Filed under: Happenings
Two years ago when I studied abroad in Iida I got to take part in my first Tanabata festival by visiting my host family’s parrents’ house, feasting while watching fireworks from the 2nd story window and by dressing up in yukata and walking to a near by Shinto shrine to see the fireworks close up and to eat yummy festival food. This year I didn’t put much thought into Tanabata. I thought it was on the 7th but wasn’t sure. When I got home Ryan said that he hear fireworks being shot off all day long so we figured out it was the day. We ended up going shopping and eating at McDonalds of all places (hey it sounded good), taking the train for the first time in a few months. Riding back home we started seeing fireworks and as we walked closer and closer to our house the fireworks were nearly overhead. Excited we walked further down the river and found out where they were being shot from. Putting two and two together we figured out that these fireworks must be for that same shrine I visited two years ago. A part of me wanted to go find the shrine but Ryan flopped on the ground and started watching the fireworks. Laying on the ground is a little weird in Japan, but he decided he didn’t care and I went along with it. I have never been that close to huge fireworks in all my life. We got some good photos using my camera’s fireworks mode. Enjoy.
Well it’s been almost a week so if I’m going to post about this I better get to it. Last week on Wednesday the students who are studying abroad in Iida through MU’s summer program came to Fuetsu. (This is the program I studied aboad on two years ago) Fuetsu’s second year international studies students gave presentations on their school, Iida City, and Japanese culture. These students will be going to Australia next year on an exchange trip and need to especially work on speaking English. Students got a chance to talk to each other and a small group of Fuetsu students took the MU students on a school tour. Afterwards some of the MU students stayed for our first year international studies student class which was a great surprise to the first years. They seemed to have a good time talking with the MU students in English and I hope that experience encouraged them to study English more.
Because of the nature of this event we ended up in the newspaper not once but twice. Reporters interviewed MU students, Fuetsu student and even myself. I guess they accredited me with putting this event together which seems like too much credit. I just wrote a few messages on Facebook to the MU students. The teachers at Fuetsu were the ones who made the official calls and what have you.
All in all it was a fun but exhausting day. The MU students seemed to have a great time and will be back for our school festival and possibly for another (less hectic) school visit.
When you come to Japan as an ALT you are not only here to teach English but also to teach about the culture of your home country. For this reason, the JET Program will suggest you bring along some materials for this purpose. These small, inexpensive (maybe free) items aren’t too difficult to obtain at home and will greatly add to your classes. Visual aids in general are great to use with any group of students but I think they’re even more important to use with English Language Learners because it helps them better understand the words you are saying. Here’s a list of what I’ve brought, as well as some things I wish I would have brought from the USA.
Photos and Videos
I didn’t bring too many of these because I was never big on taking photos of everyday things, but now that I’m in Japan and I have to teach monthly visit classes on foreign culture I really wish I had taken a lot of photos while in America to teach my kids about American culture. You could have pictures of…
• All major holidays (Christmas, Thanksgiving, 4th of July, Halloween, Easter, Valentine’s Day, etc.)
• School related (prom, graduation, school festivals, pictures of students, classrooms, your school)
• Family and friends (birthdays, holidays, sleepovers, dinners)
• Interesting places around your hometown (historic buildings, social gathering places, parks, etc.)
• Famous places nearby (monuments, landmarks, national parks, State parks)
• Other places (your house, post office, bank, store, mall, movie theater, day care, nursing home, etc.)
USA Coins and Bills
I have a set of real coins and bills, big paper money coins and bills I got from a teacher store, all 50 USA Quarters that are displayed in one of those quarter books, and sets of the quarters (6 in each set) for students to look at in groups. One of my favorite lessons involves teaching students about America’s 50 State Quarter Program, showing them Missouri’s quarter and how you can learn about each State’s history and culture by looking at its quarter. I draw a big circle on the chalk board and ask them what Nagano’s coin would look like if Japan did such a program, which can be interesting for them. I then put them into groups of 5 or 6 and give them one of the sets and a worksheet asking…
