Goal - Setting

I really find myself falling back to my college experiences in so much I do here. As I mentioned in my last entry; I was going to create a space dedicated to English/American culture. I spent 3 hours on Tuesday doing just that. Yosco is letting me do it in her room and since she spent time in Niagara Falls about ten years ago and I grew up so close to it, she wanted me to focus the space on Niagara Falls. I was like ahhh! great idea! Unfortunately, my creative juices got flowing. I'm sure those of you who live in New York and NOT New York City get annoyed at the automatic assumption that you are from the city. In fact, many people while travelling in other countries do not realize that there is a state of New York. When I try to explain that I live 8 hours from NYC and have only been there once in my life, they just don't understand. I used my bulletin board creativeness that I gained as an RA and went to work. Since being here and lost and confused all the time, I've tried setting goals for myself to make my confusing life have more direction. Goal #1 of this entry: My students will know the difference between NYS and NYC. I brought in my road map of NY that I got from AAA before leaving the USA and that was my starting point. I decided the places I was going to put ont o the map. I decided on Albany, since many people think NYC is also the capital of NYS. I chose the Adirondacks because many people are unaware they are there - and in my own personal opinion - I think they are one of the most beautiful natural places I have been to in the world (I haven't seen too much of this planet yet but hey), NYC, Long Island, Niagara Falls, Buffalo (since it's the 2nd biggest) and I also put Lockport and Plattsburgh up on the map. I printed out stars and numbered them. I taped those stars to those areas of the map. I then numbered around the map. #1 - Niagara Falls - I used a lot of tourist stuff I grabbed and brought with me, a lot of Yosco's souveniers and some random facts about the falls. I printed out a picture of Ferris and I (that's right Ferris, you're hanging on a bulletin board in Japan with me) and Yosco had a picture of her in the same exact spot. So I wrote "Wow! Sara Sensei and Yosco Sensei have walked on the same part of the earth before meeting!". # 2 - ADK Mountains - Printed out pictures that I took myself and also some from tourist magazines. # 3 - Long Island - Printed out photos from my visits there (thanks Erin, Benj). #4 - NYC - Printed out pics from my visit there and also from tourist mags. #5 - Albany! No pictures, just stating it is the capital of the state and tried writing it in Kanji. #6 - Buffalo - the 2nd largest city in NY - printed out some pics and used some tourist info. # 7 - Lockport - Where exactly did Sara Sensei come from??? Then some pics of the area. #8 Plattsburgh - Where did Sara Sensei go to University? Wrote it in Kanji ( at least i think it is right). So, if you come across Japanese people - that understand New York State - ask if they ever had an English teacher named Sara Sensei cause maybe I got through! After that, I had lunch with Yosco's class. Following that, Saijo - san showed up and went on mystery ride with him. I got my Alien Registration Card finally. When he left, I worked on learning Hiragana. I am working on the sounds that sound like a, u, e, i, o and how to write them. Yosco and Mitsue asked me to help with another speech, so I did. That kept me after school until 5:00. Typically, I would not care but Brian was picking me up shortly. I rushed home and tried to get ready in time and then realized I forgot school supplies I needed for school today (since I would be going to a different school). I hopped back on my bike and went and picked it up. Brian was early - and I was late.

Brian and I are volunteering in our area to teach adults English conversation. We will be holding a class once a week for this group of individuals that are keen on learning English and about other's cultures. They held a party in our honor last night. Of course, I needed to rely on Brian for a ride. We sorted it out that he would pick me up, then one of the students would pick us up from his place and then we'd go to the party. Afterwards, I'd spend the night at his place because it is zero tolerance on drinking and driving here (immediate grounds for deportment). Then, in the morning he'd drive me to the new school I'd be visiting since it was only 5-10 mins from his home. He came and got me and we went to his place and hung out for about 30 minutes until we were picked up by Kazuko who is the class organizer. Brian had already met everyone last week so he knew everyone, but this was my first time meeting everyone. I think there were probably about 15-20 people at the party. It was very overwhelming for me because I was trying to remember names and hobbies, etc. They gave us a speech which was really touching, thanking us so much for teaching them. Then we were both asked to give speeches too. I sure am getting used to all this public speaking - this one was impromptu and a toast. I'm going to be a master at my skills by the time I leave this country. I had a really, really, really great time. The man I sat next to - Mitsuhiro was an absolute riot. I LOVED his laugh. We had two flasks of Sake' together. In Japan, when you finish more than half your drink, the person you are near will keep filling your glass. If you don't want anymore, then leave your glass half full. I always forget this - and so I kept finishing it, thinking it's polite. Then, MORE sake for me! Between my 3 or 4 glasses of white wine and our flasks of sake, I was really having a blast. The people in the class are so lovely. Some of them like to hike, so I expressed that I would love to join them. There is a woman who does Tea Ceremony and she said she would love to teach me. Mitsuhiro is an avid runner, which leads me to goal # 2 of this blog. There is a 10km race in Ishinomaki on October 22. I want to do it. I told him, I want to - and he is going to get the information for me. Great plan. The women sitting across from me were friendly and one is "semi-vegetarian" too. I don't know what that means but she was psyched that I was a vegetarian - probably the first Japanese person who is happy about me being vego. We were there for probably 3 hours. I'll get pictures up ASAP. They took pictures of Brian and I like we were royalty. I can't wait to see them myself. I am really excited to do this class - and plan it with Brian - it gives us a lot of freedom unlike the school system which follows pretty rigid procedures it seems. Afterwards, we got dropped off at Brians and we hung out for a bit before calling it a night.

