Woweee..this teacher is great!

One of my new JTEs at my base school, is a really good teacher! I'm in shock, at how he manages a class, how he shows authority and commands respect without being mean and scary, and at how good his English is!!! He used to be a teacher at this school, left for a bit to work in Hiroshima, and now he has come back...and he is great! In class, we actually team-teach! When he wants to use a bit of Japanese to make sure the kids understand, he actually asks me if it's ok!! Bless!! In my lessons with him, the students actually do the work, and seem to enjoy it. They don't need telling twice, they just get on with the exercise we have set! We even have a laugh, and share the odd joke! We have also bonded over our dislike of the song 'Sing' by the Carpenters, which is this month's class song! He's just a really nice, friendly person...who can actually speak English, and is therefore a good English teacher!

Last week I told him about the points card system I introduced last year, where I gave the students stickers for volunteering and actively participating in class. He thought it was a good idea, and this week showed me the new 'points cards' that he has made for this year's students. They are 'passports'...each student has this passport, they have to write information about themselves inside, now and again write a letter to me, and there is also a big grid, where they can earn stickers for volunteering in class. I am soooo excited about these (I know I know I sound like a real saddo ALT now!), as each student can decide what name they want to be on the passport (i.e a nickname if they want...anything!), and the points that they earn.....wait for it....will count towards their termly Oral Communication grade!!! Yipppppeeeee!! I wanted that to be the case with my points cards last year, but my teachers were not keen on the idea. But this year, my lovely new teachers are well on-board with the idea, and agree that this will encourage the students to speak more in class, and become generally more active in OC1 lessons. And another great thing about this new teacher...he made all 160 passports himself!!! Normally that's the kind of job that they give to the ALT to do! Goodness me...I have finally been able to write a post on my blog about Japanese teaching and teachers without it turning into a bitch or a rant!

Bread!

This morning I popped into the bakery near the station, to grab something for my lunch at school. The bakery is open from 7, and so perfect for my early morning on my Tabuse school day. I was extremely excited this morning when I noticed that they sell little bags of bread rolls that have the UK flag on them, and which actually appeared to look like the kind of thing you would actually find in my dear old home-country. I bought a bag, and was looking forward to eating one of them as an accompaniment to my lunch. I have just finished it…it was bad! How that bakery can claim that these rolls are just like the bread in England is beyond me! Clearly they have never tasted a slice of bread that has come from any other country but Japan! It was bright white, plasticy in texture, and just smelt of pure yeast!...as in yeast before it’s baked in anything! Just yeast…just a rubbery ball of white dough, that those lovely peeps at my bakery have the cheek to call British! Anderson in Hiroshima could teach them a thing or two!

From passive to crazy in 2 hours!

I have just had 2 lessons at Tabuse Agricultural High School, which pretty much summed up the two extremes of my teaching experiences in Japan. The first class, the kids were silent, uninterested, and looked terrified when asked to speak even the simplest of English. Classes like that are exhausting, as I try to keep up my perkiness and ALT enthusiasm. By the end of the class my smiles and cries of ‘ok, let’s look at the answers! Any volunteers?’ start to fade! There was also one particular girl, who was obviously so enthralled by the lesson (on school subjects), that she found the time to walk across the classroom, straight in front of me, and pull a giant pink mirror out of her bag. She then spent the rest of the lesson, playing with her fringe, and generally preening! I swear, the mirrors these girls carry round with them, are normally bigger than your hand, and often they have more than one! A range of mirrors for all occasions.

The second class had enthusiastic, loud, and really quite crazy kids! The class (most of whom were boys) started yelling, and shouting random English words as soon as I entered the classroom. They actually had quite a good vocabulary! After the usual greeting of ‘good morning’ to the class, I asked different students the ALT’s favourite question ‘How are you?’ Normally, I receive the stock response of ‘fine thank you, and you?’, the answer that has been drilled into them since elementary school, and which they now reel off almost mechanically! However, today I was pleasantly surprised (especially since these students’ level of English is not very high) to receive a range of responses ; ‘I am tired’, ‘I am hungry,’ and even one ‘I love you’. The latter was not quite what I was looking for, but a welcome change nonetheless! The lesson was fun, the kids were interested, and the atmosphere was warm and enjoyable for both the students and teachers. This class may now become one of my favourites for the next year, as I see them twice a month, and I can already foresee fun lessons with lots of laughter and enthusiasm for English!

Afternoon tea

3rd year girls and their scones
Originally uploaded by LaurenCampy.

