Healthy Debate

Many of my elementary schools this year have requested that, if I'm not teaching English, I should participate in a class. This makes downtime unexistant, which is something I'm fine with. I usually request to be placed in a class where I wont get bored; PE, art, music, and science are always at the top of my list. The other day, I was placed in PE, with about twenty highly energetic third graders. I arrived to class about a minute late, they were already stretching. As they counted off in Japanese "一、ニ、三…" I decided to rebel and see who would follow. "one, two, three, four..." I said with a grin. The eight count finished and two boys standing in front of me followed (as I was a leader). I soon became curious how many kids would join. I began to push. The field of students was about four wide and five deep. A grid of twenty with two leaders and myself in the front. I had already infected two. So I pushed... We completed the sixth stretch, I had the entire front row was counting in English. At this moment, the Vice principle appeared and a small argument broke out. I continued to push... The boy, in the front row farthest from me got into a debate with a girl leading the stretches... ---Translation--- Leader girl, "count in Japanese". Boy, "I want to count in English" "you are Japanese, you are not American, count in Japanese" the girl said in a bossy tone. "Vice Principle! Can I count in English?" he said with no hesitation. "Count in whatever language you want" Checkmate. I was satisfied. Not only did I give the kids a chance to speak in English, I gave them a small lesson in rebellion. The class finished off their stretches in unison; "six, seven, eight".

brutal honesty

While walking to an assembly today, I turned to a boy next to me 


''Do you like meat?''


 him ''Yeah I do'' 


''Do you like meetings'' 


without hesitation ''NO, I DON'T''. 


Keep that brutal honesty kid.

brandon - part 2 of 2

In part two of the series, we complete the second 'half' of our journey.  To be honest with you, it's not really the second half.  Part one covers the first day and a half while part two covers the next four or five days.  Shooting video gets tiring and eventually, I want to relax and have fun as well.  The last two days Brandon was here have no video footage at all.  I have no video of him where I live.

After that day in Tokyo, we went north and stayed at my place.  The next day we played video games.  The day after, we went back to Tokyo and hung out, all night, until the next day.  There is a lot missing.  

There are also some stories I want to tell about the trip but didn't mention.  At one point, Brandon lost his iPad.  He didn't realize it until about an hour after it was lost.  We had to back track our steps and we found it in the same place it was left.  That story I will save for later.

Generally speaking, this is why many of the travel videos I make are more segment like and less story like.  In order to create a story, your camera always needs to be on.  If you're going to do a segment, you can be more selective.  Anyway, that's all I've got.

Brandon in Shibuya

Working on a travel blog and vlog...

A little over two weeks has passed since I made my way back to the Land of the Rising Sun.  I'm back to work and slacking off when it comes to video projects.  Ahead of me lays hours upon hours of footage I have to sift through.  It's boring, tedious, and much of the finished projects feel, unrewarding.    The only satisfaction I obtain, is knowing other people enjoyed my awkward travels.  There isn't much I have to say about Korea.  I've been there three times.  The Philippines however, was a blast!  Stay tuned!  There is plenty I have  yet to say!

Teaching English in Japan - Just an observation

Today I taught some classes in elementary school, with the help from some of my second year students, from one of my JHS.  You should have seen the looks on their faces when I spoke to my fifth graders.  I wanted to say to them, ''don't worry guys, I would challenge you. I'd drag you through the coals like I do my elementary students.  The thing is, that's considered 'too difficult'.  I would really like you to grow as an English speaker but a lot of that is out of my hands.''

The sad thing is, it's generally true.  I have confidence in my students and their ability.  It's ok to fail, as long as you can grow from your mistake.  We can have fun, have a challenge, and learn.  Isn't that the whole point to education?  Well, in Japan its not so much the case.

I could go on but for now I will stop.  I need to sleep and I don't want everyone to read this.  Maybe when I'm done with the whole ALT business, I will let it all out; every feeling and complaint.

Spotted.

