The L.L.

L.L. stands for Language Lab, which is what this classroom used to be, probably 20 years ago. There are tape recorders built into each desk, along with individual microphone headsets. At the front of the room is a large control console, complete with a monitor system and master recording panel. I turned on the control console and found a display not unlike that of one of those old apple computers my elementary schools had in their computer labs when I was in like.. 2nd grade… that had 18 amazing colors on the screen. I guess the sad thing is that nobody knows how to operate this thing anymore, and even if they could, the students have absolutely destroyed the tape recorders in the desks and more than half of the headsets are missing or broken. Teenage ennui will always ultimately lead to destruction.

The LL is on the 4th (and top floor) of a separate building that was added to the campus of our school about…20 years ago. There’s a windowed connecting hallway that spans the distance between the main building and the building where the LL is. It’s wickedly cold because it’s all glass and old windows, but it offers a nice view, which is especially nice in the morning and mid-afternoon. Especially around 3:25, when I go for cleaning. The light hits the mountains in an especially nice way that calms me down after a long day.

I tried to decorate the LL a little bit. My predecessor had left up a lot of the posters and flags and things from the ALTs before him, and a lot of them had to do with New Zealand and the now totally defunct exchange program from about 10 years ago. My first week consisted of cleaning out all the garbage and tearing down all of the old posters. I made this poster for the window between the prep room (which is also our club room) and the actual classroom. Unfortunately 90% of my kids don’t know what it means… but I like it and it’s going to stay up as long as I’m here. There are also some maps and things like speech schedules that I have hanging on the walls, but I like looking at this during my classes when I get frustrated to remember why we need to learn how to speak each others’ languages.

Of course, the LL isn’t the pristine learning environment that I make it out to be. It’s pretty dirty, like… 20 million years of dust, on the shelves and things… it has a musty kind of smell, sometimes there are dead birds that I find out on the veranda, and then there are nice little things that my students write on the desks. I really like the one that says OCだるいよー。

 

Here’s a nice view from the front of the room. This is what I get to see every day at work.

The light coming through the pine trees next to the building along the riverside at 3:45 is surreal. I can never see the river because of the trees, but I can always hear it. Nobody comes in the entire building for any reason other than my class, and the band uses the big tatami rooms on the ground floor for practice, but other than that… there’s not much happening here, and it feels so lonely and neglected compared to the rest of the school. Anyway. It’s my classroom.

Hard at work…

…or hardly working! It’s the second week of the second semester and I have no classes scheduled…at all. Why? Because it’s English Week, of course, and I live in the land of logic! So… I’ve been trying to figure out what to do with myself… you know. Taking pictures of my desk, studying Japanese, listening to my ipod, reading “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” making small talk with the other teachers, etc. The best part is that I get to do it all in the glamorously air-conditioned teacher’s office. HOLLA! Ok. so I don’t goof around all day. I do make photocopies of English exam practice sheets for the teachers who are… observing the kids take the practice exams. I did get to watch one class, while the teacher was broadcasting the listening questions over the PA system (so it could go to multiple rooms). This is about as close to actual work that I’ve gotten. Ah well. I’m going to enjoy it while it lasts. Back to the grind next week!

Special Advertising Section

That’s right. I’m in the brochure!
With my students! In my classroom! Looking like a real teacher!
I even put those nice posters up on the wall.

if you come to our school, we have awesome Bridget-sensei to teach you English. hehe.

Presents!

I have to say, last week got started on the wrong foot. It really did. You can read in my previous post that Monday was a bad day… those lovely pink flowers and a surprise special guest visitor to my humble abode (!!!) made things a lot better! Then, I was ill on Tuesday, thanks to my 花粉症 (pollen allergies), and after taking my temperature, my school nurse sent me home. Then there was the weather, it couldn’t decide whether or not it wanted to be spring or winter… and on Wednesday morning, I opened up my door and found a big slushy, snowy mess outside my door that I had the pleasure of biking to school in….

