So far, this week has been busy, tiring, and AMAZING. I'll post a full entry on it when I have more time, but until then, here are a few of the things that happened (although they aren't in any particular order ( Read more... )

My weekdays last week can be summed up as follows: OK, good, good/bad, good and good.

TuesdayAt Izumi JHS on Tuesday, they had the first midterm tests for the first and second years. Since the English test would be held the following day, my class with the second years consisted only of helping them study. It was great, because they were ( Read more... )

At Matsuyama JHS on Tuesday, I helped Mrs. Taniyama, the "youmuin," get seeds out of some VERY hot peppers. A youmuin is someone who does things like gardening, cleaning, making sure the teachers have tea, etc. She wanted to plant these seeds. At one point, I felt an itch in my eye, and forgetting that maybe some residue from the seeds would ( Read more... )

Last year, the fourth grade teacher in Matsuyama Elementary found a version of the popular tale, Momotaro, in English. She wanted her class to perform it in that year's cultural festival. So, I helped the class with the pronunciation and made a tape of the script so that they could practice ( Read more... )

After lots of photo-uploading, I think I'm caught up! There are four new rolls from August to December for you to peruse.

The Summer Lull and the Start of the Second Term
The Junior High School Sports Festivals
On to the Elementary Schools' Sports Festivals!
Until My Camera Called it QuitsAs far as the second roll is concerned, both Tanoura and ( Read more... )

Last week was pretty interesting ( Read more... )

There's another thing that happened at Izumi last Thursday which I want to mention. First, I'll have to introduce the characters.

In the crazy second year class at Izumi, there's a pair of twins, and I didn't realize that they were twins for a good 10 months. One day a few months ago, I noticed that the "Helper for the day" 日直 whose name was ( Read more... )

Wednesday, Tanoura JHS - I finally got to talk with Mayuko today. You see, Tanoura JHS gets its students from three elementary schools: Tanoura Elem, Moriyama Elem, and Youra Elem. I only teach at the former, so this is my first time meeting the Youra graduate (there's only one). Since teaching English in elementary school has no official ( Read more... )

尾野見小 (Onomi Elem.) probably has the highest amount of cuteness per capita out of all of my elementary schools. Today, when I was teaching the 1st and 2nd graders, one girl standing towards the front of the room caught my eye. She had a look on her face that said she was obviously deep in thought. With her hands, however, she was making THE ( Read more... )

Well, I was out late tonight too, but it's Friday, so it's OK. The Matsuyama section of the BOE had a barbeque/drinking party, and it was good fun. Unfortunately, the section chief kind of passed out during the event, so we called an ambulance and went to the hospital with him. Luckily, he's OK and he didn't even have to spend the night in the ( Read more... )