what's up blog,
i am just sitting at my desk in the office today. it is midterm test day, so all i have to do today is read some english prompts out loud for the listening part of the test. thought i would make a most since i have checked every website that i know about and read all of the interesting news that i could find today. joe lieberman is a real jerk, isn't he?
yesterday i went to an english middle school teacher's conference in komatsushima, a little bit south of tokushima city. there was a mock class demonstration that i watched. i had a lot of problems with the way they did things and i could have taken the demonstration as a good lesson of what NOT to do in my english classes. for example, they played background music while the students were chanting phrases, which i thought was miserable. also he assisant language teacher (foreign teacher, my job) basically just stood there the entire time. however, after the lesson, i turned to my teaching partner and said that the only thing i liked was that the girl doing my job was wearing jeans, and that i should be able to wear jeans, which made my teacher laugh a lot.
after the $8 standard bento lunch, the linguistics professor who gave the talk after mayuko's prefectural speech contest gave a two hour and change talk about different aspects of language and what we need to do to be effective language teachers. he said we have to go beyond the purely grammatical and syntactical, into the social and discourse and strategic uses of language. stuff like giving information in a logical order, putting paragraphs together, saying the right thing at appropriate times, and body language were all covered. there were lots of activities and games for the foreign teachers to do with the japanese teachers. for example, the best ice-breaking game was for a teacher to communicate their phone number with a key that read 1 - Lake, 2 - Rake, 3 - Lice, 4 - Rice etc etc since japanese people have an incredibly tough time with the difference between these noises, which is caused by the fact that the english alphabet and its noises is never formally taught. english education starts in middle school (next year it officially will begin in 5th and 6th grade) with no formal phonetic training. one teacher asked a question about phonetics and how we should teach it, since it isnt on the program at all, and the professor said to start young. another teacher asked how all of the lovely theory applies to testing, and the professor said it really didn't, so teaching it would be difficult. it was a fulfilling day where i got to meet some other english teachers.
i have been going to badminton on mondays and karate on wednesdays on fridays, which is good. i have karate tonight! also i have been slowly doing the JET program's advanced level japanese lessons, which can be frustrating but good. due december 10th is a standardized test of 50 questions, the first of 6 such tests that are given throughout the year. if i get them all in on time and get at least 70% of the answers right, i get a certificate that says i passed the course or something.
friday i have to get up early to catch a 6:30 train to the city, where there is another foreign teacher conference, this time for hallowe'en where we all have to give hallowe'en themes lessons. i have no costume and no idea for a costume, so i will probably just wear a tracksuit and pretend to be cool.
i have to work this sunday, because there are classes in the morning and we are going to a cultural presentation, something kabuki related, in the afternoon. for this everyone gets monday off, but i have to go to the mountain school monday afternoon, so i still have to do that, and to replace that work i am getting wednesday afternoon off. tuesday is National Culture Day so that is a holiday and everyone gets off. next thursday is another class demonstration in another city, so i need to go there in the afternoon. it is a busy, confusing 2 weeks. but then october is very done with and november will have some of it gone already. can you tell i want to come home yet?
tonight i think i have to go buy some more recycling bags, i forgot to buy the one for cans so they have just been piling up in the sink. also the karate tournament application is due today, and that costs $25. the train ride to the city is about $30, and that may or may not be reimbursed. i broke a $100 on lunch yesterday, so i think i can get the recycling bags, some bananas, the karate thing, and the train ride all without having to take out some more money. but this sounds risky and difficult, plus the lunch on friday is another $8 standard bento. so i will probably have to get some cash later or tomorrow. oh well.
japanese people rarely drink water. its always green tea, coffee, soup or sugar drinks.
today lunch is sugar covered bread with a little omlette and vegetable soup. one of the less impressive lunches i have seen. curry and fried are more appreciated.
that is everything i can think of for today.
great!
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
a few pictures before i go home
blog,
i have two pictures for you. the first one if of the giant spider that lives by the takoyaki shop in a big roadsign. it is very big, i am not kidding. if you hold your thumb and index finger apart at their maximum distance i would say that this spider is about that big. you do not want to find this thing in any part of your house. this is a female, because the females are the big ones. they keep triple layer webs, one main layer and two less intricate layers behind and in front.
this next picture is much nicer. it is just of the yoshino river. i took it when i was walking across the bridge to buy some snacks at the convenience store. it was a very nice day.
what else do you want me to take pictures of? i am trying to upload some videos on youtube but it is not working at all right now because i think i have to convert these AVIs to MPEG4s.
great!
i have two pictures for you. the first one if of the giant spider that lives by the takoyaki shop in a big roadsign. it is very big, i am not kidding. if you hold your thumb and index finger apart at their maximum distance i would say that this spider is about that big. you do not want to find this thing in any part of your house. this is a female, because the females are the big ones. they keep triple layer webs, one main layer and two less intricate layers behind and in front.