  

Then! Thursday, things started to look good! The sun finally came out and decided to let us start spring! I also had my last classes with my 3rd and 6th grade at one of my schools. My 3-1 class made a really sweet book of thank-you messages for me. Here are a few of them, and my poor attempts at translation:

To Bridget Sensei: Bridget sensei, you taught us English on Thursdays!! Thanks to you I understood English!! Thank you!!
(I really liked the big red exclamation marks in this one)

Bridget Sensei, thank you for teaching us lots of English every week. The games were fun. I won’t forget what you taught me.

To Bridget Sensei: Than you very much for teaching us English. I couldn’t do English every day, but (I can’t read the rest…this kid doesn’t have the best handwriting.. and it seems like they had a lot to say and not enough space to write it. Can someone help me out?)

Then, I got this beautiful card from one of my 6th graders who studies English outside of her once a week lessons at school with me. This is far far far beyond the level of her peers and I am so proud to post this up on my blog:

So… besides these lovely letters, my favorite groundskeeper/personal mechanic gave me some sweet roasted chestnuts (complete with directions on how to crack them open with your thumbnails) and a couple of pots of gorgeous violas (I just hope I don’t kill them… I’m quite skilled at killing plants).

 

All in all, despite crappy days at work, 花粉症, and slushy wet weather, I think I had a pretty stand-up week, don’t you? I even had a really sweet weekend hanging out in Tokyo, photos of which I’ll save for my next post! So, until then!

10 Awesome Songs for YOUR 英会話 class

So the school year is winding down. I’ve managed to teach my students a new song *almost* every month this school year. I’m teaching the last *new* song to my students this month, so next month we’ll sing our favorites as a nice end-of-the-year review.

I decided to put this list together because I always think that there must be SOME English teachers out there going nuts trying to think of something to teach their kids that is fun/cool and are going batty singing “Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes” every freaking day. I sure know I would. This is by no means the Gospel according to Bridget, so take it for what it’s worth: a list of songs that I enjoy and (hopefully) passed that joy along to my students.

This list is mostly made of songs I managed to get my 5th and 6th graders to sing. Believe me, it was challenging at times to get the kids to sing, but I’d say for the most part, my students were really cooperative, if not WILLING to sing. Even the kids who didn’t want to sing at all would at least make it LOOK like they were trying… even if the only song they sang all year was “Hello, Goodbye".

10. Sing – The Carpenters This song was originally created just for Sesame Street, but became massively popular when The Carpenters recorded it, making the Billboard Hot 100 in 1973. Plus, it’s got a Japan connection: “In 1974 while touring Japan The Carpenters recorded their first live album in Osaka. The album contained a new version of "Sing" with the children's chorus sung by the Kyoto Children's Choir. The song is featured on the album Live in Japan, which was recorded in June 1974 and released in Japan only on March 7, 1975.” (source: Wikipedia, for what it’s worth.) Come on, it’s from SESAME STREET! How can it NOT be good at school?!

9. ABC – The Jackson 5 My students were on a bit of a Michael Jackson kick, since he died and everything this past fall. I thought about teaching them “Bad” or “Beat it” or some of his later stuff… but then it occurred to me that I should teach them this song, since the chorus is SO EASY and their beloved Michael Jackson is the lead singer. A lot of them didn’t believe me when I said that it was a 12-year-old Michael Jackson singing it! This was easy enough for the 3rd and 4th grade, too. They totally dug the 70’s vibe.

8. My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean – The Beatles Ok. So… initially I thought… this song was going to be kind of boring, but it has a lot of repetition in it, so its relatively easy for the kids to remember it. The fact that the Beatles recorded their own version of it with a good beat and a kickass guitar solo makes it all the more fun to dance around to.

7. The Purple People Eater – Sheb Wooley Has ANYONE out there EVER heard of this song besides me? I actually taught this to my 3rd and 4th grade, rather than 5th and 6th, since I figured the older kids wouldn’t go for the silly dance I made up to go along with it. I was kind of strapped for a Halloween song to teach, and this was the best I could come up with. The kids freaking LOVED it. We actually kept singing it well into November, even after Halloween was over. The verses were hard, but they LOVE the chorus… “one eyed, one horn, flying purple people eater…” and the silly voice and the background singers saying “woo!” and stuff.

