Hey,
I should totally be working on one of the many pressing things I have to do today (writing an exam, planning Monday's lesson, marking the 70-odd journals on my desk, etc), but I need a little 'time out' and as it's too hot for coffee, I have no chocolate and I don't smoke, this will be it.
A couple of days ago I lost the plot a little in class when, out of the 20 students present, 10 of them had left their notebooks at home or didn't even have one yet. I know I try to make class fun, but it's still freaking school. Wtf are you doing turning up to class without anything to write in?? I know Japanese students theoretically work really hard, and certainly they put in long hours, but I've also been told by a teacher how lazy they are and I have definitely seen that, too. The same teacher told me not to set homework because they won't do it. Can i introduce you to something called detention??
Anyway, I was really peeved because that class was already behind on their journals too. So I made them stand up while I made them feel thoroughly uncomfortable asking questions in ENGLISH (no! Not English in English class!!), then I told them they all owed me apology letters in English.
Which they (well, 9/10) delivered the following day. And they are awesome. So awesome I thought I would share a few with you. lol. I will not reveal any names to protect privacy, but otherwise I love the sincerity mixed with terrible grammar and spelling. Love it.
I'm sorry.
I forget to bring English notebook.
I will bring this notebook next class.
I'm very reflecting.
Please accept my apologies.
Dear charly
I'm very sorry about class.
I'll be careful not to forget anything next class.
And, I'll study hard next English class.
So, Please forgive me.
I'm very sorry.
I'm sorry.
I forget an English notebook.
Because I make sure in my bag.
I did a bad think.
I'm realy sorry.
I'm very sorry.
I didn't have notebook.
It won't happen again.
I promise.
Pleas forgive. me.
I'm sorry.
I didn't have notebook today.
I will bring this notebook next class.
I'm very reflecting.
I apologize.
Please forgive me.
I absolutely forgot.
Dear cherry
I'm sorry
Today I'm a English not forget.
I am not English not forget next a lesson.
I am come a heart.
I am tighten a heart.
Ture true I'm sorry
Hahahahaha I love these kids. Even when they drive me crazy forgetting everything. lol.
Have a good day.
xo
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Another grump!
Months ago I started planning to take my English club students to a local restaurant with an English-speaking waitress. We are going next week, on the 22nd.
Last week school told me I couldn't drive the students (they had also known for months that I intended to do this). They assured me that it was ok, 'if the students really want to come, they'll find a way. Their parents will take them or something'. Two ride the bus, two take bikes and fifth kid's mum probably wouldn't be impressed about driving her daughter to a restaurant only to return a bit over an hour later. So no, I don't think they will 'find a way'. How about making studying English EASY and FUN for them, aye, rather than relying on them having to make a huge effort??
Anyway, I got the teachers to call a taxi company and we were quoted 2000 yen for a trip from school to the restaurant. If we split that between four students (the fifth planned to bike to dinner then bike home from the restaurant), it was only 500 yen - about $8 - so I figured that was a good solution. I charged the teachers with telling the students so that I didn't look like the bad guy, 'changing my mind' about driving them.
So today I come in from a day at my visit school and they give me the English club update.
Issue: the principal has called some special meeting that the teachers (bar me) all need to attend.
My feeling on this: I didn't know either of the teachers were actually intending to come anyway. Certainly they don't help out during regular English club, so why would they need to come just because there's food??
Issue: the teachers are concerned it's too close to exams.
My feeling on this: I knew there was a 'no clubs one week out from exams' rule, but when did that turn into 'no clubs two weeks out from exams'? Does this depend on the importance of the exams, or is this just some bull they are pulling on me to stop me holding the restaurant thing then? I can't tell. These kids are always in bloody exams. No wonder they are all exhausted and have no time to develop a personality (ouch, but truth hurts! Most of these kids have 'listening to music' as their main hobby and they all want to be nurses or P.E. teachers. About 1/20 of my student journals have something interesting to say).
The teacher then went on to explain how we could do it during the holidays and then the students could get there any way they wanted and they wouldn't have to wear uniform. She then went on to say I could even take them to Hiroshima because there is so much English down there.
My feeling on this: if someone is going to give me a day off work to take the students to Hiroshima, that's awesome. If I have to use leave or my weekend, are you gonna pay my costs? No? I didn't think so. I'm passionate about teaching these kids, but I'm also married which means my financial decisions aren't all my own, it costs twice as much to travel anywhere and I have a partner who would most likely NOT be enthusiastic about spending a weekend following a group of 15 yr old girls. So no, offering me Hiroshima in the weekend is no substitute for my dinner with my students next week!
