tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31996885Tue, 10 Feb 2009 03:40:26 +0000Life in the ghetto.http://www.greatteacherachan.com/noreply@blogger.com (a-chan)Blogger33125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31996885.post-2258798047875241805Thu, 08 Nov 2007 00:31:00 +00002007-11-08T09:32:11.329+09:00I work with some very friendly and forgiving English teachers. They say there’s a balance when it comes to teaching staff – the worse the students, the better the staff. The warmth and good nature of our teachers is a glowing testament to how bratty all our kids are. When you’re constantly telling them not to jump out windows, you have to have a sense of humour. One of these well-intentioned http://www.greatteacherachan.com/2007/11/borrower.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (a-chan)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31996885.post-3783088280412840798Wed, 31 Oct 2007 02:35:00 +00002007-11-08T09:42:06.667+09:00OK folks, time for a little Q&A. I’ve been getting a lot of queries as to what’s going on with this little blog. Why has it dwindled to nothing? Have you just stopped blogging? PIKER! The truth goes something like this: I’m a JET, traversing many a winding road. This means I’m employed on a contractual basis by the Board of Education by my town. Unluckily, that contract happens to feature a http://www.greatteacherachan.com/2007/10/where-did-you-go-explanation-and-noodle.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (a-chan)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31996885.post-9204655479096874216Thu, 12 Jul 2007 13:56:00 +00002007-07-12T23:14:47.392+09:00Once a year, Japanese employees are requested to take a full health check, provided at the company’s expense, for insurance purposes. Most consider it a free doctor’s visit and are happy to oblige. However, knowing I speak very little Japanese, I was less than eager. No truly good afternoon begins with your (male) Board of Education supervisor trying to express in broken English that he wants youhttp://www.greatteacherachan.com/2007/07/japanese-health-care-part-2-insurance.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (a-chan)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31996885.post-5431003021431347491Thu, 12 Jul 2007 13:31:00 +00002007-07-12T22:34:19.810+09:00The JET program insists you be in impeccable health before coming to Japan. Probably because they know that sending a foreigner through the healthcare system is like trying to hide a junior high schooler’s underwear from the public eye: pointless. So when I woke up crook as a dog and saw the pouring rain out the window, I decided to be stoic and go into work. After teaching the ichinensei http://www.greatteacherachan.com/2007/07/japanese-health-care-part-1-being-ill.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (a-chan)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31996885.post-803146401122472405Fri, 20 Apr 2007 01:58:00 +00002007-04-20T10:59:07.707+09:00The new school year begins in April here in Japan (crazy American school system), and apart from rowdier kids and newcomers, this translates to a lot of ceremonies. The Japanese love their ceremonies, mainly because it gives them an excuse for hours of hours of speeches, which as we know is the only thing that the Japanese love more than ceremonies and porn. Graduation Despite riding each other http://www.greatteacherachan.com/2007/04/world-of-waiting-japanese-obsession.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (a-chan)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31996885.post-2364802268091524658Wed, 14 Mar 2007 06:11:00 +00002007-03-14T15:50:05.239+09:00Today was the first time I’d attended a Japanese graduation ceremony, but judging from every other formal event I’ve had to attend here, I could pretty much guess what was coming. Music, tears, and really long speeches. Everyone assembled in the gym, starting with the first- and second-year students (because in this situation, they’re essentially peons), the parents, PTA, teachers, and then the http://www.greatteacherachan.com/2007/03/graduation-parents-and-friends-are.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (a-chan)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31996885.post-6416937647458782274Sun, 25 Feb 2007 13:25:00 +00002007-02-25T22:40:41.571+09:00This week I was reviewing comparitive sentences with the ninensei (e.g. 'The elephant is bigger than the cat'). As an activity students were given cards featuring two objects (with the names written beneath to make it easier), which they had to then write a comparitive sentence about using the English they'd been practising. This is pretty basic stuff, so most of them were fine with it. One boy http://www.greatteacherachan.com/2007/02/comparitively-my-students-are-lesbians.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (a-chan)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31996885.post-117213600162852507Thu, 22 Feb 2007 09:18:00 +00002007-02-23T23:46:42.955+09:00When I came to Japan, I was told that while our male counterparts would be swamped with female attention, we lady gaijin were considered evil ball-busters doomed to live a life of loneliness in the land of the rising sun. Why then, does it seem that everyone in my small community is desperate to set me up? Not just the regular I’http://www.greatteacherachan.com/2007/02/set-ups-you-dont-have-to-be-single.