6. Feliz Navidad – Jose Feliciano I really wanted to teach the kids an awesome Christmas song. Then we got two new students from Peru who don’t speak ANY Japanese at all, so I decided, why not sing an awesome Christmas song in Spanish AND English?! My homeroom teachers were thrilled, as were the two new students, AND the other kids were excited to learn how to say “Merry Christmas” in Spanish. This is a GREAT song for class because it is so full of energy, repeats itself many times over, and is fun to dance to. I made up some motions and a little dance for the 3rd and 4th graders. The 5th and 6th graders enjoyed this song, too, although I didn’t bother teaching them the dance & hand motions.

5. Hey Jude – The Beatles This was a real challenge for the 5th & 6th grade, but they REALLY liked it when I brought a guitar to school and played it for them. After that, they really tried their best to learn all the words, and I have to hand it to them, they did a really good job learning if not 80% or more of them! even the kids who HATE singing would at least sing “HEY JUDE” and the “na na na na” parts. They even did the claps. I was really proud, since this is such a classic. Kind of makes me tear up a little…

4. Country Roads – John Denver / Country Road – Toots & the Maytals I honestly don’t know a soul who doesn’t like John Denver. This is a classic song. I taught them the original John Denver version first, then introduced them to the Toots & the Maytals cover. The kids liked the reggae version, too, mostly because it was west Jamaica (which they have heard of)  instead of west Virginia (which they have NEVER heard of). I played this song for them on the guitar, too. They really seem to enjoy it whenever I play for them :D

3. 1234 – Feist Ok. this song was definitely not easy, and I was met with lots of protests from homeroom teachers that it was FAR too difficult, but the kids recognized it from ipod commercials, and it seemed like they enjoyed the rhythm and could understand bits and pieces of it. The only kids that ended up singing it were my 6th graders. They did a hell of a job learning the words. We took it very slowly, learning a couple of new stanzas every lesson, but these kids can do anything they put their minds to, and they had it down in no time.  For some odd reason they liked the parts where Feist sang “those teenage hopes”  and “1,2,3,4,5,6,9 or 10”. We even sang it when Benesse came for our 研究授業. They were impressed, to say the least.

2. All is Love – Karen O. and the Kids I went to see “Where the Wild Things Are” not too long ago, and this song was playing during the end credits. I stayed just to listen to the whole thing. It was so freaking cute!  I knew that Karen O. had done the soundtrack, but I was unsure as to what it would be like. Its not unlike the “exclusive itunes” acoustic session the Yeah Yeah Yeahs did for the ‘Show Your Bones’ album. It repeats stanzas a lot, has clapping parts, and even some parts where we get to shout “YEAH!” “HEY!” and whistle and all sorts of good stuff. It’s a fun song. You even learn how to spell L-O-V-E :) The 6th graders really like it, as do the 3rd graders.

1. Hello, Goodbye – The Beatles This is the QUINTISENNTIAL song for English class. If you don’t teach this to your students at any point in your short-lived career as an ALT, you may as well not even be an ALT. Seriously. This is GOLD, people. Yes, No, Goodbye, Hello, High, Low, Why, I don’t know?! COME ON!! Its perfect. Absolutely perfect. Which is why I make it #1.

I guess as far as TEACHING these songs… the kids can’t read lyrics, but sometimes they will know some simple words, like “love” or “hello.” I print out lyrics for them, even though I’m quite aware that they can’t read. It’s mostly just to give them an idea of how long the song is, what parts repeat and so on and so forth. I decorate the lyric sheets, too. Pictures of the Beatles, a young Michael Jackson, a cartoon of a Purple People Eater that I drew… etc.

I always choose songs that have lots of repetition in them. Feliz Navidad is an especially good example of the kind of repetition you want in a song for English Class… even if it’s not necessarily entirely in English. As for other songs, I try to get the kids to at LEAST learn the chorus. The kids may not be able sing the verses to Purple People Eater or ABC, but they sure as heck know the chorus, which is good enough for me!! Some of my kids only sang the words “OCEAN” and “SEA” when we sang My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean. It was actually really funny and it would just put everyone in a good mood for the rest of class.

The most important thing is being able to have fun with it. If YOU don’t enjoy singing, then it’s going to be hard to convince a group of 30 or so 12-year-olds that they should sing with you. This is just something I do at the beginning of my classes to set the tone and get everyone warmed up!

