I think, that is the main thought that keeps a teacher going.
Although I do not teach the 3rd year students officially, I had some 3rd year students approach me to help them with writing or speaking outside classes. 2 particular students whom I had helped last month to prepare them for their university entrance examinations, both passed their exams and got a place in the universities that they wanted to go! Imaike whom I helped with writing and Yaida whom I helped with preparing for a interview with the university. Although I only gave some advice and seen them like 3 times only, both of them (and their form teachers) came to look for me, bowed and thanked me so sincerely that I am so touched. I doubt any of my students in Singapore will do such things!
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Sunday, November 29, 2009
It's autumn!
I love how the leaves turn yellow and then red... such beautiful colours!!!
Life has been great and I am most probably going to extend my contract to stay 1 more year!
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Learning Japanese
Out of hiragana, katakana and kanji, the 3 forms of japanese writing, I have the least affinity with katakana. I do not know why I find it so difficult to remember how they are written and even after I recognize them, it is difficult to make sense of what they mean!
Katakana is used for direct translation of foreign words based on how they sound like. But seriously.... can you guess what the following words mean?
1. iyahon
2. u-ru
3. epuron
4. raion
5. bideo
6. kashimiya
7. kuizu
8. nekutai
9. goru
10. gurasu
11. arerugi
12. sa-bisu
13. se-ru
14. taoru
Sigh.........
Answers
1. earphone
2. wool
3. apron
4. lion
5. video
6. cashmere
7. quiz
8. necktie
9. goal
10. glass
11. allergy
12. service
13. sale
14. towel
Katakana is used for direct translation of foreign words based on how they sound like. But seriously.... can you guess what the following words mean?
1. iyahon
2. u-ru
3. epuron
4. raion
5. bideo
6. kashimiya
7. kuizu
8. nekutai
9. goru
10. gurasu
11. arerugi
12. sa-bisu
13. se-ru
14. taoru
Sigh.........
Answers
1. earphone
2. wool
3. apron
4. lion
5. video
6. cashmere
7. quiz
8. necktie
9. goal
10. glass
11. allergy
12. service
13. sale
14. towel
Travel Bug
I really love to travel and explore new places. I am going to start a map to tag where are the places I have visited in Japan!!!
My map
My map
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Multi Tasker
When we use the above term for our life as teachers in Singapore, I think that the teachers in Japan are true multi taskers. I really admire them for their hard work and dedication!
First, the working hours are really long! Even though lessons start at 9am officially, most teachers are in school by 7.30am to conduct morning supplementary classes. Then, they are rotated on night duties where they take turns to patrol the school, make sure all students have gone home and all doors/gates are locked. There are no such things as school servants in Japan. So I was shocked that some teachers go home as late as 9 or 10pm, especially before exams where night revision lessons are conducted and they have to lock up the gates and arm the security system.
Next, CCA. Over here, it's called clubs here and joining a club is means strong dedication to your club. They have club activities EVERY DAY. Yes. Including Sundays. So as I hear the baseball club / tennis club / brass band etc etc training on saturdays and sundays... I wonder about the poor teacher in charge...
Then, the next shocking thing to me is that because there's no school servants, the whole school's cleanliness depends on the school teachers and students. Every teacher is in charge of an area to clean and they supervise the students in the cleaning period which occurs every school day. So you have kids coming into the teachers' room to empty your bins etc. And the staff toilets, are cleaned by teachers themselves! They have a duty roster and the female teachers will clean the female toilet while the male teachers will clean the male toilet.
I really salute them!
First, the working hours are really long! Even though lessons start at 9am officially, most teachers are in school by 7.30am to conduct morning supplementary classes. Then, they are rotated on night duties where they take turns to patrol the school, make sure all students have gone home and all doors/gates are locked. There are no such things as school servants in Japan. So I was shocked that some teachers go home as late as 9 or 10pm, especially before exams where night revision lessons are conducted and they have to lock up the gates and arm the security system.
Next, CCA. Over here, it's called clubs here and joining a club is means strong dedication to your club. They have club activities EVERY DAY. Yes. Including Sundays. So as I hear the baseball club / tennis club / brass band etc etc training on saturdays and sundays... I wonder about the poor teacher in charge...
