This past week was only ordinary. At the junior high school I work at...
Oh yeah. I need to think of a nickname for that school as well, to compliment Controlled Chaos Senior High School. Well, the junior high students I teach are, for the most part, very smart, and many will go on to some of the best universities in Japan. However, they are 13 years old, and they have been pressured to study, study, study and be good students and good Japanese children. So some of those kids tend to lose it every now and then, and that includes in my class. So, let's call this school Wild Brainiacs JHS.
OK, now where was I...
At Wild Brainiacs JHS, things were easy. We just gave back the midterm exams and went over the answers. An easy two days for me.
At Controlled Chaos SHS, things were... well... chaotic. There were prospective students showing up in class unbeknownst to me (sometimes while I was teaching), there were students who usually don't come to class coming to class, students who usually come to class not coming to class, students who usually come to the morning class switching to the afternoon class all of a sudden... you get the idea. The nice curriculum plan I worked out at the beginning of the term is completely shredded now. A rough two days for me.
At the HR office, things were easygoing, but we did receive a teacher resignation, meaning I am going to have more work to do on my office day for the next couple of weeks. A not-so-interesting day for me.
26 October 2008
20 October 2008
Oh Deer
Saturday, October 4th, was a mild and beautiful day, so the wife and I decided to drive up to Nara and go to Nara Park. You may remember that a few years ago I blogged about Nara Park here and here. This is one of my favorite areas in the Kansai area. With all the trees, open grass fields, and, of course, lots and lots of deer, Nara Park is a very relaxing place, even when it is crowded.
Did I mention that there are deer at Nara Park? Here I am below with two of the main attractions:
19 October 2008
Weekend Recap
Recaping the weekend, on Saturday I did a little training in preparation to occasionally do young kids' English classes on weekends. My company has a division that has a few young childrens' schools and several in-home schools. I'll keep you posted on how those go.
Today, we did basically nothing except watch a few Grey's Anatomy episodes and some soccer. A nice weekend overall.
Today, we did basically nothing except watch a few Grey's Anatomy episodes and some soccer. A nice weekend overall.
17 October 2008
Controlled Chaos
Strange things keep happening at the senior high school that I talk about.
I'll get to that in a moment, but isn't it confusing that I talk about the senior high school I go to part of the week, and the junior high school the rest of the week? I need to think of some good nicknames for them... let's see...
Okay, the senior high school is now called Controlled Chaos SHS. That is how I will refer to it in my blog posts. Now, back to our regularly scheduled program...
You might remember my English Buddy post and how I tried to make a challenging lesson for the new morning class student, but it was way too easy for her. One of my co-workers at the company office yesterday handed me a book with conversation ideas and role-play topics - perfect for students with a high level of English. I thought of a good high-level lesson and prepared it. All seemed well.
This morning, I went to class confident in my lesson, but when I got to the classroom, the girl wasn't there. Instead, there was another girl, another new student! After talking to this girl for a few minutes, I knew that there was no way she could do the lesson I prepared. I had no choice but to think of a lesson out of my head. I thought of as many games as I could to do with her for the first hour, until we took our 10-minute break and I could sneak up to the office and grab a more suitable lesson.
During that first hour, I felt so underprepared, with no lesson plan to refer to. I'm sure the games I did had no connection, but the girl was a good sport, participated well and had no complaints.
I suppose the problem is this: It seems that at Controlled Chaos SHS, it's okay if the staff brings a new student to my class, introduces him/her to me, and expects me to take care of him/her for the next two hours without any prior preparation. Handling classes containing students with varying levels of English ability, I need to be more prepared than I would at, say, a public senior high school.
Yeah, Controlled Chaos is a good nickname for this school.
I'll get to that in a moment, but isn't it confusing that I talk about the senior high school I go to part of the week, and the junior high school the rest of the week? I need to think of some good nicknames for them... let's see...
Okay, the senior high school is now called Controlled Chaos SHS. That is how I will refer to it in my blog posts. Now, back to our regularly scheduled program...
You might remember my English Buddy post and how I tried to make a challenging lesson for the new morning class student, but it was way too easy for her. One of my co-workers at the company office yesterday handed me a book with conversation ideas and role-play topics - perfect for students with a high level of English. I thought of a good high-level lesson and prepared it. All seemed well.
This morning, I went to class confident in my lesson, but when I got to the classroom, the girl wasn't there. Instead, there was another girl, another new student! After talking to this girl for a few minutes, I knew that there was no way she could do the lesson I prepared. I had no choice but to think of a lesson out of my head. I thought of as many games as I could to do with her for the first hour, until we took our 10-minute break and I could sneak up to the office and grab a more suitable lesson.
During that first hour, I felt so underprepared, with no lesson plan to refer to. I'm sure the games I did had no connection, but the girl was a good sport, participated well and had no complaints.
I suppose the problem is this: It seems that at Controlled Chaos SHS, it's okay if the staff brings a new student to my class, introduces him/her to me, and expects me to take care of him/her for the next two hours without any prior preparation. Handling classes containing students with varying levels of English ability, I need to be more prepared than I would at, say, a public senior high school.
Yeah, Controlled Chaos is a good nickname for this school.
14 October 2008
English buddy
It was a dark and stormy night...
Nah, I'm just pulling your leg. But it was raining today.
As with every Tuesday, today I worked at the small private high school in Osaka city I told you about before. In that post, I also told you about the infamous morning class. That class had a new student today, a 17-year-old girl with amazing English skills! I guess living abroad for several years will do that to you.
