Welcome to Black Tokyo!
Part 16: Safe?! No I am not!
5-minutes before the beginning of the class and I am still unable to find one of the teachers. I had assumed that she was in homeroom, the bathroom or late but i could be mistaken. I decide to wait in the class. I double check [...]
October 14th, 2008 | Posted in Culture & Society, Employment, LEARNING & STUDY (Gakumon), LIFE IN JAPAN | No Comments
Part 15: One of the more annoying situations that the foreign English teacher can find himself in is being stuck between a disorganized company and an even less organized school.
I rotate between schools, with the end effect being that I have the schedule for the next school sent to me before I’m scheduled to go [...]
October 14th, 2008 | Posted in Culture & Society, Employment, LEARNING & STUDY (Gakumon), LIFE IN JAPAN | No Comments
Part 14: The new semester is in full swing and naturally it almost seems like taking a vacation was a bad idea; now I have to slowly work myself back up to the level of intensity and tolerance that I was at prior to my vacation.
With that said, I’d like to discuss another aspect of teaching English [...]
October 12th, 2008 | Posted in Culture & Society, Employment, LEARNING & STUDY (Gakumon), LIFE IN JAPAN, THE MILITARY IN JAPAN | No Comments
Part 13: Guava Jelly writes: “Great stories everyone. I am truly enjoying this thread. I taught in a public jhs in rural japan several years ago (on Sado ga shima). 4 of the 5 schools I rotated through were amazing. The students were very sweet and respectful but one was horrific.
The first day I got [...]
October 11th, 2008 | Posted in Culture & Society, Employment, LEARNING & STUDY (Gakumon), LIFE IN JAPAN | No Comments
Do they care about English?
Blokhar writes: Well I must say it is very interesting and a sigh of relief to hear stories that I myself experience.
I also work in a JHS. I have been doing this for 4 years. Its sucks but it gets the bills paid and enough to have fun with my family.
Seriously, [...]
October 8th, 2008 | Posted in Employment, LEARNING & STUDY (Gakumon), LIFE IN JAPAN | No Comments
My early feelings of disdain for the school were cemented when one of the Japanese teachers rushed out to meet me and then had me wait outside while the staff meeting was in progress. I took this to mean that the staff strictly adhered to the rules and that I would probably be stuck here [...]
October 7th, 2008 | Posted in Culture & Society, Employment, LEARNING & STUDY (Gakumon), LIFE IN JAPAN | No Comments
My time at the previously mentioned school has come to an end and since then I have worked two weeks at another school. This school wasn’t bad; a bit dingy and rundown, but the students were by far the “genkiest” group of kids I have ever taught and the teachers quite dedicated.
The interesting part of working [...]
September 29th, 2008 | Posted in Culture & Society, Employment, LEARNING & STUDY (Gakumon), LIFE IN JAPAN | No Comments