1. Which State’s quarter do you have?
2. Where is that State? (circle it on the map below)
3. What images are on the quarter?
4. Looking at the quarter, what do you think the State is famous for?
After the groups are finished discussing I have a member of the group come up and present their coin. The best State quarters for this activity are: Tennessee, Maine, Florida, Alaska, Arizona, Wisconsin, Arkansas, and Hawaii because they know most of the names of the things on their quarter and if not, can easily look them up. Tennessee, for example, has pictures of a guitar, trumpet, violin and stars on it and the students can easily deduce that Tennessee is famous for music. I also have sets of Illinois, Colorado, and Alabama, but they don’t seem to work as well (Colorado’s is too simple, not all students know Helen Keller, and kids don’t get the Chicago/countryside backdrop on Illinois’ quarter). Missouri’s coin would also be good for students to use if I didn’t show it as an example.
Postcards
I grabbed some postcard booklets before leaving for Japan and use these to teach students about where I’m from. One activity I’ve done in the past is write descriptions of the postcards in English and have the students walk around the classroom and match the picture to the description. There are probably many more things I could do with these, like have students make a write on their own postcards or something. Let me know if you have any ideas.
Picture Book from your State
I brought a picture book of Missouri with me and brought a St. Louis Arch calendar for the office. Although I don’t use them as much, both have come in handy when I needed to show a picture of something cultural, like, well… the Arch. A picture book makes a good souvenir too.
License Plates
This might sound farfetched but I have some real Missouri license plates with me. (Authentic plates cost about $20 in Japan by the way) I found a license plate flashcard set at the Cracker Barrel; the front side has a picture of the State’s license plate and the backside is filled with information about the State that kids can use on road trips. Because of this I grabbed some old car plates before leaving for Japan. American States are much different than Japanese prefectures because of the amount of self-governing power our States have compared to prefectures. The fact that we can have our own plates and quarters is different. We focus not only being Americans but on what part of America we’re from and which State we’re from too. Just as you can learn about America by looking at coins, you can look at license plates. For my international studies students, I’m going to have each student become an expert on one State and present to the class. For the general students, I’m thinking about doing some type of matching activity similar to the postcard one.
On Monday I will use these flashcards for the first time for my elective English class. Two of the boys will go to America in August to be exchange students for a year but don’t know which State they’re going to yet, only that they’re going to the “Southeast.” After introducing them to the South, I’m going to give each student one license plate and coin from the South and ask them to become experts on that State and give a brief presentation to the class. Since we have 13 students and I’ll do Missouri as an example (though I only consider only the Southern portion of the State part of the South), we’re bound to talk about the State(s) the boys are heading to. I’ll ask them to tell the class…
1. The name of the State
2. The State’s nickname (on the back of the license plate flashcard)
3. What’s on the quarter
4. What’s on the license plate
5. What they think the State is famous for because of the coin and plate
6. One interesting fact they learned from the back of the license plate flashcard
Menus/receipts/price tags/ movie stubs/etc
I don’t have any of these but wish I did. Every Japanese text book has some chapter on how much something is and has activities where you role play buying stuff. There’s also some type of food chapter too where you pretend to order food. I wish I had some of these ‘artifacts’ with me to show students prices, how things are organized, the size of clothing over here, how English is important when you’re abroad, etc. I want to show the kids going to America how much cheaper stuff is too.
I’ll let you know more ideas when I think of them. I can imagine some nifty lesson plans where you could combine several of these materials together to make English class really interactive. Of course, family members, if you want to start saving up receipts and stuff, I won’t stop you. 
Filed under: Uncategorized
The days and weeks seem to fly by living in Japan. I’m not sure why it’s like this, it just is and it’s kind of nice. It’s already the middle of June. I got paid and already most of it’s gone to Ryan for his new college courses that will start next week. I’m into my 3rd week of summer classes with MU, taking two classes, one on using technology in the classroom and the other on teaching reading and writing in content areas. It took a while to get motivated to begin these classes but I’m getting into the swing of things now.
On the 14th I was invited to the first dinner/meet and greet for the MU students who will be studying abroad in Iida this summer. It was intersting to be joining the same dinner I went to two years ago only this time I was there not as a student nor a host family, but as an Iida resident and former member of the program. Most of the students on the program seem pretty cool and I hope they are getting along well despite all the rain and humidity. I saw a couple of them last weekend along with a couple of good friends from prior study abroad programs at my host family’s parents house. They treated us all to a Japanese cookout, which was a lot of fun. It was great to catch up with friends who are now working in Japan, about to start work in Japan, who have studied in Japan this past year, and who have just come back from America.
