Halloween lessons - 4 elementary schools

Hello All -

I'm in the process of making a short movie highlighting my Halloween lessons from this year - I'm making the movie as a way to include all the short video clips I shot during October.

But here are the pics that I'll also be using to make the movie.

I had Halloween lessons at 5 of my shogakko during October - unfortunately I didn't get any good pics from my lessons at Nagahama Sho - my newest elementary school.

But here are some fun pics from the other 4 schools I visited - Araki, Hinomisaki, Taisha and Yokan.

Enjoy!
-Jason

Araki - the pics from Araki sho both my English club kids preparing for our Trick or Treating day (which never happened due to snafus in the schedule) and the combined Super English lesson with both 6th grade homeroom classes.





Taisha - pics from lessons with all 3 classes of 2nd graders. I had lots of help with these lessons from the new main English teacher for all my shogakko - Miymi! She's a great teacher and we have fun lessons together. I don't get to visit elementary schools as often now that I have two Jr High schools, so Miymi was hired full time to teach English lessons at 6 of my shogakko.





Hinomisaki - Hinomisaki is one of my smaller schools, with only about 37 kids in the whole school. So we had an all-school Halloween event, and I dressed up in my "Merlin/Dumbledore sensei" costume for this one.





Yokan - I had a fun lesson with the one 6th grade class at Yokan. The kids had decorated their classroom and made their own costumes and we played a game and then had some trick-or-treating fun, including bobbing for apples in a kiddie pool.

It's a Fat world after all....

I listen to a podcast from iTunes recorded by film director Kevin Smith and his producing partner, Scott Mosier. It's called SModcast - I'm sure it can be easily found by doing a search on iTunes.
They ramble on about all kinds of various things - and since I like their sense of humor, I find it amusing.

Recently, they talked about an article they saw on Wired.

I thought it was interesting since something similar happened to me at USJ in Osaka. Yeah - I know - I need to lose weight. :P

Here's the article:

If there's a sadder commentary on the state of American society, we can't think of it -- we've grown so fat we sink the boats of It's A Small World.
According to Miceage (a website that covers all things Disney theme park related - their article is even more in-depth), the boats routinely bottom out under the weight of super-sized riders, bringing the popular ride to a grinding -- literally -- halt. That's increased the wear and tear on the fiberglass boats, which have been in use since the ride opened during the 1964 World's Fair, when Americans, on average, weighed 25 pounds less than we do today.
It's a big problem.

Other rides, including the drop in the Pirates of the Caribbean, face the same problem, Miceage says, but nowhere is it more of headache than It's a Small World.
The ride features several twists and bends where overloaded boats easily bog down, including the "S" bend through the Scandanavian room.
Employees -- Disney calls them "cast members" -- have been aware of the issue for some time now and so discretely leave empty seats in boats carrying heavy riders. But backups persist, and in some cases no one realzes there's a problem until boats stop emerging from the ride.
Disneyland is putting the ride in drydock for 10 months to make it ship-shape again. The boats will be replaced with more buoyant models, and the new flume will be one inch deeper. Work will begin in January.

-Jason

Halloween party and Ice Cream at 31!

My friend, Ang, teaches at my local high school - Taisha HS. She invited me to come to her ESS (English Speaking Society) Club's Halloween Party. She has a small club of about 6 or 7 students. All girls this year. But they did a nice job of decorating a classroom with Halloween decor. And Ang invited other kids to come along - a bunch of boys from one of the sports teams decided to "crash" the party and eat all the food. :)

But we had a good time - I showed them Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video - and we played a few games. And I got to see some of my former students, so that was cool.

I posted a few pics from the party...





After the party finished at about 6pm or so, one of my favorite kids from last year, Yuki, walked out to the parking lot with me, chatting about high school - and we met some of my favorite kids from last year - The Takuwa Triplets - who told us they were heading over to Baskin Robbins Ice Cream - called "31" here in Japan - because on the 31st day of any month they give a 31% discount on their ice cream treats. So after school, but just before dinner they were heading over to 31 for some cheap ice cream. Yuki and I and Ang and Kayla decided to join in and go along. We all got double scoops and took over one corner of the small dining area. I took some pics out in the parking lot afterwards...



And then after that Yuki, Kayla and I hit local family restaurant Gusto for some dinner after our dessert. :)
Yuki did a great job keeping up with the conversation since Kayla and I are both native English speakers.

Hanging out with my kids and former kids like this is really fun - just chatting in a relaxed atmosphere is more rewarding than teaching in some ways. And I have some great kids who are a pleasure to hang out with.

Just yesterday I need to talk to one of the 2nen sei girls on the Volleyball team - I had finally gotten in her t-shirt that I ordered from America - I bought the team Vball t-shirts, but that's a story for another post - so I went along to practice. I'll digress for a moment and say how interesting Jr High sports clubs are here - they basically are unsupervised about 70% of the time but they still practice as hard as if the coach were watching. But my thoughts on Japanese Jr High sports is also a subject for another post.
So I spoke to Aya and noticed that 7 of the 9th grade girls from the team - who don't practice or play anymore since they are now "retired" - were in the gym, in their shorts and sweatshirts, hanging out and hitting balls back and forth while the current team was stretching and doing drills.
I asked why they were there and they basically said that after the two days of full-day testing they just had, they wanted to blow off some steam by playing some volleyball.
So I was ready to leave and go home - it was about 4:30 - but one of my coolest 9th graders -Tomoka - asked me to sit down and chat with them. So I did - and for about 30 minutes we just talked about all kinds of things.
And I was having a mediocre day up to that point - it was a frustrating week of no classes at H chu - but I headed home at about 5:30 with a smile on my face.
Maybe it seems weird for a 38-year-old to enjoy hanging out with teenagers so much, but my kids are great and have a genuine interest in me and what my life is like in Japan - an adult who isn't married or doesn't live with his parents is a rarity - and what my life was like in America - and on the flip side I'm really interested in what they fill up their time with away from school.

So I'm happy that so many of my kids are now checking out this site and my vids and pics - I'm glad I can give back to them a little. Some of them pester me now at school wondering when the latest batch of pics will show up on the site. :P

Lastly, I'm gonna try and post a little Halloween movie from all my pics of my Halloween lessons at my elementary schools.

See ya,
Jason

watching sports in October

I had a few days of Sports Watching back in October, so here are a few pics from those days.

I got to see both my schools - Taisha Chu and Hamayama Chu - in action.

I got to see boys and girls tennis...

and soccer...

and track and field...

My Taisha track team is so used to me taking pictures now, they just mess with me and don't take any normal pictures. The girls came up with the "peace star" seen here...









It was a good few days - most of my kids performed well, but no came in first place or won the whole thing as it were.

These tournaments in October are the first with just the current 2nen sei and 1nen sei without the current 3nen sei, who recently "retired" to concentrate on their high school exams. I also saw kendo and volleyball.

As always you can click on any pic to be taken to my Flickr page to see more pics from those days.
-Jason

Flip Video camera - a review

So I bought one of these handy, little Flip Video cameras when I was home in San Diego last summer vacation. I've been trying it out in various situations over the past 3 months and here are some things to consider if you're thinking of buying one for yourself or someone else for the holidays....