Then, the next shocking thing to me is that because there's no school servants, the whole school's cleanliness depends on the school teachers and students. Every teacher is in charge of an area to clean and they supervise the students in the cleaning period which occurs every school day. So you have kids coming into the teachers' room to empty your bins etc. And the staff toilets, are cleaned by teachers themselves! They have a duty roster and the female teachers will clean the female toilet while the male teachers will clean the male toilet.
I really salute them!
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Natural Disasters
With the recent spate of natural disasters, it is no surprise that Japan will also get its fair share.
So here, I have experienced tremors and upcoming, a typhoon. According to weather forecasts, typhoon 18 is headed our way and we are expected to get strong gale and high waves.
I wonder how it will be like. But for now, I just know that I am very cold. Last night, I wore a wollen long sleeve turtleneck to sleep. And it's just the start of autumn! Lol.
So here, I have experienced tremors and upcoming, a typhoon. According to weather forecasts, typhoon 18 is headed our way and we are expected to get strong gale and high waves.
I wonder how it will be like. But for now, I just know that I am very cold. Last night, I wore a wollen long sleeve turtleneck to sleep. And it's just the start of autumn! Lol.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Updates updates! I am so sorry for not posting!
Hi all,
When I first started this blog, my idea was to update this daily. However, I just got lazy because there are so many things to share and I figured that uploading photos often on facebook will more than suffice!
But of course, I should really give you more details! But as I said, too many things! So I shall just summarize some for today's post.
Living in Fukuoka
I've settled in pretty well. I can take the public transport without fear as I've gotten all the cards and know the routes that can get me to the major places. I've memorized my home address and I can walk around the neighbourhood without getting lost. I love cooking for myself and I think my cooking skills have improved or mainly soup boiling skills. Lol. I love buying udon/ramen and then putting them into the soup that I cooked. I love making pasta too! I love grocery shopping and 100 yen shops. I get along very well with one of my neighbours - Lori and she's like my the other half these days since we hang out with each other often.
The only negative things are the bugs... I've met a big spider in my bedroom... it cast a shadow on me when I was watching tv and I freaked out when I saw it. Lonely Planet Japan was a good weapon to smash it to bits. I've also seen the dreaded mukade (Japanese centipede) in my shower room. It was lucky I didn't step on it when I enter the shower room. I can still visualise the way it wriggled to hide under my tub. ARGHS! Luckily I sms my only male foreign neighbour Mahendar who's a 3rd year ALT from India and he rushed over with his girlfriend and the mukade died of many slaps from a slipper. (actually the grossest thing was when Mahendar picked it up to throw away, it was still alive!!!!!) There's a cricket living in my ceiling which I do not know how to get rid of because it jumps so fast and I do not want it to land on my face. Met another gross spider while I was showering and it died under endless sprays of hot water. And a gecko(lizard) decided to sneak into my house when I opened my door to enter the apt. I saw a shadow dart into the porch but as it was the same colour as my porch's stone floor, I couldn't really see it until I used my long umbrella to poke the area and out flew the lizard. ARGHZ! I didn't kill this as I figured he will be useful to help me eat up the numerous spiders along the stair well so I took a long time to chase it out of my apt. Oh, there's a dead cockroach on my balcony after it scared me while I was hanging clothes and it died under bubble foam insecticide.
Working in Fukuoka
Work life has been pretty good. Boring sometimes because I have so much free time to play with that I get sleepy and tired often. So by the end of the day when I reach home, I am really tired... strange to say.. from doing nothing much! My working hours is that I muz report by 8.30am and I can go back at 4.15pm.
This is my timetable:
Monday:
10.00-10.50 Class 1-4
15.35-15.40 Supervise cleaning in Language Lab
16.00-17.00 English Speaking Society (CCA)
Tuesday:
No lessons
15.35-15.40 Supervise cleaning in Language Lab
Wednesday:
09.00-09.50 Class 1-1
10.00-10.50 Class 3-4
12.00-12.50 Class 1-6
13.35-14.25 Class 1-2
Thursday
11.00-11.50 Class 1-5
15.35-15.40 Supervise cleaning in Language Lab
Friday
11.00-11.50 Class 1-3
12.50-13.25 Lunch with English Speaking Society members
13.35-14.25 Class 3-4
15.35-15.40 Supervise cleaning in Language Lab
So there's lotsa free time but I spend much time planning lessons because over here, they don't really use IT equipment to teach. Strange for a country with such advanced technology! So for me who's used to using powerpoint, I find myself having to DIY posters/cards/display boards for teaching and having to think of ideas that doesn't require me to use the projector but only the chalk board. Yeah... CHALK board. I hate breathing in the chalk dust. The only projector is a portable one which I have to lug around and set it up in class which takes much time. So.... sigh. Back to basics!
