didn’t hurt, either. ^_^
Saturday
This was a very lazy day for me. I made chocolate chip cookies and made more plans for Spring Break. As of now, my plan is to head up to Osaka on March 26th and stay for a couple of nights. I have an appointment at day spa for Saturday morning and tickets to see Wicked on Saturday night. I am very, very, very excited about this trip. I am also very, very, very happy that I’ve been able to arrange the details of this trip by myself.
Sunday
I spent the morning getting some things together for school and then went to watch open lessons at my Friday elementary school in the afternoon. (Open lessons are lessons held for the parents to observe.) I had a rather hilarious ten minute giggle-fest with my sixth year students before their lesson began, and that episode combined with a rather fantastic lecture that I heard in the afternoon helped to round out my ascent from the depths of Grumpy.
This next week is going to be somewhat long and intense. I have (as usual) a lot of things I need to get planned and made, and then next Saturday I’m going to a day-long seminar on elementary English. Hopefully, this will give me some fresh ideas and perspective.
And hopefully, I’ll be able to keep all of you with me along the way this time. ^_~
Tan sólo he venido
a estar contigo
a ser tu amigo
a compartir con mi Dios
Teaching New Tricks January 28, 2010
Posted by Earthdragonette in Dance Troupe, Just Bizarre.Tags: culture festival, Dance Troupe, elementary school, Japanese, macchibo, The Mentor, winter term
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Okay, very, very quickly today because I really have to finish some preparations for Friday’s classes.
Thursday was noteworthy because of two separate situations that I found myself in.
~ I was at the Thursday elementary school today and during sixth period the students were busy setting up a variety of things for Sunday’s culture festival. I had a Mountain of Letters and so couldn’t join them. Normally this would have left me feeling somewhat bereft and left out, but it provided the ideal circumstances for some hilarity.
I was sitting in the teachers’ room and working on my letters, and along with me were the school’s secretary and the principal. The kids kept coming into the teachers’ room for different supplies (colored paper, colored pens, glue, etc.) and the principal got the brilliant idea to make the kids ask for what they wanted in English. It started out as kind of frivolous but then became this veritable mine of entertainment for almost an entire hour (especially when my vernacular for a particular object was different from what was written in his English/Japanese dictionary).
Good times there, good times.
~ The second memory from Thursday was good, but bizarre. On Sunday in the afternoon, all of the students are going to go to activity corners. Some will make wooden crafts, some will play with traditional Japanese toys, and (among others) there’s also a corner where my dance troupe will be teaching one of our recent DJ Ozma dances (Macchibo). This means that I’ll be dancing on two separate occasions on Sunday.
Anyway, as it turns out, The Mentor is the teacher responsible for overseeing this particular corner. To aid him in this task, he thought it would be best to learn the dance ahead of time, so he came to our practice last night. (Yes, normally we have practices on Wednesdays, but we had to move it to Thursday this week). To make a long story short, I somehow found myself teaching him the dance. Since he’s usually the one mentoring me, it was a very strange role reversal. He did a really good job – the dance isn’t easy, and he only had about an hour and a half to work on it. Looking back, I think I can say that the process was fun. It was just … kind of weird, too.
We’ll see how this all works out on Saturday.
It’s the same old song
But with a different feeling since you’ve been gone
All’s Quiet on the Eastern Front January 26, 2010
Posted by Earthdragonette in Julie Gets Philosophical.Tags: big questions few answers, Japan, my japanese sister, tangents and rants, teaching, The Japanese Best Friend, The Mentor, the personal journal
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Good post title? Bad post title? I’m not exactly sure.
Let’s say it’s “vaguely clever and kind of nerdy” and leave it with that, shall we?
I wish that I had something more substantial to bring to the blog floor for Tuesday, but since I stayed home an extra day to recover from whatever it was I had, things were pretty uneventful. A little work, some texts from The Japanese Best Friend and My Japanese Sister, and a few movies pretty much defined the day. As you can see, it’s not a whole lot from which I can extract a tantalizing memory.
Still, I don’t want to just finish today’s post on that note. That’s boring, and surely I can come up with something better.
In fact, let’s try something new. Let’s take a look and see what was going on, oh, say, two years ago around this time. The trusty Personal Journal should be helpful for this task.
Okay, here’s something of interest:
January 21st, 2008
…Goal For 2008:
Research post-bac, pre-med institutions, what I need to do to apply to them, and how I can get money to go them. Talk to St. John’s about this when I visit in April…
Ah, yes. Mid-2007 to mid-2008 was the year that I was interested in going to medical school. I researched institutions, talked to career counselors, e-mailed my cousin who works as a doctor in Florida, and got the blessings from all the mentors I’ve ever had (except for The Mentor, because he and I didn’t really interact all that much back in early 2008).
Then, around July of 2008, it all came to a grinding halt.