1 - It is incredibly convenient and easy to use. It's small and light and runs on two regular AA batteries. The buttons are easy to reach and it's simple one touch on and one touch off.
2 - It records in fairly easy to manipulate AVI files.
The one I have records about an hour of video (or about 1 gig) before it's full.

That's the good - now the not-so-good...
3 - The sound is ok, except for the extremes - too loud or too soft or if it's windy outside.
4 - The zoom lens is basically non-existent. This is the biggest drawback for me, and why I will be looking into getting something else for my video needs. As you can see from this kendo video - I was about 50 ft away in the first row of the stands, and everything in the distance is soft and muddy - yes, you can tell it's students playing kendo, but you can't really tell who they are, etc.
Even in my classroom video that I posted before this one - you can't read the signs on the chalkboard and I'm probably only about 20 ft away at the back of the class. So it's ok for up close interviews, but forget about anything beyond a 25ft radius.
5 - The extendable arm is a nice touch, but it won't mesh up well with my iBook, so I bought the cables and these work fine.
6 - At first, the user interface when wanting to watch or upload your Flip clips was incredibly tiresome and hard to use. Flip has recently tried to remedy the problem, but when I tried to download the new interface it wouldn't work and you only get one chance to try. So now I simply hook up the camera, and transfer the AVI files from the camera to my laptop harddrive - which works just fine for me, but may be a little more difficult if you're a complete computer novice. I was VERY frustrated when I first bought the camera with the program they FORCED me to use to see my clips, but now it is slightly better.

In conclusion, I think you get what you pay for. I got my Flip on Amazon and with shipping and the extra cables it came to about $140. Very cheap for a cool little digital video camera, but a very limited-use digital video camera. And I've had to carry around two cameras with me lately - one for pics and one for video. So. I'm going back to having just one camera that does both. It's gonna be my Xmas present to myself.

-Jason

random grab bag of pics

autumn leaves outside my apt - 1.jpg
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

Hello All -

I just posted a really random assortment of pictures that have been sitting in iPhoto on my laptop for a while.

The picture above is actually a recent picture I took just outside my apartment. The colors of the leaves on all the trees on the mountains are changing and it's sometimes a breathtaking site.

I've said before that I'll never live in such a beautiful place as Taisha again in my life. While the ruralness often has its drawbacks, it also affords some spectacular scenery.

I've also included some pics that fall outside the normal batches of school-related pics I post. Included are some pics of my friends and I enjoying soba noodles at the recent Taisha Soba festival. Also, pics of my English boards at both my schools - I'll soon be putting up my annual Xmas displays.

And some pics of my friend, Yuka's, visit to Taisha back in July. She and I and her friend all had a good time despite some overcast and rainy weather.

Had a good day today with some of my local shogakusei - I've got so many pics to post - I hope to have time to get to them all soon.

-J

2007 Taisha Chu Thanks Concert

2007 Taisha Chu Thanks Concert - 43.jpg
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

Last Saturday, after spending the day at a speech contest at a local private high school called Hokuryo, I went to the Taisha music hall for my Jr High's annual "Thanks Concert."

I've posted the rest of the pictures from that event. Before I posted the pics of graduates who I saw at the event, and now I've posted the pics of my chugakusei performing and hanging out in the lobby. I have video too from that night and I hope to be able to post some of them soon too.

Enjoy,
Jason

Taisha High School kids

Taisha High School kids
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

These pics go with the video in the post below.

I posted 8 pics of former students to my Flickr site.

I finally got Risa on video (see below). Risa is the shyest of her triplet sisters, but her and Kanaka gave me a fun interview.

I already have videos spotlighting the other kids in this pic:

For a good one with Risa's sisters Saki (far left) and Shiho (not in this pic), go Here.

I have a ton of vids of Yuki (far right), but I like this One with her friend Saki from last year.

And you can see one with Kazuki (the tall boy) by going Here.

Enjoy!

And I'll post the rest of the pics from the Thanks Concert, featuring my current students soon.

-JCH

2007 TJH Sports Day - after lunch

2007 TJH Sports Day - after lunch - 90.jpg
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

I posted the rest of the photos from Taisha Jr High's Sports Day. Click on this pic to be taken to page one of about 6 pages of photos from after lunch on Sept. 7th.

Activities include the dance routines in costume and the awarding of the prizes. My team, the Green Team - Mighty Midori - won 1st place. Class 3-1 is full of great kids, so I'm really happy they won. But all 4 homerooms did a great job on their routines and costumes and all had a fun day.

I'll try and make a movie out of these pics soon, including some of the video footage I shot with my Flip camera.

-Jason

Print Club - "Purikura"

Hiking Day - Purikura 1
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

Purikura pictures are as much a part of Japan for me now as sushi or sumo or bowing.

In case you don't know what they are, here's a brief explanation. Purikura is the nickname for these types of photos, derived from the Japanese pronunciation of "Print Club" or "purinto kurabu" in Japanese katakana. These pictures come from a little booth you go in, take 6 or 8 shots with your friends, and then decorate with light pens and then print out on sticker sheets to be cut up and shared.

You see them everywhere in Japan - both the booths and the pictures themselves - many people use them to decorate their cell-phone and my kids decorate their notebooks and pen case lids with them. Girls seem to like making them more than guys, but the boys have them too. And any student in Jr High or High School will be a purikura expert, knowing the best poses and best things to decorate and write on the pcitures.

I decorated this pic. Simple stuff, just wrote all our names in English and added the crown and bow tie and flower. But the girls knew how to get the machine to email their keitai (cell phone) with the pic and then they emailed it to me. I've taken purikura dozens of times over the past 3 years, but this is the first time I've had digital copies. So that allowed me to post these two on my Flickr acct. In real life, the pics are usually quite small, less than and 1 inch by 1 inch, about the size of a small postage stamp. It usually costs about 400yen for a sheet of about 24 pics.

I like to collect the ones I take, so I've started a book with just pages of purikura pics from my trips to the booth, and from other friends in Japan and students.
When the new Avril Lavigne CD came out, a bunch of my kids asked me if I could make them a copy, so I downloaded it off of iTunes, and burned them copies and charged them purikura pics for the burned CD. Most gave me more than one, so now I have a bunch of fun pics of my kids.

If you come to Japan for a visit, definitely give purikura a try. It's not too hard to follow along even if you don't know Japanese and while some of the booths have a myriad of options, most usually have an "osusume" or recommended course you can just follow.

Yay for purikura!

-Jason

My Friday at Taisha High School

visiting Taisha HS - 2
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

I had a day off from my Jr High classes on Friday, so I emailed my friend, Ang, who teaches at the local high school and asked her if I could come observe some classes at her school for part of the day. She said sure, so I went to Taisha High School for the morning on Friday, and taught three classes with her and her JTEs.

We taught all 1nen sei (10th grade) classes and all of them had at least a few of my students from Taisha Jr High who are now at THS. It was great to see a bunch of my former students. Taisha High is a BIG school with about 1000 students, and there are 9 homerooms (kumi) in the 10th grade alone. So we taught in 3 of the 9, and had a fun lesson about shopping and Ang's JTEs were really nice, including me in the lesson.

