A day in the life
Last time I was in Japan I was asked what my normal day was like, since I had only blogged about my weekend trips to other cities. Since I haven’t done too much recently, I thought I’d do it now.
My regular work day varies a bit. Assuming I’ve left my drapes open a bit, the sun usually wakes me up around 4:30 when it comes up. I then roll over and go back to sleep for another 90 minutes or so. Around 6, when my alarm is scheduled to go off, I get up and have a shower. Then breakfast, dressing, and general getting ready for work. I leave the house sometime between 7:15 and 7:30, except on Thursdays when I don’t leave until about 7:45. Monday through Wednesday and Fridays I’m generally at Omashi Junior High School. I say generally because starting in June I will have some weeks where I’m at Yagisaki Elementary school. Thursdays I go to Tateno Elementary School, and I start 15 minutes later there. It takes about 15 minutes to bike to both Omashi JHS and Tateno ES. My scheduled start time is 8:15 and 8:30 respectively; however I’m usually there by 7:40 and 8:00.
When I get to my JHS, I go and change the date on my English board. (see pictures). This is also what I generally use to kill time when I’m not in a class. I team teach every class at least once a week. Team teaching is what it’s called when I’m present in the English class. Sometimes I’m a glorified tape recorder, but usually I get to participate in the activity, or help test the students.
My third year classes are some of my favourites because the teacher uses that period to do something fun in English for the students. In the month or so I’ve been attending classes, we’ve done team Jeopardy, a lesson where the students have to go around asking questions of the other students and the teachers, and played question battleship. Every class starts with the singing of a pop song, so that’s right up my alley. I try and get the students to sing, but some classes are better than others.
My second year classes are my most hands on classes, in the sense I tend to spend more one on one time with the students helping them with worksheets and testing their reading ability. They’re also generally my least memorable classes. They do their work, listen and repeat my English, but they aren’t crazy like my 3rd years. However there was the one girl, who when I indicated she should get the guy at the desk next to her to stand straight up (he was bent over his desk) she just grabbed him by the back of his collar and pulled. Both the teacher and I started laughing, and she stood there, with a little smile on her face.
My first year classes are sometimes my most entertaining, mostly because of the teacher. His speaking English is decent, but his comprehension is really high, so I can make jokes to him and he laughs at them. I think they’re also my most sarcastic group. During my introduction I told them about my family, and I make a joke about my nephew’s name as it sounds very close to what they call boiled veggies you can buy at the convenience store. It had mixed reviews, but one of my first year classes didn’t even break a smile, and when the teacher translated the joke, and said outright, “it’s a joke” one girl gave me the best deadpan “Ha Ha”.
The first 15 minutes of the day 8:15-8:30 are cleaning time. All the students and teachers sweep, mop, and wash the school. There is a ‘janitor’ but he’s more like a groundskeeper. I loathe washroom cleaning day, ‘cause I swear they just dump buckets of water on everything. I always have to remember to wipe off the water left on the toilet seat, and I’m scared to let my pants touch the ground since it’s so wet. I have a little stretch of hallway outside the staff room I’m responsible for. I sweep it every day with a couple students. Then the staff member who’s cleaning the work/lunch room to come out and the students make a little speech, bow and go to their homeroom. The same thing happens with the students cleaning the workroom and we head back into the staff room. Homeroom is between 8:35-8:45, and then the teachers might come to the staff room until 9:00 to grab anything they need for classes, but occasionally a quick staff meeting.
At 9:00 the classes start, each class is 50 minutes with a 10 minute break between classes. There are 4 classes before lunch. This means I don’t eat lunch until around 1pm. Since breakfast was around 6:30, that’s a long day. Mondays and Fridays I tend to have a snack around 11, but on Tuesdays and Wednesdays I have classes from 10 to 1, so I don’t have time for a snack.
The school provides lunch most days (except when there was scheduled brownouts due to the earthquake power saving plan) for a small cost (280 yen - about 3$). I often feel I should bring a Rubbermaid container because the lunches are huge. So far I’ve only run into one thing I couldn’t bring myself to eat. Whole battered, deep fried fishes (with heads attached)? Done. Baby squid whole? Down the hatch. Liver and potatoes in a marinara sauce? Actually pretty good. But daikon (Japanese radish) with tiny little white fish with black eyes that look like worms? NOPE not going to do it. Ever seen a picture of a pinworm? That’s what they looked like, but with eyes. Even just typing that makes my stomach turn. Sorry for the disturbing visuals. But all in all, 99% of the school lunches are really good, and really filling.