If we were at home I could just solve the problems to make it workable and everyone would be happy that I'm a problem-solver, but I can tell these are less genuine problems and more excuses to throw at me because it seems like too much effort doing something new. My taking five students out to dinner seems too much effort for the un-involved, not-present teachers. Much like my starting a sister-school relationship with my sister-in-law's school was going to be too much work for the teacher who simply had to say 'ok' to me. And as the teachers fear that my English club's NZ penpals will cause them a lot of work somehow.
I don't get it. Maybe it's a language problem, but I rather think it's a culture problem.
Oh goodie. The same teacher who gave me the English Club news just wanted to speak to me about something she wanted to do in our next class. Not realising I had given her the lesson plan for that class about three weeks ago. I told her we could do her thing, but she had to specify what she wanted to pull out and do it instead of.
She looked pretty put out, so I pointed out we could do it in the class after that. We were talking song listening activities. I like to use different NZ songs - partly because I'm proud of NZ music, partly because I want to show the students that not all music is pop and partly because I just have it on my computer so it's easy. Anyway, this teacher loves singing and she wants to do a song that the students could later do in karaoke or hear on TV. I'm not sure if she means she actually wants us to sing in class... Anyway, she wants to do the Carpenters, because they are, for some reason that eludes me, very very popular in Japan. I don't know if I'd even heard of them before Japan. I certainly can't tell you what they sing! So I don't really want to practise singing or listening to them for eight classes in a row. I am flexible about using other countries music, but I'm not sure I'm flexible to stuff that stopped being popular before I was born. They are young kids - why not use young music?
Admittedly she also suggested Adele (I copied my CD for her) and I love Adele. But then she will ask me to interpret the lyrics and I cannot do that for Adele! And then I get this look from the English teachers like, 'what kind of idiot are you if you can't even explain something that's in your native language?'
And mainly I'm just shitty because they have stopped me taking my students to the restaurant and will be making me look like the dick who can't keep her word. So I'm not feeling super flexible right now!
Sorry I always seem to complain on here. I'm pretty culture-shocky atm (yes, culture-shocky is a word. I know because Jeff and I use it all the time and we're English teachers!) and I apologise for that. Hopefully soon I will be too hot to even notice what my teachers say to me...
Hope you're all doing well.
xo
Last week school told me I couldn't drive the students (they had also known for months that I intended to do this). They assured me that it was ok, 'if the students really want to come, they'll find a way. Their parents will take them or something'. Two ride the bus, two take bikes and fifth kid's mum probably wouldn't be impressed about driving her daughter to a restaurant only to return a bit over an hour later. So no, I don't think they will 'find a way'. How about making studying English EASY and FUN for them, aye, rather than relying on them having to make a huge effort??
Anyway, I got the teachers to call a taxi company and we were quoted 2000 yen for a trip from school to the restaurant. If we split that between four students (the fifth planned to bike to dinner then bike home from the restaurant), it was only 500 yen - about $8 - so I figured that was a good solution. I charged the teachers with telling the students so that I didn't look like the bad guy, 'changing my mind' about driving them.
So today I come in from a day at my visit school and they give me the English club update.
Issue: the principal has called some special meeting that the teachers (bar me) all need to attend.
My feeling on this: I didn't know either of the teachers were actually intending to come anyway. Certainly they don't help out during regular English club, so why would they need to come just because there's food??
Issue: the teachers are concerned it's too close to exams.
My feeling on this: I knew there was a 'no clubs one week out from exams' rule, but when did that turn into 'no clubs two weeks out from exams'? Does this depend on the importance of the exams, or is this just some bull they are pulling on me to stop me holding the restaurant thing then? I can't tell. These kids are always in bloody exams. No wonder they are all exhausted and have no time to develop a personality (ouch, but truth hurts! Most of these kids have 'listening to music' as their main hobby and they all want to be nurses or P.E. teachers. About 1/20 of my student journals have something interesting to say).
The teacher then went on to explain how we could do it during the holidays and then the students could get there any way they wanted and they wouldn't have to wear uniform. She then went on to say I could even take them to Hiroshima because there is so much English down there.