Thinking about the new MU students in Iida, while it’d be fun to able to spend a summer studying and exploring, I’m happy where I am right now in life. It’s nice to have a job, to be making my own money and for both Ryan and me to be working towards a good future together. Ryan and I, by the way, I get along just fine in Japan. Every morning I wake up and hug him, telling him I don’t want to go to school and would rather stay with him all day. I try to get home from school fairly quickly to spend time with him; right now we’re in the middle of watching Scrubs, and are also playing some video games together. We take turns cooking, cleaning and always go shopping together. Though our routine is alittle strange with me going to work and him staying home, it’s working out well. I
I like to keep up with US and World and was shocked to hear that John and Kate have gotten divorced. My mom and I used to watch their show together on TLC and enjoyed watching their kids grow and learn. That news came as more of a shock to me than news usually does, maybe because I’ve seen the show quite a bit, but maybe because I’m married now. It seems like something could have been done for them to keep their relationship strong, even if it meant canceling the show. I can’t ever imagine Ryan and me ever spliting and hope Americans begin taking a harder, longer look at marriage and what can be done to prevent 1 in 2 marriages from ending in divorce.
One of the things I do at school is try to always keep myself busy. It passes the time and makes me feel like I’m doing something useful. One of my recent projects was leading the students in our “Jiji Eigo” class, literally “Current Affairs in English” class, in creating a homeroom newsletter in English. Since only a portion of the 3rd year international studies students were in this class, we had them pair up with their classmates to create a classroom newsletter everyone could call their own. Everyone put a lot of hard work into this project so if you have time, follow this link and check our newsletter out. Through this newsletter you can learn a little about Japanese school life and about the international studies program.
Another nice thing about this project is that it gives the students something tangible to show their English proficiency. When they apply to universities and have interviews with the faculty, they can bring projects like this newsletter along with them. Applying to universities in Japan is difficult. Like the US, you have to take a test like the ACT/SAT that strictly determines which universities you can apply to. Then you have to decide which unversities to apply to and take their own entrance exam, and in the case of some special programs, such as the international studies programs, you have to have an interview in Japanese and/or English. Everything helps, I suppose, so I hope my students study hard, and dream big.
http://www.nagano-c.ed.jp/fuetsuhs/EngFutWeb/NewsLetter/Newsletter2009June3nen.pdf
Filed under: Happenings
The rainy season has come to Japan, the summer heat slowly being drenched by the soft pounding of rain. Along with this comes the realization that summer is upon us and that despite the cloudy skies and wet ground, there is much to prepare for. Summer is a happily busy time for high school students in Japan. With the school festival a little more than a month away, I see students doing different things to prepare their school for the biggest event of the year. At the same time, exams are coming up soon so there’s some apprehension in the air as well.
Possibly more exciting for me though is that the MU (university of Missouri) students have just arrived in Japan and will be coming to Iida on the 14th. During the next few weeks I’ll be able to meet up with old friends and make some new.
Also, my summer grad school classes start up on June 8th. I don’t feel motivated at all right now for summer classes, but with any luck I’ll get into gear by Monday.
PTA Day was actually enjoyable than I thought. No one told me that junior high students would be visiting Fuetsu! I was pleasantly surprised to see them. The junior high students came to get a sneak-peak of classes. Most of them are interested in attending Fuetsu and some of these students are interested in the International Studies Program. Being that I was the only ALT at school on Saturday, about 10-12 junior high students and 3 or so moms visited my public speaking class. I forced my students to give a presentation on Saturday, only giving them two days in class to prepare. Considering those limitations and that they had an audience, they did well and impressed the junior high students and moms. I hope we encouraged them to apply to the program and didn’t scare them away. X_X
If you didn’t know this, my undergraduate majors were International Studies and Middle School English/Social Studies Education. While I’m really REALLY happy I was placed in two high schools, especially one international studies high school, I still have a special place in my heart for middle/junior high school students and get excited every time I see them. Teaching international studies high schoolers is a much better fit for me though as I can help them prepare for studying abroad, applying for Japanese and foreign universities, and can overall communicate a lot better with them. While I think I could encourage junior high students to pursue international related careers, I don’t think I would be utilized as well in a Japanese junior high school. I should try visiting a junior high school sometime though.
