A Day at Suwa Hoikuen

On December 1st I took paid leave and used the chance to attend preschool with Yana.

Yana's symbol is a peach and its on all of her
belongings, including her shoe cubby.

We arrived for 9:00am. Yana already knew where her shoe cubby was and as soon as her shoes were off she bolted up the stairs and to her classroom, leaving me awkwardly standing there and unsure of where to go. She is in panda-gumi (Panda class) and knows exactly where it is.

I'm not sure if we were a bit late and missed this, but when Justin went with her he said that the kids eat a small piece of seaweed each morning. This is supposed to help them have good dental health.

Next the kids go to gargle water and wash their hands.

After that they change into their shorts - each kid wears the same school shorts. They have to tuck their shirts into the shorts. Then they line up and walk down to the gym.

In the gym they have a musical exercise program with one or two other classes of similar age. Yana's teacher plays the piano and two other teachers help lead the kids. They do stretches and then run around and do different movements to the music (like hopping on one foot or running with arms outstretched like an airplane).

Once their exercise time is finished, the kids went back upstairs and had to clean the floors in the traditional Japanese way.

Then the kids change back into their regular clothes.

They wash their hands again.

Next its library time. The kids go down to the library for a few minutes. They have time to browse and read a few books, and if they want they can check out a book to take home.

After the library they go back to the classroom and the teacher reads a story to them which she selected from the library.

Next is time for activities. They did drawing and after that played with clay for a while.

After activity time the kids wash their hands again because its lunchtime.

They eat lunch at 11:30am. It is kyuushoku, so school lunch. All the kids eat the same thing. On this day they had some kind of pasta gratin, egg soup, rice, tea, and salad. Yana was not pleased.

After lunch they brush their teeth and have quiet/nap time for quite a while. They change into pajamas for this time.

After naptime, they change back into regular clothes again.

They have a snack, which tends to be some kind of bread. I think they may drink milk as well.

Soon after snacktime is pickup time, around 3:00-3:30pm.

And that's generally how Yana's days at Suwa are spent!

Tottori SDC 2014

One thing I didn't know about when I applied to be a JET was that every prefecture has a mid-year Skills Development Conference (SDC). There's no official time during which all prefectures have their conference, but they tend to be around this time of year. In Tottori this year, ours fell on December 4th and 5th (Thursday and Friday). This means that I got those two days off of regular work!

My BOE was super awesome and gave me my business trip reimbursement before I even left. Usually we have to turn in a form and then get reimbursed at some random later date. They also gave me enough to take the super express trains, instead of the local trains! Anyway, as it turns out, I didn't even need all the money. I managed to hitch a ride with R, L, and J from Koge, so it was only a couple hundred yen and a 1/2 hour train ride. Then we drove the rest of the way, which was fun. At one point we were worried that traffic was going to make us late, but luckily we arrived with time to spare - and we even stopped at a convenience store to buy R a pen!

Our SDC is held in Kurayoshi at Mirai Chushin, which is the Pear Museum. Yes, Tottori is so obsessed it even has a museum dedicated to pears. But what can I say, they're freaking delicious - I would build a shrine to them, too.

9:40-9:55 Registration
When we arrived most everyone else was already lined up. We had to sign in, which basically consisted of grabbing some papers and our PA, M, crossing our name off the list. Since the SDC is mandatory, this is one of the few times every single ALT in Tottori prefecture is in the same room. It was pretty cool!

10:00-10:15 Opening Remarks
First up we had the very Japanese opening ceremony. It was pretty short, though, and we moved right in to the first workshop.

10:25-12:25 Workshop I: Creating Activities Using the Shuttle Chat Booklet
We were divided up into several rooms and then into groups of 2 or 3. I was in a group with H. As a JHS ALTs, our task was to use this Shuttle Chat workbook and create an activity using any grammar point. We chose "can/can't". We spent about one hour preparing our activity and then another hour doing all our presentations. Although the Shuttle Chat is complete crap to work with, it was nice to share ideas with other ALTs. There wasn't a whole lot of feedback going on, though. So I guess either we were all awesome or everyone was too nice to be mean.

12:25-13:20 Lunch
After that we had lunch. Our room ended late, so I had lost my carpool buddies. Luckily I ran into R2 and ended up going for lunch with him and D. We went to a cafeteria-type restaurant just outside the museum. I ordered tonkatsudon, which ended up being this massive portion which I could not finish. It was a nice lunch though; nice to catch up with those two.

