Bunch o' Monkeys

I’m currently at Minamitsutsujigaoka Elementary, waiting for class to start. The English teacher here is pretty amazing. Her lesson puts the standard small talk into the context of international communication. I’m here to encourage the students to use their English skills to find out more about the people they meet from other countries, and to make them aware that Japan is not as homogenous as they might think. Huzzah!

Now I'm waiting for them to come get me for lunch. Class was alright, though I had one punk in every class. The first class is always awkward. It’s an experiment, to see how the lesson will work with the class, the teacher, and my alertness at that time of the morning. It never goes “well,” it always just is. Today I was under the impression that the English teacher was going to be with me when I taught, in the same sense as the junior high situation. Turns out that when she said, “I teach the second grade,” she meant all the time. No wonder the lesson plan was so detailed; I walked in and thought, crap. The lesson plan is a little complicated for me to head on my own, and the teachers, well, I’m working with them for the first time. I’ve only spoken with one of them. The remaining two will be a surprise. I hope they speak English.

Technically I should go to the classroom early and talk to the teacher, explaining how I want to be introduced. I’m a bad, bad ALT.

The kids here look really familiar, like I should already know some of them. I’m trying to remember where I’ve seen them before. I think one of them was at the cultural festival, with the guy Slavian guy and the movie about FGM. She was helping her mother with a display on Korean dress and traditional dance.

Monday, September 29, 2008
To play catchup, aikido on Thursday was great, I did very little on Friday but watch the movie “The Fall” and get all emotional and the eat cheese and then Gchat with Nina (shout out, hollaback), and then Saturday hit.

Ah, Saturday. It started off with a phone conversation with m’good friend Hannah, then some brunch by the moat with Margaret and a visiting ALT named Matt. Then, after losing my internet connection in one spot and carrying my laptop around until I got a signal, I talked with my parents. Scrumtrelescent. Then I joined Margaret to head to Arashiyama, where the monkeys are. Two Ugi ALTs met us at the station, and the four of us traipsed through the scenic area to the Monkey Park. And here you have the following:

A Monkey Montage