This brings me to today. I went to Kanan Higashi (East) Junior High School today for the first time. I arrive and the Kocho - Sensei and my JTE (Japanese Teacher of English) talk with me for 30 minutes. I then am introduced to all the teachers and am asked to do yet another impromptu speech - which I kind of just stole from all the other speeches i've been doing in the past. After that, my JTE discussed briefly what we would be doing in class today. That means today was my official first day of teaching. It wasn't anything spectacular to be honest. I hope my base JHS is better. I did my self introduction. I created posters of my favorite music, foods, hobbies, etc. I had a map of the USA and stickers on NY state and where I've lived. I had the USA flag, passed around photos of my family, did a small quiz, etc. When I would ask the students questions, they generally just stared at me, I don't know but I'm pretty sure they couldn't understand anything I was saying. After my intro, my JTE went back through and translated it all into English. I'm pretty sure if 8th graders didn't understand my material, the 1st graders I'll be with tomorrow will be absolutely clueless. Wonderful. They got to ask me questions, some of them being "what is your favorite animal?" "are you married?" "Where do you live now?" "What is your favorite sport?"etc. Pretty simple. Following that, for one class we reviewed words they learned before summer vacation. I was asked to read certain words and that was it. Boooorrriiinnnng...

The next class...same intro...different lesson. Let me tell you, how awkward it is to be asked to read a short story in English about the bombing of Hiroshima. "HI! My name is Sara and I'm from the USA!!!!" Twenty minutes later, "And then the USA bombed Hiroshima and many people died, including innocent women and children..." read by none other than me, the new American in their school!!!!!! It sucked. After reading it to them, they had to repeat the whole short story. So....Sara Sensei read sentence, students repeat, Sara Sensei repeat sentence, students repeat...this was for like twenty minutes. I was bored!!!! Those poor students. I need to change that and I am going to. Goal # 3 - Make learning fun! It's possible - but I don't know how much freedom I will be granted since I'm only in that school at most twice a week. But man, this is everything that all my teaching books tell me NOT to do. Do NOT make students just repeat. Next week, I've arranged that they make name tags for their desks. They will be making three fold paper with their calling name and i'm asking them to draw pictures of things they like to do or write in English things they like to do. At least that won't be so bad. I e-mailed the girl I replaced to see how flexible my JTE might be in letting me do the lesson plans. I asked the JTE if i can do any type of reward system with the students. She said she would talk to me about it later...which we didn't. The rest of my day consisted of me looking at how to do lesson plans and be effective in the classroom. Goal # 4 - I want to be the best damn teacher that I can be. I also worked on my hiragana. My script is pretty bad, but I think I am learning a bit. I'm not at lightning speed here - but a bit at a time. =)

My sub - supervisor, Akki, picked me up and introduced me to the BOE for this school district that I'm in. Of course, impromptu speech number 3 of the past two days. This one needed to be in Japanese - and I have no practiced my Japanese speaking in like 3 days. I tried - I did pretty bad - but I just laughed at myself. No worries. Akki dropped me home and I went back to my base JHS in Monou. I told them I would be in today again to help with the speeches again. I came in around 5:00. Brownie points for me!!!!! That's not why I did it - but wow Kocho - Sensei was soooooooo kind to me! He actually SMILED at me! Other teachers were thanking me for coming in to help the students, etc. I mean really it's no big deal - I have no life anyways, I enjoy being around my base school and the students. I stayed at school until about 7:00. I told them that I would be back tomorrow at the same time to help after I am done with Elementary School teaching. I was praised and thanked even more. Honestly, I dont mind!!! I'd be pretty happy if one of my girls that I am helping with the speech makes it to the finals. We'll see. I also helped two girls at the other JHS I was at during the day today. I am spending my free time with my base JHS, I feel way more comfortable there.

That brings me to now - yea, pretty boring entry I'm sure, but I'm keeping this blog for my own memories as well. My last 24 hours were pretty memorable. I'm quite tired and need to be extra genki (energetic, crazy, fun) tomorrow for elementary kids. I'll post those pics as soon as I have them e-mailed to me!

Thanks for reading -

Sara Sensei