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| I never really saw much use for pajamas. But now that it has
become incredibly cold, I have purchased my first ever pair of
pajamas. For 690 yen I got some crappy pajamas, but they'll do
the job until I am richer. Oh how cold it is. I have a
heater/air conditioner, but I'd rather save on my electricity bill by
freezing to death.
I'll be returning to America for the x-mas holidays. It has been decided.
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| Tomorrow is Halloween. But don't think the halloween lessons will
end after that. Apparently I have to teach 2 more halloween
lessons later this week. The reason? Some grades missed a
halloween lesson due to holidays. Looks like I'll be having some
more "halloween party" lessons. The parties consist of a few
halloween themed games(which don't involve using English) followed by
the kids each receiving a halloween sticker. And, because my
Japanese English teacher decided so, the kids also play the hokey
pokey. Soon enough the 54 Halloween lessons will be over and I
will be able to look forward to beating Christmas like a dead horse.
Today I went to the town of Sano in Tochigi prefecture. Sano is
the site of a large complex of outlet shopping malls, so Japanese
people travel great distances to go shopping there. It was only a
30 minute drive from Ota City via Route 50. It was very similar
to the outlet malls one would find in Delaware, only instead of being
cheap, it was mostly expensive brand name stores. The expensive
brand names were cheaper than in non-outlet stores, but still
expensive. I didn't buy anything, but I did get to see
something slightly unique.
Last week I went on a field trip with the 1st graders to the local
park. They looked around for leaves, seeds and other dead plant
life while I watched their backpacks. At lunch time I got to play
with them. It was similar to the usual recess fanfare, with me
running around with kids hanging from my back. The one thing that
made it different was the fact that one kid kept punching me in the
crotch, so I was forced to restrain him. He responded by biting
me in the arm, but it was a very weak bite.
Well, that's all for today! バイバイ
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| 816 days since I joined xanga apparently. Quite a long time.
Since the week before October, I have been teaching nothing but
Halloween lessons. How many lessons can one teach based on
Halloween? Apparently more than any other English subject
matter. We only taught the kids a few words for some monsters,
ghosts, jack o lantern, bat and spider, yet we continue to teach them
lessons on Halloween. And by "teach lessons", I of course mean
playing pointless games or making halloween crafts. There is a
Holiday for students(not me) on Friday of next week, which means I will
have to teach a November Halloween lesson for the children who miss
English that day. I am so sick of orange and black construction
paper.
All the Halloween bullshit aside, I really do enjoy my job. It is
really great to only work at a single school and have the
opportunity to actually rememeber the names of some of your
students. It also seems that elementary schoolers are really fun
to teach, if one could call my job "teaching." Usually we
just introduce a few new words and then play a few games or sing a song
with the kids. There are rarely more than 4 hours of
teaching time in an 8 hour work day. I can complain a lot about
my job, but it sure beats working for NOVA or one of those other
eikaiwa that work their teachers to death.
Today I helped fill in for a homeroom teacher who was absent. I
took part in the 1 and 2 grade P.E. lesson and got to run with the
children on their so-called marathon course(a small run around the
school walls). I stood at a corner and waved students by as they
ran, joining the very last student who passed me and pushing the
stragglers to keep it up and not walk. Of course, back in my
elementary school days, I was the fat kid who couldn't keep up with the
others, so it was somewhat enjoyable to run circles around those
fatties. Maybe one day they'll be able to act physically fit
towards fat children.
I am struggling to think of ideas for the post-Halloween English
room. My Japanese English teacher wants me to make a "Jeff
Corner" dedicated to my hometown/life. I guess I could
throw together some BS on myself and Maryland/DC, but
what about the rest of the English room? What about all
those places currently taken up by crappy Halloween
decorations? Thinking about shit like that is the biggest stress
in my job.
Enough for today. Another update may follow sometime soon.
P.S.
Oh, and thanks for the comment Ender! I don't know how long
you'll keep recieving your TV Guides. Hopefully the free
promotional subscription I signed up for via the internet will provide
you with many more months of pointless junk mail! Do you still
recieve Sporting News and the other crappy magazines I had free
subscriptions to?
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| Hey everybody,
Just writing to say that I am still alive, and that I have been working
as an ALT at an elementary school in the town of Oizumi(Gunma
Prefecture) for over a month now. I usually teach 3 lessons a day
together with my Japanese English Teacher, but it will soon be 4 lesson
because we will begin to teach the 1st graders English sometime this
month.
I am living in a nice 1-room apartment in a one-year-old
building. I am writing this update through wireless internet I am
stealing from a neighbor's unsecure network. I will be using this
wireless net frequently, so expect me to be online much more from now
on.
End communication.
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