Plus, I like singing. I’ve been known to dance, too. 

Have fun!

Things I Love Thursday – elementary school edition

Yeah, I probably have one of the best jobs in the world. Teaching English to elementary school kids! There’s no pressure to perform academically on tests or homework, plus we get to sing songs and play games. The point of elementary school English in Japan is to expose the kids to a new language and its culture in a fun way and hopefully get the kids interested in studying English before they start the drudgery of middle school.
So, I’ve been here for two semesters so far, and here are all the things I love about working at elementary schools in Japan:

1. The kids! Of course! I’m going to say here that the kids at my schools are fantastic. Super 仲良しくて、やさしくて、and 元気!!! I’m not kidding! Of course, there are always going to be like.. those 5 kids in the whole school that think they are too cool for English, but whatever, all the other kids are having fun, so they can go sulk in the corner and not have fun with the rest of us.

2.  Days when we get awesome 給食! Yes, I definitely put this down at number 2, because I honestly look forward to kyushoku… it’s always a surprise to me, mostly because nobody ever decided it might be a good idea to give the English teacher the monthly menu. Maybe they just assumed I wouldn’t be able to read it. In any case, days when we get tonkatsu or a cool dessert or something fun like the little tube of Meiji cocoa that you squeeze into your milk box to make chocolate milk with, are fantastically awesome days. The kids have fun, and they like asking me if I like such-and-such food, and they like showing me how to eat certain foods. Lunch times are awesome times.

3. Getting to decorate my own classroom! When I was a kid, I always thought it was so cool how my teachers decorated the bulletin boards and stuff at school according to holidays and seasons. I also really liked how they got to decide what posters and stuff to put in the classrooms… well now it’s MY turn! I get to have my own cool classroom and bulletin boards to fill with awesome stuff! ha!

4. Teaching the 6th graders “cool” songs. Seriously. If I had to sing “the days of the week” or “row, row, row your boat” with ALL of my classes, it would absolutely drive me up a wall. Luckily, my 6th graders are fantastic kids who know enough English and will try very hard to learn “cool” songs. We’ve already learned “Sing” by the Carpenters, “1,2,3,4” by Feist, “Hey Jude”, and this month we are singing “Feliz Navidad” at one school and “Christmas time is here” (from the Charlie Brown Christmas special) at the other school. Yeah, my 6th graders pretty much rock.

5. Speaking of songs, I thoroughly enjoy the 歯磨きサンバ (ha-migaki samba). Yeah. It lets me know when lunch is over and when it’s time to start cleaning time. It’s pretty catchy, too.

6. Drama time! Drama time is that time that comes AFTER we’ve reviewed last week’s lesson and BEFORE we start this week’s lesson. I get to act silly with my homeroom teacher (HRT) while we introduce this week’s target phrase in a little conversation that we call a “drama.” I guess they called it drama time with the last English teacher (ALT), and I loved the name, so it definitely stuck. We do all kind of crazy things in drama time. Here is one drama we did a few weeks ago to teach the kids “who is your teacher?” and “what grade are you in?”

HRT: I love 遠足 yay!! Wow, what a beautiful temple! Oh no! Where is my teacher?! Where are my friends??? WAAA!!!! (>.<;)

ALT: Hello there, are you lost?

HRT: Yes I’m lost and sad…

ALT: What’s your name?

HRT: My name is ________ (*choose someone… from your class.)

ALT: What school do you go to?

HRT: I go to なんとか elementary school.

ALT: What grade are you in?

HRT: I’m in 6^th grade.

ALT: Who’s class are you in?

HRT: I’m in Mr./ Ms. ________’s class.

ALT: Here, have some candy, and get in my car!

HRT: Oooo! Candy! Wait… are you a不審者?! I’m going to the police!! Good bye!

ALT: Hey, wait!!

The kids enjoy it, especially when the HRT and I ham it up. Sometimes they are like, “do it again! do it again!” “You and sensei are like a combi (a pair of comedians)!” Reactions definitely vary, we have some boring, straightforward dramas, too. Nevertheless, drama time shows them that English is fun, and has practical uses. If the homeroom teacher is into it, then the kids will be into the rest of the lesson!

