Almost time to go

After over two months since my last post, I'm now in the final 11 days before I head off to Japan. While my training in Mito city does not begin until the 22nd of this month, I decided to leave earlier to spend a week in Kyoto. It is strange how it's been over a year since I was last in Japan. While my girlfriend came to visit me for two weeks, I feel I should spend a bit more time with her before starting my new job. Fortunately, while we will be apart (again), we'll at least be in the same country this time (laughs).

Since my last post, the company has confirmed where I will be working - Kamisu city, in the southern part of Ibaraki prefecture. To give you an idea, it's about an hour and a half drive away from Tokyo.
I've never been to Kamisu city before, let alone the Ibaraki prefecture, and neither have any of my friends. As far as I can tell it is a rural area - something I was not surprised about, and I certainly do welcome the opportunity to experience a different aspect of Japan, as all of my previous experiences have been in the major cities.

Despite some training being provided, I am admittedly nervous, as I will be teaching elementary school kids. Because of this, I have been told I will be running the class, and coming up with lesson plans, as opposed to assisting - a role that is usually more for foreigners working high school students. They have told me that there is a syllabus to work from, but I am also free to write up my own material. Having no experience in teaching children in a classroom environment, I am panicking a little bit. However, I know that there are other resources available online for teaching english as a second language - resources that I used in preparation for my demo lesson for the interview process (and follow up interviews for city placement). Furthermore, my mother used to be an English teacher, and has been providing me with advice on materials, and how to write up lesson plans.

I know that the first few weeks will be particularly stressful, just as it was stressful adjusting to studying abroad. Hopefully, I can adjust fairly quickly this time around. I will probably look in to support groups for foreigners teaching working in Japan. I have heard and briefly come across such a thing while job hunting earlier this year, so I think I'll follow up on that before I go.