Elle's Adventures

Hello all...I'm sorry for the long absence. I can't believe how busy I have been lately, planning lessons and all that. I usually stay back at school until 4.30 ~ 5.00, even though I can leave at 3.30. It has been so humid and sticky too, so I tend to have a shower and then fall asleep until about 8.00! Then I have to cook and really, really can not be bothered doing anything else. That means that I don't clean up, so I have a lot of cleaning to do on the weekends. It's never ending and I'm getting a little fed up. But leaving the house messy makes me angry too so I have to do it! But yes, it's a hot summer night. Although the heat is awful, I like nights like this. My apartment is surrounded by rice fields, and it means that there are many, many frogs living in the water. It's relaxing just looking out my window into the dark nights and hearing them croaking away. It sounds like there are thousands! Well here's a few pictures which must be over a mo...

Japanese has a lot of different suffixes for names, the most well known being ~san (Yamada-san, Honda-san, etc). In the past it was often translated as Mr., Ms., Mrs., or Miss. However, we obviously don't seem to use these in normal conversation! Well for me at least, the last time I did was in High School. Of course we still see it regularly in letters. I have one JTE who hasn't realised that this little part of English has changed, and there is no need to translate ~san anymore. All the students in her classes are now referred to as Mr. Okada, Ms. Yamaguchi, etc. I want to correct her on this; friends are calling each other Mr and Ms and it's really odd for me. But now I feel it is too late... But what I was getting at! There is another suffix, very famous among anime fans. This is ~chan. It's basically a cute way of saying someone's name. Amon friends, they shorten their name and add on ~chan. For example, Su-chan (Suzuka), Non-chan (Nozomi), and the list goe...

Speaking and listening to Japanese has always been my weak point;  I always found it much easier to focus on reading and writing. But of course I want to be able to communicate verbally to a much higher degree within the smallest amount of time possible. Yesterday at school the Grade 2 students were off on a field trip, so the school was significantly quieter. I felt brave enough to venture to the Grade 1 floor and try and find some kids to talk to during lunch. Luckily I found a group of girls, who of course exclaimed 英語分かんない！eigo wakannai, or "I don't understand English!" I don't know why they bother to yell this at me every time I see them. I tell them that simple English is enough, but if they really want to talk to me Japanese is okay. I usually just stick in a few English phrases that they should know. Anyway, as I was speaking to them I was amazed that words were just flowing out of my mouth without really thinking. I was explaining the differences between ...

A lot has happened lately. For a start, after my meltdown about having to leave Kiso, I was offered another job in Kani City, Gifu Prefecture. I will be teaching at three Junior High Schools, with occasional visits to Kindergarten and Elementary. A bit of a pity that it won't be a half and half mix like the past six months. However, after accepting the job I was offered an interview by another company in Nagano. They said that it was possible to find Dede a job, which of course is a very important thing for me. I ended up interviewing with them, and was extremely impressed by the system that they use to keep track of children's progress. I was all set to accept, but the downside was that the job they had considered interviewing Dede for had been filled, and that there was nothing at that time available for him. On the drive home this played on my mind a lot, and that night when they offered me the job I was so, so upset to turn them down. Unfortunately the reason did come dow...

A couple of days ago I received the bad news that my contract in Kiso-machi will not be renewed again. Apparently I had too many sick days off so the BOE were worried about me. I wish I had known that my getting sick would have had a negative impact on my chances of another job in the same area. I just can't believe that that was the only reason I can't work here again. When you go overseas you are bound to pick up bugs and illnesses you have never had before. Like I said, if I had known this earlier I would have gone to school feeling terrible. I thought that I was doing the right thing and now spreading the cold around. As I was driving to Kaida today (for the last time), I started crying. Thinking about all the lovely kids and the things they have said to me in the past week. The kindy kids asking me to come back and play soon, the kids at Ueda who have to move to Fukushima Elementary this coming school year. Those kids said they were scared about moving to a whole new s...

Lately I've been feeling very on edge. It is already the 23rd of February. My current contract ends on the 28th of March. I still have not heard from Altia whether or not I will be offered another contract. Also, Dede has heard nothing. The company recruiting website was updated on the 21st saying that they still need to find 10-12 new recruits for this year. One good thing is that there are not any free positions in Nagano, which makes it seem like I will be getting this contract again. The problem is that I would rather a position closer to Dede; living on my own just sucks. But the main problem is that in the event that I don't get this contract again, I will be out of a job and a home here. What to do, what to do? All the jobs in other companies are getting snapped up quickly! It takes a long time, and is expensive to go to other places from here in Kiso. Ah well, things will work out. In other news, I went to Hakuba again last weekend. About to use my new snowbo...