Filed under: Happenings
Sorry for not updating in a while. At one point I was sick, and I had final examinations to deal with a few weeks ago, for which I’m happy to say that I got A’s in both grad school classes. It’s been a bit busy at school too with classes in full gear, as well as the random guest speakers and gardening day activities going on. Also, I don’t know if it’s allergies or what but I’ve had a lot more headaches lately. I drink 8 cups of water a day now so it’s not dehydration. After class yesterday one of the teachers took me out to a pharmacy to show me what kind of headache medicine to get. One of the other teachers told us that it was the grand opening for this one new pharmacy/health & beauty goods/etc. store so we decided to head out there. This turned out to be a bigger cultural experience than I imagined getting meds would be. Upon arriving there, about 6 different traffic directors steered us here and there to the back of a lot while other guys in Japanese festival jackets greeted us. I have been to grand openings back in the US but have never seen this much fuss over a simple drug store. Apparently some people who are from the West side of Japan are happy this certain chain is now in Iida. Heh, whatever. There were some sweet deals so I ended stocking up on random household goods before getting back home early.
On Saturday we have a PTA day at school where parents can sit in and observe classes. I have two classes so that means I gotta go to school. Everyone gets Monday off to make up for going to school Saturday but the kids are probably going to go to school anyways because of club activities. Giving up one’s Saturday is tough, especially when it’s your husband’s birthday but it’ll be alright. I’ve been bringing him gifts home everyday including the nice box of gifts family members sent him. Thanks, everyone! The Cinnamon Life cereal, jelly bellies, soup mixes, carrot cake mix, etc. are all nice reminders of home.
Filed under: Happenings, JET, Japanese Cultural Notes | Tags: ALT, iida city, japan, orchestra
I got a bit carried away Tuesday to the point where I didn’t even talk about my orchestra concert. Yesterday was the final day of a four day music festival in Iida City. The Nagoya Philharmoic Orchestra came to this event and I believe some of the more talented Iida Symphony members got to play with them at their concert and helped out at the orchestra clinics that were held during the week. The final day consisted of our performance as well as some smaller ensemble performances by select members.
Being mildly uninformed but mostly just lazy, I opted to just take part in the final concert. Set up happened around 9am and rehearsal started at 10am, similar to our last concert but very different from any group I ever played with in the States. Practicing immediately before a concert?! It makes too much sense for us to do. Anyway, after practicing through all the songs for an hour or two we broke for lunch and so they could prepare the stage for the first emsembles. The concert went well. In addition to playing two longer pieces we’d be working on for a while, Light Calvary by Franz von Suppe and Carnival by Dvořák, we played three other short pieces to teach the audience, which was made up a lot of kids and moms, about different types of emotion shown in music.
I always feel extra eyes on me when I come on stage. Being the only foreigner in the orchestra makes me stand out, but I don’t mind as much as I did at my first concert. Maybe I’m internationalizing Iida by having joined the orchestra, maybe not. If anything I’m taking part in a decent activity that makes me feel part of the community so that in itself is enough for me.
Being a smaller concert, there were no eating/drinking parties afterwards and I was able to return home around 2:30 to otherwise waste my time playing video games with my hubby.
Here’s Light Calvary and Carnival if you’d like to hear them. One exciting thing about Light Calvary is that once you hear it, you’ll hear again as it’s sometimes used in cartoons and tv shows. A little after we started practicing Light Calvary Ryan and I were watching episodes of “Angry Beavers,” an older cartoon from Nickelodeon, and heard this song. I got really excited, Ryan just thought I was being crazy like usual. Yeah, being away from the US has made Ryan and me pine for random tv shows. We also downloaded the whole Ed, Edd and Eddy series. (7,000 miles away my mom is rolling her eyes)
Filed under: JET, Japanese Cultural Notes | Tags: ALT, clubs and activities in Japan, japan, JET
When you come to Japan as an ALT, know that you will have a lot of extra time on your hands. While I don’t typically have as much down time as other high school ALTs I know (with exception to Tuesday when I visit my ‘visit’ school), you’ll still be working a 40-hour job and need something to do with the rest of the 168 hours in the week. Besides, when you’re finished with JET you might want to have something to show that you used your time wisely. Luckily, there are a lot of activities, clubs, and groups you can take part in, which I think could generally be broken up into four groups: school clubs, community center-based groups, community groups, ALT groups.