Best of all I got to see some of my favorite kids - like the three on the left in the picture above - Yuki, Hiromi and Shiho. I had class with them during 4th period, right before lunch, so we got to chat a bit after class. I really miss some of them, but they all seem to be doing well at High School, and I must say that many of my former students were raising their hands and answering questions during the English lessons, so that made me happy. :)

After lunch I had to head over to Taisha JH to work on my submissions for the Lesson Plan Swap Book we put together for the ALTs in Shimane. So despite having a "day off" I started my day at 8:30am and ended it at 5pm. Oh well - it was a great day. :)

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I just added about 20 pics from Hiking Saturday to my Flickr acct, so click on the pic below to see more pics from that fun day! (They go with the video in the post below)

Year 4 of my adventure

So I've been writing and posting to this blog for a little over 3 years now. It's morphed a little over time, becoming more of a repository of my photos and videos, almost exclusively about my teaching job, than a diary of my thoughts and feelings.
And that's ok. I set out to give an insight into what it's like to live and work in Japan as an ALT in a rural community, and I think if you go back through the archives and look at my pics and vids, you get a pretty good picture of what life is like for us JETs out here in the inaka.

I was talking to my friend Michele once a few years ago about this blog and I told her how I wanted to go off on a rant about my frustrations and feelings and she advised that I keep the tone of this blog light and informational. She suggested I start a 2nd blog for my "life diary" type entries. Well, it's been a while, but I think I'm going to follow her advice.

But I'm not gonna post the link to my new blog here - I think I'll let that one be anonymous and just rant away if I feel like it. Hopefully doing that will help me sort thru some troubling issues I'm dealing with at the moment.

Lately I've been really depressed. The reason that I mention that here is that if there are aspiring or new JETs reading this, then they should know that despite all the fun I have here, the job is not without it's frustrations, and living here can get to you at times.
My recent low ebb has more to do with personal issues anyway, more so than work related issues. But your personal can spill over into your professional, and I find myself getting annoyed at things at work that would normally not bother me so much.
Of course, my supervisor just sent me an email asking if I want to stay for a 5th year. :P
I don't have to give my official answer until February, but they already want to know for budget planning.

I'm just really not sure. Part of me wants to stay - part of me wants to leave - and part of me wants to stay in Japan but not as a teacher. It's gonna be a tough choice.

My recent bout of self doubt was triggered by a video I watched on You Tube - Click Here to see it.

That video is in itself a response to another video, a short film titled "Are you anybody's favorite person?"

I thought about this and I don't think I am anybody's favorite person. Sure, people like me - I'm a likable guy most of the time. And my kids like me, as I am a fun teacher.
But I don't think I'm anybody's favorite person. I was once, but that was a long time ago now.
And I just don't see that changing anytime soon - certainly not while I'm in Japan. So that's had me thinking, and when I think like this I often suffer from insomnia, which makes me tired and cranky during the day.

Anyway, this is turning into exactly the type of rant I was gonna start posting on my new blog.

This week has kinda sucked, and I haven't been in the mood to edit the movie I mentioned about Taisha's Sports Day or to post anymore pics, etc. But I'm sure come the weekend I'll be bored in my little apartment and you'll see some new stuff here soon.

I hope all is well with you and please come back again for my regular posts soon.

-Jason

Taisha JH Sports Day prep

Mikitaro, Yuta, Ryo & Yuki
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

Hey Gang -

I just uploaded 101 pictures from the days leading up to Taisha Chu's Sports Day.

I'm going to use these 101 pics to make a short movie - so you'll be able to see which ones I use and don't use and how I crop and scan and edit them to make the movie.

Click on this pic of Mikitaro, Yuta, Ryo & Yuki to go to my Flickr page to see all 5 pages of pics.

I wanted to make one movie for their Sports Day, like I did for Hamayama Chu, but I have SOOOOOO many pics of my Taisha Kids that I've decided to make two films - part one will be these pics and the prep and part two will be a longer film including 200+ pics from the actual day of the event.

I hope to have the first, shorter film ready and posted to my You Tube acct by the end of this week.

-Jason

Video update - Brass Band and Volleyball

I added 4 vids today - 3 from when I went with Taisha's brass band club to Tottori ken for the Chugokutaikai - and one from a recent Volleyball match here in Izumo.
The band vids are from the same day as the recent batch of pics I added to my Flickr site.
You can see the some of the band kids ducking my ever-present camera, and some being the natural hams that they are.

I have lots of short vids like these that I hope to post over the coming week, so check back for updates.

Enjoy!
-Jason

Sakamoto sensei & the 9th grade Brass Band members

Sakamoto sensei & the 9th graders
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

On August 24th, I drove about 2 hours north-east into adjacent Tottori prefecture to attend the Chugokutaikai - the regional competition for my Brass Band club.

I actually missed their performance by about 10 minutes (shhhh - don't tell anyone...) because I got a little lost and underestimated how long it would take me to get to the music hall. So just as I arrived, my kids were coming out of the main hall into the lobby to have their pictures taken. So I got to snap plenty of pics and hang out with them until the results were announced. They made the top 7, but not the top 3, which would have allowed them to go on to the All-Japan competition. From Shimane prefecture, Izumo First Jr High once again advanced - they are quite the powerhouse school in the Brass Band arena.

Once again, my band kids this year have turned out to be some of my favorite kids to hang out with and chat with - really great kids and quite a few of them are very good musicians as well.

-JCH

Taisha HS school festival

Taisha HS school festival - 10.jpg
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

Click here to see a few pics from my visit to Taisha High School during their school festival back in late August.

My friend, Ang, teaches at THS, and many of my former students graduate and go to THS. So it was great to visit for a few hours and see a bunch of my old kids.

They have a 2-day school festival just before their day-long Sports Day. During the festival, they have theme rooms (haunted house, game rooms, food rooms, etc) and homeroom performances by the 12th graders, like the girls in this picture.

I didn't take too many pics at their Sports Day on Sept 1st - but I did shoot some video, which I've posted to my You Tube account.

-JCH

Chorus kentaikai in Matsue - genki 9th graders!

Chorus kentaikai in Matsue - genki 9th graders!
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

Click here to see some pics of my great Chorus Club girls. I attended their prefecture competition in the capital of Shimane, Matsue, back in August. The girls sang well, but did not advance to the regional competition.

I've been working with these 10 girls after school preparing them for a performance at the school Cultural Festival at the end of October. I'm teaching them a song in English from the film "Rent." The song is called "Seasons of Love" and I think we'll be able to pull off a great performance.

-JCH

Taisha JH Class picture day - a short movie

Hey Gang,

All my 9th graders gathered in front of the school recently to have their group picture taken for the endpapers in the graduation yearbook.

The official photographer went up to the 2nd floor of the school and shot his pics looking down on the group of about 150 kids and teachers. So I went with him and snapped away.

I then took those pics, and some I shot that same day in the stairwell by the 9th grade classrooms, and assembled them into the little film you're watching now. Kinda rough with not many transitions, but iMovie allows me to zoom into the large group shots, something you can't really do just looking at the pics on my FLICKR page.

I'll post the original pics I used to make the movie on my Flickr page soon.

Enjoy the film, and the music is by OreSkaBand in case you're interested.

