While I was eating lunch today, I thought of something. In Japan, peoples' relationships can be important, life-lasting bonds, and the teacher-student relationship is one of the most important ( Read more... )

First, a correction. Rie's family name isn't "Kawano," it's "Kawahara ( Read more... )

During class at Tanoura JHS today, the house of Rie Kawano (one of the third years) caught on fire and burned to the ground. The fire was accidental and thankfully no one was hurt, but Rie was at school when it happened, so she didn't know. The principal, vice principal and Rie's homeroom teacher informed her in private. When she emerged from ( Read more... )

When Nathanial came to Japan last year, he brought with him a Nintendo DS and a game I had never seen before. The game is called "Kanji sono mama," and it uses the DS's touch screen to let you look up words and kanji. It has exactly the same Japanese to English and English to Japanese dictionaries as the electronic dictionary I bought a few years ( Read more... )

I went to Matsuyama's Town Hall a few days ago, so I decided to check out the whiteboard that has the town population written on it. Yes, it's written on a whiteboard ( Read more... )

For the past month or so, I've been doing Christmas-themed lessons at my elementary schools. Usually, I start off by singing a Christmas song with the students. "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" is a good song for this, since you repeat "we wish you a Merry Christmas" so many times, and even third graders can get part or all of it ( Read more... )

Ever since I arrived in Matsuyama, my supervisor, Tsuji-sensei, has had me write a diary every day I work. The diary consists of the date, where I went, what I did and my thoughts on it. Luckily, Tsuji-sensei speaks English, so I can write some or all of it in English if I want. Ever since the merger in January, he has had the other ALTs in my ( Read more... )

Wow, there's a live version of Chibi Maruko-chan on now. Sweet ( Read more... )

Whereas Matsuyama JHS is full of English classes every day, Tanoura and Izumi only have a maximum of three and four, respectively. Tanoura seems to try to schedule all three of their English classes on days that I come, but with Izumi, it's a bit more random ( Read more... )

"どうしよう・・・体育祭の感じが変わらんから・・・" is what Chieko said last time I was at Tanoura JHS.