After emailing Natasha, my JET-coordination contact at the prefectural level, to confirm I had received my placement details I found out that my predecessor (the outgoing JET who I am replacing and who would normally be the source of all wisdom and information about my particular placement) broke contract and is not around any more! Worse than that, he left on bad terms with his school and his fellow JETS! Potentially this is not a good situation to be walking into as it can leave the school with a very bad taste in their mouths about having an ALT. Apparently my predecessor's reason for leaving was personal though, not anything to do with the school, so I'm hopeful that it wasn't the result of the school being a pressure-cooker workplace. That said, I am expecting my school to be a tough place to work that demands a high level of achievement from both staff and students...any place designated a "super" anything school is bound to be like that right? Happily the person who usually puts the most pressure on me is me (I'm one of those people that sees in my mind what I set out to achieve, what I actually achieved...and the great gaping hole in between!), so at least I already know I'm my own worst enemy! I'll just have to keep an eye on myself while I'm in Japan and remember to mentally take a step back on occasion. I'm confident I'll be alright as long as I can keep the irrational perfectionist side of myself under control...or at least give it a productive outlet somewhere so that it can feel like it's achieving something even if everything else is going to hell in a hay basket.
All this aside, everything else I've received has been really positive information. Earlier this week I got an email from my school principal (kocho-sensei)). Fortunately the email was in English, and rather good English at that, so at a purely communicative level I am hopeful of being able to exchange necessary and required information with my school colleagues. Kocho-sensei introduced himself and his school, and shared some of the history and aspects of both the school and Joetsu City. He was keen to reassure me "not to worry about my life in Joetsu" and that my students would be gentle and diligent, though shy. On this note he shared his eagerness for his students to become more engaged and excited by English, and his hope that they will become comfortable with presenting their work in English.Cue my reply, asking for advice on anything and everything he can suggest that I can bring or prepare in advance that the students would find interesting and would help spark their enthusiasm for English. He promptly wrote back requesting photos, posters and other materials we can put up in the school halls so that students get to see and be stimulated everyday, and has also asked for high-school level science textbooks (I immediately put out a plea to my teacher friends on Facebook about where I might source some of these second hand; I can't take many in my luggage allowance, but one each of biology, chemistry and physics that I can take and make photocopies from should be doable).
 |
| Upside-down world map...a new perspective, no? |
while on an English language course in Sydney and found it fascinating. I've never seen one myself, but having now googled I can see why! It completely changes you're perspective on the world and I have determined to take one with me as I'm sure it will get the students to take a second look at Japan and its place within the rest of the world. (The advantage of getting one in NZ rather than the more common American ones is that NZ and Japan are in the middle of the map and not squished out to one side!).
Kocho-sensei also forwarded my email to two of the nine Japanese Teachers of English (JTEs...yeah, I know....between that and JET you wouldn't want to be dyslexic!) at the school so that they might contact me directly if they too had any further requests or suggestions. I hope to hear back from them. I'm getting really excited now about putting some teaching materials together. I so hope the students are excited by what I come up with!
Finally, this week I also got in touch with the people who organise the Niigata JET charity musical. This year's show (actually performed in January, but rehearsed this year) is going to be Dracula! Auditions are on the 14th of August which doesn't give me much time to settle in or prepare the required two performance pieces. Happily I don't really care what I do though, and the musical is such that anyone who wants to be involved gets involved, so I'm sure they'll be able to find a place for me somewhere.
 |
| 2017 Niigata JET Charity Musical...auditions coming soon! |
So much to look forward to!
No comments:
Post a Comment