My feeling on this: if someone is going to give me a day off work to take the students to Hiroshima, that's awesome. If I have to use leave or my weekend, are you gonna pay my costs? No? I didn't think so. I'm passionate about teaching these kids, but I'm also married which means my financial decisions aren't all my own, it costs twice as much to travel anywhere and I have a partner who would most likely NOT be enthusiastic about spending a weekend following a group of 15 yr old girls. So no, offering me Hiroshima in the weekend is no substitute for my dinner with my students next week!
If we were at home I could just solve the problems to make it workable and everyone would be happy that I'm a problem-solver, but I can tell these are less genuine problems and more excuses to throw at me because it seems like too much effort doing something new. My taking five students out to dinner seems too much effort for the un-involved, not-present teachers. Much like my starting a sister-school relationship with my sister-in-law's school was going to be too much work for the teacher who simply had to say 'ok' to me. And as the teachers fear that my English club's NZ penpals will cause them a lot of work somehow.
I don't get it. Maybe it's a language problem, but I rather think it's a culture problem.
Oh goodie. The same teacher who gave me the English Club news just wanted to speak to me about something she wanted to do in our next class. Not realising I had given her the lesson plan for that class about three weeks ago. I told her we could do her thing, but she had to specify what she wanted to pull out and do it instead of.
She looked pretty put out, so I pointed out we could do it in the class after that. We were talking song listening activities. I like to use different NZ songs - partly because I'm proud of NZ music, partly because I want to show the students that not all music is pop and partly because I just have it on my computer so it's easy. Anyway, this teacher loves singing and she wants to do a song that the students could later do in karaoke or hear on TV. I'm not sure if she means she actually wants us to sing in class... Anyway, she wants to do the Carpenters, because they are, for some reason that eludes me, very very popular in Japan. I don't know if I'd even heard of them before Japan. I certainly can't tell you what they sing! So I don't really want to practise singing or listening to them for eight classes in a row. I am flexible about using other countries music, but I'm not sure I'm flexible to stuff that stopped being popular before I was born. They are young kids - why not use young music?
Admittedly she also suggested Adele (I copied my CD for her) and I love Adele. But then she will ask me to interpret the lyrics and I cannot do that for Adele! And then I get this look from the English teachers like, 'what kind of idiot are you if you can't even explain something that's in your native language?'
And mainly I'm just shitty because they have stopped me taking my students to the restaurant and will be making me look like the dick who can't keep her word. So I'm not feeling super flexible right now!
Sorry I always seem to complain on here. I'm pretty culture-shocky atm (yes, culture-shocky is a word. I know because Jeff and I use it all the time and we're English teachers!) and I apologise for that. Hopefully soon I will be too hot to even notice what my teachers say to me...
Hope you're all doing well.
xo
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Deadlines
Hey there,
So I have a bit of news for you...
I've been on a bit of an emotional roller-coaster lately, trying to make a few decisions. I had decided with my Japanese study that I would do my best to pass on July 1st, but that I would continue to study with the serious intention of passing when I resat in December.
However, I was then given the opportunity through my program to do a subsidised TEFL course (Teaching English as a Foreign Language). As much as I like to believe I can do everything, my emotional state lately as I got snowed under at work has proved otherwise (my own fault - I started this English journal thing, but I've been staying late regularly to mark them all. If there is an obvious improvement in their English by the end of the year, it was worth the pain. If not... I will not volunteer to mark 320 journals a fortnight next year!). Anyway, Jeff said he supported me doing TEFL and agreed it could be a very useful thing to take, but that I had to be realistic and accept that I couldn't study for TEFL AND study for a Japanese test, because I was already struggling without TEFL. I understood what he meant, but it made for a hard decision for me. Did I walk away from a free grant to get some more (possibly very useful) education, or did I choose not to fulfill this goal I had told everyone about?
I felt terrible not upholding my word, but in the end I realised that a) I really wanted to do the TEFL course and b) it would be potentially useful after JET, maybe getting me a job, whereas my beginner Japanese would never be more than a hobby. So I decided yes, I would do TEFL.
On Wednesday I got my supervisor to help me as I needed her to email me the documents to fill out. At which point she reread the forms and realised she had given me the wrong submission date. Rather than being due in two days time, it had been due two days ago.
