Dazaifu, Day 9 and 10 - Settling In

Sunday was a day of rest, and this time, for the most part, it really was. I had journal writing to do, but not a lot, and I did laundry. Otherwise I spent the day being lazy or shopping, both favorite activities. I did find a couple of the video games that my son wants, one of them in a tiny gamer's shop not too far from my apartment, so the first box home will have something he likes.
Monday, it's back to school. The morning meeting starts with a short introduction and speeches by uniformed practice teachers, here from university for the next two weeks to hone their skills. They look just as nervous and green as I was the first day I entered a school as a student teacher. These three are studying to be social studies teachers, so they will be paired up with older teachers at all three levels in that subject.

A bit later during the morning, the principal invites me into his office to meet the supervising teacher from the university, who seems intrigued by the fact that I trained in music, but also enjoy working with computers (mathematics), and projects for MTP (science). I explain that I have always had an interest in continued learning and feel that I can be a better teacher by learning about more subjects.

I strike up a conversation with Rebecca-ALT, who asks how I liked the trip to Nagasaki (I liked it very much, even though it was quite hot). I told her about my shopping excursions on Sunday, and she and I look at a map to find another store that she thinks I would like to see. When Rebecca-ALT sees where I live, she asks if I have had a chance to try any of the local restaurants - there are some good ones close by, including a yakitori. I explain that I had not yet tried any local restaurants, but that my nose told me there must be a good barbecue somewhere in the area - I noticed it as I walked home last night. She points it out on the map (yes, that's where I smelled it), and we agree on Wednesday evening as a tentative night to go there together.

Right at the beginning of 4th period, Sasaki-san and Rebecca-ALT come over to ask if I am free and would I like to join them for English class? Of course, so we head for the 7th grade classrooms. Today's lesson is about 'like' and 'play' - English verbs used in a lot of short conversations about favorite activities. Rebecca-ALT and I take turns reading short English sentences such as "I like music.", "I play the piano.", "I like baseball.", "I play soccer.", and helping students figure out what activity is begin described. Then it is the turn of the students; they must write three English sentences, giving their name, saying what they like, and describing what they can play. We three teachers move around the room, looking at results, and making corrections or offering ideas as needed.

Finally the students group up and we play a variation on 'Jeopardy' with Rebecca-ALT offering hints about Sports, Music or Special characters, and the groups required to answer "You are......" once they figure out who is being described. I know more of the answers than I expected, and all of the groups succeed in guessing correctly on at least one question.

Lunch is with a 9th-grade English class, and a teacher who was an MTP 2003 participant (now I know why he looked vaguely familiar). He encourages his students to come up and talk with me; a couple of them are actually brave enough to have short conversations, so I learn that one of the boys plays guitar in a band, and one of the girls is interested in classical music played on the violin. These students will be taking their entrance exams for high school next February; while there is some kidding and horseplay during the lunch time, in general this is a more serious bunch who know that the heavy work is rapidly drawing nearer.

Even though I'm not teaching a class every day, I still have tasks to complete. I have a spring BUGS collection report and pictures ready to be uploaded to the JFMFMTP XOOPS server, but I still need to create JPEGs of the data charts. I also need to start editing some of these journal entries to create a weekly report and dig through the pictures of activities to find good photos to add to that. I will have plenty to do over the next couple of weeks.