I wore a white dress shirt today.  I never wear it because it's easy to see through.  As I was walking past some students the sunlight hit me perfectly.  ''ジェリ先生、イレズミ持っていますか?’’  Then the pestering began.  I put my finger over my lips like ''it's a secret''.  The kids laughed and said ''it's cool''.  It still makes me nervous.   This isn't America, where it's not a big deal.

The Value of an 'A' in Japan

Considering I have spent the past six months within the education system in Japan, I have made a lot of observations. If I was asked by the school board, "what would you change?" I would have an answer. The first would be the grading system.

If you have been outside of school in America for a long time or are unfamiliar with it, let me give you a quick refresher.

100-90 = A Outstanding

89-80 = B Above Average

79-70 = C Average

69-60 = D Below average

59 below = F Failed

Some school systems have 65 and below as an F but generally, this fits the system for most American school systems.

In Japan it's different, and I don't understand it. I have graded countless papers since being here. There have many, that I would consider in either the 'D' or 'F' range. However, the teacher tells me to grade these students as either a C or a B. The grading system here is different. It's either A, B, or C, there is no D or F.

It would sound ok but this system allows a lot more weight on an A. I saw a student who had 100/200 on a paper. In the US, this is 50% and is an obvious F. Surprisingly over here, it's an A. I have seriously wanted to question the grading system in Japan. It doesn't offer progress or track an honest benchmark. It also sets kids up for dealing with failure at a catastrophic level. What happens when they can't pass their high school entrance exams? Do they throw themselves off an overpass and onto a passing train? Sadly, some do.

For now, there isn't much I can do about it. Questioning or offering constructive criticism on the matter is bad here. Trust me, there is a lot I would change. For now, all I can do is observe and participate.

Teaching by yourself...

A few weeks back (shortly after the break), I walked in to one of my elementary schools, literally wiping the sleep out of my eyes. I couldn't much sleep the night before. Somewhere around 2am my head hit the pillow. Trying to readapt to a normal sleep schedule was trouble some. This was the second day into school and another day I couldn't focus.

I sat down at my desk and put down a few cups of coffee. After sometime passed, one of the officials from my school notified me that the normal Japanese/English teacher was not going to be there. At first I didn't give it much thought until she told me I would be teaching three classes by myself (first, second, and special needs). My eyes got a little wide as I heard this news. I wiped the sweat from my forehead and went straight to work.

I rang up the teacher to find out where exactly the kids left off class. It seemed to be the last thing they learned was colors, animals, shapes, and something else I can't remember. (I should remind you that I have a back log my work. Today Aug. 30th is the day this all went down. This entry is just being posted, a few weeks later. Which is partly why I can't remember. The big hand is pushing a few millimeters from ten so I better hit the hay, soon.)

After the content was figured out, I had to create a lesson plan. Review was going to be easy and the kids did great. I tossed in a few songs here and there. Lastly, I devised a game. When it was all said and done, I was surprised that it took me less than ten minutes to figure out how I was going to fill the time of a fifty minute class.

Each class moved smoothly. The kids were able to understand what I was teaching and were eager to participate. The special needs class loved the game I made so that meant something. Sometimes they have a hard time staying focused. It all went well!

Teaching is so routine that it shouldn't have been a surprise. Teaching little kids, as well is also a lot easier. Middle school is a bit more difficult and the kids actually get out of line faster. There was a day, where I had to cover for most of the class. It was too hard to do. Even if it was a class filled with students who like me. The younger ones, are surprisingly more well behaved.

During this whole debacle, one of the teachers in the school (who at one point was an English teacher) told me how impressed she was with me maintaining a level head. Apparently, when she was an English teacher, she wasn't scheduled for class. The ALT flipped out and pretty much begged her to come to class. Which meant, the teacher was at work for a day with no pay. She was glad to see that all ALTs weren't helpless souls.

Well, dats all for now........

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A giant GUNDAM I drew on the chalkboard for some of my students at one of my junior high schools. The kids loved it but a few days after, someone wrote something bad in Japanese on the board. This lead to the teachers banning chalk from empty rooms immediately. It's been months since this incident and there still is no chalk in the empty class rooms. Don't mess with Japanese teachers. Somethings I will talk about later....

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