-Jason

The 41st Annual Lafcadio Hearn Speech Contest

Yuta, Sumie & Nagami sensei
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

Lafcadio Hearn was an Irish writer who lived in Shimane about 100 years ago and he became famous for his writings on Japan and his translations of traditional Japanese folk tales.

Every year in Matsue, the capital of Shimane, they hold a English recitation contest in his honor, where Japanese high school and Jr High school students have to memorize a short selection (about two pages) written by Hearn and recite it in front a small panel of judges.

This year 49 Jr High students took part, and as always, Taisha Jr High was represented well by two 3nen sei students.

This year, Yuta (on the left) and Sumie (in the middle) agreed to memorize the at-times very-dated English and add gestures and with the help of me, Nagami sensei (on the right) and Nariai sensei (see my other pics on Flickr), shape their recitations in cohesive presentations.

I've had very good luck over the years at the Hearn contest.

My first year, 2004, I took two 2nen sei students, and one, Hitoshi Yamane, won a top prize. Hitoshi had lived in America for a few years when he was a young boy, and his English is very good. His recitation of "A Living God" was excellent.

My next year, 2005, I took two 3nen sei girls to the contest, and again came away with one of the top prizes. Asuka Tezen won for her recitation of "Sayonara!"

Last year, 2006, I again took two 3nen sei girls, and again won one top prize. Mami Sato won for her rendition of "Butterflies" which at least one of my kids has chosen to recite every year I've been involved.

This year I knew would be a challenge, as Yuta and Sumie were both novice speech givers, whereas in years past I've taken kids that had already done one of the less difficult speech contests the year before they attempted Hearn.

Both gave excellent speeches yesterday, remembering all their lines and incorporating their gestures fluidly. But unfortunately neither walked away with a prize.

But this year I think I truly felt satisfaction at a job well done.
Yuta and Sumie are both great kids. They started rehearsing about 4 weeks ago and went from 0 to 100 in a very short time. I couldn't be more proud of their achievement and their hard work.

And I think they also felt good about their performances, despite not winning a prize. I know in the future they will face any English assignment with full confidence that they can do it. They know they were better than many of the kids at the contest, and even though they weren't judged to be among the best, they also know how much they've improved over the past month. So I think they are happy and satisfied that they did their best.

And we had such a fun day Saturday. With 49 5-minute speeches to get through, it was gonna be a long day.

But we got lucky in that both Sumie and Yuta were scheduled to present in the morning session, so from about 12:30 until the awards ceremony at 4pm, we were free to do what we wanted.

So we had lunch at McDonald's - only the 2nd time in her whole life that Sumie has eaten at McDonald's, which is a worthy topic for a whole 'nother post. Then we went to a local shopping complex called Saty and I got to buy some Dr. Pepper at an import shop. (I really LOVE Dr. Pepper!)
They have purikura (print club) photo booths, so the three of us took pics while the "adult" teachers (I'm older than both of them) drank coffee at a local cafe.
Then we still had time to kill, so I convinced the kids and teachers to go to karaoke for an hour before heading back to the contest.

So we had a great afternoon before the letdown of no prize.

The girl who won the top prize in the Jr High division gave the same speech as Yuta, but her English was flawless and had a hint of a British accent. So I asked the ALT (Bill) at her school if she had lived abroad in Hong Kong or England and sure enough, she had lived in London for two years. You could totally tell.
Unlike the big, prestige speech contest that takes place in Tokyo every year and is named in honor of a member of the Japanese royal family, there is no rule prohibiting students who have lived abroad from competing at this local contest.
As a coach, I can help my students be confident speakers who use a loud voice and effective gestures, but it's difficult for me to overcome long-inbedded pronunciation issues in just one month of practice.

Anyway - I took video of each kid giving their speech so I'll try to get that posted to my You Tube site soon.

Enjoy the pics!
-Jason

And congrats to Yuta and Sumie for a job well done and how happy they made me watching them do their best.

HJH & TJH Track n Field in Hirata

HJH & TJH Track n Field in Hirata - 17.jpg
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

Last week I started working at my new Jr High - Hamayama Chu.

It's about 10 minutes from my house by car, and is about the same size as Taisha Chu, with about 450 students.

My first week at HJH was all preparations for their Sports Day, which took place last Friday, the 14th. It was a fun and casual week, and I had a good time meeting all my new students.

I took hundreds of pictures at both Sports Days - Taisha's on the 7th and Hamayama's on the 14th.

I hope to label and organize them and post them soon.

I'll probably post the pics from HJH first, since I don't know any of the kids' names yet, so that will save me time in labeling and I want to tell the kids there about my blog, so it'll be good to have some pictures for them to look at when they visit.

Basically I now do one week at Taisha, and then one week at Hamayama and then repeat.

This week coming up is a TJH week and I'll be busy after school everyday preparing Sumie and Yuta for the Lafcadio Hearn speech contest, which takes place this Saturday, the 22nd.

I've also started rehearsing with my 9th grade choir members - I'm teaching them a song from the play/film "Rent" called "Seasons of Love" to sing at the school cultural festival in late October.

So I'm busy, but doing well. Next time I'm at HJH will be lots of my self-introduction lessons, and I hope to be able to use my laptop and show pictures of America and pictures of their Sports Day.

The pictures I just posted are from a small Track n Field tournament in nearby Hirata that I went to yesterday. Kids from both TJH and HJH were competing, so I got to hang out with kids from both schools. Now of course I have to cheer for both schools when members of each are in the same race.

So click on this pic to see a few more from the T&F meet.

I'm busy watching the sumo everyday, but I hope to post more pics soon.

-Jason

Japanese High School kids do STOMP

Here is another video from the Taisha High School festival, the day before their Sports Day. Each homeroom class of 3nen sei (12th graders) puts on a 7-minute routine. This class chose to do a "Stomp" performance. You get to hear some Avril and see some baton twirling.

You can go to my You Tube page for part ONE of this perfomance. I also posted 2 other vids from THS.

Enjoy!
-Jason

chatting with Chugakusei - let's meet Miyuki

Here is a short video with Miyuki, one of my 9th graders who used to play kendo. (All the 9th graders are now "retired" from their after-school clubs and sports teams so they can start to concentrate on studying for their high school exams)

You can see Miyuki, Yuki and Ayumi in this clip, all members of 3-1 class and on the green team for Sports Day, which is tomorrow. I have been assigned to the Green Team this year, so when I was in America I bought green braclets for all 36 kids in the class and a green t-shirt for the homeroom teacher and had all the kids sign it in permanent pen on the back.

Lots more video and pictures from Sports Day as I have time to post them.

-JCH

Japanese High School kids sing Avril

You can read the description of this video at my YouTube site by clicking on the words "You Tube" in the lower right corner of this video - it'll take you to the vids page on You Tube and I typed a couple of paragraphs explaining this vid.

Of course, you can also just watch and enjoy. :)

Shot at Taisha High School, the school of choice for the majority of my Jr High school students.

The sound is variable since it was really windy last Saturday.

I went to Izumo High School's sports day today, but missed the dances and cheering. Got to see a few of my former students, so that was fun, but I made the classic mistake...

I was introducing one of my former kids to Tyler, the new ALT at Izumo HS, and I said "This is Kasumi." Of course, her name is actually "Narumi." I'm so bad with names, and I hate it when I can't remember a former student's name.

