Good morning everyone! How are you today? My name is Laura. Laura. Can you say Laura? My name is Laura. Nice to meet you! I'm from America. America. Who can show me where America is on the map? I like Strawberries! Who likes strawberries? Who can guess my favorite Japanese food? Yes, it's sushi! I like Sushi! My favorite sport is swimming! Who likes swimming? I have one older sister and one older brother. My brother is very tall! I have a cat. His name is Leo. He's 10 years old!
oh sorry! where am I? oh, no! I'm on Live Journal doing an update, not standing in front of a classroom of 30 Japanese kids reciting facts about myself! After 13 self-introduction lessons last week, I still have this stuff stuck in my head! And I still have about 15 more to go this week!
Wow what a crazy first week it was! After the first day of doing nothing, things definitely got busy. At the junior high, I taught three classes Tuesday, two on Wednesday, and four on Friday. Then in between, I went to an Elementary school on Thursday and did self introduction lessons for five classes of 5th and 6th graders in one day - four of the classes were back to back before lunch! I haven't been so exhausted in a long time! I've been getting up at 6 a.m. every morning, getting to school by 8, and getting home by 4 p.m. Sounds pretty easy, comparatively - I mean I'm not even working full 8-hour days! But I'm definitely not accustomed to standing for four hours and being completely "on" for that many lessons. It will take some getting used to for sure! By the time I got home every day this week, I was too tired for Live Journal, too tired to email, and I was in bed by 10 p.m. the last three nights!
But it's been lots of fun, especially the elementary school kids. they're just so adorable, and so full of energy and they really seem to enjoy learning. It's so easy to get them involved in the lessons, and they absolutely LOVE games! So I know I'm going to have tons of fun with the kids. I was super worried about working with the elementary school teachers because I know they're not trained in English - I was afraid that they wouldn't understand me or my lessons, or be able to communicate. But to my surprise, most of them understood me well, and even tried using English and got involved. There was one challenging moment, though, when one teacher couldn't understand the game I was trying to explain - it took over 5 minutes for her to understand I wanted the class to get into two rows! It will get easier the more we work together though.
The junior high classes are a bit more challenging - 13 to 15-year olds are quite a bit harder to motivate, and it's harder to find games that aren't too childish for them. but the younger ones, who I haven't taught yet, should still like to have fun. So far I've taught with three of the four Junior high school English teachers, and I really like two of them. One guy is so laid back that I think I'll end up doing all of the work, but he's very nice. And one female teacher is very good with English and it seems that I will be much more of an Assistant in her classes. However, she's already had me grading some short intros that the students wrote. The other male teacher, who I've taught with twice, is really not good at English and harder to communicate with - in fact, he couldn't even explain to me in English how to get from the teacher's room to his classroom on the first day! He just gave me a map instead! Oh well!
I also had some frustrating moments at the junior high where I felt a bit invisible.
Usually when I don't have lessons, I spend time at my desk making lesson plans or doing paperwork. There's almost always at least two or three other teachers, including the vice principal, in the teacher's room. Wednesday afternoon I was sitting at my desk for awhile, and all of a sudden, around 3 p.m. I realized that there was no one in the room with me. In fact someone had turned off the lights in half of the room! Luckily an English teacher showed up and I asked him where everyone was. He said they had a teacher's meeting that afternoon. I remember from my time at the high school years ago, that the teachers have whole staff meetings every week, and the ALT's can usually go home early since we don't participate in these meetings. I was happy to go home early - I just wish someone had informed me earlier so I wouldn't be sitting alone in a dark room!