Today I had only one class at my school in Oshima. The class was a double period, and so my teacher suggested that it would be nice to cook with the students (who are 3rd year, so 17/18 years old), and introduce them to a traditional food from the UK. I decided on scones, as the recipe for scones looked quite simple (I have never made them before!), and I thought it would be great to tell the students about a traditional afternoon / cream tea in England.

I showed the students some pictures of what should be in an afternoon tea, explained what scones and clotted cream are, and even told them about tea-rooms (Bettys for example!). We gave them the recipe for scones, and off they went in their groups of four to their cooking areas. There were 4 groups in all...and the results of the baking were mixed ; The girls in the picture were stars! They were very quick, didn't make a fuss about anything, and their scones, although not tasting like English scones, were pretty delicious...thick biscuits! They enjoyed eating their little pile of scones with the butter and blueberry jam that we provided. They had a proper little tea-party! The group of boys (doomed from the beginning), decided they wanted to use more than a pinch of salt, and added more and more throughout the cooking process. The result was a thin / strange-shaped salty cracker! Actually quite tasty though! The other 2 groups did ok...eventually! They took ages, but their scones looked pretty in the end, even though they didn't really taste like scones!!!

The students all enjoyed the lesson though I think, and the teachers also enjoyed the leftovers in the staffroom! I have promised to bring back some proper English scones when I return from England in August, and then they will understand what a true afternoon tea tastes like!

Anything but controversial

Tomorrow morning I have to go to a second year homeroom class and talk to them for 5 minutes about…something of my choosing! It is my supervisor’s homeroom, and I think he basically wants to use me for 5 minutes, cos then he doesn’t have to talk for 5 minutes! Luckily, I taught these students last year, and so I’m not too nervous about it. However, at first I was a little confused about what he wanted me to do and say. He ‘clarified’ it by adding “nothing too serious, nothing controversial, not religious!” He then said it should be something about current affairs ; a topic or event to talk to the kids about. He quickly added “but Japan and China subject…too difficult…do not talk about!” I’m glad to see that my school is helping its students understand and share their views on the MAIN news story in Japan at the moment!! I’m glad that they’re not shying away from the subject because they find it too ‘difficult’ or awkward! I’m glad that my sarcasm and cynicism has returned in only the second week of the new school year! So, tomorrow, I am going to show the students the newspaper I make for English Club, talk about some of the topics…and maybe also tell them about St George’s Day that is coming up. Light, easy, and not at all controversial or thought provoking!

p.s Fellow JET friends…if you have any ideas for future subjects I could talk about in future weeks, it would be much appreciated! The students are 2nd year, senior high school (academic school)

My socks are wet!

This is yet another rant about the stupid Japanese weather! Last night, I decided to have a fairly early night, and so settled down and looked forward to my nice long sleep! I was woken up at 1am by the rain pounding on my bedroom window, and the wind blowing noisily around the balcony. My first thought, as always, was “ooh I hope my SKY dish is ok!” However, I soon realised that it was all so noisy, and as I sleep with my head right next to the window, I was not going to get much sleep unless I moved! So, I dragged a futon into my adjoining spare room (which has no windows!), and settled back down to continue my nice long sleep! I think I managed another couple of hours, before I was rudely awoken once again. This time, it was as if my bedroom was giving a quick shudder, and I felt a faint rumble on the floor that I was sleeping (pretty much) directly upon. At first, I thought it was a big gust of wind that had shaken my apartment…god knows, the typhoons in August / September taught me that my apartment is not the most stable of structures! However, it felt a little different…more similar to the rumbling and slight shaking of that morning in a Hiroshima café! Yep…and what do you know…got up this morning…checked the news…and yes, another earthquake hit Fukuoka last night / this morning…and my little apartment all the way over here in Yanai felt the tremors! Don’t think it was too serious though!

The rain and wind were still going strong this morning, and as I walked out of my apartment, I knew I was going to get wet! I just didn’t know how wet! Within the first 5 minutes of walking, my trousers were completely soaked! Don’t get me wrong, I had an umbrella…and it’s pretty big…but Japanese rain is RUBBISH!...it comes at you from all directions, and somehow manages to work its way under the umbrella, and even splash you in the face! There was nothing I could do to stop myself from getting drenched! I quickly realised that I may have to buy some of those god awful rainproof trouser-things for a rainy walk to work in the future…or at least carry a spare pair of trousers and socks with me when the weather is evil, like it was this morning! Just to cap it all off, when I was walking over the bridge near my school, a car sped past me…close to the kerb, and of course sent a torrent of mucky rain water in my direction! I screamed (well, squawked!)…muttered quite a few swear words, and started to walk even quicker to finish my walk to school. I am now sat at my desk in the teachers room…my trousers and legs are damp (to say the least)…the bottoms of my trousers are beyond damp….my socks are drying on the bar underneath my desk…and I am feeling thoroughly icky and fed up…and it’s only 9am! Thank god, I’ve got no lessons today!