Anyway - more pics and vids soon. My school's sports day is supposed to be this Friday, the 7th, but it might rain, so we'll see.

-J

1nen sei Sports Day in July

shoes and tea
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

Catching up with some already posted pics - these two were taken in July during the Ichi Nen Sei (7th grade) only Sports Day.

The 1nen sei girls played dodgeball and the boys played basketball in the gym.

The pic above is the entrance way to the gym - the kids have to remove their "indoor" slippers before going into the gym, where they can then put on special-soled gym-only sneakers. The girls, well-prepared as always, have flasks of cold tea and sweat towels - the boys just sweat into their shirts and go thirsty.

The pic below is of three of my most genki 7th grade girls who I think will provide me with plenty of good poses over the next few years.

Enjoy the pics and I'll try to post more soon.

-Jason

Sports Day prep - Aug 2007 - #2

Members of 3-4 class working on their dance routine for our upcoming Sports Day.

The 9th graders have to come up with a 5-min routine, that includes a class cheer, and then teach the routine to the 8th graders and 7th graders next week.

Ganbatte!

pics from the 9th grade Sports Day in July

Mai - SLAM! - 4.jpg
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

For three days in July, my Jr High has a grade-specific sports day for each grade in the school.

On this day, the 9th grade boys played basketball and the 9th grade girls played volleyball - competing in a double-elimination tournament with all the homerooms.

I missed the 8th grade tournament this year - I had to go visit an elementary school that day, but I did get a bunch of pics of the 7th graders, which I hope to post soon.

Click on this great shot of Mai going up for a SMASH to be taken to my Flickr page to see about 50 more pics from this hot, hot day in the gym with my 9th graders.

-Jason

Sports Day prep - Aug 2007

This is how I spent a good chuck of my day today - walking around in our very HOT school, watching the kids prepare for Sports Day, which is Sept. 7th.
The kids have three basic tasks right now - prepare the very large poster to represent their class and team, make their costumes and come up with a 5-min dance routine.
I'll be shooting lots of video over the next two weeks as my kids prepare, so check back for more updates.
This is the first video I've posted that was shot with my new Flip Video camera that I bought when I was home in America. I think the picture quality is pretty good and the sound is better than my regular digital camera, but the sound is also a little "tinny" when compressed for upload to You Tube.

Enjoy,
Jason

Rina, Yuki and Ayumi at the Taisha summer festival

Rina, Yuki and Ayumi
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

Last Wednesday, the 15th, my small town held its annual summer festival, called the "goen matsuri."

This year was my 4th year to attend. I was joined this year by my fellow Taisha ALT - Ang - and another teacher - James - who teaches at the NOVA language school in Izumo - and another teacher - my former JTE - Yamamoto sensei, or Hanae as I call her now.

We all met up on the main street in Taisha town at about 4pm, and it was HOT - 30.C +!
We walked around, saw the vendors and food sellers and I saw many of my students. We stuck around until it got dark and more of Ang's students started to appear, since she teaches at Taisha High School and the older kids wait until it's dark to come out - they must be wiser about it being cooler by a little bit after the sun goes down.

Many of my kids dress up in summer kimono - called "yukata" or "jinbei" - and walk around with their friends eating snow cones and taking a break from thinking about school.

I took a bunch of pictures again this year, so you click on the one above and be taken to my Flickr site.
I also shot a few video clips which I hope to have up on YouTube soon.

Enjoy,
Jason

my job is changing

Hello All -

This is an actual text-only post - been awhile since I've done one of these.

School starts next week, and this year promises to be somewhat different for me as compared to my previous 3 years here in Taisha.

First, a few words of explanation. Up until last year, ALTs, like myself, on the JET Programme could work for three years. If an ALT wanted to stay in Japan for a 4th or 5th year, he/she would have to apply and be allowed to teach only at shogakko (elementary school) for those last two years. So for most of us that arrived in Japan in 2004, we figured our job was over in July of this year and we'd be heading home.

But then last October, the government office that oversees the JET Programme decided to change the rule about recontracting. Now, any ALT could stay a 4th or 5th year if their original employer also wanted them to stay. No more "shogakko-only" stipulation. This is a bid by the JET Programme to get qualified ALTs to stay on, since the application pool is starting to shrink for new JETs, and in pure business terms, it's much cheaper to have an established ALT stay another year than to have to bring a new ALT in.

So how many of the 3rd year JETs in Shimane decided to stay a 4th year under the new rule? Three. Yep, only three. That's about the same number that usually applied for the shogakko-only position in the past. And of those three, one is a CIR (a different position within the JET Programme that is not the same as an ALT), and one is a former ALT who will now be the ALT PA, or prefectural advisor - a liasion between the ALTs and the Japanese staff and officials who run the programme.

So that leaves me. I am the only 3rd year ALT who decided to stay a 4th year in the same position. And in fact, I will be the first ALT ever in Shimane to be at the same school for 4 years in a row.
Now, if you read this blog somewhat regularly, then you already know that I had wanted to transfer to a High School for my 4th year, but that didn't work out. So I decided to stay in Taisha, in the same job.

But I found out this week when I got back from my vacation in America that my job this year will not exactly be the same.

Yes, I'll still be at Taisha Chu, but I've also be assigned a 2nd Jr High - nearby Hamayama Chu. And it seems that I will no longer be making ANY visits to my 5 elementary schools. Just two weeks a month at Taisha Chu and two weeks at Hamayama Chu. So this a BIG change for me.
Many other ALTs have a similar set-up, so it's not that weird. But it will be for me. But part of the reason I wanted to change to teaching at High School was for a change of routine, so this will certainly serve for that.

Izumo, after spending a lot of money last year and bringing in many new ALTs, this year decided to spend NO money and brought in NO new ALTs. So Chris, Rusty, Ewan, Titia and Eulenda - who all went home in July - are not being replaced. Instead, the remaining ALTs here in Izumo - Hannah, Eric, Angelo, Sam and myself - are splitting up the Jr High schools, with each of us having two, except Sam who now has 3 and Hannah who still has only one, but will also still be going to some large elementary schools.

Hamayama Chu is about the same size as my current Jr High. Both have about 450 kids, which means 4 homeroom classes per grade. My friend Rusty was the ALT at Hamayama, and was their ALT all 3 of his years here, so I know they've had a consistent prescence and a good ALT before me. Hamayama is used to sharing an ALT, since Rusty had 3 Jr Highs his first year, which meant Hamayama saw him every third week, and he had two Jr Highs his 2nd year, so that is a situation close to mine this year.

But what's a little weird is I'm not a "new" ALT - I haven't just arrived in Japan and I'm not new to the classroom. I'm a pretty seasoned veteran by now, so it'll be strange for me to be treated at first like a newbie - having to give my "self-introduction" lesson to all the new classes, having to meet all the new staff including my new Japanese teachers of English - maybe having to go to an "enkai" to welcome me which means having to explain over and over again why I don't eat fish or drink beer.

Having said that, I am excited about meeting new students and having my games and activities and ideas for teaching be evaluated and utilized by new JTEs and students.

