She works hard for the money....

I have started settling into my jobs here in Japan and figured I would write a blog to let you all know how they've been going. Back in April I got hired on as an English teacher at Maple English School- a private school in Hamura City, about 10 minutes from base. I have been subbing a few different types of classes in the evenings about once or twice a week. I have done an elementary level group class, a few middle school level group classes, and adult group class, and some private lessons with middle school girls and one adult (who is in the group class). For the children's class we go through flash cards showing words with different categories (school subjects/supplies, house things, throwing/catching etc). For the adults we do more conversational things out of a workbook. I really enjoy the private lessons and the adult class. I will be teaching the adult class 3 more times in June and then hopefully I will be able to take it over permanently. They want me to commit to taking the class now, but I just want to make sure that my weekly routine is where I want it to be before I commit to moving from a substitute role to a weekly role. But I think having my own class would be fun because I would get to see the students grow and improve as class goes on. I look forward to getting settled a little more at Maple.

The other job I am working is as the Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) at Hamura City Jr High School No. 1. (they have 3 jr. high schools...). I come into each class once a month and go through whatever the teacher wants me to. There are 4 teachers there who teach students between 6th and 8th grade. All the teachers are very nice and I enjoy working with them. They all have their own way that they run their class so its fun to experience the different classes. I have a total of 18 classes (6 classes in each grade). I worked all last week and it seems like usually my days there will be lumped into one week if possible. A week or two before I attend the class I have a meeting with the teachers to go over their lesson plan. This first week, since it was my first time in each class, I mainly did a self introduction in each class, then the teachers asked the students questions about what I said to see how much they understood. Then the 6th grade classes got to have question time with me for the rest of the period. That was my favorite. They asked such funny questions...  some of my favorites were: What is your favorite birthday? (WHEN is your birthday?, I corrected them). Do you like Bruce Willis? Do you like Die Hard? Were you sad when Michael Jackson died? If you had 1 million dollars what would you do with it? Is your husband full of muscles? (this one was hilarious) Do you think you are beautiful, because we all think you are very beautiful. How tall are you? (175 cm! WOOOOOAHHH!!! they were amazed...) Do you have good eyesight? ... and I'm sure there were more that I can't remember! The 6th grade classes were so fun. After my introduction, the 7th grade classes had a dialogue speech to do with a partner that they wanted me to grade. This was nice only because I got to sit for it (standing that long is hard, I don't know how the teachers do it!). The 8th grade classes practiced their interviewing questions after my introduction. They are traveling on a school trip to Kyoto in June and have an assignment to interview a foreigner, so I helped them on their pronunciation of some of the more difficult words.  Overall it was a very good week and I really enjoyed the job. I think I will like it there very much.

Now, even though this "job" isn't paid, I have also taken on directing a play at the Yokota High School. They had some issues with their drama department and their play got canceled. The administration called in our community theater group (which I am on the board of) to see if we could help. We stepped up and decided to put on the show. We are doing Annie Jr (just a shorter version of the full musical, Annie). Its been a lot of fun and a good show to start my directing career. I would have preferred to pick the show I directed, but they already had a set of scripts for Annie Jr, which meant we could start practice right away! I am working with some awesome ladies, who are helping with the music, sets, costumes, and everything else other than actually directing the show, so I am definitely not alone in this! We have most of the major roles filled with high school kids, then have some middle school kids playing orphans and servants. Its been pretty fun and I'm excited to see it come together! We perform June 11th and 12th, so until then I will be very busy.

So that's the lowdown on my new working woman life! busy busy busy but I'm loving it!