ALT's have too much free time

Family and friends back home often ask me what I do for work.  Of course I teach English but in all honesty, about three quarters of the time I'm completely free.  This gives many people the opportunity to study Japanese, read books, or what you should do; prepare a lesson (who does that?)  I kid, I kid.

Recently, I started to animate in my free time.




Enjoy

L is for Luigi

A while back, I was teaching some fourth graders.  The kids were making sketches of their family, which they would introduce later, infront of class.  Each student had to scribble down something that 'their person' liked.  One boy wrote down that his father liked ''baseball''.  Of course, he wrote it in Japanese but in katakana.  I could at least read it (I still can't quickly recognize the kanjis for baseball 野球).  Being the way I am, I ask him to write it in English.  He didn't know how to spell so I said each letter for him.  When he go to 'L', he was stumped.  Right when I was about to help him, a boy sitting infront of him, whips around and says in Japanese 'L, like Luigi'.  A light burst through the boys head and he was able to complete the word.

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

Brandon Comes to Visit!

Fire Festival - 須賀川 2011

I am the worst at being consistent with posting videos.  The worst.  One month later.  Please enjoy.

Japanese Summer Festival - 那須 与

It's been around a month since I posted. I finally managed to squeeze this one out today. I managed to get most of it done yesterday and it only needed a few extra bits for today.

Next will be the 'Fire Festival' I attended this past Fall. I think after that, I have nothing left so I will probably start swinging hard at the winter break videos. I'll be trying to keep them to around seven total episodes. Probably somewhere around three for Korea and four for the Philippines. I'm not sure yet, I need to review my footage. If I came out with a total of five, I'd be more happy.

Well, thanks for watching and reading!

Broken Japanese

Sometimes I write in Japanese for my students. They always laugh at what I write. Sometimes what I write is incorrect. A student might try to correct me then another student will stop them and whisper to them ''don't, its funny and interesting''. Apparently broken Japanese is as equally entertaining as broken English.

A+ Homeroom Teacher in Japan

The sixth graders at one of my schools are killer with English.  I love teaching that class every time.  I never get complaints like ''I can't do it'' or ''I don't understand''.  They never say ''why do I have to learn English?'' or ''it's too difficult''.  I'll throw anything at them and they'll always throw it back.  What makes the big difference?  It's their homeroom teacher, who is always trying as hard as he can to use English in the classroom.  

There are those that think the ALT spurs the desire of English.  They can only do so much.  In reality, it's the character of the Japanese homeroom teacher that helps generate this quest for knowledge.

I'm still fairly fresh to the ESL world but I've noticed that Japanese homeroom teachers who show any desire to learn/teach English have students that care much more.  In Japan, there is the custom or idea (I'm not sure which) of ''saving face''.  This basically means  you try to never make a mistake infront of anyone.  That idea makes language learning, entirely more complicated.  

Now if the students have a role model, who is not afraid to make mistakes; how does that change their perception on English?  It changes it considerably.  I have third year junior high school students (9th grade USA/CAN) that don't have an ounce of courage to read simple words. Contrast that with my sixth graders, most of which will attempt to read anything and everything.  

Maybe it's that they aren't to junior high and haven't been hammered by the 'machine' that is Japanese Education.  I tend to think it has much more to do with their teacher, a fellow Japanese person, unashamed to learn and make mistakes.  

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!

animal farm - 那須町

BLAZING THROUGH THESE VIDEOS! More on the way!

crop dusting in japan - 日本で散布作物

I'm hacking my way through my summer stuff. I still have a ways to go but I'll make it. One of the other videos is already completed. I just need to clean out my hard drive a bit. I'll post it this weekend. Thanks for watching!

I'm back

I made it into Japan this past Sunday. I'm not sure when I'll begin the work on my S. Korea/Philippine videos but probably soon. There are about four or five Japan related videos I have to get through first. Let's see if I can get one done every week.