1 month in Japan!

One month ago I arrived in Japan not sure of what will happen... Now that I have been here for one month, I think that 2 years will go by fast.

I arrived full of excitement and eagerness... I was preparing for this for about one year in Salem. I worked at TIUA with students from TIU, and it was a great experience. I truly value the study abroad experience because it had such a big impact on me. When I first studied and traveled outside the US in 2007, I had a new outlook on life.

I look at my students now, and I really enjoy teaching and getting to know them. I encourage them to try to do some kind of study abroad experience. I also get to meet with students that I taught and met with in Salem, because they are now back at school in Japan.

I am truly lucky for all that I have and get to learn and experience. Happy Friday!

First FULL Week of Classes... DONE.

This past week was filled with smiles, laughs, frustrations, restless nights lesson planning, anxiety, joy, surprises, tears, and hugs.

So much has happened that I'm not sure where to begin...
Monday: 3 classes.
Tuesday: 3 classes.
Wednesday: 2 classes + English Plaza, Lunch Meeting
Thursday: 2 classes + English Plaza
Friday: 2 classes + English Plaza, Lunch Meeting

On top of that I had my students schedule time to meet with me one-on-one just to chat about classes, family, hobbies, music, and goals after TIU. It was some of the best moments of this week... I get to see my students in class, but we are covering material and they are talking with classmates. I get to check-in sometimes in the beginning or after class, depending on time. It reminded me of why I am a teacher. Not for me, but for the students. I really enjoy spending time with them and talking to them about where they are from and what they want to do with their lives. {inspiration}

I received a surprise package from my sister. It was filled with yummy treats and goodies. I love oatmeal, and she sent me some! It is a wonderful surprise. Another surprise is that I will have my first visitor next week. Yes, my partner is going to fly 12 hours to visit me in Japan for 10 days. :) {motivation}

Amongst the stress and 12 hour days and working on the weekend and grading papers at home... I have a lot of positive things going on, and I need to keep those close to my heart.

Terrific Tuesday!

Playing karuta with English vocabulary words.

Happy Tuesday! I kept thinking in my mind that it was Wednesday... haha. Not quite...

Yesterday and today I kicked off the use of the textbooks with my students. It can be painful at times, but overall I think they were able to get into it.  I teach three 90-minute classes on Tuesdays. It's quite a fun marathon of teaching that I get to do!! It starts off at 9:10 and then I finish at 2:40.  Plus, I get a quick moment to eat lunch before the next class begins.

Writing about a picture.

 Today was the first day of writing with.  I had different cards with pictures on them laying face down on the desks.  The students each sat  at a different table and were given some time to write about the photo. They wrote about 3 different photos. It is interesting to see the various stories that the students came up with.

I am very much enjoying my classes and my students. Prep time is what eats up my days... I have been pushing 12 hour days these past two days. I hope I get to go home sooner next week as I get in the swing of things.

First Day of School, First Day of School, First Day of School!

Today was the first day of Spring classes. It was a lot of fun to meet the students today and start classes. I am happy to finally be here and do what I was hired for... To teach. It feels right.

Today I taught English Comprehension for two different class levels. I did similar activities in the classes, and with different approaches. It was interesting to observe the differences between the classes from the activities. The pictures are from today's classes. We played a variation of the game "Spoons." I used pens instead. I had sentences printed and glued on some cards, and students had to find a matching pair. As the students understood the game better after a few tries, they were really getting into it.

Yes, I did assign homework on the first day. Not everyone had their textbooks, and we will start it on Tuesday. I assigned vocabulary words from an article for one class, and the other class gets to choose five words they do no know from the books they started reading today. Now we'll find out if they do it by Tuesday's class!

Opening Ceremony [4.1]

We welcomed the incoming first year students dressed in regalia!  It was a new experience for me to be wearing a cap & gown to welcome students.   We walked through the front gate that was crowded with families and students.

I came across 2 former students that I taught in the American Studies Program (ASP) 2012 class in Salem.  One student hugged me, and the other student messed up my hair! ha!

I heard it is not common to be smiling at an event like this, and I was so happy & excited that I had a smile on my face the whole time. :)

After the Opening Ceremony in the gym, we scurried off to officially receive our contracts from Tokyo International University from Chancellor Kurata-san.  Yes, that's me receiving my official contract! Lots of bowing, which I'm not sure if I did correctly... I was nervous, and it went by fast!

We were very lucky with the weather.  The spring days keep switching from warm & sunny to cool & rainy. Today it's rainy... Yesterday it was sunny.  Now that we have officially accepted our new positions... time to start LESSON PLANNING! :)