I was bereft. I had spent a week researching, umming and ahhing, hassling all kinds of different people for information to help me make my decision, and it was all for naught. The only good thing is that it was about 5pm by the time I got this news (even though I 'finish work' at 4:05pm), so at least I could just grab my stuff and leave school as fast as I could. I made it out of school and through the first set of lights before I started crying. Then I stopped quickly as I passed a bus stop full of my students. Then I let myself cry again. Then I had to stop again because I was passing some of my students biking home. Damn students, never give you any privacy!
Anyway, at home Jeff told me I could do the course anyway if I wanted, that we could pay for it ourselves, but that really wasn't the point. The point was I felt I had been facing a big decision (stopping studying Japanese may not sound that big, but I purposefully told lots of people about my plans so I would feel pressured into following through, knowing everyone would be watching for signs of my Japanese progression). Then, after lots of discussion and questioning and being fairly keyed up about it, I made a decision. Which turned out to be invalid. So funding the course on my own felt a bit beside the point. If I was doing it on my own I could do it at a time that was more practical and only when I had ascertained that it would definitely help my job prospects.
A friend asked if I was going to try to fight for the right to take the course. I told her no, but then I got to thinking. I had assumed that my supervisor would have asked my Board of Education if it was possible for me to hand it in late, when she first called them to clarify the hand-in date. But then I thought about it more and realised that she is so hesitant about breaking rules that maybe it never occurred to her to ask if I could do a late hand-in.
So this morning I emailed my ALT rep in the Board of Education, explaining my situation. I'm a little unclear if it was because of my email or if the BOE had just discussed my case that morning anyway, but we got a call saying if I submitted my application immediately they would accept it. Yay! Except that the application was two pages, one of which was a sample activity I had to design, and I needed to be teaching in ten minutes. Yikes! I ended up handing the Japaneses teacher my photocopies and teaching materials and sending him into the class without me while I tried to throw my application together. I got it all done and sent off, but I'll admit I'm nervous. The JET program is very picky about filling out paperwork correctly and they tend to be disinclined to accept things if they have any mistakes. As it was, trying to quickly reread what I have written I found things like 'basical' (wtf?) and incomplete sentences where a cut and paste hadn't worked. It was all done in Excel too, so it was very strange formatting and I could only read one line of a paragraph at the time. I really hope I don't get my grant application rejected because of any appalling grammar or spelling errors! Although, as I explained to my supervisor, I figure they can't turn me down for mistakes, because it only means I need the teacher training even more! Fingers crossed!!
That drama finished, you may be wondering what I have on that I'm so busy. Well... I have big news for you. Aside from the regular stuff (work, exercise and a bit of Japanese study), I have taken on the job of co-editor for the Hiroshima online magazine, Wide Island View. http://www.wideislandview.com/
I don't recommend looking now, because it has been ignored for at least six months, other than a random hacker (don't click 'Home' from the Home page, unless you want information on Cialis). But Emily (my co-editor) and I have decided to forge ahead on getting things updated and ignore the Cialis intrusion, because god knows how long it will take to fix that issue (it will be fixed. Just not by us. It is something that requires expertise well beyond our combined amount). We are very excited about gathering a team and getting the webpage up to date. We have had a couple of planning dinners and done plenty of bonding, with a little website planning. Although we did nowhere near as much work as we should have managed in an evening, I don't feel bad about it because we don't know each other very well and it's good to have a better understanding of the person we are going to rely on a LOT over the next year and a bit.
I'll keep you updated on the webpage. Our deadline is August, when the new JETs come in, but hopefully we will have some stuff up much earlier than that. Yay!
Hope you're all doing well, wherever you are and whatever you're up to.
xo
So I have a bit of news for you...
I've been on a bit of an emotional roller-coaster lately, trying to make a few decisions. I had decided with my Japanese study that I would do my best to pass on July 1st, but that I would continue to study with the serious intention of passing when I resat in December.
However, I was then given the opportunity through my program to do a subsidised TEFL course (Teaching English as a Foreign Language). As much as I like to believe I can do everything, my emotional state lately as I got snowed under at work has proved otherwise (my own fault - I started this English journal thing, but I've been staying late regularly to mark them all. If there is an obvious improvement in their English by the end of the year, it was worth the pain. If not... I will not volunteer to mark 320 journals a fortnight next year!). Anyway, Jeff said he supported me doing TEFL and agreed it could be a very useful thing to take, but that I had to be realistic and accept that I couldn't study for TEFL AND study for a Japanese test, because I was already struggling without TEFL. I understood what he meant, but it made for a hard decision for me. Did I walk away from a free grant to get some more (possibly very useful) education, or did I choose not to fulfill this goal I had told everyone about?
