Changes

When I started this journey, I knew that it would change me. It is impossible for it not to have changed me.

Some of the changes were expected. For example, I am more self-confident than I was before. There are many things I didn`t think I could do because of more poor grasp of the language. But I did them, and the feeling of satisfaction I got from them was wonderful. I feel like if I can navigate the roads and train system in a country where I can barely speak the language, there is not much I can`t do. ^_-

Still have no idea what this says.

But there have been many unexpected changes too. Good changes, but ones that I never saw coming.

One thing I realized while working here is that I had forgotten what it means to be a kid. When I first started, I got so frustrated when my little students wouldn`t listen or do their work. There were some days I dreaded going to work because I knew I would have to face those classes.

I`m not sure when it happened, but one day I realized that they were just being kids. No five year old wants to sit still and do worksheets out of a textbook, and it is ridiculous to expect an eight year old to come to my class after a full day of school and be excited about more work.

So I changed my teaching style. I became more relaxed and flexible, and suddenly things became better. If they were not feeling up to doing worksheets, then we would play a game of Chip O! or Simon Says. There was a huge shift in the students too. They now seemed to want to come to class and didn`t mind doing a worksheet or two if it meant they would get to play a game later.

They're so cute when they are standing still.

I`ve also learned not to take myself so seriously. I`ll be honest, when I first started this job, I would sometimes be too embarrassed to act silly or goofy. But I have noticed that students (even some of the adults) respond better when I am more animated. They relax and laugh more, and it does seem to help them remember what I am teaching them. Plus, what do I have to be embarrassed about; a seven year old doesn`t care if I have no rhythm when we dance to the `Days of the Week` song.

You can have a great time if they are silly too.

And I know that this experience is going to keep on changing me, and I can't wait to see what is in store for me next. ^^

Sorry!!

Hi everyone!

Sorry it has taken me so long to update. I promise to update more often. ^^;>``

Everything is going well in Yamaguchi.

Rainy Season has finally stopped, so I am very excited about that. It is time to go out and have more adventures! \(^-^)/

Calendars

Each month all of the children at our school make their own calendar. It is always a lot of fun because I never know what to expect. Most become very creative and will personalize it with notes on dates that are important to them (a friend`s birthday or a family event). And the pictures are always fun to look at.

This week all of my young children are making a calendar fo

r the month of March. In one class, a student couldn't decide what to draw: Hina Matsuri or White Day. (-_-)..?

Hina Matsuri is Girls`/Dolls` festival. Families with daughters will display beautiful dolls in tradition court costumes, and family and friends will pray for the daughter`s health and good fortune.

In Japan, Valentine`s Day is the day when girls give gifts, mainly chocolate, to boys. So on White Day, boys are suppose to return the favor and give chocolate to girls.

Because she couldn`t decide, the girl drew a picture where the boy Hina Matsuri doll was giving a gift to the girl doll. It is adorable! <(^^)>♥

The calendar she was using to write down the dates had a puppy for this month`s picture, so she was inspired to turn her Hina Matsuri dolls into puppies.

Yellow sand

All last week I thought I was suffering from seasonal allergies. My throat was sore, I couldn't stop coughing, and my nose was so congested that at times I sounded like a broken squeak toy. But my friends and students informed me that I could be reacting to 黄砂 (yellow sand floating in the air.)

Every year sand is carried in the wind from China to Japan and Korea. It causes allergy-like symptoms in many people. You can read more about it here.

Not much can be done to prevent it; guess I might want to get use to wearing a mask when riding my bike. (;__;)

I'm famous! \^o^/

Look has a second job as a model!

Actually it is an advertisement for my pre-school class in the NHK course catalog. And not the best picture; they surprised me when I came in one day by saying they needed to take my picture. But it is still cool to see my name and picture in a Japanese publication.

AEG Website

For those who are interested, you can visit my school's website here.

It was recently re-done and looks great. Though I am still not sure why I am running at the end. (^-^;)>

The pictures turned out nicely. We took a week to have one of our student take our photos. We got the full photo-shoot experience; we had a fan to make our hair flutter around, props, and music. It was a little exciting. Felt like a model for a little while.

The school also has a teachers' blog where we post about our daily happenings. Feel free to check it out here!

Go with the flow

If there is one thing I have learned from teaching conversational English classes is you have to be flexible. There are many days when I plan all of my lessons, and by the end I have maybe completed half of what I scheduled.

That doesn't mean that I didn't teach anything new or wasted my students' time; they just didn't go as I planned. With adult classes students will sometimes bring in a topic or article that they want to discuss, or they have a question and it ends up being an hour-long conversation.

Children's classes present a different challenge. Some days the children don't want to focus; they find the bookwork boring, are not interested in studying, or they are feeling tired. So I've had to quickly learn how to create games and activities on the spot. Sometime it is as simple as using the white board to study new vocabulary. Other times it means I have to jump around the classroom acting silly to boost their energy level (by the way, playing red light, green light in heels is not easy ^^;>)

I figure as long as the students are learning new words and using them correctly, I can come back to the planned lesson next time. It is more important to keep the student comfortable and interested in learning English. And the unexpected lessons are always a lot of fun! I can never predict how my day is going to be. I just know that it is always interesting! ^_-

Spring Time!!!

Although it is only March, it feels like spring has already came. All week the temperature has been around 15 degrees Celsius (60 degrees Fahrenheit.)

Let's hope this weather stays; soccer season has started again, and it will be nice to watch some games without worrying about freezing to death. Not to mention spring is the season for cherry blossoms. I cannot wait to see them bloom!

Hello!

Hello everyone!

Welcome to my blog!

I have been teaching in Japan for over 6 months now and have loved everyday of it.

When I first arrived I tried to blog all of the special things I was seeing and doing.

But it was difficult because, to me, everything is special. So I created this new blog where I can share the little details of my life that make my time in Japan special.

I hope you enjoy!!