13:25-13:55 Workshop II: English Education in Tottori Prefecture
After lunch we had another workshop. However, it was really more of a lecture about the changes happening to the way English is being taught in Japan. It was good to know, but I felt like we could have used the time to discuss more important things. Anyway, one shocking statistic showed that as JHS students get older, the teachers use more and more Japanese in the class! It should be the opposite! The thing is, its definitely true - I see this every day at work.

14:05-15:35 Lecture: Demotivating Students 
The last item for the 4th was a lecture from a professor from TUES. I was kind of dreading the 1.5 hour lecture, but it actually turned out to be the best part of the entire day. The speaker was a really engaging and wonderful public speaker and she was addressing us like college graduates instead of dumb foreigners. It was wonderful. She addressed some really great issues as well. I just loved it. Definitely the most helpful part of the day.

After that day 1 was over! I had a while to wait before my train, so I hung out with a bunch of other JETs and ate pear softcream. Then we took the bus to the station together - literally only a bunch of foreigners on a bus. Most of us were going back towards Tottori-shi, but my BOE seemed to be the only one who paid for the super express, so I hoped aboard alone. By the way - it was my first time riding it and it was crazy! It leans into turns, which makes the whole world shift as if you're on a rollercoaster. Actually, it started making me feel sick after a while...

Aboard the Super Hakuto 12!

The next morning was another early one. This time I had to take the train all the way to Kurayoshi. I rode the local to Tottori and then changed to a super express train from there. I arrived in Kurayoshi pretty early, so I just sort of hung around until the bus arrived. A bunch of other ALTs rode the bus with me, which I was glad of, because I wasn't sure about the stop.

9:40-9:55 Registration
Same as Thursday. This time we just had to pick up the day 2 survey.

10:00-10:00 Opening Remarks

10:15-11:45 Workshop III: Elementary School Visits.
There were several other workshops, but this is the one I had to attend. We were divided into groups of 5-6 people and had to discuss various aspects of ES visits. We talked about issues, things we did outside of class, and what we thought of the textbook Hi Friends!. It was a good chance for discussion, but it was really negative, I thought.

11:45-12:40 Lunch
Lunchtime! I was going to go for okonomiyaki with R, L, and J, but I met up with A and A2 on the way and they were going for curry, so....yeah, I jumped ship for curry instead. We went to this cute little restaurant and I ordered hamburg curry, which was a plate of curry sauce, rice, two hamburger patties, and a boiled egg. It was pretty good, but a bit too spicy for me! Anyway, I really enjoyed the opportunity to talk with A and A2.

12:45-14:35 Workshop IV: Team Teaching Examples and Ideas
I'm not sure the title of this workshop was entirely accurate. There were 3 ALT presenters. The first presenter was S, who basically gave an overview of her shadowing day (which I attended) and then talked about the importance of phonics and how she introduced it into her school. The next speaker was M, who also briefly talked about her shadowing day, but focused more on how to deal with a teacher who doesn't utilize you. She had some good strategies to share. Lastly was R3, who talked about basically an English program he created and introduced to his schools. Basically he only teaches his own class, which is an entire period of interactive story telling based on the appropriate grammar being studied. It was pretty interesting, but kind of a rare circumstance.

14:45-15:45 Workshop V: Sharing Ideas for Using the Shuttle Chat Booklet
The last workshop! In this workshop we actually got to work with our JTEs. We were in groups, so I was with two other ALTs and their JTEs. We had to present the Shuttle Chat activities we had created the day before. Actually, our JTEs had been there all day, but had their own separate workshops during the previous part of the day. It was a good workshop, but unfortunately kind of limited to that silly booklet.

So that was my first SDC! I actually enjoyed it a lot, despite early mornings, long days, and lots of train travel. It was kind of a good refresher to get me out of a funk. I feel a lot more energized and motivated now, so I'm excited to hopefully do more at school.

Hello December!

November ended with an insanely warm weekend of 18 degree weather, and then - BOOM - December. It was like the seasons changed literally overnight. Like some sort of official start to Winter, the first snow came on December 2nd. It started off light, but built up to a pretty thick flurry at one point. However, it ended pretty quickly and melted as soon as it touched the ground.
The next day it snowed again. It still melted pretty quickly, but some did build up on rooftops and on the mountain peaks for a short time.
The next day it rained.