The importance of foreign language teaching in Junior High Schools I wish I could say that I constructed the title of this entry, but it's just an example sentence from my dictionary! I realised that I haven't really said much about the actual details of my job. I hope that those of you reading back home, and others who may have stumbled here looking for information about actually teaching in Japan, may find this interesting. I work for a company who hires, trains and dispatches ALT's to locations mainly around southern Japan.  I'm currently on a six month contract in Fukushima, Kiso-machi, Nagano-ken. I work at five different schools: Fukushima Junior High School 福島中学校 5 minute walk Fukushima Elementary School 福島小学校 5 minute drive Kaida Elementary School 開田小学校 30 minute drive Ueda Elementary School 上田小学校 15 minute drive Kiso Kindergarten 木曽幼稚園 10 minute drive Originally Kaida was not part of my contract, but it was given to me to spare the work load of the...

http://www.eltnews.com/features/interviews/ I found this wonderful interview with Kumiko Torikai on the subject if teaching English in Japan.  I for one was constantly stunned by some Japanese English language schools only employing Americans.  Instantly, I felt as if my version of English was not interesting, or in some ways, incorrect.  Last year, while I was still searching for 'couple jobs' online, I found the perfect school.  Upon contact, they refused to even give me an interview on the basis that I wasn't from America.  Apparently the students they had were only interested in American culture and American English.  Honestly, I was hurt. In reality, English is English.  If I were to speak with an American, an Englishman, a Singaporean, I can understand them.  Occasionally there is a cultural word or two thrown in there that confuses us, some words are spelt differently, but all in all, it is the same. However, I did not like this quot...

I am finally an official ALT.  I signed my contract yesterday, and everything is going so fast!  It is exactly one month until I leave and I don't know if I'm ready or not. I've been in contact with my supervisor, and found out that there are actually two positions in Kiso-machi; my contract is a newly acquired one.  For a while I was hoping that I would be the 'only foreigner in the village'.  Oh well, it'll be nice to have another native speaker in my vicinity. EDIT: Just found out that the other position is also starting in September.  Well hopefully it will be someone I can talk to, make friends with, a shoulder to lean on, etc.

Today was the final interview, which basically involved me speaking with the head of recruiting.  From what I have read so far, this interview is usually quite intimidating.  To be honest I didn't find it like that at all; it certainly wasn't as laid back and 'chatty' as the other, but nothing to be worried about.  Wish I had known that beforehand!  Twenty minutes ahead of schedule I was sitting in front of the laptop nervous as ever, checking my webcam constantly... Unfortunately as soon as contact was made I began having a few problems with my webcam.  Eventually I got it to work, but then because of our horrible internet connection it kept disconnecting.  In the end we just went off audio. As can be expected when there are two different interviews and interviewers, a few general questions overlapped...and then there were completely new ones.  I think I was mainly nervous because I had impressed the first interviewer so much, and was worried that...

Today I woke up extremely sore from a long walk Dede and I took yesterday, checked my email, and found one from the company.  Basically the interviewer highly recommended me for a job this year!  Now I have to organise a time to speak to the Head Recruiter to further sort things out and get the visa application process going!  I'm so excited!!!!

Yesterday was my first interview with a good company.  I had to travel from Hobart to Melbourne (and my wonderful Mum met me there!)...it cost me a lot!  Generally air fares are pretty cheap, but the process with the company has been extremely quick, so I didn't have much notice. Needless to say, I hope I get the job, otherwise it's an expensive day trip. Interviews can be really daunting, and I'm one of those people that get terribly nervous.  Beforehand Mum and I had lunch quite close to the interview location, which was the Westin Melbourne Hotel.  I wish, wish, wish I had brought my camera!  The cars parked outside surely must have been worth way over $100,000...they looked so expensive!  Walking into the lobby, I immediately saw my interviewer.  I asked if he was ------ (I'm sure he doesn't want his name splayed all over the internet), then introduced myself and Mum.  Mum went for a walk, so we went and sat down, and pretty much chatted ab...

On Saturday I am off to Melbourne to have an interview with ALTIA CENTRAL.  I don't know why I hadn't heard of this company earlier; their website is really informative, and it's obvious that a lot of effort has gone into it.  They certainly seem to care about their ALT staff.  The recruiter who contacted me after I applied through Gaijinpot seemed really nice from the email; I could tell that they actually read my cover letter and were genuinely interested in me! They seem to only have jobs in southern Japan, from Shizuoka to Hiroshima - this is perfect for me!  I never really wanted to live in Tokyo.  It's fun, but far too big and busy. I'm trying my best not to get my hopes up this time (like with Gaba), but it's really hard not to!  It's time to put my best foot forward and show them that they need me in their company. ...And besides, flights booked in less than a week have cost me about $400.  I need this job!