Back to school!

Yesterday was the 3rd of October so that makes it two months that I have now been here. Time is going so quickly! So I have now also been teaching for a month, here's how it has gone so far:

I spent my first two weeks doing a self-introduction presentation as I don't get to see every class every week so there was always another class that I hadn't introduced myself to. I showed them pictures of my family, where I lived, where I went to university and told them my hobbies. Some pictures got more of a reaction then others. Most of the students seemed completely unimpressed by the picture of me at the top of Mt. Fuji. Yet there was a fair amount of ooing and giggling at the picture of my brother, especially in 2nd grade classes. They then asked a lot of Alex-related questions; 

"How old is Alex?" 

"What does Alex do?" (which I still don't know how to answer) and 

"Does Alex like badminton?"

They also ask more general questions; 

"Do you like Japanese food?"

"Do you like soccer?" and then there are more unusual questions...

"How many friends do you have?" 

"What's your favourite word/ saying/ number?" and one of my favourites 

"Do you like american jokes?" When I said yes I guess so the student didn't even follow up with a joke. All the 2nd grade classes ask if I had a boyfriend as well, they find asking that really funny.

So...what's happening?!

So my self-introduction lesson was definitely perfected by the time I had finished. But then I got to start doing normal activities for lessons. I have 5 JTEs (Japanese teachers of English) and they are all so different. It's mad how varied the lessons are and what I do in them depending on the teacher. For example, for one JTE I have so far made two presentations on British themed topics. Sport in the UK and the history of the union of the UK. I present them to class while asking as many questions as possible so they don't get too bored and also make a worksheet for them to fill out. However, another JTE just asks me to read out words and sentences from the textbook for them to repeat. Definitely going to try and change that. 

Some other general things about school. 

1. I sit in the staffroom largely unaware of what's going on, ha! I get given the schedule sometimes which is nice of them but I can't read a thing! Obviously my JTEs don't have time to translate everything. 

2. I have never said hello so much, walking between classes nearly every student says hello, it's fun! 

3. There are some interesting customs in the staffroom, for example after lunch the teachers will brush their teeth. So it isn't uncommon for someone to just be wondering around the staffroom while brushing their teeth. 

4. Another great custom is bringing omiyage (souvenir/gift), whenever a teacher goes somewhere they HAVE to bring back a present for every teacher. So randomly small biscuits and japanese sweets will appear on my desk and often it's the only time other teachers will talk to me because they want to tell me what it is. 

Four pieces of omiyage in one day!

Something that is a massive part of school life is the lunch. This could almost have it's own post. School lunch or Kyūshoku is a massive deal in school. Everyone has school lunch and they eat it in their home-room classes and there are 5 or 6 students in charge of going to get the containers of food from the kitchen. These students all don special aprons, masks and hair nets so they look like they're going into a quarantine area. Then all the food gets divided out fairly in the classroom until everyone is ready before saying "itadakimasu". The food is pretty good as well, there are 5 components; a salad/vegetable dish, a soup, some sort of protein, a huge portion of the carb of the day and a carton of milk! For me lunch is always a surprise, I have been given a menu for the whole month but even after translating the characters I know I'm still none the wiser. The soup dish always has something in it that I don't really recognise but it normally tastes fine!! The size of the lunch is something I can not get over, it is SO big! The students always manage to finish someone and then go out and play. While I always need a nap after lunch! Sometimes I go and eat with the students and they're always quite surprised I can use chopsticks, as are some of the teachers!