Let the teaching begin!

Have been given the task of marking the new 1st year ‘start of year’ tests, and already some wonderful little gems have turned up! Can’t wait to start teaching these little darlings!

“In the future I want to be a cute old woman.”
“I like cat and bog.”
“I am fifty years old.” (meant to be fifteen!)

Back to business

I had my first proper day back at school yesterday…and it was actually quite good! I know, the novelty will soon wear off again, and I will resume my early-morning grumpiness and my cynicism towards Japan’s education system! But yesterday was nice! I have a new desk at my base school, sitting next to a really friendly English teacher (the same guy that organised my welcome party 4 months after I arrived!), and already he is looking after me, and filling me in on the day’s meetings, schedule, and general school stuff (including this week’s urine test for all teachers!!...boy, did he look awkward trying to explain that one!). I am also sitting opposite (i.e I can see her over the top of my little bookshelf) the ex head of English (who helped me out a lot with teaching…let’s call them ‘issues’ last term), and already we are having little chats together, and sharing our thoughts and concerns over a certain ‘teacher.’ I also met the 2 new teachers that I will be team-teaching with this year. They both seem really nice, positive, friendly…and, wait for it….quite good at English! We have already sat down and planned next week’s lessons together, and one of them had already made a handout for the students! Whoah!! Even English Club was cool yesterday…a couple of the girls who are dead serious about it, have come up with all these new ideas, and are scheduling a second meeting each week, because they love English so much! Unfortunately I can’t attend that one because I go to shodo (calligraphy) class on Thursday evening. They have started making a booklet, full of role-plays and useful English phrases, they want to sing a different song every month (like we used to do in class), and they even want me to make them a test every month! These kids are hardcore! Bless ‘em!

Today I am at school in Oshima (my schedule has all changed round now with the new school year), and am teaching 3 classes today on ‘Let’s learn more about England,’…the idea of my JTE, who has realised that I can make good worksheets and lesson plans, and therefore likes to just leave me to it when I visit every 2 weeks! At first I moaned a bit when I realised I had to plan the lesson and stuff again this week, but then today I realised that ‘hey, at least they’re using me, rather than just letting me be a human tape-recorder!’ And the first lesson today was actually quite fun, especially when the students think that the Prime Minister is ‘Bush’, and the most popular food in England is ‘bread!’

A familiar end to the holidays

Although I popped into school briefly on Friday, I am still counting Sunday as my last day of my spring break! I went with Kat and Ellen to Kintaikyo (again!) in Iwakuni, to see the…yep you’ve guessed it….cherry blossoms along the river. After a wander, a spot of picture taking, where the bridge has never looked better with it’s frame of pink blossoms, we had a little hanami near the edge of the river. I have been to Kintaikyo maybe 6 times now, and it has been really nice to see how the area changes with the seasons. I went in August for the festival, when there were crowds of people, ice-cream stalls, and the air was thick with humidity ; I went again in November, to take photos of the vibrant autumn leaves, and capture the brief time that the trees were orange, red and yellow ; I went with Julie and Jen right at the end of march, when the cherry blossom buds hadn’t quite burst yet, but the bright pink plum-blossoms were still attractive and a welcome bit of colour after grey old winter! ; and then I went on Sunday (only 10 days after my trip with Julie and Jen), and all of the trees were bursting with pale pink cherry blossoms…delicate, yet so dramatic. They will probably all be gone in another week (if not sooner!), as the wind carries them away, and the next change in nature begins.

Spring break summary!

I was having such a nice holiday, out and about, that I forgot to / couldn’t be bothered to update my blog with what I was up to!
- Spent the first week in Yamaguchi-ken…day-trip to Tsuwano, AJET meeting in Yamaguchi-shi, school spring concert, lunch with a Japanese friend…Just nice normal stuff ; relaxing, and feeling no guilt at all about being the only teacher at my base to school to be lucky enough to have ‘apartment leave’!

