See, cos of the echo

When one of my JHS students tells me: "I like chairs, but I don't like China"

Completely random, but I found it hilarious for some reason.

Working from home

With things starting to escalate in Japan over the CCP virus, and the number of infections in Ibaraki prefecture now over 100 people, it's reached a point now where we have received instructions from the city's BOE to work from home until May 7th, after Golden Week. My employer has guaranteed that we will be paid for working from home, on the condition that we submit either lesson plans/materials to prove that we have been working each day. Some of us ALTs have decided to pool together resources in to a group document, so it means that we aren't doubling up on lesson plans, and also gives an opportunity to share ideas/resources, especially for ALTs who may not have as much experience in either JHS or ES, or are newbie ALTs this year.

On one hand, it means that I'm not having to sit in the teacher's room pretending to look like I'm busy when I have finished my work for the day. On the other hand, I lose the opportunity to talk with some of the teachers, whether it be simple chit chat during lunch break, or a chance to coordinate lesson preparations. I had a chance to talk with one of my elementary school teachers about the first lessons for the 6th graders. Similarly, at one of my Junior High Schools, one of the English teachers asked me to help her in preparing materials, while another asked for my input on ideas for lessons, based on my experiences at Chikusei. Also, at that same JHS, a bunch of teachers decided to go play volleyball in the gym during lunch break, as they had pretty much finished their work for the day. There was also one student in attendance too, as the schools will remain open for students whose parents have to work during the day. In any case, it was pretty fun to just hang out with the teachers in a non-formal environment.

My girlfriend is still staying over for the moment, and even bought a bicycle that she can use to get around the city while I'm out. Considering that the nearest supermarket is about a 15 minute walk away, likewise with the train station, it was a good purchase. I am considering using the bicycle as well from time to time when she heads back to Tokyo - it would be a shame to let it just sit there and all that.

Anyway, that's all I have at the moment. Pretty much two weeks working from home until after Golden Week ends next month.

(Unofficial) Last Day of School

Today was my (unofficial) last day of school. Technically, my last day was last Thursday, which was a sudden announcement by my employer. However, my school invited me to come in today for not only lunch and a proper farewell, but also to see the students, who have come to not only submit their three weeks' worth of homework, but also to get the results of their last test. It was also an opportunity to give a proper farewell to the students in the Art Club that I joined at the beginning of last year.

We all gathered in one of the spare rooms, where the head of the club gave a short speech, before her and each of the members one by one gave me a farewell letter that they wrote. I gave them a short speech in return - I told them the usual how fun it was to hang out with them and such, but the most important thing for me was thanks to them, I was inspired to get back in to drawing on a more regular basis, and helped kick my imagination back in to gear... that and having my tablet to draw certainly helped. Afterwards we headed outside in front of the blooming sakura, and with Mt. Tsukuba in the back where we had our photos taken. Some were taken on my tablet, and some were taken on the teacher's phone. I was worried that with the sudden suspension of classes, I was worried that I wouldn't be able to properly say goodbye to them. Fortunately, I had the chance, and have no regrets. I told some of the other students, but not all of them, but with kids being kids, the news will spread quickly before the start of the new semester.

After that, I had a bento lunch provided for me in the teachers' room. Though they also gave me a farewell send off, gave me some flowers - apparently they are called multiple fold Sakura - and I gave a quick speech. Then we had lunch. Shortly after lunch I decided to head off, but not before personally thanking the Principal, Vice Principal and Head teacher for the past three years (despite the principal and vice principal only being in the school for the past 1 and 2 years respectively, but anyway). Just as I was about to head off, the English teachers gave me a going away present and thanking me for assisting them - while most of the English teachers only started this school year, I have worked with one for the last two years, and the other teacher for all three years. The teachers were pretty nice, and it is going to feel weird heading in to new schools with uncertainty of how those teachers will be. Hopefully they'll at least be as nice as the teachers I have had until now.

After that, I headed to Abiko in Chiba to pick up the keys to my new apartment, and to sort out payment methods and parking, because the person I was speaking to previously in their International Support division has oddly gone dark and have not heard back from them regarding my payment and parking inquiries. Fortunately, I was able to get it all sorted it out, so I'm just about ready to go. However, due to how much stuff I have, I will be shifting some of my things in to my new apartment tomorrow morning, before the company comes to help me move the rest on Thursday.

