It’s been a pretty busy past few weeks, full of hard work,
non-hard work, not work at all, and whatnot.
The other ALTs and I have gotten so used to using a bunch of Japanese
words in everyday English conversation, mostly because it’s easier to say or
there’s no English equivalent. So here’s
some new vocabulary for you.
shougakko – (show-ga-ko) Elementary School
chuugakko – Junior High School
kyuushoku – school lunch
ichinensei – (itchy-nensay) first grade
ninensei – (nee-nensay) second grade
sannensei – (san-nensay) third grade
I hope that hasn’t boggled your minds too much. Last week and the week before were lesson
observations whereby my supervisor comes and watches my classes at my Junior
High Schools. Unlike my fellow ALTs who
only have one or two visits, I had three.
My supervisor observes how I teach, how the JTE (Japanese teacher of
English) teaches, and how we both interact with each other and the
students. Overall, they went pretty
well, but the observations weren’t with my favourite classes. In fact, they were with the classes that I
generally have a harder time teaching: twice with ichinensei and once with
ninensei. I got a lot less feedback than
my JTEs, but the good news is I passed and I’ve re-contracted to stay another
year in Japan. Yay!
Because of those observations, I missed a whole week of
studying Japanese, which put me behind and I had to cram the following
week. I had a little more time between
classes, so while my brain was full, I still managed to get everything done in
my textbook. I managed to finish my 50
question test last night and send it off to Tokyo where it’s marked. I get a new textbook for the intermediate
course every month. The test is thus
based on all the grammar in the book.
Now, don’t think that I’ve gotten brilliant at Japanese. I swear everything I learn goes in one ear
and out the other. I have an awful time
trying to learn vocabulary and I’ve come across grammar that means the exact
same thing. Oh well. I must be doing all right because they keep
sending me textbooks. I, however, have
no idea on how I’m doing in the course.
There’ve been a couple of small events on the weekends,
too. Two weeks ago on Sunday, there was
an international event held in Kokubu (south Kirishima). I met some new people there, got to make mocha
(smashing rice into dough with a wooden mallet) and partake in a tea ceremony. Japan’s the only place where I can go to an
event do see a traditional Japanese dance, followed by a tutorial (in Japanese)
on self defense for women, finishing with a brief activity of throwing peanuts
at people wearing demon masks. What fun,
eh? Everything’s surreal here.
Last weekend on Saturday, I sang “Head and Shoulders,
Knees and Toes” with a bunch of shougakko kids at an event promoting library
books. After that, my Canadian friend
from Gifu (another ALT like me) came down to visit. We climb one of the volcanoes of the
Kirishima mountain chain called Mt. Karakuni.
It’s apparently the tallest of the all of them, rising to 1700m or
so. From the top, you can see the other
volcanoes, a crater lake, and off in the distance, Sakurajima. (Just as an FYI, Sakurajima literally means “flower
island.”)
Anyway, that’s what’s been happening. I’m enjoying a six-day streak of shougakko at
the moment because the chuugakkos are having their entrance exam time this
week. I’ve decided to take this weekend
off and relax, clean my apartment, go to church, and enjoy myself. It’s nice to take it easy every once in a
while.
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