- In the second week my friends, Julie and Jen, visited from England. They arrived on the Tuesday, and we spent the rest of the week touring round the local area ; a day of Yanai and then Kintaikyo, followed by a yummy yakitori and sake meal, an evening of divine yakiniku, purikura, and karaoke, and a day in Hiroshima. In Hiroshima, I took them to the Peace Park, pointed out where the museum was, and then left them to it for 4 hours! I’ve already been to the museum twice, and that was once too many! I think it’s an amazing place, but it’s just too emotionally draining, and on both occasions gave me a headache! So this time, I let the girls explore on their own, and I had a glorious afternoon, sitting in the sun in the Peace Park, drinking Starbucks OJ, and reading my newly purchased Heat magazine. Splendid! The next day, we were all supposed to be going to Miyajima, and then out for dinner at Sanzoku in the evening…but things really didn’t go according to plan! I was sick…very sick...! (just for 24 hours…but still, it felt like I would never eat food again!) So the girls, armed with my directions (!!) and train times, headed off to explore the wonderful island on their own. I basically slept the whole day…until I was woken by my doorbell, and my supervisor standing on the doorstep! After we had spoken for a couple of minutes about moving desks etc at school, he started to leave. He obviously realised that he should say something to me, as I had told him I was sick, and I looked pretty rough…hideous in fact! It was clear that he hadn’t managed to work his words out though…couldn’t quite remember the expression ‘Get well soon’….so instead he muttered, ‘Good luck!’ And remember folks…this is a senior high English teacher!!

Kansai

The next day I felt loads better, and so the three of us headed off for our 6 day adventure in Kansai. We were booked in for 5 nights at J-Hoppers in Kyoto (which btw, I would highly recommend… really cute place, close to the station..great!). Saturday afternoon we made a brief visit to To-ji (a temple with what is apparently the highest pagoda in Japan, but it didn’t look that big to me!), and then went to meet Sarah at the station. Saturday evening, Julie and I were booked in for our Maiko makeover (see other post!), and then we went out for a fabulous dinner of ramen, rice, and the best gyoza I have ever had!

On Sunday the four of us did a spot of shopping (including Zara!), visited the food market, braved the rain at the Heian Shrine, and then even attempted the Philosopher’s Walk…again, in the rain, but also this time a thunder storm! The cherry blossoms along the walk were just starting to bloom, and so, in spite of the rain and grey sky, it was a really pretty route. Even the thunder was quite cool, as we were forced to shelter under a temple entrance, and sat watching the rain and lightning forks for 20 minutes. That night we ate deliciously posh yakitori in a cool chicken restaurant on Shijo, and Sarah and I even splashed out on a couple of glasses of white wine. Karaoke finished off a really great day!

On Monday, Sarah, Jen and Julie went off together for a day of temple-hopping, and I explored on my own. They had never been to Kyoto before, and so wanted to see some of the places that I saw on my first trip in October (i.e golden temple, zen-rock garden at Ryoan-ji etc), and really wasn’t fussed about seeing for a second time. I wanted to hit Kiyomizu-dera for a start…and I’m soooo glad I did. It is a truly spectacular place, a large temple complex set up on a hillside, with views across the hills and the rest of the Kyoto city. It was really busy, and full of people itching to get the perfect photo of Kiyomizu surrounded by cherry blossoms. Not all of the sakura were out, but the pockets of pink around the grounds were really pretty. After exploring the temple, shrine, and gardens, I wandered back down the shop lined street, towards my next port of call. Following a recommendation from Paul, I decided to visit Sanju-sangen-do, a temple which has a huge hall filled with 1001 statues of the Budhist god Kannon. It really was quite impressive, as the statues are all about the size of a person, deep bronze, and lead towards an even bigger statue of the god in the middle. The rest of my afternoon was spent in shops, Starbucks, a foreign book section of Maruzen, and Haagen Daz café (in that order!), before meeting the girls for our evening of fun! We ate loads of delicious food at a cheapish restaurant (gyoza, garlic bread, prawn crackers, karage, yakisoba, pizza, salad, chips!...a bit of a mixture, but amazing nonetheless!). We then spotted a little gem! A really big (like 6 floors or something) amusement / game / fun arcade. You sign in, and then pay 105 yen (like 52p) for every 15 minutes you spend there. In that time you can do whatever you want…it was amazing!...bowling, game arcade (including my favourite taiko game), baseball, basketball, sunbed, foot-spa, roof-top waterfall (!), piano, trampoline, ball-pool, and of course…karaoke! We spent some time on the arcade games, and then headed for the ball-pool! God I love those things! I think I must have liked them when I was a kid, but I can’t really remember…this one was great anyway…although it was quite shallow, and so when Sarah tried to dive in, she hit the bottom fairly quickly. After a quick play of the piano (I can’t play, but you know…it had to be done!), we went for a wonderful 30 minutes of karaoke. They put us in a huge room, right on the corner of the building, so that we had views up and down the main Shijo street….the best karaoke room I have ever had the pleasure of singing in!