What is sad is that I never got to say goodbye at my 5 elementary schools. If we'd have known that I wouldn't be teaching there anymore starting in September, I'm sure we would have had small farewell ceremonies at each of my schools. I also have an English Club at two of my shogakko, so I'm not sure what the status is on those right now. I'd like to continue going to at least the clubs.
My elementary kids are now going have English lessons with local residents - most likely Japanese women, although perhaps some Filipina women as well - who are interested in English. They will get paid a small amount as part-time workers. Not sure how that's going to work out. The few women they employed last year for supplementary "Super English" lessons with the 6th graders all turned out to be well-qualified and decent at English. So if they can find more like them, then perhaps it will be ok.

I'll keep you posted on how things are going at my new school after I start teaching there in late September. And don't be surprised if you start seeing pictures of kids here on my blog in slightly different school uniforms.

So my fourth year is off to an interesting start. If all goes well, and my batteries get a good recharge, I might even consider staying a fifth year. But right now I just want to survive the heat of August, get through Shimane Orientation for the new ALTs and help my Taisha kids prepare for their biggest annual school event - Sports Day.

See you,
Jason

another benefit to staying a 4th year...

12th graders
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

I'll get to go to the graduation ceremony for the kids who were my first group of 9th graders when I arrived in 2004.
Their high school graduation in March of 2008 will be the first class to include kids I taught at the Jr High level.

Looking back, I didn't get to know that first group of 9th graders very well. I was their ALT for only 7 months. And everything was so new and overwhleming for me, it was really tough to strike up any lasting bonds with those particular students. Plus, they were in the final months of their Jr High career, which is a stressful time for Japanese students as they have to prepare for their very important High School entrance exams.

But I did manage to connect with a few of the kids in that first graduating class, and I hope to attend Taisha HS's graduation ceremony next March to see some of them get their diplomas.

And I still run into some of them on occasion - out at a restaurant or at karaoke or in the supermarket or at a festival.

Like Arisa and Yasuka in the pictures here. The one above is from this year - their final year of high school. The one below was taken in the summer of 2005, just after they had graduated from my Jr High and were in their first year of high school.

It was great to see them again and I wish them the best of luck in their upcoming exams and life decisions.

-Jason

America kaerimasu!

So I'm heading home to San Diego tonight - I leave on a night bus for Osaka, then get on a flight to Korea tomorrow morning and then after a short lay-over I get on an 11-hour flight from Seoul to Los Angeles. Curious thing about when I fly FROM Japan TO California - because of the time difference I arrive at about the same time I leave. My flight gets in at 10:25am on Thursday at LAX, even tho I left Japan at 9:40am on Thursday Japan time.

So I'll be home for about two weeks - should be a nice, relaxing time. And - I get to go to Comic Con!!! Woo-hoo!

So no updates for a few days perhaps, altho I have tons of new pics and vids to show you all - I've been so busy these past few days.

Sunday I went to Oda to watch my kendo team.
Monday I went to Gotsu to watch my girls' tennis team (and I got really sunburned).
Tuesday I went to Oda to watch my volleyball team, and then came back to Izumo to watch my Chorus club at a concert.
Today I had to go to Matsue to finish renewing my visa and re-entry permit, and then to Taisha to update my "gaijin" card, before going back to watch more volleyball in Oda.
So lots of driving! But I have some great new pics and vids and I'll try to post them while I'm in America.

To all my Taisha teams competing this week and in the coming weeks while I'm gone...

がんばって！！！！　(good luck)

-Jason

Another TPMMH pic

Another TPMMH pic
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

I've decided on my Flickr site that I'm gonna start a new "tag" labeled TPMMH - which stands for "This Picture Makes Me Happy." So search that tag in a few weeks and you'll see a bunch of fun pics from my whole archive of over 2000 pics.

Walking around after lunch a few weeks ago I snapped this pic - it's very easy for me to get group shots like this now - I simply say "shashin" (picture), "issho ni" (together) - and wave my hands like I'm pushing the group together and the kids will form up and pose. Any shyness they have around me went away long ago, and if anything they're more likely to deny my picture request nowadays since they know I take so many over the course of a year.
But they still like me to take their picture, cuz they know I use them - I sometimes put them on display on the wall outside my language lab, I put them in the school newsletter I create, I use them in the year-end movie I make, and I of course add them here to my blog. So they get to see them - and that makes a big difference in their willingness to pose.

In this picture are my sporty 3nen sei - all them are in a sports club except Sayoko, who is in the Chorus Club, but is also a champion baton twirler - so she is sporty too. :)

First row - Miyuki (kendo), Saki (tennis), Momoko (kendo), Rina (tennis)
2nd row - Tomoka (volleyball), Namiko (tennis), Sayoko (chorus)
back row - Kyoko (swimming), Keiko (kendo)

I also posted some pics of my 3rd graders (9th graders) enjoying bento lunches at school. Some days they don't serve the school lunch that everyone eats, so the kids have to bring a lunch from home, called a "bento." So click here for more pics of the kids at lunchtime.



Enjoy!
-Jason

One concert - Three schools

Monday was a national holiday - and I spent the day at a local music hall watching three of my school's Brass Bands perform.

I had simply planned to watch my Jr High band - so I arrived at around 11:30am to watch my "C" team - the new 1nen sei students perform as a unit in their first concert. When I got the concert program, I notcied that just after my 7th graders (1nen sei) perform, one of my elementary schools - Taisha Sho - was also set to perform. So I got to watch them as well.

I took a break for lunch (yummy ramen) while other local Jr Highs performed and came back to the hall at 2:30 to see my Jr High's "A" team (2nen sei and 3nen sei) perform. They did really well and I wish them luck at their upcoming competition. I then returned one more time to see Taisha High School perform at the end of the day at 5:40pm. Many of my Taisha Chu kids go to Taisha HS, and many of my favorite kids from last year are now 1nen sei (10th graders) at Taisha High School.

So it was great to see some of my former students, and see many of my current students all in the same day.

I snapped a few pics, so check em out by clicking on any of the pics below.

And "Yokoso" (welcome) to any of the students who are now checking out my blog. Enjoy!
-Jason


All the high school kids in this pic were once my students at Taisha Jr High!



Wacky 3nen sei from Taisha Chu



The 6th graders in the band at Taisha Sho



:)

Chatting with students - Band Girls (x3)

Hello All -

Today was a national holiday in Japan and I went to a concert in Izumo and it was great because I got to see all three Taisha schools - Taisha Sho (elementary), Taisha Chu (Jr High) and Taisha High School - perform.

So I got to hang out with a bunch of my kids throughout the day, and I took a lot of great pics. I'll post them to my Flickr site soon.

But first I wanted to post these three short videos I shot today - interviewing some of my current 8th graders (2nen sei) and some of my former students who are now 1st graders (1nen sei) {10th grade in America} at Taisha High School. It was great to see a bunch of my older kids again - and I gave out my blog address to a bunch of them, so hopefully they'll see these videos too. :)













Enjoy! And I'll post pictures soon!

-Jason

Happy Birthday to me

lunchtime with 5nen sei at Taisha Sho - 6.jpg
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

How did I spend my birthday this year?

I spent it mostly at two of my elementary schools - Taisha Sho and later in the day, Araki sho.