The students are generally ok, I haven't met any scary or horrible kids (hopefully not) since my school is supposed to be a pretty good academic school and since they are 16-18, they are quite mature.
That's all for this post... will try to update more...
When I first started this blog, my idea was to update this daily. However, I just got lazy because there are so many things to share and I figured that uploading photos often on facebook will more than suffice!
But of course, I should really give you more details! But as I said, too many things! So I shall just summarize some for today's post.
Living in Fukuoka
I've settled in pretty well. I can take the public transport without fear as I've gotten all the cards and know the routes that can get me to the major places. I've memorized my home address and I can walk around the neighbourhood without getting lost. I love cooking for myself and I think my cooking skills have improved or mainly soup boiling skills. Lol. I love buying udon/ramen and then putting them into the soup that I cooked. I love making pasta too! I love grocery shopping and 100 yen shops. I get along very well with one of my neighbours - Lori and she's like my the other half these days since we hang out with each other often.
The only negative things are the bugs... I've met a big spider in my bedroom... it cast a shadow on me when I was watching tv and I freaked out when I saw it. Lonely Planet Japan was a good weapon to smash it to bits. I've also seen the dreaded mukade (Japanese centipede) in my shower room. It was lucky I didn't step on it when I enter the shower room. I can still visualise the way it wriggled to hide under my tub. ARGHS! Luckily I sms my only male foreign neighbour Mahendar who's a 3rd year ALT from India and he rushed over with his girlfriend and the mukade died of many slaps from a slipper. (actually the grossest thing was when Mahendar picked it up to throw away, it was still alive!!!!!) There's a cricket living in my ceiling which I do not know how to get rid of because it jumps so fast and I do not want it to land on my face. Met another gross spider while I was showering and it died under endless sprays of hot water. And a gecko(lizard) decided to sneak into my house when I opened my door to enter the apt. I saw a shadow dart into the porch but as it was the same colour as my porch's stone floor, I couldn't really see it until I used my long umbrella to poke the area and out flew the lizard. ARGHZ! I didn't kill this as I figured he will be useful to help me eat up the numerous spiders along the stair well so I took a long time to chase it out of my apt. Oh, there's a dead cockroach on my balcony after it scared me while I was hanging clothes and it died under bubble foam insecticide.
Working in Fukuoka
Work life has been pretty good. Boring sometimes because I have so much free time to play with that I get sleepy and tired often. So by the end of the day when I reach home, I am really tired... strange to say.. from doing nothing much! My working hours is that I muz report by 8.30am and I can go back at 4.15pm.
This is my timetable:
Monday:
10.00-10.50 Class 1-4
15.35-15.40 Supervise cleaning in Language Lab
16.00-17.00 English Speaking Society (CCA)
Tuesday:
No lessons
15.35-15.40 Supervise cleaning in Language Lab
Wednesday:
09.00-09.50 Class 1-1
10.00-10.50 Class 3-4
12.00-12.50 Class 1-6
13.35-14.25 Class 1-2
Thursday
11.00-11.50 Class 1-5
15.35-15.40 Supervise cleaning in Language Lab
Friday
11.00-11.50 Class 1-3
12.50-13.25 Lunch with English Speaking Society members
13.35-14.25 Class 3-4
15.35-15.40 Supervise cleaning in Language Lab
So there's lotsa free time but I spend much time planning lessons because over here, they don't really use IT equipment to teach. Strange for a country with such advanced technology! So for me who's used to using powerpoint, I find myself having to DIY posters/cards/display boards for teaching and having to think of ideas that doesn't require me to use the projector but only the chalk board. Yeah... CHALK board. I hate breathing in the chalk dust. The only projector is a portable one which I have to lug around and set it up in class which takes much time. So.... sigh. Back to basics!
The students are generally ok, I haven't met any scary or horrible kids (hopefully not) since my school is supposed to be a pretty good academic school and since they are 16-18, they are quite mature.
That's all for this post... will try to update more...
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