On Tuesday Julie, Jen and I took the train to wonderful wonderful Nara! It was my first trip to Nara, and I had been looking forward to going for a while…it completely met (and maybe exceeded, thanks to the weather!) my expectations. The sky was so blue (quite a rare thing in Japan), it was warm, and cherry blossoms were out…everywhere! For me, that was the first official day of spring! God, I loved those blossoms! We walked around Nara park, visiting all the main temples and shrines on the way (including the great Budha at Todaiji), stopping for soba for lunch, and then refreshments in a temple later on. The deer weren’t as cute as I thought they would be (I prefer the ones at Miyajima), but still an amusement and curiosity to watch. We ended our day there sitting next to a huge pond, watching carp and turtles, and then eating onion rings at Mos Burger (I am one classy lady!). We spent the evening back in our hostel, eating Seven Eleven food, and attempting to play Monopoly in spite of our obvious (and silly) tiredness!

Just like Tuesday, Wednesday was one of those ‘things to cross off my mental list of stuff I wanna do in Japan’ days! We went to Himeji Castle. I really wanted to go as it is the only castle in Japan that has never been rebuilt (all the others have had fires, wars, etc etc, and so are still pretty, but not authentic). Himeji is supposed to be THE castle to see in Japan. It was amazing, beautiful, grand, and…busy beyond belief! It turned out we had turned up on some kind of cherry blossom viewing festival day, and entrance to the castle was free! We were really chuffed (Brits always like a freebie!), and patted ourselves on the back for picking such a good day to go. Our smugness turned to fear when we saw hoards and hoards and hoards of Japanese tourists (including the most scary and dangerous of all, the little old ladies, who are slightly bent over, but still have sharp elbows, and a lethal ankle flick) queuing to go in the castle. I have never seen anywhere in Japan as busy as that place on that day. I still made it to the top of the castle though, and actually started to enjoy the challenge of trying to make it up the next flight of stairs without getting myself flattened by the aforementioned old ladies! Outside the castle, the blossoms were spectacular, and we enjoyed our own hanami (cherry blossom viewing picnic type thing), under our very own tree. Back in Kyoto in the evening, we went back to out first night ramen and gyoza restaurant, explored the Gion backstreets, spotted 3 real Maiko (yey!!!), and of course had one final Karaoke session together.

On Thursday, I came back to Yanai, and Julie and Jen headed back up to Tokyo, ready for their flight home to England. A truly great trip, which made me appreciate all the beauty, character and quirks of Japan all over again! Thanks Sarah, Julie and Jen…I had a great time with you all.

Maiko makeover!

I know, I know it sounds incredibly cheesy and a touristy thing to do…and yes, it was….but it was sooooo much fun! For 2 hours, we were fussed over ; make-up, choosing a kimono, being dressed in the amazing kimono (mine was red!), wig, and then photographs (taken by a reallllllly hot guy I might add!). The whole experience was really interesting, and really enjoyable. I was only in the whole costume for about 40 minutes, and that was enough for me! It was so heavy, and so constricting…I really don’t know how those girls manage to wear it all for the whole evening, and still have to entertain their guests, and generally work! When the photographer guy asked me kneel down for a couple of the shots, I thought that I would never get back up again! You really cannot move any part of your back when you are wearing all the gear, and so making any movement beyond shuffle-walking is very difficult. However, when I looked at the kimono and my whole appearance in the mirror, I did look quite elegant! I even think the photos look quite good (I thought I might have been a really minging maiko!)…as it turns out, I can just about pull off the kimono and wig look!

I get it!!

Kyoto
Originally uploaded by LaurenCampy.

I finally get it...I finally understand Japan's obsession and fascination with its cherry blossom. They are truly amazing. I have just returned from a 6 day trip to Kyoto, Nara and Himeji, and was lucky to be there just as the cherry blossoms started to bloom. After a rainy saturday and sunday, the sun came out, and so did the blossoms. The philosophers walk in Kyoto, the temples in Nara, and Himeji Castle...all of them were made even more attractive by their blossom buddies. The initial excitement of seeing them for the first time didn't fade either..in fact we became more spellbound by them the more we saw. I don't 'get' raw fish, I don't 'get' some of the crazy fashion...but Japan...your cherry blossoms...I get it! Fantastic!

...and more!

Nara
Originally uploaded by LaurenCampy.

This gorgeous weeping cherry blossom tree is in Nara. We went there on tuesday, and had the most beautiful weather, and saw the most amazing blossoms.