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (a-chan)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31996885.post-117081111927889777Wed, 07 Feb 2007 01:18:00 +00002007-02-07T10:18:39.280+09:00It seems that my duties as an AET extend further each day. Granted, the actual duties aren’t that heavy to begin with, so I’m happy for anything extra that gets thrown my way – whether it be doing another teacher’s photocopying, or drawing character pages for the art club. Last week I was approached by one of the English teachers with a small piece of paper. He asked for my help as he showed it http://www.greatteacherachan.com/2007/02/naruto-garage-bands-and-edible.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (a-chan)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31996885.post-117081103023099054Wed, 07 Feb 2007 01:16:00 +00002007-02-07T10:17:10.273+09:00Recently the ichinensei had a test that involved them writing their daily schedule accompanied by pictures, which I had the distinct pleasure of marking. A typical page will read along the lines of ‘I get up at seven. I leave home at seven fifty. I come to school by bike. I get to school at eight fifteen’ etc. The delinquent students (those that actually did the homework) made no attempt to hide http://www.greatteacherachan.com/2007/02/student-schedules-kendo-boys-with.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (a-chan)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31996885.post-116910143375084866Thu, 18 Jan 2007 06:03:00 +00002007-01-18T15:23:53.766+09:00Prior to Christmas I was fortunate enough to experience my first Japanese junior highschool fire drill. I'm actually really lucky in that my English teachers go out of their way to inform me of changes to the daily schedule - many JETs frequently find themselves stranded in ignorance when they rock up to school and the staff room is completely empty, with all the students running around outside http://www.greatteacherachan.com/2007/01/mass-confusion-of-slippers-fire-drill.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (a-chan)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31996885.post-116433187318633428Fri, 24 Nov 2006 01:30:00 +00002006-11-24T10:31:13.190+09:00I’m going to assume you all know the basic premise of moe. Well, moe has some pretty wide uses in Japan- not just by otaku, but also by people describing otaku or anything that an otaku might be interested in. Furthermore, the word ‘otaku’ gets used pretty broadly too – it doesn’t necessarily have to relate to anime or manga, just anything that seems to be a little bit off. Now, the people that http://www.greatteacherachan.com/2006/11/i-cant-teach-right-now-on-police.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (a-chan)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31996885.post-116433176938249324Fri, 24 Nov 2006 01:26:00 +00002006-11-29T00:08:57.353+09:00Being located next to the staffroom door, I get the pleasure of being the first to hear what’s going on in the hallway. Usually it’s a screaming matching between some of the psycho girls. The other day, however, I heard boys. The way these kids were screaming, you’d guess someone had just poured petrol down their pants and was chasing them with a match. I peeked out the door to see what the http://www.greatteacherachan.com/2006/11/we-work-all-night-and-scream-all-day.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (a-chan)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31996885.post-116339605055404958Mon, 13 Nov 2006 05:11:00 +00002006-11-13T14:40:47.576+09:00For the past fortnight I visited three local elementary schools with three other AETs. We have this little 4-way-team-teaching gig, just for variety I guess. As with any situation, there are positives and negatives. The great thing about teaching at a shogakko is that the kids are enthusiastic. They actually want to participate. You can do games and chants and ridiculous songs and they'll love http://www.greatteacherachan.com/2006/11/finally-what-youve-all-been-waiting.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (a-chan)5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31996885.post-116167313959566141Tue, 24 Oct 2006 06:53:00 +00002006-11-02T21:47:23.383+09:00Being in such a ghetto area, you have to expect the standard to be a little low. In fact, when I visited nearby Elementary schools, I found most 5th and 6th graders were better in English than my ichinensei. In junior high, students are motivated to study because they need to take the entrance exams for highschool – the better the school, the more difficult the exam. Although 97% of students go http://www.greatteacherachan.com/2006/10/lets-sleep-academic-performance-or.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (a-chan)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31996885.post-116167279843391198Tue, 24 Oct 2006 06:50:00 +00002006-11-02T21:49:33.883+09:00Potato-sensei provides such endless amusement. Recently we were having a takoyaki-party at another teacher’s house, and I noticed that Potato’s bag was printed with the name ‘EDWIN’. Out of interest I mentioned that Edwin is my father’s name, to which Potato and Moe-sensei answered that in Japan it’s a popular jeans brand, and proceeded to show me the tag on the jeans they were wearing. http://www.greatteacherachan.com/2006/10/edwin-my-father-lives-in-japanese-mans.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (a-chan)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31996885.post-116167261296384630Tue, 24 Oct 2006 06:47:00 +00002006-11-02T21:53:59.396+09:00A few weeks back, a group of exchange students visited from Queensland. Lovely for me, as sightseeing suddenly became part of my paid job description, and going to parties on a weekend turned into overtime. On several occasions, one of my English teachers made a point of inviting me along to help her to socialise with the exchange teacher from Queensland, whom she was hosting. This teacher http://www.greatteacherachan.com/2006/10/bring-beef-impromptu-english-in.