7. The other teachers at school. They are pretty awesome people, if I do say so myself. They work basically 24/7 for these kids. I have no idea how they have a life outside of school. I actually feel really bad when I leave school and they are still in the teachers’ room correcting worksheets or doing whatever they are doing. I’m serious. These teachers are always working hard, and it shows. Their students are unbelievably bright. They also take care of me if I have problems… (like when I got in a bicycle accident, or when I got a flat tire) and they give me fruits and veggies (tomatoes, cucumbers and umeboshi in the summer, apples and mandarin oranges in the fall). Not only do these teachers work hard, they know how to PLAY HARD, too! Faculty drinking parties rock the house. I’m serious. Every time I’ve gone it has never been a chore. Everyone ends up having a great time and not wanting to go home. End result, fantastic co-workers.

8. Not having to have a car to get to school. I really really love this. Like.. a lot. I live close enough to both schools that I can either walk or ride my bike. I actually feel much healthier here than I do back home in the U.S., mostly because of this aspect of my lifestyle.

9. Telling the kids about the United States. My students never fail to be fascinated with all things American. I guess because it’s so different from Japan. When they ask me questions about the U.S., I tell them the way it is there (for the most part) and they are just absolutely amazed. Once, my 3rd graders asked me if it was true that kids in America go to school on a big bus, and how did the bus know where to pick up the kids, and how were the kids divided in the bus? Was it boys on one half and girls on the other? Divided by grade? How big is the bus? How many buses are there? Where do they park all the buses? Who drives the bus? Etc.
I showed them pictures of a big American school bus and told them about neighborhood bus stops and basically everything else. I also had to explain that you have to sit wherever there is a seat on the school bus, and it isn’t separated by boy or girl or by grade - apparently this was shocking news.

10. Getting to go home earlier than the rest of the faculty. It’s a pretty nice thing, especially since everyone else stays till 7 or 8 o’clock (or later) at night. Since I am not a full-time teacher, I get to school at about the same time as everyone, but once my meetings are had, and my flashcards are ready and my interview sheets are copied, I'm ready to go home. It’s nice that I don’t have to abide by the same rules as the rest of the faculty… but then again, I simply do not have as much work as they do. I plan my lessons and most of my materials are already made. If not, I make them myself in my free periods. In truth, there is quite a bit of downtime as an ALT and sometimes I have to make myself just look busy. I don’t mind though, I usually end up with kickass flashcards and classroom decorations as a result.

SO, that’s what I love. How about YOU?! What do you love?

ココ・ファーム・ワイナリー

I am going to have to quote one of my elementary school English lessons for this post. “Ashikaga is famous for Coco Winery!” I went this past weekend for the yearly harvest festival. For 2000 yen you get a bottle of red or white wine (or grape juice), a lovely goblet, a corkscrew, and a nice little yellow badge to let everyone know you are a part of the festival. The wine was fantastic, as was the food! We lucked out on the weather, too! It was such a lovely day to sit on a sunny hillside and drink wine.

 

Coco Winery produces some of the finest wine made in Japan, a country whose wine is better suited for a sweet tooth than a sophisticated palate. Coco Winery’s vintages are apparently so good, in fact, that it was served at the G8 conference when it was held in Japan.

What makes Coco Winery so special, however is not only its fantastic wine, but the people who work there. The staff of the winery is made up of over a hundred autistic and developmentally disabled men and women. Most of them live at the winery year-round, and they all tend to the grapes that grow on the steep hill (as shown above. Believe me, I was on this hill… it is REALLY steep!!) completely by hand. In addition to the vineyard, Coco Winery is also a school, which retains the philosophy that one’s life can change with hard work and diligence.

Coco Winery is special to me because some of the students that I teach are developmentally disabled. Some of them may live and work at Coco Winery one day. As for my students, I can say this about them: they are quite possibly the brightest, and most cheerful kids that I have had the pleasure of teaching. Their English pronunciation and rhythm is fantastic and I truly look forward to having my weekly class with them. I mean these kids just absolutely sparkle with intelligence, life, and energy, despite whatever disability they may have. Actually, most of the time you’d never know there was anything different about these kids. The other thing that I think is so great is that the other kids at school treat them as equals. You never hear anyone teasing or making fun. I swear. If anything, the other kids are helping them get their lunch or explaining something to them. It’s fantastic. It makes the whole school such a nice place to be in. No wonder these kids are so happy.

