Previous Teacher's Comment
My life in Kushiro by Jordi Rossell, 2007.
Hello! My Name Is Jordi Rossell And I Am From Canet De Mar, A Small But Lovely Village Close To Barcelona, Spain. Now, I Am Teaching English At Public Elementary Schools In Kushiro.
Even I Am Not A Native Speaker, English Has Opened Me A Lot Of Gates So I See English As A Very Basic Need Of These Days. This, Together With The Fascination About Japan I Have Had Since A Kid, Brought Me Here. And Here I Am, Enjoying My Job And Learning More About This Ancestral Culture.
AET In Kushiro
Working Days Usually Start Around 9.00 Am. At That Time, I Go To Alpha, Take The Car And Drive To A School. There Are About 20 Different Public Elementary Schools In Kushiro Where AETs Teach. In This Job, We Hardly Ever Go To The Same School On Two Consecutive Days.
Once There, You’ll Have To Teach Very Basic English To Japanese Primary School Students.
In Japan, Children Only Take Three English Classes Per Year So Your Job Is More About An Entertainer Than A Proper Teacher. You Will Go To Class, Introduce Yourself And Your Country Verbally, Showing Pictures, Dancing, Singing Or In Whatever Way You Think Kids Will Enjoy. There Are Not Many Foreigners In Kushiro So It’s A Good Chance For Them To Meet Somebody From Abroad. Children Are Usually Very Curious And Will Ask You Many Questions.
With An AET Teaching The Same Class An Average Of Only Three Times, Classes Are Not Supposed To Be Very Serious. What Can Students Actually Learn With Three 45-Minutes Classes A Year? The Idea Is More About Playing Games And Trying To Make An Enjoyable Time For The Kids. If They See They Can Have Fun Learning English, They Might Get More Interested In The Language.
After Teaching Three Or Four Classes And As A Part Of The Contract, You Will Eat Lunch With The Kids. Your Tasks At School Finish Around 2.30 Pm And You Are Then Required To Go Back To Alpha. Once There, Write A Short Report About What You Taught And Your Personal Observations. Then, Prepare The Classes For The Day After And Maybe, Teach Some Afternoon Classes.
Days Usually Finish At 5 Pm.
If You Are Interested In This Job, Keep This In Mind: You MUST Love Kids. Seriously, I Mean It. You’ll Spend At Least 6 Hours Everyday With Them. The Ages Are Between 6 And 12 Years. Occasionally You’ll Go To Junior High Schools But That’s Once Every Three Months Maybe. If You Don’t Really Like Kids, You’ll End Up Hating This Job And That Would Be Bad For Everyone; First Of All, Yourself, And At The End, The Kids And Alpha English Academy.
Even It’s Not A Must, I Highly Recommend You To Study Japanese. The Teachers You Will Work With At Public Elementary Schools Are Supposed To Speak Some English But The Reality Is Different. Usually They Don’t, And Even We’re Supposed To Be An Assistant Teacher, We’re Actually The Main Teacher. There Are Only Few Schools Where Teachers Do Their Own Lesson Plans. You Will Have To Prepare The Classes And Teach The Kids. You Don’t Need To Be A Native Japanese Speaker But It’s Very Convenient To Know What You’re Going To Teach In Their Language, As Well As Some Basic Instructions. Hey! Don’t Worry Too Much Though… You’ll Teach About Easy Greetings, Time Expressions, Animals And Colors.
Another Thing I Should Say About This Job Is That It Is Quite Easy. After A While, Of Course. All Jobs Are Tough At The Beginning And So Is This One.
But Remember, You’ll Teach Very Basic Things Through Fun Activities. It’s More An Enjoyable Approach Than A Linguistic Approach.
April
I arrived to Japan on April, 21 so there's not much to be explained about my life in Kushiro during that month. The month of April was basically the month of getting ready, physically and mentally, for a new life, with that mixture of nerves, fears and excitement before going to live abroad. To get all the required documents we needed to apply for the certificate of eligibility took longer than we expected. In Spain, the Ministry of Education holds the university certificates for five years. Therefore, whenever a Spaniard is recently graduated and wants to go to work abroad, s/he has to get through a lot of bureaucracy and supply the employer with extra documents. Why am I telling you this boring staff? Because it took me about 1,5 months to get all the papers and send them to Mr. Funaki. He could have perfectly opted to forget about me and choose another candidate but he didn't. That, together with the time he spent answering to all my questions, was a good sign. This was reassured when we arrived at Kushiro airport on a Saturday night and Mr. Funaki came to pick us up. Moreover, he spent the next day, his day off, showing us all around, from nice spots to cheap stores.
I started working on the next Thursday. And immediately: after only ten days…holidays! It was the Golden week. The owner invited all the staff to a winter resort in Tomamu, a small town in the heart of Hokkaido.
May
We can actually say that I started teaching in May.