Anyway, here's a photo of the first snow.

Yeah, as you can see, not very substantial.

It feels very odd to me. I can't believe this is the month of Christmas! Its probably the first time for me to experience this kind of warmth and lack of snow at this time of year. That said, I love it. I wish it was even warmer! At this point I'm beginning to regret not requesting Okinawa. However, apparently it snows a ton here and Chizu even has a snow festival. I expect it to get a lot colder and snowier. I think by the end of February it should be back to liveable temperatures. Until then, I hibernate under blankets and many, many layers.

Woke up to more significant snow on December 6th.

Woke up to more significant snow on December 6th.

November to December

I've had a fairly busy last week of November here!

Yana ready for her first day of preschool...in Japan!

On Wednesday Yana started at preschool! She attended for three days with Justin, while I was at work. She struggles a bit, but has made a best friend already and she seems to enjoy it well enough.

On Friday I had a very uneventful day, as the JHS students had tests. I pretty much sat at my desk all morning, after which I felt guilty, so in the afternoon I made up a game for my 2nd graders to play.

On Saturday afternoon we headed to a nearby JET's house for a Thanksgiving celebration party. American Thanksgiving, that is. Which is kind of ironic, because the host is from New Zealand. Anyway, that was really fun! And we got to eat lots of yummy food - even a Turkey! Yana enjoyed herself too, and got lots of attention as usual.

On Sunday Chizu ES had a happyoukai, a recital, from 12:15 to 3:45. I brought Justin and Yana along to watch. Each grade did a performance and at the end all the students in the school played an instrumental song together. This year they chose Let it Go (surprise, surprise). We spotted Yana's friend Shi-chan from preschool, so the two of them played together Shi-chan fell asleep. Then Yana smashed her face off the floor, so I had to take her out because she was crying. People are so nice here, so one of the office staff gave her a juice box and that helped.

Chizu Elementary School happyoukai. That's the entire student body.

On Sunday evening the ES teachers had a bonenkai - end of year party - which I attended. I took a rented bus into the city with some other teachers. We had the party at the Hope Star Tottori hotel. It was up in a pretty nice and huge Japanese-style room. The party was fun because we played team games and in the end our team won! We got prizes too, a soup mug. The meal was mostly seafood, so I didn't eat much, but there was a tiny steak and a slice of melon which I enjoyed (I did eat some of the other food too).

On Monday the JHS has tests again, so I decided to take paid leave. I used to opportunity to go to the preschool with Yana. I was able to meet her teacher and see what kinds of things they do. I also took the opportunity to write down the massive list of things the kids need (pajamas, apron, face mask, hand washing towels, etc.). Yana seemed to be doing alright, although she really struggles with lunch. Took her about half an hour to get down one mouthful of food. I feel for her, but all the kids eat the same lunch, so hopefully she can learn to deal with it.

On Tuesday I worked at the ES, but in the afternoon I went over to the JHS with the 5th and 6th graders for a very special ceremony. In Japan, they have traditional ceremonies to bless newly built buildings. There was a whole Shinto ceremony going on on top of the roof, but unfortunately I couldn't really see what was going on. At the end a bunch of important delegates chucked hard lumps of mochi off the roof for people to catch. Everyone was talking about how fun it was, but it was actually terrifying! One piece hit my hand and actually cracked my thumbnail in two places! It was definitely interesting, but to be honest I'm not keen to experience it again!

The mochi cakes I caught.

Note the student covering his head.

On Thursday and Friday I have the SDC - Skills Development Conference. Each prefecture has one sometime around now. Its basically an ALT conference. I will make a separate post about how that goes.

New ALT Observation Lesson

I'm not sure if this is the norm for other prefectures - although I tend to think it isn't, as I hadn't heard about it before - but in Tottori the new ALTs have an observation lesson a few months after arrival. Its a chance for the prefectural advisors, their BOE, and their main school to connect and see how the ALT is adjusting and performing.

Of course the idea of all these people coming to watch me teach made my stomach churn and I worried about the impending day of Wednesday, November 19th. What made it worse was that the Monday before, my JTE was away, so we literally had no chance to talk about the lesson. I wasn't sure what to expect at all.

I arrived at Chizu JHS on Wednesday, and the day began like any other. In the first period I taught the 3-2 class. Next was second period with the 2-2 class...and my observation lesson. I went back to the teacher's room and gathered my things. I exchanged my fleece sweater for my suit jacket and tucked in my shirt. My JTE and I went up to class.