I felt terrible not upholding my word, but in the end I realised that a) I really wanted to do the TEFL course and b) it would be potentially useful after JET, maybe getting me a job, whereas my beginner Japanese would never be more than a hobby. So I decided yes, I would do TEFL.
On Wednesday I got my supervisor to help me as I needed her to email me the documents to fill out. At which point she reread the forms and realised she had given me the wrong submission date. Rather than being due in two days time, it had been due two days ago.
I was bereft. I had spent a week researching, umming and ahhing, hassling all kinds of different people for information to help me make my decision, and it was all for naught. The only good thing is that it was about 5pm by the time I got this news (even though I 'finish work' at 4:05pm), so at least I could just grab my stuff and leave school as fast as I could. I made it out of school and through the first set of lights before I started crying. Then I stopped quickly as I passed a bus stop full of my students. Then I let myself cry again. Then I had to stop again because I was passing some of my students biking home. Damn students, never give you any privacy!
Anyway, at home Jeff told me I could do the course anyway if I wanted, that we could pay for it ourselves, but that really wasn't the point. The point was I felt I had been facing a big decision (stopping studying Japanese may not sound that big, but I purposefully told lots of people about my plans so I would feel pressured into following through, knowing everyone would be watching for signs of my Japanese progression). Then, after lots of discussion and questioning and being fairly keyed up about it, I made a decision. Which turned out to be invalid. So funding the course on my own felt a bit beside the point. If I was doing it on my own I could do it at a time that was more practical and only when I had ascertained that it would definitely help my job prospects.
A friend asked if I was going to try to fight for the right to take the course. I told her no, but then I got to thinking. I had assumed that my supervisor would have asked my Board of Education if it was possible for me to hand it in late, when she first called them to clarify the hand-in date. But then I thought about it more and realised that she is so hesitant about breaking rules that maybe it never occurred to her to ask if I could do a late hand-in.
So this morning I emailed my ALT rep in the Board of Education, explaining my situation. I'm a little unclear if it was because of my email or if the BOE had just discussed my case that morning anyway, but we got a call saying if I submitted my application immediately they would accept it. Yay! Except that the application was two pages, one of which was a sample activity I had to design, and I needed to be teaching in ten minutes. Yikes! I ended up handing the Japaneses teacher my photocopies and teaching materials and sending him into the class without me while I tried to throw my application together. I got it all done and sent off, but I'll admit I'm nervous. The JET program is very picky about filling out paperwork correctly and they tend to be disinclined to accept things if they have any mistakes. As it was, trying to quickly reread what I have written I found things like 'basical' (wtf?) and incomplete sentences where a cut and paste hadn't worked. It was all done in Excel too, so it was very strange formatting and I could only read one line of a paragraph at the time. I really hope I don't get my grant application rejected because of any appalling grammar or spelling errors! Although, as I explained to my supervisor, I figure they can't turn me down for mistakes, because it only means I need the teacher training even more! Fingers crossed!!
That drama finished, you may be wondering what I have on that I'm so busy. Well... I have big news for you. Aside from the regular stuff (work, exercise and a bit of Japanese study), I have taken on the job of co-editor for the Hiroshima online magazine, Wide Island View. http://www.wideislandview.com/
I don't recommend looking now, because it has been ignored for at least six months, other than a random hacker (don't click 'Home' from the Home page, unless you want information on Cialis). But Emily (my co-editor) and I have decided to forge ahead on getting things updated and ignore the Cialis intrusion, because god knows how long it will take to fix that issue (it will be fixed. Just not by us. It is something that requires expertise well beyond our combined amount). We are very excited about gathering a team and getting the webpage up to date. We have had a couple of planning dinners and done plenty of bonding, with a little website planning. Although we did nowhere near as much work as we should have managed in an evening, I don't feel bad about it because we don't know each other very well and it's good to have a better understanding of the person we are going to rely on a LOT over the next year and a bit.
I'll keep you updated on the webpage. Our deadline is August, when the new JETs come in, but hopefully we will have some stuff up much earlier than that. Yay!
Hope you're all doing well, wherever you are and whatever you're up to.
xo
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)