this next picture is much nicer. it is just of the yoshino river. i took it when i was walking across the bridge to buy some snacks at the convenience store. it was a very nice day.
what else do you want me to take pictures of? i am trying to upload some videos on youtube but it is not working at all right now because i think i have to convert these AVIs to MPEG4s.
great!
let's see if i can make a post without firefox crashing more than three times
so blog,
it has been a few days since my last post. i thought i would keep you up to date this morning.
everyone, and by everyone i mean roughly more than half of the teachers and students i work with, is wearing white cottony facemasks that simply can't do much fo anything against any kind of airborne infection. as paranoid hypochondriacs, they seem to have mastered the art of the self-induced placebo effect. since japan is a country where people rarely touch and instead opt for the bow, in terms of swine flu, which they call "new type influenza", they really have nothing to worry about. but all of this worrying keeps them healthy anyway. i can't take anyone wearing the mask seriously, so i wont be donning one myself.
let's see. i didn't win a single game last monday at badminton, and only four women came to my english discussion group last night. this is okay though, because 3 days will mark the third full month that i have been here, which is exactly a quarter of a year. this means i almost half way done with half of my job here. i decided a while ago that i don't want to recontract for another year, because thinking about american food makes me delirious even now, and i miss too many other people and things.
today he first graders have a speaking test, and it is my job to grade half of them on pronunciation, volume, fluency, and accuracy. it is going to be a rough situation since most of them prefer to talk to a point an inch in front of their face while looking at their own feet. but english is crazy and sounds mostly like nonsense, and they dont have any choice at all in learning it because it is on every high school and college entrance exam.
it has been getting quite cold since autumn started. my house has, in addition to no central heating of any kind, no insulation of any kind, so i have to heat my bedroom with a space heater a few hours before i go to bed, and i can't leave it on all night because i don't want to burn down the house, so it is always very cold by morning.
if my left leg feels at tight and achey as it does right now, i will be skipping karate tonight to let it heal up more. i think it is still bruised from last wednesday's karate where all that leg did was kick people and get kicked.
in better news, today there is yaki soba for lunch.
i took a few pictures the other day, i will try to get them up by this afternoon.
it has been a few days since my last post. i thought i would keep you up to date this morning.
everyone, and by everyone i mean roughly more than half of the teachers and students i work with, is wearing white cottony facemasks that simply can't do much fo anything against any kind of airborne infection. as paranoid hypochondriacs, they seem to have mastered the art of the self-induced placebo effect. since japan is a country where people rarely touch and instead opt for the bow, in terms of swine flu, which they call "new type influenza", they really have nothing to worry about. but all of this worrying keeps them healthy anyway. i can't take anyone wearing the mask seriously, so i wont be donning one myself.
let's see. i didn't win a single game last monday at badminton, and only four women came to my english discussion group last night. this is okay though, because 3 days will mark the third full month that i have been here, which is exactly a quarter of a year. this means i almost half way done with half of my job here. i decided a while ago that i don't want to recontract for another year, because thinking about american food makes me delirious even now, and i miss too many other people and things.
today he first graders have a speaking test, and it is my job to grade half of them on pronunciation, volume, fluency, and accuracy. it is going to be a rough situation since most of them prefer to talk to a point an inch in front of their face while looking at their own feet. but english is crazy and sounds mostly like nonsense, and they dont have any choice at all in learning it because it is on every high school and college entrance exam.
it has been getting quite cold since autumn started. my house has, in addition to no central heating of any kind, no insulation of any kind, so i have to heat my bedroom with a space heater a few hours before i go to bed, and i can't leave it on all night because i don't want to burn down the house, so it is always very cold by morning.
if my left leg feels at tight and achey as it does right now, i will be skipping karate tonight to let it heal up more. i think it is still bruised from last wednesday's karate where all that leg did was kick people and get kicked.
in better news, today there is yaki soba for lunch.
i took a few pictures the other day, i will try to get them up by this afternoon.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
i just finished a bag of dried squid
oh my blog,
right now, there are people on tv totally eating big cooked centipedes.
great!
right now, there are people on tv totally eating big cooked centipedes.
great!
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
always drink water
oh blog,
i taught two classes today and even posed for the school yearbook. i don't have anything left to do today but sit and look busy for a few hours, so i thought i would make a blog post.
i took some pictures the other day at a festival at the rest stop across the river. the rest stop is called "oasis" and has a little room with nothing but twelve different vending machines, and a big market, and a stage for people to dance on where everyone can watch. they do these dances so the tour buses always bring people to sit and relax.
some middle schoolers did a drum show, which was neat.
here is the view of the river from behind the rest stop. there are some boats and people are getting on for a ride.
one of my first grade students was there with his family. i got to take this picture with him, which was followed by him hitting me in groin.
