Three Weeks of Nothing

Well, as I mentioned in my previous post, Japan's Prime Minister has ordered that all schools be closed until the end of spring vacation. Naturally, many people are upset about the suddenness of the announcement, not to mention that Abe apparently did not bother to do any consultation or coordinate how to pull this off while minimizing the impact across the country.

I was more concerned about my fate in all this, and whether or not I will be working and or getting paid for March. Well, I received an email from my employer after school last Friday, and fortunately I will be going to school until the end of semester - regardless of the fact that there are no students, and no classes during that time. While I have been instructed to plan lessons and help the teachers, the fact that I'm out by the end of the semester has me feeling tuned out from all of this. Fortunately, I'm keeping myself busy at my schools.
At junior high school, I'm reviewing the new textbooks that 5th and 6th graders will be using at elementary school next year. In addition for 5th and 6th grade, English will be taught as a proper subject, as opposed to "foreign language activity" (外国活動）. Looking at the textbooks, there is certainly a lot more material compared to what they went through this year. In addition, it's feeling a lot like Junior High School level of content they're doing - at the very least JHS 1st grade levels.
At my elementary school, I'm pretty much tidying up my "English room," where I'm sorting out and organizing my flashcards so that they're easy to take back with me when it's my last day in two weeks time. Yeah, I'm not leaving much behind for the next ALT, but considering the flashcards were not made at school, and I forked out of my own pocket, they're mine to do with as I please. Also, learning from my experiences when I first started at this elementary school 2 years ago, and finding out there were no materials left by the previous ALT, I've decided not to risk assuming there will be materials for me to use at the next elementary school I might end up with. It will mean I'm better prepared, and I won't be caught on the back foot during the first few weeks of the first semester.

Yeah... that's pretty much it for now. Just counting down the days until I'm out.