Blogs from Saga, Japan, Asia - page 5

so it’s back to square one as far as the teachers are concerned! i can’t believe that they’re acting as if the weekend never happened and that they can’t speak a word of english! at least it’s much easier being around them, knowing that they are really sweet and friendly deep down! when i left the staff room this evening i said 'osakini shisurei shimasu' which loosely translated means 'apologies for leaving before you' and that went down quite well - lots of people then acknowledged my presence and said bye! i taught my first few lessons today … i had to do a self introduction in front of each class so i brought lots of photos to show them and talked about living in hong kong and singapore. i was quite ashamed of how poor ... read more

... so that's what i decided to do today... just smile at everyone and luckily, it's paid off! i've had a great day! i've realised that the teachers are too shy and embarrassed to try speaking in english so my JTE is helping me learn japanese - one word a day! i'm actually quite impressed with all the japanese words and phrases i've learnt so far... although most of them relate to wine and cocktails! letting the other teachers laugh at me as i tried to say different words in japanese made them open up slightly and a lot of them are now asking me questions (through the JTE) and trying to communicate with me in some sort of way! so it was sports rehearsals AGAIN today! it's like they're preparing for the olympics or something.. ... read more

a much better day today! i got lots of 'good mornings' from the kids on my way to school which was lovely! when i got to the teachers room, i went straight up to one of the JTEs and asked them what my schedule was for today... that's when i realised that they didn't have one which is probably why they were all avoiding me yesterday! he apologised and said it was such a strange week as they are preparing for this sports event on sunday... i said i didn't mind wandering around the school and seeing what different activities were happening. so i set off for the gym to watch them doing a traditional japanese dance - they took it so seriously and i couldn't imagine boys that age in england being quite so keen ... read more