oh, i went zorbing on monday, which was appropriate because monday was national "health and sports day". zorbing, so you dont have to look it up, is when they strap you in to a giant plastic sphere-within-a-sphere and roll you down a hill. there are two options as to how you want your zorb; you can either take it dry, with a harness, or take it "wet", which means the ball gets water in it and you get soaked, without a harness. i took the harness route, which is okay, but i will have to wait until it gets warm again to zorb wet.
here is a picture of what it looks like when someone is going down the hill.
you just spin around and around and bounce until you hit the padding at the bottom of the hill. here is the view from the top.
one ride is only 700 yen, or little more than $7. it was fun and cool but the bouncing was a little hard on my neck, and right before it ends i felt like i was spinning way too fast.
i am thinking about going to okinawa for christmas.
i think i am going to have some instant yakisoba with microwave chicken pieces for dinner tonight. next week there is an academic conference which will i believe be mostly in japanese, and the week after on halloween i have to go to the city for a foreign teacher conference. but those things will be over very soon.
great!
i taught two classes today and even posed for the school yearbook. i don't have anything left to do today but sit and look busy for a few hours, so i thought i would make a blog post.
i took some pictures the other day at a festival at the rest stop across the river. the rest stop is called "oasis" and has a little room with nothing but twelve different vending machines, and a big market, and a stage for people to dance on where everyone can watch. they do these dances so the tour buses always bring people to sit and relax.
some middle schoolers did a drum show, which was neat.
here is the view of the river from behind the rest stop. there are some boats and people are getting on for a ride.
one of my first grade students was there with his family. i got to take this picture with him, which was followed by him hitting me in groin.
oh, i went zorbing on monday, which was appropriate because monday was national "health and sports day". zorbing, so you dont have to look it up, is when they strap you in to a giant plastic sphere-within-a-sphere and roll you down a hill. there are two options as to how you want your zorb; you can either take it dry, with a harness, or take it "wet", which means the ball gets water in it and you get soaked, without a harness. i took the harness route, which is okay, but i will have to wait until it gets warm again to zorb wet.
here is a picture of what it looks like when someone is going down the hill.
you just spin around and around and bounce until you hit the padding at the bottom of the hill. here is the view from the top.
one ride is only 700 yen, or little more than $7. it was fun and cool but the bouncing was a little hard on my neck, and right before it ends i felt like i was spinning way too fast.
i am thinking about going to okinawa for christmas.
i think i am going to have some instant yakisoba with microwave chicken pieces for dinner tonight. next week there is an academic conference which will i believe be mostly in japanese, and the week after on halloween i have to go to the city for a foreign teacher conference. but those things will be over very soon.
great!
Sunday, October 11, 2009
post to a blog
hello blog,
i just went to a small festival at the rest stop across the river. watched nice dancing, ate some sacks. i even had a yogurt peach tea.
this spider is just about everywhere. now you know what it looks like. there are at least ten of these on my house right now. hopefully the cold will kill them soon, because they are scary.
tomorrow is national health and sports day, so i get school off but there is still badminton club, which i am looking forward to.
i got to hold a cute two month old baby.
great!
i just went to a small festival at the rest stop across the river. watched nice dancing, ate some sacks. i even had a yogurt peach tea.
this spider is just about everywhere. now you know what it looks like. there are at least ten of these on my house right now. hopefully the cold will kill them soon, because they are scary.
tomorrow is national health and sports day, so i get school off but there is still badminton club, which i am looking forward to.
i got to hold a cute two month old baby.
great!
Friday, October 9, 2009
recent events
blog readers,
today, at the office of an elementary school i was offered four cups of coffee, where i accepted and drank three of them.
i am having some computer trouble. right now i am operating in safe mode, which is very convenient, except i cannot do anything that requires sound. so skyping becomes impossible, which is a problem since skyping helps me feel closer to people i am very far away from. i am waiting for an english speaking (i know, right?) acer representative in tokyo to call me back and help me troubleshoot the problem. i have a vague idea what could be wrong, and i really just want to send the computer in and have them fix it, which will probably cost money, since it doesn't sound like i am covered even by the foreign travel warranty.
in other, better news, there was no 5th or 6th grade class today because those students went to a sports day at another school, and when the teachers got back, there were 2 large sized hokka hokka (takeout restaurant nearby) bentos for me.
great!
today, at the office of an elementary school i was offered four cups of coffee, where i accepted and drank three of them.
i am having some computer trouble. right now i am operating in safe mode, which is very convenient, except i cannot do anything that requires sound. so skyping becomes impossible, which is a problem since skyping helps me feel closer to people i am very far away from. i am waiting for an english speaking (i know, right?) acer representative in tokyo to call me back and help me troubleshoot the problem. i have a vague idea what could be wrong, and i really just want to send the computer in and have them fix it, which will probably cost money, since it doesn't sound like i am covered even by the foreign travel warranty.
in other, better news, there was no 5th or 6th grade class today because those students went to a sports day at another school, and when the teachers got back, there were 2 large sized hokka hokka (takeout restaurant nearby) bentos for me.
great!
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