The previous day, Thursday the 5th, I actually taught 4 lessons at three different schools. I started the day with a Super English lesson with about 55 sixth graders at Taisha Sho, then went to Yokan sho for two lessons with the 4th and 5th graders - ate lunch with the 5th graders, and then back to my Chugakko for a 6th period lesson with one of my 8th grade classes. Long day!

On my birthday I was scheduled to teach 2 classes each of 4th and 5th graders at Taisha sho, and then race over to Araki sho for English club 6th period.

Despite the hectic schedule, I had a fun day, and I got to take lots of fun pics - many of which I've posted on my Flickr site.

You'll see pics of me drawing for the kids at lunch time, and me hanging out with them during cleaning time and then me taking pics of them after school as I try to leave but am beseiged with requests for stickers.

I've got some video from the day too, and I should have a link posted to my You Tube site soon.

So I'm 38 now - and some days I certainly feel it - but on days like my birthday when I'm busy and surrounded by genki young kids - I bet you wouldn't guess I'm a day over 25.

See ya,
Jason

Benefits of staying

So I'm staying a fourth year at my same job at Taisha Jr High.

Which means that kids that were 6th graders at elementary school when I first arrived in 2004 will graduate from my Jr High in March of 2008.

So I've seen girls like this:




grow up into young ladies like this:




Sayoko, Kanako, Rina and Tomoka above are all kids I first taught as 6th graders in shogakko.

What's even more mind-blowing in a way is that the first 9th graders I taught, who graduated from my Jr High in March of 2005, will graduate from High School in March of 2008 - I plan on going to Taisha High School's graduation and seeing some of them get their diplomas.

It's one of the benefits of sticking around for so long.

-Jason

CHESS '07 - Evening Two - dancing

CHESS '07 - Evening Two - dancing - 4.jpg
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

Here are some more pics from CHESS - we had a Disco for the kids on the 2nd night. First, our man Ewan taught everyone to Scottish Dance, and then DJ Cleve had the whole crowd moving from 7:30 to 9pm.

Click on this pic to see more from that evening.

This dance, which we have every year at CHESS, is easily one of the highlights of the camp. Japanese kids in High School don't have school dances, so this is often the first time many of them have been to a social, free form dance.

On the third day I asked a girl if she enjoyed the dance the night before and she got a little emotional and then said "Yes - it was the first time I've ever been to a dance." One ALT friend told me that one girl told her it was the first time she'd ever danced - period.

And we have fun, playing a bunch of goofy hits from the 50s to the 80s, like "The Twist" and "Stayin' Alive" and of course "The Macarena" and since most JETs are in their early to mid 20s, they can get out on the dance floor and shake it with the best of them. And the kids just follow our lead since many have never danced with other young people before - so if you come over to a circle of kids and start doing some moves, they all just join in and start to copy you - it's pretty hilarious. But great fun!

I was able to assemble about 200 pics from the first two days of camp and show them on the big screen in the background while the music played - running the slideshow off my trusty little iPod.

OK - one more day of pics to go and then CHESS 2007 will be but a memory. :)

-jason

Body Kanji - part one

Two words - Body Kanji - I think that says it all.
Ok, maybe not, but you can read a description of this organized madness and see part two as well at my You Tube site.

Enjoy!
-Jason

CHESS 2007 - Day One

CHESS 2007 - Day One - 46.jpg
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

Pics from Day One of CHESS 2007 are on my site.

Day 1 was Monday, June 11th. We arrived at the Sanbe Youth Center around Noon, and had opening ceremonies and group introductions and we also did our workshop (mine was trivia) one time.

Pictured here is Lena, Tyler, Adam, Eric and Ewan - the leaders of the Sports Workshop in the gym.

Click on this pic to see more pics from the first day, including a few group shots and the obiligatory lunch/cafeteria shots. :)

Day Two and Day Three will be posted soon!

-Jason

Janken for fish! Shogakusei battle for my lunch!

I shot two short vids while I was having lunch with my 4th graders at Taisha Sho. In this one you can see some of the kids play "janken" for my fish - I don't eat any seafood, so what I can't eat is highly sought after by the hungry kids.

The other vid is rather sedate, but you do get a good shot of my lunch tray and the fish in question... :)

Taisha HS band & chorus kids

Taisha HS band & chorus kids
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

Last Sunday I went over to Izumo to see my school's brass band perform. As I sometimes do, I got the times mixed up. Japan uses military time, so the concert was from 15:00 to 17:00. I saw that on the piece of paper and my brain thought - "oh, the concert is from 5pm to 7pm." D'oh! Anyway, I got to the concert hall at about 4:45pm, just in time to see my kids perform at 5pm. They were the 2nd to last school to perform, so I missed the rest of the performances. Which is a shame, cuz I found out that my recent graduates, who now play with their High School band performed earlier in the day.

But after the concert was over and I snapped a bunch of pictures of my kids (click on this pic to see many more from that day), I went back into the hall and got to chat with my older kids, who are now ichi nen sei at Taisha High School.

It was great seeing them again! It's funny how they all look a little older in their HS blazers. Pictured here are Shiho, Rina and Hiromi in the top row and Yuki, Erina and Saki in the bottom row. Rina and Erina where in my Chorus club, so perhaps the Taisha HS chorus performed as well, or maybe they just volunteered to be ushers at the event.

It's sad how much you lose touch with the kids that graduate. Most you'll never see again - they move on to High School and unless you happen to run into them at a local store you won't ever have a chance to see how they're getting on. But I made more of an effort this past year to try and stay connected to my recent graduates - I exchange emails with a few of them - including Saki and Yuki here, and I have home addresses for a few of them to send them New Year's cards, etc. I rememebered it was Hiromi's birthday the day before this concert, so when I saw here and said "Omedetou Tanjoubi" (Happy Birthday) she was really surprised and happy.

Anyway - it was a fun, altho brief, concert and I got some good pics.

Enjoy!
-Jason

CHESS 2007 - Scottish dancing

CHESS = Camp for High school English Students of Shimane, and has nothing to do with the game using rooks, queens and knights.

Here is a short video of the Japanese kids being taught how to Scottish dance by Izumo's own resident Scotsman - Ewan!

I'll post more about CHESS and I have tons of pics to post.

Enjoy!
-Jason

Pics from my week

recess at Yokan Sho - 12.jpg
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

Hey Gang,

I just uploaded a few pics I shot over the course of this past week. I also included some shots I took last week while I was in Kobe. Like an idiot, I forgot to take any pictures of my workshop - but I did get some nifty shots of Kobe from the 30th floor of our hotel. As an RCA, I got a meal voucher for the somewhat swank restaurant on the 30th floor, so I didn't have to eat breakfast with all the other ALTs on Tuesday morning, and those shots were taken at about 9am.

So click here and you can see some pics from me at recess with the kids at one of my elementary schools that go with the videos I posted below. And some shots of my 9th graders at Taisha Chu chillin' between classes and two shots of my newest class of 1st graders at Taisha Sho.

Enjoy,
Jason

Stardust

This is a movie I'm really looking forward to. It's based on a book by Neil Gaiman, one of my all-time favorite authors.

The trailer looks fantastic, so I have high hopes for the film. Not sure when it opens in Japan, but I'll definitely be one of the first to see it.