I was expecting my observers to be there already, but I found the class to contain only my students. A few minutes after we started, they filed in. I tried my best to ignore them, but I think there were maybe five or more people watching me - my principal and vice principal, my supervisor from the BOE, and at least two people from the prefecture. I felt my cheeks heating up and the lesson really swung into gear, and the intense burning of my face wasn't helped by the fact that the students had turned on the heaters for the first time and had decided on a hellfire-like temperature. 

Overall I felt like my performance was pretty good. I walked around the class. I spoke loudly and clearly. The students were well-behaved and asked me lots of questions, since they knew they were being watched.

After the class, I met up with M, the prefectural ALT advisor, and we had a private meeting together. Meanwhile, the rest of the observers had a meeting with my JTE. I found this meeting really beneficial. Since M is American, she is a great person to talk to and I always find her helpful and understanding. We were able to talk a lot about how the schools are using me and what she thought of the lesson. I was so thrilled to hear from her that they like me and want me to stay for the whole three years! It really made me feel great to know that I have been doing a good job. I was also able to discuss the preschool situation with M, and thankfully they also seemed to have realized it would be best for Yana to join. M told me about the BOE and school's concerns about me, which were 1) that we didn't own a car, and 2) that because we didn't own a car we would have difficulties doing things with other ALTs. I thought it was hilarious that these were their two major concerns...I mean, I was expecting it would be something way worse! It was thoughtful though, that they worry about me like that. 

After about an hour, M went to talk with the BOE and my principal and vice principal without my JTE. I sat semi-awkwardly at my desk, chatting with my JTE. Once M and co. were done, we went to see them off at the entrance and bowed a million times. My supervisor told me he would push to have Yana enter the preschool, which I am so greatful for. Even though I was really nervous about the day, I felt like it was a really good opportunity to have everyone communicate and I'm so glad it happened.


Note: Since then, Yana has been approved for a trial at the preschool, with the hopes of starting for real in December! My supervisor went to talk to the head of the school about it. Additionally, one of our local acquaintances - on his own initiative after hearing about it from us - went to speak to the school about why Yana wasn't being allowed to enter. I was stunned by his kindness, especially since he runs his own separate school (another kind of forest school). So, Justin will attend with Yana for three days next week. Hopefully she does alright and can join! I will try to write a more detailed update afterwards.

Chizu ハイカラ市 2014

Today my little town had a big event on called ハイカラ市. I'm not sure what it translates to exactly - I get plush city or high collar city from the translator. Anyway, the whole thing kicked off with a retro car parade at 9:30am (why must they do things so early here...). I wasn't entirely sure what to do or where to go after that, but luckily there were enough people that we could just follow the crowd.

We walked down what is basically the main shopping street of Chizu, where they had lots of different food stalls set up. One of the first ones was a stall selling blueberry products. The old man there gave us samples (dried blueberries and blueberry jam with yogurt) and started chatting with us. I guess his child lives in Vietnam and his grandchild lives in Vancouver. People always have such neat stories to tell foreigners! Anyway, he was really kind and invited us to come to visit the blueberry farm in the summer.

We continued walking along and made a quick stop at the deer burger stand, where Justin got his beloved meal. They also gave us free samples of deer croquettes, which were tasty! Across from that stand was Chinorin Shop, which is a new shop being opened by the agricultural high school students. They sell the produce they make for pretty cheap. We took a look around - I have never seen vegetables so big! The napa cabbage was as big as Yana and the carrots were as thick as my arm!

Along the way we also met a few of the elementary school students, who called out my name. We met a group of three girls, who were very excited to meet Yana. They love touching her "golden" hair.

We crossed over the river and continued exploring. I'd never actually been to this part of town, so it was a great way to explore. We checked out a traditional garden at the back of a restaurant, which was open to the public. After that we came to a crossroads. A guy tried to explain to use what was in each direction, but I didn't understand much of what he said. We turned right. There were lots more food stalls - selling everything from rice dumplings to grilled meat sticks to pizza to french toast. There were also some stalls selling small trinkets and things like second hand clothing. We stopped for a bit so Yana could watch a story being told for the kids.

The gorgeous garden.

We came across a lady who actually lives in our building and works at the town office for the newsletter. She told us we could dress in kimono and so we followed her to the place where that was. It was 2,500Y for the three of us, which is actually pretty cheap, I think.

