"I understand the program, so what do you do?"
I have a different set of responsibilities. I work for the city board of education, Hamamatsu Municipal Board of Education, and they in turn have assigned me two junior high schools. Most JETs are placed in high schools, where the English capability is arguably higher. Not necessarily, though, as some of my friends can attest. But anyway, I digress. In April 2002, the Hamamatsu Board has decided that there is enough demand for JETs that they have been granted their own class. I do not teach English. The grammar points, the usage, the formal English goes to the JTE.
What I teach is Eikaiwa, or English Conversation. It's interesting because I must teach these students how to communicate with foreigners, How to sound fluent. and how to think English. If you don't think that's tough, you have never learned another language. I teach the fun things with English, but I do have much work to do. I get to create my own lesson plans with no curriculum and no real objective for the term. Usually, I use some form of game or learning activity to get these kids to remember English, but lately, I have been branching out and teaching holidays and culture. For example, I taught a Diwali class, where they make their own rangoli mats and draw candles. I also have a Thanksgiving lesson, a Christmas lesson, New Year's, and many others.
I have 14 classes, with a total of 413 students that I teach directly. Minimum. This means I teach only second-years (ni-nen) at one junior high, and second-years, first years (ichi-nen), and third years (san-nen) at another. This means that the level of ability is different per class per year. I do not teach all the third years, they have an elective, but I do frequently talk to them as they try to get prepared to take the exams to get into the good high schools.
My days are quite busy. I arrive at school at a precise 7:40 am. The buses are not late, so I arrive at the same time every day. Those of you who know me know that I used to be a bartender. Not a pleasant switch of work-times. from 7:40-8:30, I am doing various things. If i have my lesson plans already prepared, I will read and respond to emails (queue them up to be sent when I get back home), or do some quick journaling. 8:30-9:20 is the first class, Most days, I have first period. If I don't, I am usually doing lesson planning. I have classes in the morning most days, so usually, I won't be free until lunch time, where I eat lunch in the teacher's staff room. After lunch, I spend some time learning kanji or more lesson planning. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I do kendo with my students after school. On Tuesdays, I go straight to choir practice after school. Pretty busy, but strangely, it's not as busy as some of the teachers here. Sometimes, they don't leave school until 8!
