#jet alt

[thestarfishface]

New video is up! 👩‍🏫 "Teaching in Japan! My Job on the JET Programme"

Wanna know what it's like being an English teacher abroad? I'll tell you about my own experiences! (Along with some fun stories from my time there!)

[howtozuzu]

Got around and did a design again! Outlaw and Gunslinger ( @pants-lint) youngest one, Firewater!

With that all the main family have a reference sheet! Might redo Ace’s though .-.

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[linkalearnsjapanese]

Animal Crossing/Spring English Board

Animal Crossing/Spring English Board

So Animal Crossing: New Horizons came out around this time last year. Everyone was super excited about it, and every ALT I knew was doing Animal Crossing English Boards or decorations. I wanted in on the hype, so I made my little Animal Crossing board that I thought was super cute and the kids would love….and then the schools closed and absolutely no one saw it. It’s now a year later and there…

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[ume-chan-no-kikou]

The moment we've all been waiting for...

As of May 15, 2017 I received the long awaited email from my JET coordinator telling me my placement. I had a feeling that would be the day, so I was checking my email just about every 10-15 minutes to see if any word had come. And it did! I am officially placed in Nagasaki-ken! Nagasaki is a prefecture located in the northern part of Japan's southern island of Kyushu. According to Google, it's known for forested islands and hot-springs because of the volcanoes. Also, because it's so far south it has mild winters, which is nice for me because I do not like snow. However, they also have very hot and humid summers (80% humidity!!). I have experience with Japanese summers, but I think it's still going to take some getting used to. I remember during my study abroad leaving my apartment and instantly being sweaty. I could do my hair in the morning and it would be puffy by mid-day. Before I was in the city, but Nagasaki is surrounded by water, so I'm sure it will be even worse. An interesting fact that I read is that Nagasaki is a very Christian prefecture. Because it was a major port for Dutch traders it has many Catholic and christian churches. There's even four Adventist congregations that I was able to find. Hopefully I live close enough to travel to one of them because it would be nice to have a Japanese church family even if I can't fully understand the language. For now I can only research very basic and historical information about Nagasaki because I don't know exactly where in the prefecture I'll be living yet. The contracting organizations are not allowed to contact us incoming JETs until after May 25th. Once I know my city I plan on heading straight to Google maps to give myself a tour and to find out about the various festivals and events that go on. I want to know where the nearest grocery store is. I want to know if I'm going to be more rural or in a larger city. If I'll need a bike or a car. The suspense is killing me! But at least I can start to get an idea of what kind of clothes to pack based on the region. Nagasaki here I come as I continue to prepare for my journey to the land of the rising sun!

[manystarredface]

@ JET community - have any of y’all done a fundraiser for your school? I know back home there used to be fundraisers for all sorts of different things and, perhaps I’m just out of the loop at my school, I haven’t really seen anything like a fundraiser at my schools before. Any thoughts?

[linkalearnsjapanese]

Inaka Life: The Pint-Sized Fire Precaution Patrol

Inaka Life: The Pint-Sized Fire Precaution Patrol

I spend my Mondays working at kindergarten, which generally means that I have no idea what I’m walking into every Monday morning. Sometimes I teach a mini English lesson, sometimes I’m a classroom aide (I’m an expert at 4 year olds into jackets if I do say so myself), sometimes I’m just there to play. It’s really a toss-up. Every year, the kiddos get a visit from the local fire department to…

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[linkalearnsjapanese]

After a month of school being closed and being unable to see the kiddos, everyone came in today for graduation. We were all required to wear masks and sanitize before going in to the ceremony. And it snowed. A lot. Which is really not what you want when you have to be wearing a skirt and heels and also hey, it’s March 24th and it’s supposed to be sunny with lovely flowers blooming.

I’ve  been with this set of 6th graders for 2 years, and I’m really going to miss them. That didn’t stop me from being incredibly proud to see them graduate. We don’t have uniforms in elementary school, but the kids wear their new middle school uniforms when they graduate. Their parents buy the uniforms to last a couple years, so they’re always a bit big. Watching these kids enter the ceremony while shuffling around in uniform jackets that hang over their fingertips and pants that are bunched up a bit around the ankles if just so….😭😭😭

  They have one final meeting in their classroom, then all the students and teachers line the hallways for 送る会(sending off). The graduates walk through the hallways of the school and we cheer and clap for them. This is the last time they’ll walk in this school as students.

Now that the ceremony is over and pictures have been taken, everyone will go home. The teachers will all gather in the staffroom and eat a special celebratory bento and eat the snacks and cakes that the PTA gave us. And of course, talk about the kids who are leaving and remember them. Then we move on to get ready for the new incoming 1st graders. And so it goes on.

Goodbye, my little friends. Be good in junior high school.

Graduation Day 2020 After a month of school being closed and being unable to see the kiddos, everyone came in today for graduation.

[linkalearnsjapanese]

This month’s English board is a combination of two themes. First is graduation, as the 6th graders will be graduating to go to middle school in two weeks. I’m gonna miss them so much (´；д；`) Second is spring! Because it’s finally, FINALLY starting to get warm and I’m just so tired of everything being gray and brown.

So here’s the board as a whole. I’ll go over all the bits and pieces next.

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The interactive activity for this board is to have the kids vote on what their favorite flower is so we can see what the favorite is in school. The selection of flowers to choose from is honestly just what came to my mind at the time.

I voted for sunflower!

Next, is some vocab words for spring. These are also just what I could think of at the time, so they might be a bit random. Using vocab words related to particular seasons or events is one of my favorite things to include on my boards, because it gives the kids a chance to learn words that we wouldn’t necessarily be studying in class.

This little guy is my town’s mascot, Suisen-chan. Our town flower is the daffodil and Suisen-chan is a daffodil boy, so I knew I had to include daffodils in the board. Honestly making those daffodils was probably the hardest part of this entire board, because I am really not good at paper crafts.

That about finishes up the spring-related parts. On to graduation! I figured it would be a good idea to point out the most important graduation-related word: congratulations. Whenever I write vocab words in English, I always make sure to include the katakana readings as well. This makes it so students won’t be intimidated by the reading and may actually be able to identify the sound of the words.

As graduation nears, I’ve had many students ask me about my experience with elementary graduation in America. They are shocked to find out that elementary school graduation isn’t a thing AND that by the time I was in 6th grade, I was already in middle school. Because of questions like these, I decided to make this chart that compares grades in the USA and Japan.

As always, I have a note from Gunma-chan and I for the students. This time, we’re wishing the 6th graders well as they move on to middle school.

And of course, to celebrate graduation and the epitome of Japanese spring, I added some cherry blossom branches. Of all the educational signs and design I put into this board, my fellow teachers were by far the most impressed by the branches. They even said that walking by my board gave a feeling of hanami (cherry blossom viewing), which has also turned my board into kind of a sightseeing spot that teachers who wouldn’t normally go by have gone up to see. So that’s still pretty satisfying, even if they aren’t actually appreciating the English in the English Board.

Spring/Graduation English Board This month's English board is a combination of two themes. First is graduation, as the 6th graders will be graduating to go to middle school in two weeks.