I was actually at a loss as to what to do in that class. I prepared a lesson I did previously with other students, but made it a bit harder for her (I had some knowledge of her level before class, but obviously not enough). That lesson was way too easy for her, and she finished it up only halfway through the class. I was left with nothing to do except talk, which she had absolutely no problems doing in English.
But I wonder if I actually taught her anything, or if I was just her "English buddy" for the day.
This small senior high school is really keeping me on my toes, I tell you.
Nah, I'm just pulling your leg. But it was raining today.
As with every Tuesday, today I worked at the small private high school in Osaka city I told you about before. In that post, I also told you about the infamous morning class. That class had a new student today, a 17-year-old girl with amazing English skills! I guess living abroad for several years will do that to you.
I was actually at a loss as to what to do in that class. I prepared a lesson I did previously with other students, but made it a bit harder for her (I had some knowledge of her level before class, but obviously not enough). That lesson was way too easy for her, and she finished it up only halfway through the class. I was left with nothing to do except talk, which she had absolutely no problems doing in English.
But I wonder if I actually taught her anything, or if I was just her "English buddy" for the day.
This small senior high school is really keeping me on my toes, I tell you.
13 October 2008
A Monday Holiday
Today was a national holiday, so we didn't go to work. We decided to go to the IKEA store in Osaka. My wife went to look at the furniture and the household goods; I went for the hot dogs with the fried onions. :o)The IKEA in the port area of Osaka is one of only two in the Kansai region and one of four in the entire nation. It seemed to have the same layout as the one we went to in Kobe; I'm glad we don't have to go that far anymore.
We didn't spend too much time there. We bought some red and white pillow covers for our couch pillows, a few dishes, a plant, some potpourri, and a shade for our bedroom (although once we came home we found out it didn't come with any screws!).
After that, we stopped for some kaiten-zushi (a sushi restaurant where the sushi goes around on a conveyor belt and people grab what they want), then we went home and watched some TV. All in all, it was a relaxing day. Back to work tomorrow!
11 October 2008
A Ho-Hum Saturday
Today my wife and I haven't done much. We did laundry, made yakisoba for lunch, and watched a bunch of recorded Grey's Anatomy episodes. Speaking of which, getting a digital television with a hard drive recorder has changed our lives! We look on the on-screen TV listings for shows or movies we like, press a few buttons, and presto! It's set to record. No videotapes to mess with, no worrying about if the tape is rewound or fast-forwarded to the correct position. The shows record on the hard drive for our perusal at any time, and in glorious high-definition! How did we live with VHS tapes before?
10 October 2008
My Life Unplugged
In order to keep this blog active, I'm going to (try to) talk about something that happens to me every day, whether or not it is interesting. So get used to it, Bub!
Today, like every Friday, I worked at a small private high school owned by the same company that owns the outsourcing division I work for. By small, I mean VERY small: there are probably 30 students total in that school. It's a sort of alternative school, attended by kids who want to or need to be challenged in their studies. I teach two English conversation classes there. The classes are formerly called Gaikokujin Eikaiwa ("Foreigner English Conversation"). Not so subtle, huh? Can you imagine a class in the U.S. called "Foreigner Spanish"?
Anyway, the morning class consists of two students. One of them, a boy, has only shown up twice since the start of the academic year in April. The other, a girl, does not want to be the only student in class, so she often does not come to school for my class. That was the case today - or so I thought at first. After waiting 20 minutes for students to show up for the morning class, as is protocol, I went down to the staff office and discovered that the girl was talking with one of the staff members, who didn't seem to be in a hurry to shoo the girl upstairs to my classroom.
That's not the first time that kind of thing has happened there. Back in May, there was a student coming to the morning class, and unbeknownst to me he was not supposed to be in the class. One day, a staff member came up to my classroom, apologized to me first, then turned to the student and quietly told him in Japanese, "You are not supposed to be in this class." The boy, who is very good at speaking English, turned to her and cursed at her in English, using some choicy four-letter words. I don't know if the staff member understood, but she abruptly left the classroom, leaving me to teach a boy that was not supposed to be a student of mine.
Today, like every Friday, I worked at a small private high school owned by the same company that owns the outsourcing division I work for. By small, I mean VERY small: there are probably 30 students total in that school. It's a sort of alternative school, attended by kids who want to or need to be challenged in their studies. I teach two English conversation classes there. The classes are formerly called Gaikokujin Eikaiwa ("Foreigner English Conversation"). Not so subtle, huh? Can you imagine a class in the U.S. called "Foreigner Spanish"?
Anyway, the morning class consists of two students. One of them, a boy, has only shown up twice since the start of the academic year in April. The other, a girl, does not want to be the only student in class, so she often does not come to school for my class. That was the case today - or so I thought at first. After waiting 20 minutes for students to show up for the morning class, as is protocol, I went down to the staff office and discovered that the girl was talking with one of the staff members, who didn't seem to be in a hurry to shoo the girl upstairs to my classroom.
That's not the first time that kind of thing has happened there. Back in May, there was a student coming to the morning class, and unbeknownst to me he was not supposed to be in the class. One day, a staff member came up to my classroom, apologized to me first, then turned to the student and quietly told him in Japanese, "You are not supposed to be in this class." The boy, who is very good at speaking English, turned to her and cursed at her in English, using some choicy four-letter words. I don't know if the staff member understood, but she abruptly left the classroom, leaving me to teach a boy that was not supposed to be a student of mine.
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