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (a-chan)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31996885.post-116009722555716560Fri, 06 Oct 2006 01:12:00 +00002006-11-02T22:06:53.690+09:00In order to make things easier to understand and refer to, I’ve decided to define the general student groups in my school. Some of these are typical stereotypes you’d find in any school (or anime for that matter), and some are just little bonuses unique to my school. Yankees Yankees are fantastic, provided you’re watching them on TV, or at least from a safe distance. In real life they’re total http://www.greatteacherachan.com/2006/10/student-body-breakdown-joys-and.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (a-chan)5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31996885.post-115945364944063375Thu, 28 Sep 2006 12:52:00 +00002006-11-02T22:13:38.426+09:00The excursion today was a delightfully exhausting one. First to a local kindergarten, which was of course adorable in all the ways you expect plus several others, not the least of which was being allowed to watch a group of forty 3-5 year olds performing a synchronised dance to the Totoro theme. After our juice and joyful goodbyes however, we were moving on to far greater horrors. We were http://www.greatteacherachan.com/2006/09/how-hard-gay-relates-to-children-no-i.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (a-chan)5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31996885.post-115923093132333000Tue, 26 Sep 2006 00:23:00 +00002006-11-02T22:15:57.380+09:00Ok, so I should probably explain the situation regarding my being regarded as a man by the authorities of Kyoto city. Upon arrival, gaijin working in Japan require an alien registration card to prove their residency. This is necessary for things such as booking flights, getting a phone, opening a bank account, getting a library card... you get the idea. I discovered there was a fault with my http://www.greatteacherachan.com/2006/09/did-i-mention-i-am-man.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (a-chan)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31996885.post-115830961036430111Fri, 15 Sep 2006 08:39:00 +00002006-11-02T22:33:25.433+09:00Today was the annual school sports festival. It’s difficult to understand how significant that very statement is without being here and experiencing it for yourself. This kids has been training since school started. For the last week, almost all classes were canceled in favour of rehearsals; practicing the parades, the ceremonies, the warm-ups, the contests – I don’t know how the kids could http://www.greatteacherachan.com/2006/09/how-teachers-lost-baton-relay-my-life.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (a-chan)5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31996885.post-115828730613829973Fri, 15 Sep 2006 02:24:00 +00002006-09-15T11:30:11.020+09:00Well the template is 90% done now and should be working as intended! Just a few little bits and pieces to tweak. The feed for this blog is now available, so you can subscribe to it and recieve notification when there's a new message. You'll never have to miss out on your fix of A-chan. Don't know what a "feed" is? Look at the bottom of the column to the right and click the "What is this?" link http://www.greatteacherachan.com/2006/09/admin-subscribe-to-this-blog.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Neil)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31996885.post-115807458680151754Tue, 12 Sep 2006 15:17:00 +00002006-09-15T11:30:41.066+09:00Hi, Admin here. I'm currently working on the template for GTA, so if things change appearance, or seem to move about, please pay no attention. Hopefully this won't take too long, and I apologise for any inconvenience! Thanks for your patience!http://www.greatteacherachan.com/2006/09/admin-buiding-template-sorry-for.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Neil)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31996885.post-115784787829626802Sun, 10 Sep 2006 00:23:00 +00002006-11-02T22:36:35.590+09:007th Sep, 2006 Japanese schools always struck me as rather rigid. That was before I came to Kumiyama, where everything is as free-flowing as a river under a bursting dam. The staffroom has a front desk for students to wait at while they politely call a teacher over. And by ‘politely’ I of course mean pounding the desk with both hands while droning the name of the desired teacher in that grating http://www.greatteacherachan.com/2006/09/staffroom-dynamics-view-of-kyoto-tower.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (a-chan)7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31996885.post-115784776866078042Sun, 10 Sep 2006 00:21:00 +00002006-11-22T22:23:15.546+09:003rd Sep, 2006 Japan is a country of collectors, anyone can gather that from the endless shelves of trading cards in the toystores, boxed figurines in the supermarket and gapshapon machines lining every convenience store. Everyone collects something. The members of my eikaiwa collect manners. These middle-aged community members are hell-bent on learning the most well-mannered ways to conduct http://www.greatteacherachan.com/2006/09/courtesy-of-madame-coveted-art-of-good.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (a-chan)0