The other interesting thing happened Friday afternoon. Once again I was at my desk filling out paperwork and all of a sudden all the teachers started yelling and running out of the room at top speed! once again no one bothered to say anything to me - I figured the building was on fire, or someone was hurt. And I found out, after I went into the hallway and asked an older teacher what was happening, that one of the teachers had collapsed outside. I guess they thought he had a heart attack, and I saw them running outside with a stretcher and carrying him back inside to the teacher's lounge. an ambulance came, but didn't leave for about 20 minutes. He had recovered consciousness, but I still don't know what happened! sometimes it's so hard being the only one who doesn't speak Japanese well, and who's so easily just forgotten! I hope that teacher is okay - I think the teachers work too hard, and he probably was just exhausted! I know the feeling!
anyway, yesterday was my first day off all week, but I got up early and we picked up my friend Alex (![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
jojobruin) at the Shinkansen train station and took him with us to a little festival in Asagiri, which is out in Fujinomiya near Mt. Fuji. Alex is in Japan this month doing some interviews with Japanese medical students at Keio University as part of his own medical studies. It was great that we had a chance to meet finally after three years of being LJ friends! We had talked on the phone and emailed, but we finally had a chance to meet in person - and in Japan of all places! I wanted Alex to get a chance to see Fuji-san close up, but for most of the day it was covered in clouds. However, he did get a few chances to see it when it peeked it's gorgeous head out, and he got some pictures! The little festival was not so exciting - it was super cold (as it's been all week in this area), and there was even snow on the ground! We stayed there for a couple hours and listened to Masahiko's friends playing some blues, then we took Alex to Shiraito Falls, which was nearby. That turned out to be really fun, and even though it was a bit cloudy, the weather warmed up a bit and the falls were gorgeous! I have some pictures that I will try to post later, as well as some additional cherry blossom photos I took last weekend! The blossoms were all gone at Shiraito Falls yesterday, but the rest of the scenery was so beautiful. We had a great day, and ended by taking Alex to dinner at Denny's (yes, there are Denny's in Japan!) and he took the train back by 6:30.
Now it's Sunday morning, I'm getting ready to go and meet two of my friends with Masahiko, and just talk for a few hours. then tonight I'll get some more things prepared for my next busy week. Not only do I have five days of lessons this week (including two full days at the elementary school), but Saturday I have to travel to Nagoya and back for a one-day follow-up training for my company! No rest for me!
sorry I've gotten so far behind on comments and on all of your posts. Please let me know if there's something important or exciting going on! this week I know I won't be on LJ much either, but hopefully things will calm down a bit soon.
happy weekend everyone!
oh sorry! where am I? oh, no! I'm on Live Journal doing an update, not standing in front of a classroom of 30 Japanese kids reciting facts about myself! After 13 self-introduction lessons last week, I still have this stuff stuck in my head! And I still have about 15 more to go this week!
Wow what a crazy first week it was! After the first day of doing nothing, things definitely got busy. At the junior high, I taught three classes Tuesday, two on Wednesday, and four on Friday. Then in between, I went to an Elementary school on Thursday and did self introduction lessons for five classes of 5th and 6th graders in one day - four of the classes were back to back before lunch! I haven't been so exhausted in a long time! I've been getting up at 6 a.m. every morning, getting to school by 8, and getting home by 4 p.m. Sounds pretty easy, comparatively - I mean I'm not even working full 8-hour days! But I'm definitely not accustomed to standing for four hours and being completely "on" for that many lessons. It will take some getting used to for sure! By the time I got home every day this week, I was too tired for Live Journal, too tired to email, and I was in bed by 10 p.m. the last three nights!
But it's been lots of fun, especially the elementary school kids. they're just so adorable, and so full of energy and they really seem to enjoy learning. It's so easy to get them involved in the lessons, and they absolutely LOVE games! So I know I'm going to have tons of fun with the kids. I was super worried about working with the elementary school teachers because I know they're not trained in English - I was afraid that they wouldn't understand me or my lessons, or be able to communicate. But to my surprise, most of them understood me well, and even tried using English and got involved. There was one challenging moment, though, when one teacher couldn't understand the game I was trying to explain - it took over 5 minutes for her to understand I wanted the class to get into two rows! It will get easier the more we work together though.