Why? Because I only taught a couple of classes in April, and accompanied by Mr. Funaki in both occasions. First days, as in any kind of job, were a bit tough. I did not speak much Japanese so I felt a bit nervous and insecure. Also, the way I learnt English and the way I was supposed to teach differed a lot. Thus I had to readapt my way of teaching into a Japanese style. I was always too worried about teaching a lot of things so my classes were very serious and the students often looked bored. They are children and they only take up to four or five English classes per year so our mission is more about broadening their minds and try to make them have fun. This way, they can see that English can be learned in a funny way. After understanding this, there was a big improvement in the classes. JET were more satisfied and students seemed to have more fun so I started to feel the classes were going better and actually, so did the reports from the board of education. What we did now, was one vocabulary or grammar point per class and the rest of the time was spent with games and songs.
June
In June, I started to get more used to this job. Honestly speaking, it was a bit hard to readapt my way of teaching into a Japanese style. Why is that so? Well, from my point of view, what I was doing was more about being an entertainer rather than a proper teacher. My English teachers used a traditional style and we rarely played games at class. However, it was a matter of time. Experience is a grade and after one month, I saw that not only could children learn with games, but they learnt more. They had fun so they were keen to learn.
Until June, I only taught sporadically some classes in Alpha. In this month, Michiyo-san started to learn Spanish, which turned out to be a kind of a challenge, as being my own language, I never studied its basic rules. I am very proud of her. In only three months she can hold basic conversations, such as order food and drinks, ask for directions, ask the time, and a large number of etcetera.
My girlfriend Asuka found a job as a librarian so we had an extra income at home. Mr. Funaki let us use the car on our days off thus we decided to take advantage of it and start to explore the East of Hokkaido on day trips. Even June was still cold and foggy, we went out every weekend. We visited different spots of Kushiro Marshland by ourselves and we went with Matt and Christine to Akan National Park for a hiking. Nature is the main highlight of Hokkaido and it's awesome. There are plenty of beautiful and peaceful sceneries… peaceful until a group of gaijins, us, got there.
Upper Left: Hosooka viewpoint of Kushiro Shitsugen National Park. In case you don't have a car, the train is another nice way to explore the marshland.
Upper Middle: Akan national park. Isn't it nice to hike with these views?
Upper Right: Lake Akan. A nice place to go and spend the weekend. If you don't believe me, ask Matt… they're addicted to it ;) Also, Akan is one of the best spots to learn about Ainu culture and see their handcrafts.
Lower Left: Akkesshi. Aicappu cape
Lower Middle: Yammy! Eating oysters in a restaurant in Akkeshi.
Lower Right: Tsurui Green Park, 40 minutes drive from Kushiro.
July
The weather was usually cloudy or foggy in June. Not cold at all though. In July, the weather started to improve a bit and we had some really nice, hot and sunny days. We continued with our weekend trips. Sometimes with Matt and Christine and/or Mr. Funaki and sometimes, just the two of us. We went to Akkeshi, a town with a lovely gulf, and a perfect spot for oyster lovers. For sure, one of the best oysters I've ever eaten. In July, I started to feel more comfortable at class. At the beginning, I felt very frustrated when I couldn't understand what the students were saying to me. With time, I got used to that. Another good point is that I started to understand their basic questions (What's your favorite food? What color do you like? Etc) so I could hold a little basic conversation with them.
One weekend, Asuka and I went to lake Masshu. Unfortunately, it is usually cloudy during summertime, so, we couldn't see the lake. Just 15 minutes away from the lake, there's mount Iwo, an interesting volcanic zone. And within 15 more minutes of driving, there's lake Kussharo. There, you can create your own foot onsen and regulate the temperature. You can mix the hot thermal water with cold water from the lake and get your comfort temperature.
September
After reading the previous reports, I've seen that I haven't specified much about my job so that's what's I'm going to do today. Let me start with the job at Elementary Schools: When preparing the lessons, I usually divide the activities, games and songs into three age groups:
1st and 2nd graders (7-8 years old)
3rd and 4th graders (9-10 years old)
5th and 6th graders (11-12 years old)
Kushiro's board of education sends us a basic plan about what we have to teach. For example,
Colors, numbers and basic greetings for 1st graders and Animals, body parts and basic actions for 2nd graders. As they're young children, they are not able to reason yet and they cannot be sitting for a long time… more than 10 minutes is an eternity for them! Therefore, we usually play games which involve physical activity, such as Karuta, Flay Swatter, Fruits basket, Simon says, and we usually dance a lot of songs: Head, shoulders, knees and toes, Hokey Pokey, etc. Kids are usually super cute and they look at me as if I were the new attraction of the zoo. That's why there are not many foreigners in the city. I usually have a lot of fun with them. They always have tons of questions and times passes by very, very quickly with lower graders. 3rd and 4th graders form the second group. The kids are a bit older so I can plan more difficult activities. The activities don't need to be so physically though the more physically they are, the more fun the children have. They learn about likes and favorites, emotions, animals and weather expressions. The main difference comes with the songs. Apart from dancing, the students are able to sing very basic English songs, such as BINGO, Twinkle little star or Incy Wincy Spider. 3rd, Karuta 1 3rd, Haetataki 1
he oldest kids, 5th and 6th graders are a bit more difficult. From time to time, I find a student who wants to stand out and make you have a bad time. Usually, the kids are easy to teach but it's sometimes hard to find an appropriate activity. At this age, children start to be shy so it's hard to get volunteers and make them talk in front of the class. They will reject doing an activity, playing a game or singing a song they think it's too childish. The good thing is that we can play games more challenging: 3 hints game, Think something ~, etc.
