Hi,
Just wanted to let you know that I won't be posting anything until next week. Hiroki and I are off to Niigata for a week. I'll write more later...
Thursday, July 29, 2004
Thursday, July 15, 2004
mind block
I think it’s been a week (again) since I was able to get back to this. I have finally decided what my topic will be for that speech that I have to do in Oct (good thing as the deadline is tomorrow). I’m going to do a comparison between Canada and Japan, both the country and the culture, so I think I’ll be able to cover a lot. The whole thing was really stressing me out, I feel some relief in finally having chosen a topic.
One thing we do everyday at the school (or almost every day) is cleaning. The students clean an assigned area of the school for 10 minutes after lunch. At my school, there are 3 grades and each grade has 3 homeroom classes. (My school is relatively small.) Each grade is responsible for a certain area, and that is further broken down into classes. The students from each class are grouped into about 5 or 6 people, and in each room there is a wheel that is spun to show which group is responsible for which area for those 2 weeks. I ‘watch’ the students who clean the hall in front of the staff room. Some of them get the brooms, while a couple of them 1/2 crawl and 1/2 run up and down the hall, pushing a rag to clean the floor. And then there is the most despised position-the person who must use the small broom and dustpan to sweep up all of the dirt. And of course, while the students (and I)are busy sweeping and cleaning, we get to listen to the music being piped in over the loudspeakers-first it’s one of the Sound of Music songs (maybe My Favourite Things?) in Muzak, and then there’s Heigh Ho, from Snow White (also Muzak). It’s quite funny, I think. One time when we were cleaning, the principal came out of his office to talk to the students and to get them to do a bit of extra cleaning. (This was before it became so hot that the students were using brooms to prop themselves up rather than to clean.) To motivate the girls, he said that they will make great brides one day. (I was thinking AARRGGHH!) but the girls were so pleased to hear that. Then he told the boys to be strong and to continue with the cleaning. What can you do?
I don’t know if I have properly explained my job here. Most days, that is days that I am working only as an assistant, I am basically the Vanna White of teachers. The Japanese teachers explain everything in Japanese and I smile and nod. Sometimes I get to model correct pronunciation or to read aloud a new conversation so that the students can here how to pronounce the words. Sometimes I teach the elective English classes, in which I am basically in control and I can decide what to teach. I like these classes more, but they can be frustrating when everyone thinks that they can’t understand English and they are very nervous about trying to understand me. On days when I am teaching at the elementary schools, I become the main teacher and the Japanese teacher is there mainly for crowd control. It’s better for me as the classes are usually consecutive and therefore I seem to spend less time waiting around. Oh well, I can’t really complain. Summer holidays are coming up so soon. Yay!
Hiroki had a lot of fun for his birthday. All of his cousins came over for dinner and cake. He has a lot more fun now with other kids and he does his best to imitate them.
He didn’t really know what it was about but he looked very pleased when everyone started to sing Happy Birthday to him and I brought in his cake. I had been singing it to him for a while so that he would (maybe?) understand what was going on. A couple of days after that, we got a beautiful card from Carolyn and I told him that she had made it for his birthday, and he tried to sing Happy Birthday! He knows some of the words to a lot of songs now and he’ll try to sing a long. It’s so cool.
Enough for now…
One thing we do everyday at the school (or almost every day) is cleaning. The students clean an assigned area of the school for 10 minutes after lunch. At my school, there are 3 grades and each grade has 3 homeroom classes. (My school is relatively small.) Each grade is responsible for a certain area, and that is further broken down into classes. The students from each class are grouped into about 5 or 6 people, and in each room there is a wheel that is spun to show which group is responsible for which area for those 2 weeks. I ‘watch’ the students who clean the hall in front of the staff room. Some of them get the brooms, while a couple of them 1/2 crawl and 1/2 run up and down the hall, pushing a rag to clean the floor. And then there is the most despised position-the person who must use the small broom and dustpan to sweep up all of the dirt. And of course, while the students (and I)are busy sweeping and cleaning, we get to listen to the music being piped in over the loudspeakers-first it’s one of the Sound of Music songs (maybe My Favourite Things?) in Muzak, and then there’s Heigh Ho, from Snow White (also Muzak). It’s quite funny, I think. One time when we were cleaning, the principal came out of his office to talk to the students and to get them to do a bit of extra cleaning. (This was before it became so hot that the students were using brooms to prop themselves up rather than to clean.) To motivate the girls, he said that they will make great brides one day. (I was thinking AARRGGHH!) but the girls were so pleased to hear that. Then he told the boys to be strong and to continue with the cleaning. What can you do?
I don’t know if I have properly explained my job here. Most days, that is days that I am working only as an assistant, I am basically the Vanna White of teachers. The Japanese teachers explain everything in Japanese and I smile and nod. Sometimes I get to model correct pronunciation or to read aloud a new conversation so that the students can here how to pronounce the words. Sometimes I teach the elective English classes, in which I am basically in control and I can decide what to teach. I like these classes more, but they can be frustrating when everyone thinks that they can’t understand English and they are very nervous about trying to understand me. On days when I am teaching at the elementary schools, I become the main teacher and the Japanese teacher is there mainly for crowd control. It’s better for me as the classes are usually consecutive and therefore I seem to spend less time waiting around. Oh well, I can’t really complain. Summer holidays are coming up so soon. Yay!
Hiroki had a lot of fun for his birthday. All of his cousins came over for dinner and cake. He has a lot more fun now with other kids and he does his best to imitate them.
