Rainy June

 Weather’s been crazy during this week. Almost every day around 3 or 4 it starts raining heavily for about half an hour or so. I’m glad I did laundry early in the morning…!

I already finished my second month at work. No major changes, or at least, not the changes I was waiting for. Someone from the local Board of Education came to see some the lessons and asked me if I was happy with the working style in the schools…well, not that I get much to say about it but since I am spending two hours to commute to work daily I would like to participate a bit more…maybe I was wrong telling them what I was actually thinking but I do really want those kids to learn English (or enjoy it). Obviously for me it takes no effort just standing there in a corner doing nothing and not having to prepare stuff nor think about the lessons, but…I don’t think that’s good for kids either, and that’s what really matters. Teachers cannot speak English at all in some cases and I can see in their lack of enthusiasm when teaching English that they hate it, and I am there anyway so…I would really like to make kids enjoy English now, because they will hate it when they get in junior-high.

I was talking to a friend the other day and he told me that the problem might be the fact that I am not a teacher. That I do not own a bachelor’s degree on Education nor the teaching license. Well, I have a bachelor’s degree on Translation and Interpreting and they laugh at my face when I say it because here it’s just a test… anyway. I’ve been coaching figure skating for 6 years (with the corresponding license), I have been teaching in summer schools (with the license to do it) and I have taught English in language schools. And I bet you that more than a license it’s the attitude what makes you a teacher…you can own a license or have a degree and suck at it anyway. You can consider yourself a teacher but being disrespectful to other people in front of the kids shows how much of a good teacher you are (this actually happened…). Saying this won’t change the fact that I won’t be considered as a teacher but I am happy to know that I can do a good job and make kids learn something useful when given the chance to teach, even if this doesn’t make me a teacher “officially”.  Of course I have been considering studying something related to my job so I don’t have to deal with this anymore J (the only problem by now is the money, yey!).

Changing a bit the topic, the thing is that I miss studying. I have too much free time. I know that I could do something like having a hobby but…I’m used to a working while studying lifestyle and I kind of miss it. On a brighter note, last week I decided to do something to keep the motivation up on my battle to lose weight: swimming.

I have always liked swimming (okay, I didn’t like it on elementary school because a teacher just pushed me into the water and he was scary and I just freaked out…), but I like swimming at my own pace. I actually swim about 1500 meters in about 45 minutes which is not bad considering I have spent the last two years doing nothing and having an amazing swollen ankle. The thing is that it took me a lot of effort finding somewhere I can swim. Why? Because of the tattoo. Most gyms in Japan don’t let you register if you have tattoos (at least visible as mine…) and I had a hard time looking for places where I can get into the pool without taping my tattoo. I bought a new swimming suit that almost covers it all and I found out the swimming pool next to my house lets you in if your tattoo doesn’t exceed the size of a fist, which is my case. It’s very close to the place where I live, 2 minutes by foot (or less) but it only has 3 25m lanes and you can’t do U turn, you must change lane. Also they make a 10 minute break every hour so I have to be extremely punctual if I want to swim without interruptions. Also the use of soap and shampoo of any kind is forbidden (because the floor gets slippery…). But they have a machine that leaves your swimming suit almost dry in a matter of seconds. It costs 400 yen for 2 hours. Not bad but I miss my hometown’s pool. Never thought I would say this.

And this is how my June was. I missed Saint John’s parties and all but this year I will spend my birthday home with my family so I am really looking forward to it!

My first month as an ALT

Looks like the rainy season already started in Tokyo.

Last week I completed my first month as an ALT, so I decided to write some thoughts and experiences about it, to share it with people who might be interested or in my same situation and also to keep track of it myself and notice my own improvements (I wonder if this will happen…?).

I am teaching in three different schools, this means, teaching with about 15 different teachers, each of them with a personal teaching style, which may include extreme preparation or total lack of it, use of technologies in a proper, improper, nonexistent way, use of the ALT to pronounce, to take part in activities or just to sit in a corner for 45 minutes. Then there are teachers who get detailed instructions and…well, feel free to change everything into doing nothing for 25 minutes. So, considering that I am just a parrot standing there with my best smile in most of the occasions it is difficult to consider myself a teacher, and even more when they call “teacher” their homeroom teacher but they call me “miss”!

But, there are good things too!

Like when you meet kids outside the school and the next day they come and tell you ‘I saw you!’ (it was very awkward when I had to spend 30 minutes on the same train with a student and her mother, though), when they follow you around the school asking you stuff or just shouting “I love you very much, you’re cute and lovely”, when they get excited because you’re going to their classroom to eat lunch with them, or when you see them smiling because they are having fun while learning.

Also, this is my first year so I am still lacking a lot of experience and confidence, and the first week was pretty hard. Now I am getting more confident everyday and I feel very happy when teachers compliment me. There is that one teacher in one of the schools who I admire a lot and I love his teaching style. I was able to attend one of his math classes last week and I thought it was amazing. I wish someone could have taught me math like that when I was in 6^th grade, the first time I failed a test with 47 points. Good teachers make you feel interested no matter how boring the subject might be. I would like to attend his classes during my free time just to take notes about class management. I would also like to ask him about his hair, if it’s his natural hair color...that guy is made of awesomeness.

The other day I was on my way to the school and I saw a kid who didn’t want to go to school. These things happen and I was running late so didn’t pay much attention. During the first period I was sitting in the English classroom reading a book (because I had nothing to do, these things happen...) when I saw the girl on the corridor with her mother and a teacher. I went outside and I introduced myself and asked her name…spoke a bit to her and she replied to me in English, which was very nice (and unexpected!) for a first grader. After classes the teacher came to me and told me the kid has a heart disease and she lacks confidence so sometimes she doesn’t want to go to school. Looks like the kid is taking an English course by correspondence, and being able to exchange some words with me made her feel more confident and after that she went to her classroom. I felt so happy about it.

 On the other hand, on Friday I had to deal with one of the most difficult groups and I was surprised because the homeroom teacher left the room and I was thrown to the river all alone and I could control the situation without losing my temper. Must say that I freaked out the first time I got into that classroom, it was like...wild. Actually, I bought a book some days ago, ESL Games: 176 English Language Games for Children by Shelley Ann Vernon, and it was really helpful, not only because it includes a bunch of games, also has some easy tips on class management. I found particularly useful the one on giving them the power to choose: instead of “we will do boring stuff if you do not behave properly”, “we can do boring stuff or we can have fun, what do you prefer?” kind of style. And I was able to say it in Japanese without hesitating (I do speak Japanese fluently but when I get nervous I do weird word-choices...), so it gave my confidence an unexpected boost on a rainy and gloomy Friday.

Anyway, having the situation under control, receiving compliments from teachers who I admire, having fun with kids made me feel more confident so I am really looking forward to increasing my teaching opportunities instead of just being a parrot standing in a corner. Let’s see how June turns out!