Training Week

My 2nd day back in Japan was spent also sightseeing. We all walked down to Okayama Castle and Kourakuen Garden. I didn't go into the castle, but I spent several hours with my fellow NET Bethany relaxing in the garden. It was truly beautiful, and even on a hot and humid day I felt really at peace. Pictures to come later.

Later that night a few of us grabbed a few beers and decided it was time to really get to know one another. We played my favorite (king's cup) and then a quick game of connections to finish off the beers after that. it was a really fun way for us to bond! After that it was time for some drunken karaoke. i sung my heart out and lost my voice! Worth it. We also did nomihodai (all you can drink) karaoke, so we could keep the beers flowing. Good times. After two hours of singing it was pretty late, and we did have to start work int he morning, so it was time to call it a night.

Then training started...

The recruiting office in LA did warn me that it would be an intense experience. But then they also warned not to work too hard and burn myself out just in training. I wouldn't know exactly how spot on that advice would be until I got started.

In school I was never an intense studyer. Unless i was memorizing specific dates/definition/vocabulary I never needed to pour over my notes. And thanks to an amazing high school english teacher, writing papers came incredibly easy to me. Thankfully post grad life hasn't rid me of those skills. I took lots of detailed notes everyday in training and that was it. The first night I was up fairly late, but that was because I put a lot of effort into making props. I never did that again, haha. A lot of my co-trainees did not have it so easily. there was a lot of sleep deprivation with some people being up until the wee hours of the night, and then turning around and getting up early to practice before we had to demonstrate our lessons. I slept 12-8:30 every night. It got to the point where I would finish my lesson plan and then I would walk around the annex seeing if I could help anyone prepare. I lent out my notes, made props, and ran through sections of the lesson plans with people. It was actually pretty fun.

So training was tuesday through saturday (sunday and monday are my weekends) from 10am to 7pm with an hour long lunch. But being Japan you are epected to arrive early and stay late. The traning center opened at 9 and I often got there around 9:30. We would finish between 7:15 and 7:30, and then had to clean the center every night before leaving around 8. So what is technically an 8 hour day stretches to a 9 hour day. We also were expected to come back from lunch around 15min early. That is something I am going to ahve to get used to about working here... Anyways, everyday we learned about a different age group that we would be teaching and how those lessons are supposed to go. We watched the trainers give a demo lesson, then they broke it down piece by piece. At each piece we would break into small groups and practice it ourselves. Finally we would watch the demo lesson all the way through again with a better understanding of it. At the end of the day we were assigned a lesson then had about an hour to start on our lesson plans with the trainers still available for questions.

Through the week we taught a baby lesson, an infant (toddler) lesson, an elementry lesson, and a jr high lesson. But we taught and retaught these lessons getting both individual and group feedback. All in all i taught 8 or 9 times for my peers. The last day however, we got to practice our infant lesson with actual children! After a hard week being bombarded with tons of information that infant lesson was exactly what i needed. It reminded me that this is why i am here. i  love working with kids, and its incredibly rewarding to be able to have an impact on their lives and see the adorable smiles on thier faces.

My group had three children for our lesson. Aiko and Aoi were two cute little girls who were very friendly and very smart. They enjoyed playing around with us. Then there was the problem child Hiroki (i think that was his name...). He came into the room running and screaming. Kalai, the NET who went first had to literally chase him down and carry him back to the board, and then sat him in her lap while she tried to teach. he eventually squirmed away and when she tried to bring him back he burst into a small ball of tears and snot. It was clear that not even his mother had very good control of him and eventually he sat out for the rest of the lessons. Other than that little hiccup (which i didnt even have to deal with) the practical lessons went really well! yay!

Well thats all from me for now. I am in my new apartment and have constant internet, so I can update on my last night in town and moving here to Ogaki soon. I start work tomorrow! Wish me luck!

matta ne!
~寒