The summer of 2008 was an exceptionally difficult one for me. I was two years out of the States, and finally beginning to become a part of the local community. I think that some of the effects of being here by myself were showing, and the time had come for me to start changing in response to what I’d been going through. The realization that there was in fact room for growth – that a liberal arts education hadn’t fully completed that task – was a significant shock that left me reeling for months. I found myself questioning everything I’d ever held true about who I was and woke up daily with more questions than answers.
I suppose in the end, I had to accept that life (at least my life), isn’t the way I’d always envisioned it. It isn’t a nicely paved road that will take me places that I both plan and do not plan. It does not have a map. My life is actually less stable than that. It’s like a railroad track that hasn’t all been laid out. I sometimes wonder if I’ve managed to prepare little more than a foot or two ahead of my own train, and I’ve had to grow comfortable with not knowing where those next tracks will go. Not knowing what will happen next week. Not knowing when I’ll really be home. Not knowing if today’s dreams will be tomorrow’s (or next year’s) realities.
(Incidentally, this isn’t to discount the possibility of fate. The universe may have some idea where I’m going. I’m just saying that *I* can’t always be sure that *I* know.)
This is still a particularly difficult concept for me because I like to plan things. I like to set goals and work towards them. I suppose the key to planning parts of life successfully is to make sure that you listen to yourself as honestly as possible. There are still parts of me that want to be a doctor. I think that I would find the work challenging and interesting. I think that I have the capacity to be a caring, reliable, and compassionate physician. I think that my own experiences in the hospital would be valuable in interacting with my patients.
But what I realized in the summer of 2008, is that there are certain things that I want to do in my life, and I can’t do them the way that I want to if I go into medicine. Taking care of my family is important to me. Writing (in some shape or form) is important to me, and it’s becoming more important as time goes on.
And, quite simply: I like kids.
There you have it.
These days, I think it’s difficult to be a motivated young woman. In college, your professors (or tutors if you’re at St. John’s) want you to fulfill your academic/intellectual potential. They encourage you to research intense careers in fast paced environments. Your family wants you to succeed and not fall into the traps of marrying foolishly and giving up your future before it begins. Feminism tells you that your fellow females have worked tirelessly for years on your behalf so that you can get that job in International Law or on Wall Street. Anything less than a PhD at a reliable institution (or the desire for these things) begins to represent a tangible betrayal on all fronts.
I could go into a long, philosophical rant about how positive mentors for the next generation is probably one of the most crucial and needed jobs in America (and the world) at present. I could talk about how my liberal arts education has fueled my love of learning and that I yearn to pass it on to as many as I can. I could recount classes I’ve seen over the years that have inspired me to become the best teacher that I can be. I could even talk about my experiences working with The Mentor. Seeing the effect that he, just a single teacher, has had on so many children through the years has been nothing less than an honor.
Yet, at the end of the day, I like kids. I like the person that I am when I’m around kids. That’s where it starts, and that’s where it ends. I want to feed their minds, enrich their souls, and make them laugh at least twenty minutes a day.
Almost two years and an infinite number of experiences since I wrote that entry in my personal journal, my train tracks have taken me in a very different direction than I thought I’d be going.**
I’m not sure what I can expect from this year, but at as of this moment, I’m going to ahead and say that teaching is where I intended to be.
**For one thing, I certainly didn’t think I’d still be in Japan.
I’ve been thinking about you
And how we used to be
Answers, Explanations, and Then Some! January 22, 2010
Posted by Earthdragonette in Dance Troupe, Just Bizarre, Lessons Learned, Student Moments.Tags: culture festivald, Dance Troupe, dj ozma jr, jabberwocky, Japan, persuasion, Tetsuya, The Japanese Best Friend, The Mentor, The Savant, winter term
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So, the weekend has finally arrived, and just in time. It took me the better part of the week to get caught up on my elementary school responsibilities, and this was even with pulling back from a few of my ventures (say… letter writing?). I think that by the end of next week, all accounts should be settled.
In theory, at any rate.
So, let’s return to my last post and go through these questions, shall we? It seems as good a format to use as any.
1) What did I give The Savant for his birthday?
Answer: I went with the rattlesnake eggs afterall. If you’re not familiar with this toy, it’s a set of two small magnets. The idea is that you throw them up into the air (separately), and the variety of forces playing upon them as they drop causes them to hit each other and break away again (thus the “rattling”).
The way that I figure it, they’re on par with Galileo in entertainment value, and they probably cost about as much. The Savant was fascinated and grateful for them, to the point of driving the bus driver crazy on the way home from school. Luckily, I have not gotten into trouble for this. (Yet?)
2) How well did the first years do on their Jabberwocky speaking checks?
Answer: Surprisingly well, actually! I wasn’t strict with my grading, and I did little things to help prompt memories along the way. Still, even without this help from me, I was very happy with how well they did. One student surprised me and memorized the first three stanzas (instead of just the first four lines) and then also acted out the part where the main character killed the Jabberwock.
