(no subject)
It's been a good weekend. I took 8 forms of public transportation yesterday, that is, if you count the taxi. The Japanese Language Proficiency Test application form is only sold in two bookstores in the entire prefecture, you see. It happened that the store my pal from NZ and I spent half-a-day travelling to was sold out. So the store gave me the number to get them specially delivered, and a pair of tests are headed to my door sometime today. I'm glad we had the adventure, and my mouth is burnt from takoyaki balls again, just like the last time I had that stuff six years ago. But it's soooo gooooood.
I begin teaching for teh officially on tuesday, so that's exciting. I can't wait to find out what the job I signed up for last november is actually like. I feel prepared. I have a powerpoint with a slide for each letter of the alphabet, where I tried to associate each letter with something Englishy, American, Hoosier, or personal. Like, I used the same picture for M and S. in M, you see a picture of a mulberry tree, and in S, I use the same picture, but point out that the Squirrel is eating my mulberries. I think it's a good idea to throw a hard word like squirrel in there, because I could prbably teach a wole leson on that word if I had to, and for the first few times they see this slideshow, they will just think リス(risu) and get to hear my graceful native tongue master that first tricky syllable. I mean, if they're even still listening by the time I get to S.
Some of the teachers I will work with are excited about phonics, and I hope they all want to do it that way. I am so ready to do the sesame street thing where two sounds get closer and closer until they make a full syllable. The alternative to phonics is terrible, and it's a surprise that the japanese you see speaking english today can even do it. Well, I will see what is actually difficult and what is not soon enough. My last day for a long time working at the Board of Education will be monday, and that's all I have to say about that.
My first month in Yamaguchi is coming to a close, and it has been a busy, exciting, wild ride. I invite you to browse my brother's view of the trip he took with my cousin and later, myself, from osaka to hagi to my house in abu, then all around kyushu and back home again. He put the website together without any advice or help from me, and I like it. linky.
I begin teaching for teh officially on tuesday, so that's exciting. I can't wait to find out what the job I signed up for last november is actually like. I feel prepared. I have a powerpoint with a slide for each letter of the alphabet, where I tried to associate each letter with something Englishy, American, Hoosier, or personal. Like, I used the same picture for M and S. in M, you see a picture of a mulberry tree, and in S, I use the same picture, but point out that the Squirrel is eating my mulberries. I think it's a good idea to throw a hard word like squirrel in there, because I could prbably teach a wole leson on that word if I had to, and for the first few times they see this slideshow, they will just think リス(risu) and get to hear my graceful native tongue master that first tricky syllable. I mean, if they're even still listening by the time I get to S.
Some of the teachers I will work with are excited about phonics, and I hope they all want to do it that way. I am so ready to do the sesame street thing where two sounds get closer and closer until they make a full syllable. The alternative to phonics is terrible, and it's a surprise that the japanese you see speaking english today can even do it. Well, I will see what is actually difficult and what is not soon enough. My last day for a long time working at the Board of Education will be monday, and that's all I have to say about that.
My first month in Yamaguchi is coming to a close, and it has been a busy, exciting, wild ride. I invite you to browse my brother's view of the trip he took with my cousin and later, myself, from osaka to hagi to my house in abu, then all around kyushu and back home again. He put the website together without any advice or help from me, and I like it. linky.