Tuesday, March 24, 2009
終了～!
That's a wrap! See you in two weeks!
Guess I should elaborate: today was the end of the school year. No more teachers, no more....you know the drill. Except in Japan, everything starts again in April. I know that syncs up nicely with springtime, the season for renewal, cherry blossoms, etc, but isn't it a bit anti-climactic? We say goodbye to everyone today, but they're back in only two weeks. Compare that to the States where we say goodbye for two months. Japan has a summer vacation too, but it falls mid-year. That means kids have regular study sessions and *gasp* homework in August. That's just cruel!
There was, of course, a "closing ceremony" with a few words from the principal and the singing of three songs (the school song and something else, twice). After that the kids went back to their classrooms to move all their desks into the hallway. While the smaller schools have a set layout (the same grades occupy the same rooms every year), this large school rearranges the grades each year to suit their needs. Since there are very few new students coming next year, they will only need one classroom instead of two. This gives them a chance to move some students out of the "annex" and back into the main building.
Meanwhile, guess who's moving to the annex? ME! Yes, they have decided to relocate my English classroom to another building entirely. While I feel strange to be so removed from all the regular classrooms, at least this new location will prevent all the jumping/singing/running we do from distracting any other students. In its present location, the noise from my classroom was definitely a problem for the sixth graders underneath us. I will miss the air conditioner I had access too though. The new room is on the third floor and I bet it gets hot there in July!
Other than that, all I did at work was eat lunch with the staff. It was a special meal that we all paid 2000 Yen for, which felt expensive to me but it was certainly filling. There were more speeches during lunchtime and I was stunned to learn that they wanted me to say a few words for some reason. Everyone else who spoke was either brand-new or retiring. I am neither. My guess is they forgot how long I've been here or they just like watching me struggle during impromptu Japanese speeches. Whatever, I got through it without any embarrassing errors.
So tomorrow I go back to work for the first of many days where I truly have nothing to do. No meetings, no students, no responsibilities. And no, the books I ordered aren't here yet. Drat.
OH, one last thing: my story about the earthquake/disaster center was printed in the local JET newsletter today. It's more or less the same as the web version, but I was really happy when Joe (the guy responsible for the bi-monthly publication) told me he liked what I wrote. Sadly, there is no money involved. Just the pride of a job well done...and a free plug for feitclub.com that I added to the end. Web counter, prepare to be OVERWHELMED!
Guess I should elaborate: today was the end of the school year. No more teachers, no more....you know the drill. Except in Japan, everything starts again in April. I know that syncs up nicely with springtime, the season for renewal, cherry blossoms, etc, but isn't it a bit anti-climactic? We say goodbye to everyone today, but they're back in only two weeks. Compare that to the States where we say goodbye for two months. Japan has a summer vacation too, but it falls mid-year. That means kids have regular study sessions and *gasp* homework in August. That's just cruel!
There was, of course, a "closing ceremony" with a few words from the principal and the singing of three songs (the school song and something else, twice). After that the kids went back to their classrooms to move all their desks into the hallway. While the smaller schools have a set layout (the same grades occupy the same rooms every year), this large school rearranges the grades each year to suit their needs. Since there are very few new students coming next year, they will only need one classroom instead of two. This gives them a chance to move some students out of the "annex" and back into the main building.
Meanwhile, guess who's moving to the annex? ME! Yes, they have decided to relocate my English classroom to another building entirely. While I feel strange to be so removed from all the regular classrooms, at least this new location will prevent all the jumping/singing/running we do from distracting any other students. In its present location, the noise from my classroom was definitely a problem for the sixth graders underneath us. I will miss the air conditioner I had access too though. The new room is on the third floor and I bet it gets hot there in July!
Other than that, all I did at work was eat lunch with the staff. It was a special meal that we all paid 2000 Yen for, which felt expensive to me but it was certainly filling. There were more speeches during lunchtime and I was stunned to learn that they wanted me to say a few words for some reason. Everyone else who spoke was either brand-new or retiring. I am neither. My guess is they forgot how long I've been here or they just like watching me struggle during impromptu Japanese speeches. Whatever, I got through it without any embarrassing errors.
So tomorrow I go back to work for the first of many days where I truly have nothing to do. No meetings, no students, no responsibilities. And no, the books I ordered aren't here yet. Drat.
OH, one last thing: my story about the earthquake/disaster center was printed in the local JET newsletter today. It's more or less the same as the web version, but I was really happy when Joe (the guy responsible for the bi-monthly publication) told me he liked what I wrote. Sadly, there is no money involved. Just the pride of a job well done...and a free plug for feitclub.com that I added to the end. Web counter, prepare to be OVERWHELMED!
Labels: Japan, JET, teaching, writing
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Thank you very much, but it seems few people read the piece and then decided to check my website for more content afterward. Ah well, c'est la vie.
コメントがあるちゃう？ Type something, please. It's less work for me.When leaving comments, please don't remain Anonymous. Click on "Other" and pick a name!
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