What particularly pleased me, though, was the change in attitude that I saw in some of my students. When we had the speaking check for Michael Jackson’s Thriller, there were about five boys that gave me some snark about the assignment. They didn’t do well on the speaking check, and they did everything in their power to convey to me that they found the task beneath them and profoundly useless.
~ But~
This time, they seemed into it. I’m not exactly sure what changed. Maybe they had more time to memorize the poem so it didn’t seem so overwhelming, or maybe they preferred the content of The Jabberwocky. It could even be an increased interest/confidence in English. Whatever the cause, they came to me with a lot more spunk and enthusiasm, and it did my heart a world of good.
I think that one of the reasons that I like these kinds of activities is that I can see how the students are progressing. Not necessarily with English comprehension, but rather with their willingness to commit the time to accomplishing a task that happens to be in English. Some students were only mildly interested in Thriller, but they really pulled out all the stops for The Jabberwocky (and vise versa). I like seeing the students’ responses to these different tasks, and I hope these exercises will inspire them to try their best with the grammar and vocabulary as well (you know, the potentially boring stuff).
3) Why was I happy that I went to dance practice on Wednesday?
Answer: Because it was fun! We’re getting ready for January 31st, which is the day of my Thursday elementary school’s culture festival. We’re going to be doing a dancing workshop there, and so we’re trying to get a routine ready for the kids. It being the the fist practice of the new year, most of the members were there and we had a really great time catching up and getting back to business. I also had a running joke with DJ Ozma Jr., where I kept “mistaking” him for Michael Jackson and chasing him around the gym.
4) In what three ways did The Mentor completely surprise me on Thursday, thereby showing that he actually just might value me as another human being with a consciousness on par with his own? (Maybe.)
Answer: I can’t remember if I wrote about this or not, but back in November, I asked Thursday’s elementary school if I could dance for the kids during their culture festival. The Mentor was kind of skeptical about it, and told me that he didn’t think it would be possible. In the end, it wasn’t much of an issue because the festival got postponed until January 31st on account of Rampant Influenza.
So, fast foward to last Thursday, where he tells me out of the blue that I’m allowed to go ahead with my dance. It seems that he’s been working on my behalf, and that since the teachers extended the afternoon recess, there’s now time for me to go ahead and Shake What My Mama Gave Me. I think that the kids will get a kick out of my performance, so that was great news to hear.
Secondly, he also showed me a videotape of his 6th graders doing this very intense jump rope exercise. It’s kind of hard to describe, but he’s done it with every class he’s ever taught. The idea is that, collectively, the class has to make as many jumps as possible in three minutes. His previous class managed about 324 I think, and his current class hit 349. He showed me the video he made of them breaking the record, and it was pretty spectacular.
I value The Mentor and his teaching style, so I’m glad for any opportunity to see more into his teaching world. It gives me the chance to ask questions, get feedback, and learn more about what kinds of qualities he tries to bring out in the students (and how he makes it all work). It’s also nice to know that he respects me (and my relationships with the students) enough to take the time to involve me in their lives.
So, hooray for The Mentor!
5) And, finally, what movie have I watched four times in the last week because it’s great for background noise and (I firmly believe) makes me smarter for having listened to it?
Answer: The 2007 version of Persuasion. It doesn’t have the smoothest ending, but I am extremely fond of the acting, the settings, and the story itself. I may have mentioned this before, but when I was younger, Pride and Prejudice was my favorite book by Jane Austen; now I think that Persuasion is starting to eclipse it. It’s strange how we change as the years pass.
So, there we have the answers to our questions. It wasn’t exactly the 1 day, 1 memory process that I try to adhere to, but I think it will suffice. This weekend is going to be busy and I need to get my act together. The Japanese Best Friend and I have Oyster and Wine night planned for Saturday evening, and then Sunday will be dedicated to visiting Tetsuya in Nagoya.
Ah, Japan. I think I’ve finally returned.
Please Pardon the Lack of Mess January 21, 2010
Posted by Earthdragonette in Apologies.Tags: Apologies, Japan, lack of mess, The Mentor, The Savant, winter term
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Where Mess = Updates
As I suspected, I’m currently trapped underneath a massive pile of work and I have another long night ahead of me. This is sad, because I have many interesting things to relate. It is also inevitable; I really need to get these posters and letters done.
Tomorrow evening should be free, though, and assuming that I haven’t passed out by 6:30 p.m., I shall provide you with a post with answers to the following questions:
1) What did I give The Savant for his birthday?
2) How well did the first years do on their Jabberwocky speaking checks?
3) Why was I happy that I went to dance practice on Wednesday?
4) In what three ways did The Mentor completely surprise me today, thereby showing that he actually just might value me as another human being with a consciousness on par with his own? (Maybe.)
5) And, finally, what movie have I watched four times in the last week because it’s great for background noise and (I firmly believe) makes me smarter for having listened to it?
All this and more tomorrow.
See you then!
Where I Intended to Be 