In conclusion, Coco Winery is the kind of place I want to support. Especially if the people there are anything like my students, I’m sure that the feeling of having a place to belong and do something really cool like make wine is really awesome.
I’ve already posted a lovely little piece about the vineyard by CNN in a previous post, so please check it out!

Benesse VIEW21 Feature

I really try to keep it professional and not talk about work in this blog. I will make an exception to mention this, because it’s always cool to be featured in a major publication. However, a couple of months ago, a few people came from the Benesse Corporation to do a 研究授業 (in other words... they came to do a class study) on my 6th grade English class. The magazine is circulated among elementary schools in Japan. Its premise is to share different activities and teaching methods from schools all over the country. When it came to my class, they basically just wrote up an in-depth report on elementary school English in my town, using my class as the prime example. I don’t like the photo that they published at all. I wish they would have just asked me for a proper photo instead of acting like the paparazzi. I also loved how they assumed that I didn’t speak any Japanese during the post-class interview. That was amusing.  However, I will say this, this is a fairly big thing for me, to get mentioned in a print article, thus I’m fairly excited about it. If you’re at all inclined to read in Japanese, please go ahead and read this article in the September issue of VIEW21.

The online version can be found here:

http://benesse.jp/berd/center/open/syo/view21/2009/09/s03english_01.html

The magazine in its entirety can be downloaded in PDF format here:

http://benesse.jp/berd/center/open/syo/view21/2009/09/pdf/2009_vol2.pdf

Pittsburgh Pole...ka

So... my principal and my English coordinator urged me to decorate my classroom (which is actually a HUGE multi-purpose room) I only have one bulletin board in the room, and it's currently occupied with the Months, Weather, and Seasons, for easy reference. I also have one wall decorated with a world map and flags & information of some English-speaking countries. However, this leaves me with these large concrete poles in my room that are really just blank canvasses waiting to be decorated!! I found some pre-made posters of Opposites (big, small, long, short, etc.) to put on one of them, but the other... I was having a lot of trouble with. So I decided to make it 'The Pittsburgh Pole."
Yes. I was feeling a little homesick when I made this.
So I thought of some words for the kids to learn like... Sports, Football (which the kids confuse with rugby...weird), Baseball (it's insanely popular in Japan.. but the Pirates... ugh... don't even get me started...), and (of course!) Hockey, featuring Sidney (Bing!) Crosby. I also included a photo of a Primanti Bros. Sandwich with the heading "Sandwich," which is definitely a word that the kids know. Rivers and Bridges are also some easy words. I added "Neighborhoods" and "Steel" just in case I have some prodigies...
I just wanted to share this little collage I made. I took special care in the font and the color choices (of course black & gold). The font I used was Arial Rounded Bold. I guess in the case of teaching English to elementary school aged kids in Japan, they don't really learn to read at all. They just learn to speak English. If they happen to recognize a word or two, that's great. I just like to use fonts that are clear and easy to read. Nothing crazy like.. (shudder) Curlz MT or Ravie. Augh. I disdain those fonts with a passion. I guess some people think they're cute and they used them on some of the older flashcards at this school. Why the heck would you ever use a hard-to-read font on an language learning material?! Arial, helvetica, times new roman, verdana, even. Just keep it simple.

So. Yep. This is what I get to do at work. How's THAT for internationalization?!!

Awesome.

These kids I am teaching are just... amazing. They blow my mind. I say something in English they spit it out at me in Japanese. They understand what I'm saying... albeit responding very passively.
Some 4th grade girls dragged me into the library during recess today and asked me to read "Frog & Toad Are Friends" to them. So so SO cute. We even read "The Hungry Hungry Caterpillar."
I really really just hope that I can keep all of the kids interested and involved in each lesson. It kind of sucks that we only have class once a week, but... like they're only in elementary school, you know?
I like teaching so far. Let's see how the rest of the year goes!