Groundwork

Well, I'm glad to report its been a very productive few days.

It's now July which means there's less than a month until the other JETs and I leave for Japan--eee! It also means there's less than a month to practice Tenei Matou, the song I and the other Wellington JETs are going to perform at the Farewell Dinner at the Japanese Ambassador's house just before we leave. While there's a video on YouTube of a Kapa Haka group performing Tenei Matou that we've been using to learn the actions, a lot of people aren't putting the time in or are nervous about learning the actions. Unfortunately being in Dunedin I can't call a rehearsal to take them through it, so instead I've made a video with tips for "First-Time Maori Action Song Performers", and made a second copy of the original video with an inset of me doing the actions as viewed from the back (it's not flattering but hopefully it'll prevent half the group unconsciously learning the mirror image of the actions!). I've also put the words in as subtitles for good measure. Beyond sending out a few email reminders (once I get the mailing list) I'm not sure what else I can do to motivate people. Happily I've got two cohorts in Wellington, Jasper and Kimberley, who are both motivated and willing to take the lead as and when group rehearsals get called. We'll have a full rehearsal on the day--fingers crossed everyone puts in a little bit of effort between now and then!

Other achievements this week...I've bought a map! A really cool map!...of New Zealand, showing the bathymetry around our little country and making it look like the rather large continent it actually is (geologically speaking; it's called Zealandia). So basically it's a picture of NZ from an unusual perspective and has very pretty colour scheme that I hope will catch the eye of students passing in the hallways, and maybe even get members of the Geoscience Club (yes, this high school has a Geoscience Club--awesome!) to stop and go "Ooo, wow! Check out that trench!", or something along those lines (they should be able to do this as Japan has one too). I'm also planning to take a geological map of NZ, just as soon as I can pick one up from GNS.

I love this--I hope my students will too!
(When is New Zealand not New Zealand?...When it's Zealandia!)

Also, I've lined up which textbooks I want to get hold of. I've got absolutely no money at the moment but I'm expecting something to come in next week so then I should be able to buy them online and get them delivered just in time for me to take them to Japan. Ditto the upside-down map of the world Kocho-sensei requested. So there's two ticks off that to-do list (or will be once I can action them).

Setting up a joint-venture between Japan and NZ...no small task!

Another thing Kocho-sensei has requested me to do is to try and find out if any secondary schools or universities would be interested in getting involved in a joint-venture with our school in Japan to enable students to present their work to each other, or perhaps even work collaboratively on one or more research projects. It's an ambitious goal to be sure, but one I'm hopeful of reaching. I've sent out a few feeler emails this week and am happy to report that so far the response has been very positive! My old high school is keen to get on board, and referrals via other emails is putting me in touch with people who might be able to provide advice about how to get such a programme up and running. I'm keen to lay as much groundwork as possible on the New Zealand end before I go, as it only makes sense to meet and greet interested parties while I can still do it in person.

Finally, separate pleas for help with choosing appropriate textbooks and with setting up the joint-venture that I put out on the KiwiJET Facebook page met with really helpful responses from Kiwi JETs already in Japan. One in particular is about to start her 4th year of being an ALT and as well as providing lots of great advice has told me to get in touch with her anytime about anything if I have any more questions. No doubt I will! I'm exceedingly grateful for such a kind offer, from her, but also several other past and present JETs I've been in contact with. Everyone is so nice and helpful! (I know this can't literally be the case, but the unhelpful ones don't respond online so you're not really aware they're there...). So for now I have a completely biased and very positive view of how wonderful the JET community is. However, I'm sure this will be borne out when I start meeting more JETs in person. The 4th year JET that was so helpful is based in the same Prefecture as me, in a city just north of Joetsu, so I'm sure we'll cross paths at some point. Can't wait!