aaarrrrgggghhhhhh!!!!!!!!!
i can't believe sloan is releasing a new album before i come home. i'm not gonna be there to rush out and buy it the first day it comes out. why does this even bother me? man i miss music. my laptop is probably riddled with 50 million viruses from all the downloading and turning on and off the firewall (it goes so slow now!) yet i still feel unfulfilled in terms of music. i haven't seen a live show all year! my upcoming choices of shows are the zutons ($60), primal scream ($70), or japanese bands i don't know ($40), out of hand. i miss $10 shows with quality bands! and drinking a beer out of a bottle while watching them (no bottles here, unless they're giant and then its socially unacceptable to drink the whole thing, unless its your birthday and you just don't care)!!!
i spent last night and this morning (currently taking a break) planning the rest of my adult classes up until i leave. feeling pretty excited to come home but i'm definitely gonna miss teaching. i hope somewhere will accept me in to teaching school. i NEED to teach. i kept a portfolio this year of all the lessons i created myself and i feel its pretty impressive. i'm GOOD at this job. i wasn't GOOD at school though, haha.
i was told when i first came here that japanese kids don't have any imaginiation. i disagreed immediately because i refuse to believe that people don't have an imaginiation, but it is true that its just not encouraged as a form of expression or in the education system here. yesterday i taught my summer school kids the english names for shapes by having them glue various shapes onto black contruction paper, thus making a kind of imaginary solar system. after they finished with the shapes, i gave them crayons to add to their "art". they drew fireworks, rockets, aliens, it was great! their mothers were amazed (they were equally impressed with the zoo that we made the previous week-one kid made an orange zoo; all orange animals, cages, water, etc). i love watching kids create and use their imagination!
ALSO......my shodo was put into an exhibition! and i was in the newspaper (although they did say i was an exchange student, not an english teacher, but whatever)! the paper said that my work showed that i had strong character! i know that i'm not really good, i'm at the same level of most japanese children, but i still feel good knowing that i have a special talent now.
alright, my tea has bolied, rice is cooked, time to get back to work.
see you in november!
xo
i spent last night and this morning (currently taking a break) planning the rest of my adult classes up until i leave. feeling pretty excited to come home but i'm definitely gonna miss teaching. i hope somewhere will accept me in to teaching school. i NEED to teach. i kept a portfolio this year of all the lessons i created myself and i feel its pretty impressive. i'm GOOD at this job. i wasn't GOOD at school though, haha.
i was told when i first came here that japanese kids don't have any imaginiation. i disagreed immediately because i refuse to believe that people don't have an imaginiation, but it is true that its just not encouraged as a form of expression or in the education system here. yesterday i taught my summer school kids the english names for shapes by having them glue various shapes onto black contruction paper, thus making a kind of imaginary solar system. after they finished with the shapes, i gave them crayons to add to their "art". they drew fireworks, rockets, aliens, it was great! their mothers were amazed (they were equally impressed with the zoo that we made the previous week-one kid made an orange zoo; all orange animals, cages, water, etc). i love watching kids create and use their imagination!
ALSO......my shodo was put into an exhibition! and i was in the newspaper (although they did say i was an exchange student, not an english teacher, but whatever)! the paper said that my work showed that i had strong character! i know that i'm not really good, i'm at the same level of most japanese children, but i still feel good knowing that i have a special talent now.
alright, my tea has bolied, rice is cooked, time to get back to work.
see you in november!
xo