- School Clubs: If you’re placed at a junior high school or high school, your school will probably have a nice range of clubs to choose from. ALTs are generally welcome to join the clubs and can learn a lot about Japanese cultural activities or can just enjoy playing your favorite sport while far away from home. My main school has 30 different clubs to choose from; 15 sports clubs (we’d call them teams in the US), and 15 cultural clubs. You could learn karate, kyudo (Japanese archery), calligraphy, flower arranging, tea ceremony, or how to dance to hip hop music, play folk music on the guitar, or take part in any sport. Clubs can meet up to every day of the week (including Saturday and Sunday) so students usually belong to just one, maybe two clubs (though the exchange students have been known to join three or more.) If you join a meet-everyday-club, make sure you can arrange it so that you don’t have to go every day (unless you want to). Being in charge of the English Club is in me and my ALT buddy’s job description. We should meet twice a week but lately it’s been once a week. We’ve somewhat become an English movie appreciation club which has made planning very simple, but makes me wonder if we shouldn’t do something more. Whatever makes the kids happy, I guess.
- Community Center-based groups: The community centers “kominkan” 公民館 around town offer many different clubs and activities. You can learn Japanese, help others learn English, study martial arts, yoga, taiko (traditional Japanese druming), photography, traditional dancing, etc. It really varies by community center, but if you’re in a good sized city there’ll be several community centers in the area. Also, this is one resource that was not mentioned at the JET Program Orientation last year but I think it’s worth mentioning. I should follow my own advice and join a group sometime.
- Community groups: There are a lot of clubs and groups out there in the community if you know where to find them. Think of something you’re really interested in and try to find a group by asking around. After watching the popular Japanese drama Nodame Cantabile I got swept away by the idea of playing viola in Japan. With the help of a Japanese friend from Iida, I found the Iida City Symphony Orchestra website and left a message saying I’d be moving there soon and can play violin or viola. Turns out the orchestra had a dire need for violists and were excited to have a foreign member. On a side note, I stopped going to the bunraku (traditional Japanese puppetry) troupe back in October/November. Due to a variety of reasons including the distance, difficulty traveling there, difficulty with the Japanese language, needing time to study, etc. I decided to end it. Orchestra has allowed me to meet 3 times as many Japanese people, some who are my age, some who speak English, at a closer, more convenient location, and we’re doing an activity I’ve been doing since elementary school. Familiarity might be another reason orchestra won over bunraku. Sometimes ALTs feel like they have to do something “Japanese” while in Japan. You’re already adjusting to a new culture, if you like an activity and are good at it, doing it in Japan might help you feel more at home, whereas trying too many new things at once might burn you out. There’s a lot “mights” here, just do what feels right to you.
- ALT groups: AJET (Association for JETs) has a lot of activities to keep their members happy and active in Japan. My predecessor was an editor for the monthly(?) Nagano ALT newspaper and helped organize a lot of events. They’ll have parties, go skiing, mountain climbing, Christmas caroling, host talent shows, and other fun stuff.I don’t do anything with AJET, I’m not even a member of the Nagano AJET mostly because I’m at the far South of a really top-heavy prefecture, putting most activities outside my car-less, penny-pinching reach.
Dream big, dream now, just don’t dream too hard and imagine Japan to be some perfect rosy-tinted world of bliss (like I kinda did). You can learn a lot of cool things here though, both in and outside of school. Just make some plans and stick to them.
My profile: Jeanne A Beck
School Club: English Club (English movie appreciation club?)
Current activities: Iida Symphony Orchestra
Masters of Education in TESOL Education student
Ryan-san’s cheerleader to help(?) him earn his associates/bachelor’s degree