After lunch there are either one or two classes, then club activities. I technically finish work at 3:15, but rarely leave before 4 (especially since on 6 class days the last class doesn’t end until 3:40). Depending on the weather and how I’m feeling, I’ll either head home or get changed into sports clothes for club activities. Some days I’ll head to the gym and see what is happening there (volleyball, basketball, ping pong, kendo and gymnastics all practice at some time in the gym). Other days I head outside and see who’s out and about (baseball, handball, tennis, soccer, track and field, relay, etc). I’ll participate for a while with different clubs. I like the tennis club and am thinking of getting a racquet so I can practice with them once a week. Handball is fun to throw, but I don’t know if I could actually play. I watch soccer and baseball, and play starting gun with the sprinters. Then at some point between 5 and 6 I’ll head home.
If it’s Thursday, I go to the Elementary School. Classes there start around 8:30 and last 50 minutes with a 10 min break between them. Except after the 2nd class of the day there’s a 20 min break so the kids can get outside and burn off some energy. Lunch ends up being around noon/ 12:30 depending on the schedule (sometimes they have an early schedule where there’s no 20 min break and they start early if the teachers have meetings to attend). After lunch there’s time for clubs/recess depending on the year of the students, and school cleaning. Here they tell me just to wait in the staff room, so I try and look like I’m actually doing something. Then 2 more classes before I’m done at 3:30. At the elementary school I tend to work all 6 periods, which is nice. The school has a Japanese Teacher of English (JTE) and an English teacher. The JTE and English teacher plan the lessons and I just play along. The elementary lessons for the 5th and 6th grades have a text book, but for the other grades (so far 3rd and 4th grades) it’s a theme for the day (fruits and veggies, sports, etc). For all grades there are lots of games and songs, listen and repeat and even some TV. NHK (the national TV network) put a series together about 10 yrs ago call Eigorian (Eigo is English in Japanese). Each set teaching the phrase is about 5-6 minutes long. With 3 or 4 bits using the lesson’s theme (How are you? I like soccer? Which do you like? What day is it?) The kids really seem to like it.
Because I’m only there once a week, and there’s not really any afterschool activities they want me involved in (unlike the JHS) once class is done and its past 3:30 I’m on my way home.
I might pick up dinner at the ‘conbini’ (convenience store) if I haven’t bought groceries in a while, or I’ll stop and get them. Then home to eat dinner, check my email, and watch some TV (either Japanese or N. American on my computer) and in bed somewhere between 10:30 and 11.
So that’s an average school day for me. Weekends involve doing laundry and killing time in malls, seeing what movies are on or watching TV. Occasionally I’ll meet up with some other ALTs and do something, but otherwise it’s a quiet life.
My regular work day varies a bit. Assuming I’ve left my drapes open a bit, the sun usually wakes me up around 4:30 when it comes up. I then roll over and go back to sleep for another 90 minutes or so. Around 6, when my alarm is scheduled to go off, I get up and have a shower. Then breakfast, dressing, and general getting ready for work. I leave the house sometime between 7:15 and 7:30, except on Thursdays when I don’t leave until about 7:45. Monday through Wednesday and Fridays I’m generally at Omashi Junior High School. I say generally because starting in June I will have some weeks where I’m at Yagisaki Elementary school. Thursdays I go to Tateno Elementary School, and I start 15 minutes later there. It takes about 15 minutes to bike to both Omashi JHS and Tateno ES. My scheduled start time is 8:15 and 8:30 respectively; however I’m usually there by 7:40 and 8:00.
When I get to my JHS, I go and change the date on my English board. (see pictures). This is also what I generally use to kill time when I’m not in a class. I team teach every class at least once a week. Team teaching is what it’s called when I’m present in the English class. Sometimes I’m a glorified tape recorder, but usually I get to participate in the activity, or help test the students.
My third year classes are some of my favourites because the teacher uses that period to do something fun in English for the students. In the month or so I’ve been attending classes, we’ve done team Jeopardy, a lesson where the students have to go around asking questions of the other students and the teachers, and played question battleship. Every class starts with the singing of a pop song, so that’s right up my alley. I try and get the students to sing, but some classes are better than others.
My second year classes are my most hands on classes, in the sense I tend to spend more one on one time with the students helping them with worksheets and testing their reading ability. They’re also generally my least memorable classes. They do their work, listen and repeat my English, but they aren’t crazy like my 3rd years. However there was the one girl, who when I indicated she should get the guy at the desk next to her to stand straight up (he was bent over his desk) she just grabbed him by the back of his collar and pulled. Both the teacher and I started laughing, and she stood there, with a little smile on her face.
My first year classes are sometimes my most entertaining, mostly because of the teacher. His speaking English is decent, but his comprehension is really high, so I can make jokes to him and he laughs at them. I think they’re also my most sarcastic group. During my introduction I told them about my family, and I make a joke about my nephew’s name as it sounds very close to what they call boiled veggies you can buy at the convenience store. It had mixed reviews, but one of my first year classes didn’t even break a smile, and when the teacher translated the joke, and said outright, “it’s a joke” one girl gave me the best deadpan “Ha Ha”.