We went upstairs and they had ladies help us get dressed. I have worn a yukata before - a summer kimono - but never a real kimono. I was strapped in there pretty tight! It wasn't an entirely authentic experience, though. I was wearing my jeans and t-shirt underneath, so I wasn't wearing any traditional underclothes or anything.

All dressed up!

After we were dressed we wandered around the street some more. I met one of the staff from the elementary school, who wanted to take pictures of me and then pictures of her with me. If we stood out before, we definitely stood out now! People were shrieking about the cuteness of Yana as we walked by. Some girl even snapped a photo as she ran by. I don't particularly mind, but its weird to think of how many people must have photos of Yana by now. 

The old cars were on display along the streets.

Unfortunately Yana was jumping around too much, so her obi came off. We went back to the house where we got dressed, but Yana just wanted out of it by then, so we all changed back. After that she was a bit grouchy, so we ended up going home. It was a great event, though! Tons of stuff to do! If we're here another year, I'll definitely look forward to it. 

Chizu JHS Bunkasai 2014

Minus the students missing to the right, this is the entire student body.

On Monday my JHS hosted its bunkasai, or culture festival. I see it as a kind of partner to the sports festival. So its a day dedicated to celebrating artsy and cultural things, like tea ceremony, singing, art, calligraphy, flower arranging, and even English.

I brought Justin and Yana along for the day, and we arrived at work at 8am. We had to wait around for a bit until the opening ceremony began at 8:45am. It was held across from the school in the public gym, since ours is still under construction. 

Like any Japanese event, the day began with speeches. There were so many speeches, I kind of lost track. But it included my two speech contest students giving their speeches. The audience was much larger than at the contest, and the poor girls were noticeably nervous, but they did great! 

There was also a very long and detailed presentation about the life cycle of wasps, including photos taken every day over the course of several months while a wasp built a nest. I'm assuming the student must have won some sort of prize for his research/presentation and thats why he was giving it again, because it was kind of a random addition otherwise. 

Each grade also gave their own presentations. I can't remember what the 1st graders did, but the 2nd graders talked about some kind of social project and the 3rd graders talked about their trip to Okinawa, which also included a very strange and confusing comedic short film they made.

Lastly there was a performance by the brass band. They played 3 songs, including the theme from Lupin III and Sing, Sing, Sing. It was great!

Finally we had a lunch break around 11:45, thank goodness, because it was freezing cold in the gym and Yana was going bonkers from sitting for so long. I had packed a lunch for us (the other teachers bought a lunch box, but it was around $60!!! No, thanks.) so we ate in the staff kitchen.

After lunch we wandered around the school and looked at all the things on display. Yana got a lot of attention during this time; lots of my students came up to squeeze her cheeks or touch her hair. I felt like a security detail for a celebrity or something.

Some of the student artwork decorating the hallways.

After lunch was the second part of the festival, and the main event - the singing. Each class performed two songs, one the same and one different. There was also an accompanying piano player and conductor from each performing class.

Lastly, the entire student body performed the school song and another song all together. Then they announced the winning class - 3-2 - and they gave an encore performance while bawling uncontrollably.

There were a few more speeches to close up the day. During the second half, Yana had made some friends with some girls sitting nearby. At one point they decided to go out into the front hall to play tag and hide-and-seek together. So they were playing out there. During one speech, all of a sudden the spotlights began to move. They swept over the crowd and focused on the back door, which led to the front hall. In the single most mortifying moment of my life, Yana chose that EXACT MOMENT to open the doors and peer through - while the spotlight was directly on her and everyone had turned to look. Then she closed the doors. And opened them and stuck out her head again. And closed them again. And finally the student who was supposed to emerge from the doors came out (he was dressed in the track and field uniform and ran up onto the stage) and I was put out of my embarrassment. Everyone was laughing and of course because she's blonde and foreign everyone knows its my kid. It was pretty hilarious, really, but I still can't believe she chose that exact moment to peek through the doors!

So the whole event ended around 3pm. In all, to be honest, it was kind of boring. Having to sit there through all those speeches that I didn't understand and it being really cold was not fun. I was expecting something more exciting and interactive. However, I was actually being paid to attend, so I was happy to support my students and I did enjoy seeing the art and the flower arrangements! I'm thinking if I'm here next year maybe I can do a little English booth to be more involved! We'll see :)

Some of the flower arrangements.