He didn’t really know what it was about but he looked very pleased when everyone started to sing Happy Birthday to him and I brought in his cake. I had been singing it to him for a while so that he would (maybe?) understand what was going on. A couple of days after that, we got a beautiful card from Carolyn and I told him that she had made it for his birthday, and he tried to sing Happy Birthday! He knows some of the words to a lot of songs now and he’ll try to sing a long. It’s so cool.
Enough for now…
Thursday, July 08, 2004
some random thoughts
Well, it’s been a while since I was able to get back to this…Last week was pretty gross weather wise. On Wednesday, it was raining and thunder storming so much that the train I take to school wasn’t even running. Atsunobu’s mom very kindly drove me to school, only to have the power go out for about an hour. Needless to say, I didn’t get any computer work done that day. Lately it’s been very hot and muggy. The high today is 32 degrees. It’s not as muggy today but it’s still hot. I am not looking forward to the summer.
When I walk to the school in the morning from the train station I have to walk through the school field. There is a baseball diamond, a soccer field, and a tennis court there. The kids come early (at least earlier than I do, and I arrive at 8 am) to play their sports, as well as practicing after school. As I was coming to school today I was watching the kids in their various states of undress and thinking ‘that just wouldn’t happen in Canada.’ They wear their gym clothes under their uniforms, so when they are finished, they just put their uniform back on over their gym clothes. Remember, even at 8 in the morning it’s about 30 degrees. I am sure that we had to change our clothes every time we did something sports like, at least in junior high school. I don’t remember changing clothes in elementary school…can anyone verify that?
Seeing the kids get changed reminded me of when I was teaching at the kindergarten here and how shocked I was when the kids came to school in their school uniform, only to strip down to their underwear and change into their other uniform. (And of course, before they went home they had to change again!) I was so surprised to see that many 5 year olds standing around in their underwear, another thing that just would not happen in Canada.
I can’t believe that Hiroki is going to be 2 on Sunday. When I look at him lying down, I feel like he has grown so much! I guess he looks tall. If I think about the difference a year has made in his life, it’s astounding. He has started walking, running, talking, both in English and Japanese. He has gone from being taken care of by mainly me, to Atsunobu’s mom, to daycare. I think he has adapted pretty well. Lately Atsunobu’s mom has had trouble convincing him to get in the car to come back home when it’s time to pick him up. They have started to play in the pool lately, a big factor in his unwillingness to leave. Unfortunately, he was sick again on Sunday with quite a high fever and now he’s got some red spots happening. I think we’ll have to go to the doctor once more and see what those are about.
And I haven’t forgotten about putting Hiroki’s pictures on this site. I took some pix and may have downloaded them on to the computer (the camera instructions were in French, the operating system on the computer is Japanese, it’s going to take some time.) I haven’t been able to locate the pix yet on the computer. When I get that worked out, I will put up some updated pictures.
Thank you to everyone who is commenting and sending me some ideas about what to do for my presentation. I have no idea how many people are coming, and I don’t know if I’m supposed to teach them anything. I think it’s supposed to be an opportunity for people who live in the city I work for to come and listen to stuff in English. Apparently we have access to various types of media…
More later.
When I walk to the school in the morning from the train station I have to walk through the school field. There is a baseball diamond, a soccer field, and a tennis court there. The kids come early (at least earlier than I do, and I arrive at 8 am) to play their sports, as well as practicing after school. As I was coming to school today I was watching the kids in their various states of undress and thinking ‘that just wouldn’t happen in Canada.’ They wear their gym clothes under their uniforms, so when they are finished, they just put their uniform back on over their gym clothes. Remember, even at 8 in the morning it’s about 30 degrees. I am sure that we had to change our clothes every time we did something sports like, at least in junior high school. I don’t remember changing clothes in elementary school…can anyone verify that?
Seeing the kids get changed reminded me of when I was teaching at the kindergarten here and how shocked I was when the kids came to school in their school uniform, only to strip down to their underwear and change into their other uniform. (And of course, before they went home they had to change again!) I was so surprised to see that many 5 year olds standing around in their underwear, another thing that just would not happen in Canada.
I can’t believe that Hiroki is going to be 2 on Sunday. When I look at him lying down, I feel like he has grown so much! I guess he looks tall. If I think about the difference a year has made in his life, it’s astounding. He has started walking, running, talking, both in English and Japanese. He has gone from being taken care of by mainly me, to Atsunobu’s mom, to daycare. I think he has adapted pretty well. Lately Atsunobu’s mom has had trouble convincing him to get in the car to come back home when it’s time to pick him up. They have started to play in the pool lately, a big factor in his unwillingness to leave. Unfortunately, he was sick again on Sunday with quite a high fever and now he’s got some red spots happening. I think we’ll have to go to the doctor once more and see what those are about.
And I haven’t forgotten about putting Hiroki’s pictures on this site. I took some pix and may have downloaded them on to the computer (the camera instructions were in French, the operating system on the computer is Japanese, it’s going to take some time.) I haven’t been able to locate the pix yet on the computer. When I get that worked out, I will put up some updated pictures.
Thank you to everyone who is commenting and sending me some ideas about what to do for my presentation. I have no idea how many people are coming, and I don’t know if I’m supposed to teach them anything. I think it’s supposed to be an opportunity for people who live in the city I work for to come and listen to stuff in English. Apparently we have access to various types of media…
More later.
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