The first 15 minutes of the day 8:15-8:30 are cleaning time. All the students and teachers sweep, mop, and wash the school. There is a ‘janitor’ but he’s more like a groundskeeper. I loathe washroom cleaning day, ‘cause I swear they just dump buckets of water on everything. I always have to remember to wipe off the water left on the toilet seat, and I’m scared to let my pants touch the ground since it’s so wet. I have a little stretch of hallway outside the staff room I’m responsible for. I sweep it every day with a couple students. Then the staff member who’s cleaning the work/lunch room to come out and the students make a little speech, bow and go to their homeroom. The same thing happens with the students cleaning the workroom and we head back into the staff room. Homeroom is between 8:35-8:45, and then the teachers might come to the staff room until 9:00 to grab anything they need for classes, but occasionally a quick staff meeting.
At 9:00 the classes start, each class is 50 minutes with a 10 minute break between classes. There are 4 classes before lunch. This means I don’t eat lunch until around 1pm. Since breakfast was around 6:30, that’s a long day. Mondays and Fridays I tend to have a snack around 11, but on Tuesdays and Wednesdays I have classes from 10 to 1, so I don’t have time for a snack.
The school provides lunch most days (except when there was scheduled brownouts due to the earthquake power saving plan) for a small cost (280 yen - about 3$). I often feel I should bring a Rubbermaid container because the lunches are huge. So far I’ve only run into one thing I couldn’t bring myself to eat. Whole battered, deep fried fishes (with heads attached)? Done. Baby squid whole? Down the hatch. Liver and potatoes in a marinara sauce? Actually pretty good. But daikon (Japanese radish) with tiny little white fish with black eyes that look like worms? NOPE not going to do it. Ever seen a picture of a pinworm? That’s what they looked like, but with eyes. Even just typing that makes my stomach turn. Sorry for the disturbing visuals. But all in all, 99% of the school lunches are really good, and really filling.
After lunch there are either one or two classes, then club activities. I technically finish work at 3:15, but rarely leave before 4 (especially since on 6 class days the last class doesn’t end until 3:40). Depending on the weather and how I’m feeling, I’ll either head home or get changed into sports clothes for club activities. Some days I’ll head to the gym and see what is happening there (volleyball, basketball, ping pong, kendo and gymnastics all practice at some time in the gym). Other days I head outside and see who’s out and about (baseball, handball, tennis, soccer, track and field, relay, etc). I’ll participate for a while with different clubs. I like the tennis club and am thinking of getting a racquet so I can practice with them once a week. Handball is fun to throw, but I don’t know if I could actually play. I watch soccer and baseball, and play starting gun with the sprinters. Then at some point between 5 and 6 I’ll head home.
If it’s Thursday, I go to the Elementary School. Classes there start around 8:30 and last 50 minutes with a 10 min break between them. Except after the 2nd class of the day there’s a 20 min break so the kids can get outside and burn off some energy. Lunch ends up being around noon/ 12:30 depending on the schedule (sometimes they have an early schedule where there’s no 20 min break and they start early if the teachers have meetings to attend). After lunch there’s time for clubs/recess depending on the year of the students, and school cleaning. Here they tell me just to wait in the staff room, so I try and look like I’m actually doing something. Then 2 more classes before I’m done at 3:30. At the elementary school I tend to work all 6 periods, which is nice. The school has a Japanese Teacher of English (JTE) and an English teacher. The JTE and English teacher plan the lessons and I just play along. The elementary lessons for the 5th and 6th grades have a text book, but for the other grades (so far 3rd and 4th grades) it’s a theme for the day (fruits and veggies, sports, etc). For all grades there are lots of games and songs, listen and repeat and even some TV. NHK (the national TV network) put a series together about 10 yrs ago call Eigorian (Eigo is English in Japanese). Each set teaching the phrase is about 5-6 minutes long. With 3 or 4 bits using the lesson’s theme (How are you? I like soccer? Which do you like? What day is it?) The kids really seem to like it.
Because I’m only there once a week, and there’s not really any afterschool activities they want me involved in (unlike the JHS) once class is done and its past 3:30 I’m on my way home.
I might pick up dinner at the ‘conbini’ (convenience store) if I haven’t bought groceries in a while, or I’ll stop and get them. Then home to eat dinner, check my email, and watch some TV (either Japanese or N. American on my computer) and in bed somewhere between 10:30 and 11.
So that’s an average school day for me. Weekends involve doing laundry and killing time in malls, seeing what movies are on or watching TV. Occasionally I’ll meet up with some other ALTs and do something, but otherwise it’s a quiet life.