Here is the trailer:

Stardust Trailer

Add to My Profile | More Videos

Enjoy!
-Jason

Chatting with Shogakusei - at recess pt1

had some fun at recess at one of my smaller elementary schools on Wednesday. I let my kids use my camera and got some fun videos out of it - this is pt 1 of 3 - you can see the rest on my YouTube site.

Enjoy!
-Jason

PS - what color would you call the shirt I'm wearing? it's an ongoing debate... :)

Human curling - how not to do it

27 seconds of wackiness from an event in nearby Hirata with a bunch of 6th graders about to become 7th graders. Way to try Hannah!!

The Night and Day existence of an ALT

Hey Gang -

How are things? I thought I would do a good, old-fashioned text post - no pictures, no vids, just me babbling about something for a few paragraphs. ii desu ka? (OK?) OK, good.

Monday and Tuesday of this week pretty well illustrate the night and day nature of the job of an ALT.

Let me preface with a few facts about my job, in case you are new to my blog or just have forgotten -

I work at one Chugakko (Jr High School). Only one - this is somewhat rare, in that many ALTs are assigned to work at more than one Jr High. But I have the one base school - Taisha JH.
From there, I often leave during the day and go to one of my 5 shogakko (elementary schools). These shogakko visits are all scheduled in advance, and I usually know what lessons will be taught and what will be expected of me at least one day in advance.
There are 6 periods in a school day - most of the time. The Japanese school day starts at roughly 8:30am and goes until 4pm.
So if I have to visit a shogakko and teach two 4th grade classes 3rd and 4th period, then I go to my Jr High in the morning, possibly teach a class first or 2nd period, leave for my shogakko, teach there, and then come back to my Jr High to eat lunch, possibly teach 5th or 6th period, and finish the day.
There are all kinds of exceptions to the above, but you get the idea.
This approach to shogakko visits is also somewhat rare - many of my friends who are ALTs in nearby towns have to go to their elementary school for the entire day anytime they are scheduled to teach at one, regardless of how many classes they will teach that day. This is silly in my opinion, but I digress -so I will save that discussion for another blog.

OK - so now back to Monday the 21st and Tuesday the 22nd.

Monday I had no shoagkko visits planned - so it was a full day at my Jr High. I have a schedule board on my desk, where the 5 English teachers (JTEs) at my school can sign up to have me come to their class. Sitting at my desk on Monday morning at 8am, I noticed that the board was empty in the Monday column save for 5th period, where Moriyama sensei had written in 2-1, meaning that she wanted me to come to Class 1 of the Ni Nen Sei (8th grade) with her after lunch. And that was it.
So from 8:30am until lunch at 12:40, I was supposed to amuse myself. Luckily, I had a bunch of marking to do, let over from the pervious week.

I don't mind having the occasional low-impact day. It makes a nice change from all the days when I'm really busy. But I can see why some ALTs hate it, and if these type of days happen often, you can feel underused.

Friday was a day of big tests for all my Jr High kids -the chukan tests - kinda like mid-term exams back in the States. So all week they were busy studying and preparing, which meant that I didn't have that many classes at my Chugakko and no after school clubs all week, since the kids were supposed to go home and study.

But Tuesday was an exception. I was scheduled to visit my smallest shogakko - Usagi Sho. And by small, I mean the school has 9 students - nine in the whole school! It was my first visit there since the new school year started in April. It takes me about 25 minutes to drive from my chugakko up into the mountains to Usagi Sho. I was supposed to visit for just 2nd period - roughly 9:30am to 10:15am - but the kindergarten teacher wanted me to stop by her class during 3rd period and chat with the 3 kindergarten students for a few minutes. I taught all 9 students (ranging from 1st grade to 5th grade) in the gym during 2nd period - we worked on colors. So at my Jr High, I blocked off 1st thru 3rd periods, indicating that I would be gone those periods at Usagi Sho, factoring in the driving time. And before I left on Monday, periods 4, 5 and 6 for Tuesday were also blovked off by my Jr High teachers. So I taught ichi nen sei (7th graders) 4th period with Toma sensei, my optional English class of 9th graders 5th period and then a regular 9th grade class 6th period. Quite a full day, but it wasn't over.

Once a month I volunteer at the local library, and they have me read big, English picture books to really small kids, usually age 1-6. So I finished 6th period at about 3:30 (we were on a shorter schedule that day - where classes are only 45 minutes long instead of 50 minutes) and then went over to the library where I read books to a roomfull of little kids from 4 to 4:30.

And then a former teacher met me at the library and we chatted in the courtyard for about an hour.

Monday I was a sloth, not really moving that much, and Tuesday I was a cheetah, racing from place to place - doing something different at every new stop.

I'll try to post pics of the kids at Usagi soon. Oh, and Tuesday was also my friend, Ang's, birthday - so Happy Birthday ANG!!

Hope you have a good week - I have to go get some sleep now - tomorrow I'll be riding the bullet train to Kobe.

See ya,
Jason

PS - OK, I knda lied - here is one picture - my kids at Usagi Sho :)

new display inside LL room

new display inside LL room - 1.jpg
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

As part of my upcoming presentation at the Kobe recontracting conference, I will talk to the ALTs about "surrounding their kids with English" - creating a stimulating enviroment for them to study and work in.
Some teachers might find this distracting, but I think giving the kids something to look at and/or read when they are walking down the halls or putting their indoor slippers on is a good thing.
This picture was taken inside my LL (Language Lab) classroom at my Jr High. I rotate the pictures and put up new displays about every two months as I have time. I had purchased some Japanese movie magazines that had supplements listing the top 50 movie stars of all time and another showing great movie posters. So I cut them up and created this movie display, with a small sign in Japanese that says "These are some of my favorite movies and actors - what is your favorite movie? Who is your favorite movie star?"
You can click on this pic and see some others - including the 2nd half of this wall and the outside wall, where I made a display all about Spider-Man 3, and I also displayed pictures I took of the kids in April. The kids love these displays.

It takes a little extra time and effort to maintain these displays, but we all have some down time as ALTs and I think it's worth the effort.

-Jason

Presentation of clubs to shin ichi nen sei

Presentation of clubs to shin ichi nen sei - 15.jpg
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

during the first weeks of the new school year, all the clubs in the school have kind of an open-house, where the new 7th graders can stop by and watch them practice and see which after-school club/sports team they want to join. Before that they have an assembly in the gym where all the clubs give a short presentation extolling the virtures of their club, how often they practice, what tournaments they have coming up, etc.
Then they usually give a little demonstration - judo throws, volleyball spikes, tennis lobs, chorus singing, etc.

I uploaded some pics from this assembly and I have some video from that day too which I'll try to post to my YouTube site soon.

Me & Miki

Me & Miki
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

Miki is a great kid - an 8th grader on the Track & Field team. She almost never lets me take her picture - but this day she was all smiles. She is always smiling and is a very genki kid, she just always runs away when I have my camera out, so these pics are very rare. :)

TJH girls' Tennis

TJH girls' Tennis - 2_1.jpg
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

Hey Gang,

I just uploaded 84 pictures from April and the first week of May, a weeklong holiday here called Golden Week.

Pics from various school ceremonies and sporting events I attended. And just goofy pics from around school.

Hope you enjoy - I'll try to add names to all the pics as I have time.

-Jason