So far, only a couple of Junior high-schools have required me to go. There, the role of the AET is usually to be a mere assistant. JET prepares everything and we just have to drill the pronunciation of some words.
From a personal point of view…
Mr. Funaki told me long ago, during the (long) foggy season -June and July- that the fall was the best season to visit Hokkaido. That there were lots of sunny and warm days… Absolutely true. We had attempted to visit Mashu lake twice and it had been always foggy. We went there in September and it was amazing. An old volcano now turned into a beautiful lake.
A friend told Asuka about Kaminoko Ike, about 30 minutes away from Mashu-ko. Kaminoko Ike is a small pond with blue-emerald water. I had never seen this color before going there. It's not in the guides so it's not a touristy spot, which makes it even better. If you ever come to Hokkaido, I definitely recommend you to go there.
Another place we went to on a weekend trip, is Shiretoko National Park. The chromatic variety of the autumn leaves was splendid. The walk around the 5 lakes, beautiful. The only black spot of the trip was the Sunday morning weather; due to strong wind, the cruises were cancelled and we couldn't see the peninsula from the sea.
October
October was the Good byes month. Christine left the first and after a couple of weeks, so did Matt. We had been working together for half a year so their departure left me with a bittersweet feeling; happiness because they were going back home and sadness because we won't probably meet up again.
Leaving sentimentalism apart, I was left here alone with another thing… a whole bunch of work. I continued going to primary schools in the morning and teaching my regular evening classes, plus I now had to make substitutions for the American-Canadian couple.
Usually, there is no problem because the former teacher shows the new one how everything works but Matt left before Tracy came so I had to do some extra work.
Destiny wanted October to be a crazy month. I was given two new regular students: Hiroki, the ever smartest 7 year-old kid and a new Spanish student, Hiroe - a really privileged person learning languages. She spent one year in Costa Rica and within only twelve months, she achieved an awesome level of Spanish. She even knows the weird tenses and genders of the Iberian language. I've never met a person with such skills for languages.
That is not all though. To complete my nightmare, we celebrated Halloween on the 28th. The preparation for the party took us a daily average of one and a half hours. We had to redecorate Alpha, think and prepare some games, create a haunted house, etc.
As you can guess, I LOVE to complain but Halloween party was actually extremely fun!
We attempted to control 60 kids while Fumio was giving the instructions for the pinata.
If you have read September's report, you'll have seen that I wrote "I rarely go to high schools". Well, you know that as soon as a person says white, it is going to be black. I mean, after making a statement, the opposite happens, always! There were 22 working days in October and half of them -eleven- were at Junior High Schools. That was a relief as days at Chugakkos are very laid back. Rather than being the main teacher, our role is more as an assistant so I didn't have to prepare much for those classes.
I cannot add much more. Maybe, that within a week, ALL trees lost their leaves and temperatures dropped dramatically at night. Daytime was sunny and warm when the weather was not windy. The ephemeral beauty before the fall off the trees was at its splendor. The colors were awesome.
NOVEMBER
November started in the very same way October finished. To summarize it, one only word: busy! Tracy got a bad cold in Canada, so she cancelled her flight and came to Kushiro one week later, on the thirteenth. After her arrival, things calmed down again. From a personal point of view, I was happy in November. I mean more than usual. Even my Japanese is still very basic, I have already finished the book I had planned to get through by the end of the year. That's an anticipation of two months and therefore, I was glad to have achieved this short term goal before the date I had planned. However, I cannot sleep on the lavenders and far away from taking Nihongo no benkyo holidays, I spent the whole month reviewing the previous units and re-learning the vocabulary and grammar I had already forgotten. There's usually a 3 day weekend every month in Japan and so was it in November. Asuka and I hadn't been to Sapporo yet and we decided to spend that long weekend there. Sapporo is the capital of Hokkaido and it's the fifth largest city in Japan by population. We had a very nice 4-hour-trip by train. We were warm inside the wagon while we could enjoy beautiful snow-covered landscapes with some snowflakes falling in the air from time to time. Once there, we visited the must go places, such as Odori Park; the clock;
Thank you Jordi. It was pleasure to have you at Alpha.