Company School Visit

Today, I got a visit from my employer for the standard school visit. Usually what happens is that my employer gives the school a heads up on when they're coming to visit, which gets conveyed to the head teacher, and eventually I get told about it. What's different in this case, is that none of that apparently happened. So imagine my (and my 2nd grade English teacher's) surprise when we found out a few minutes before 2nd Grade English class began that someone from the company would be coming in to watch. To make the matter even more worrying is that the 2nd graders have been surprisingly troublesome this year, and I also found out that this isn't isolated to just English - other teachers have been expressing the same level of frustration that the English teacher and myself have been experiencing. But, that's a story for another time.

Fortunately, this particular class that the company staff came to was probably the best behaved out of all the other 2nd Grade classes. So with a little bit of last minute discussion and planning with the English teacher, the usual rolling with punches, and minus the obligatory scolding I've been giving 2nd graders this year,  it went pretty smoothly. The staff spoke to me after class and was pretty pleased all round, commenting that I was moving around the classroom as opposed to just standing around in one spot, as well as getting involved with some activities students were doing to make up for numbers, to checking new vocab with the class that easy to follow and understand. Funnily enough, there wasn't any real criticisms for my performance, considering I was only made aware a few minutes beforehand about the company visit.

Next week, I'll be having someone else from the company coming to visit my Elementary school. Unlike what happened at my junior high school today, I've been given adequate warning about this (and another ALT shared the schedule sheet for the visits a few weeks back, and I noticed then, that there was nothing about any visit to my JHS).

So quick version - surprise visit by the company today, and they were happy with my work.

New life in Chikusei

Wow, it's been over 3 months since I last posted any entry for this blog. I could explain the various reasons for why I've not been updating, but I'll just skip to my current situation in Japan.

Just last week, I moved from Kamisu city to Chikusei city. The reason for this, was that I found out in early January that the Board of Education in Kamisu would not renew its contract with my employer. It shocked them, as they believed that they had a good chance of having another 3 years in Kamisu, but I heard that the past 2 were not exactly the best for the company and its ALTs in Kamisu. In any case, all ALTs working for the company had to move out on the 27th of last month. Some ALTs decided to return to their home countries at the end of the semester; others - including most of my friends - chose to find work in other companies in Japan (ALT or otherwise); while a few (including myself) opted to stay on with the company. In my case, I have only worked with the company for 6 months, and to take a chance to go with another company, and deal with all the costs associated with moving to wherever another company would place me, I felt it would have set all my plans back - including the decision to go back to my home country during the summer break, and to go to Kyoto during the winter break to visit my girlfriend.

Just before leaving Kamisu, the company offered me a few choices on where I could work. All of them unfortunately offered less pay than what I was receiving in Kamisu, though I ultimately decided on Chikusei. While the pay is still less than Kamisu's, it was probably the highest paying out of all the options that were given to me.

Despite only having been in Chikusei for over a week, and not having the chance to fully explore the wider area, I'm certainly happy with my apartment, and ease of access to most necessities from my apartment. Unlike where I was living in Kamisu, I can easily walk to a supermarket, city hall, post office, convenience store, and even a train station within 5 minutes of my apartment. The train station especially is convenient when I went to Tokyo for a week to see my mother, who was visiting. Because of this, I'm not having to use my car so much to get around - usually for getting to the two schools I'll be working at.
Speaking of which, I had the opportunity to visit the two schools. Unlike in Kamisu where I was working at elementary schools only, I'll be working at a Junior High School and an elementary school. The Junior High School staff seemed to be really busy in preparing for the opening ceremony happening either today or tomorrow, but the elementary school staff seemed nice. In addition, they seem to be really on board for the team teaching, in that they want to hold a regular meeting once a week so that we can plan the lesson together. I welcome this, compared to when I was in Kamisu where I was effectively given free reign on what to teach the children, using the Kamisu plan as a loose guide on topic ideas. Do not get me wrong, I have no hard feelings against those teachers, but for new ALTs, the kind of support that this school is providing would have really helped for those 6 months, though the teachers seemed to be really happy with my work, so it all worked out in the end.

I will be starting school next Monday. I am a little bit nervous, simply because I have never worked at a Junior High School before, though I have been told that it is vastly different compared to an Elementary School, where the ALT's role is more to support the teacher, rather than running the class. I will just wait and see how that goes.