The junior high classes are a bit more challenging - 13 to 15-year olds are quite a bit harder to motivate, and it's harder to find games that aren't too childish for them. but the younger ones, who I haven't taught yet, should still like to have fun. So far I've taught with three of the four Junior high school English teachers, and I really like two of them. One guy is so laid back that I think I'll end up doing all of the work, but he's very nice. And one female teacher is very good with English and it seems that I will be much more of an Assistant in her classes. However, she's already had me grading some short intros that the students wrote. The other male teacher, who I've taught with twice, is really not good at English and harder to communicate with - in fact, he couldn't even explain to me in English how to get from the teacher's room to his classroom on the first day! He just gave me a map instead! Oh well!
I also had some frustrating moments at the junior high where I felt a bit invisible.
Usually when I don't have lessons, I spend time at my desk making lesson plans or doing paperwork. There's almost always at least two or three other teachers, including the vice principal, in the teacher's room. Wednesday afternoon I was sitting at my desk for awhile, and all of a sudden, around 3 p.m. I realized that there was no one in the room with me. In fact someone had turned off the lights in half of the room! Luckily an English teacher showed up and I asked him where everyone was. He said they had a teacher's meeting that afternoon. I remember from my time at the high school years ago, that the teachers have whole staff meetings every week, and the ALT's can usually go home early since we don't participate in these meetings. I was happy to go home early - I just wish someone had informed me earlier so I wouldn't be sitting alone in a dark room!
The other interesting thing happened Friday afternoon. Once again I was at my desk filling out paperwork and all of a sudden all the teachers started yelling and running out of the room at top speed! once again no one bothered to say anything to me - I figured the building was on fire, or someone was hurt. And I found out, after I went into the hallway and asked an older teacher what was happening, that one of the teachers had collapsed outside. I guess they thought he had a heart attack, and I saw them running outside with a stretcher and carrying him back inside to the teacher's lounge. an ambulance came, but didn't leave for about 20 minutes. He had recovered consciousness, but I still don't know what happened! sometimes it's so hard being the only one who doesn't speak Japanese well, and who's so easily just forgotten! I hope that teacher is okay - I think the teachers work too hard, and he probably was just exhausted! I know the feeling!
anyway, yesterday was my first day off all week, but I got up early and we picked up my friend Alex (
jojobruin) at the Shinkansen train station and took him with us to a little festival in Asagiri, which is out in Fujinomiya near Mt. Fuji. Alex is in Japan this month doing some interviews with Japanese medical students at Keio University as part of his own medical studies. It was great that we had a chance to meet finally after three years of being LJ friends! We had talked on the phone and emailed, but we finally had a chance to meet in person - and in Japan of all places! I wanted Alex to get a chance to see Fuji-san close up, but for most of the day it was covered in clouds. However, he did get a few chances to see it when it peeked it's gorgeous head out, and he got some pictures! The little festival was not so exciting - it was super cold (as it's been all week in this area), and there was even snow on the ground! We stayed there for a couple hours and listened to Masahiko's friends playing some blues, then we took Alex to Shiraito Falls, which was nearby. That turned out to be really fun, and even though it was a bit cloudy, the weather warmed up a bit and the falls were gorgeous! I have some pictures that I will try to post later, as well as some additional cherry blossom photos I took last weekend! The blossoms were all gone at Shiraito Falls yesterday, but the rest of the scenery was so beautiful. We had a great day, and ended by taking Alex to dinner at Denny's (yes, there are Denny's in Japan!) and he took the train back by 6:30. Now it's Sunday morning, I'm getting ready to go and meet two of my friends with Masahiko, and just talk for a few hours. then tonight I'll get some more things prepared for my next busy week. Not only do I have five days of lessons this week (including two full days at the elementary school), but Saturday I have to travel to Nagoya and back for a one-day follow-up training for my company! No rest for me!
sorry I've gotten so far behind on comments and on all of your posts. Please let me know if there's something important or exciting going on! this week I know I won't be on LJ much either, but hopefully things will calm down a bit soon.
happy weekend everyone!
busy
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