Cultural Exchange

Today we went to South Salem High School. Our students shared about Japanese culture, and South students shared their ethnic/ and American culture. All students shared and presented out loud in the library. They talked about differences and similarities in their cultures. They created a "cultural flag" as an end product. It was a great opportunity for our students to visit a public school in Salem. A different interaction than with Willamette students.

And... The sun came out today!

Keep calm and carry on $:)

"CAP"

Critical
Academic
Preparation


Indeed it was a CAP day!
Today, my fellow Global teaching fellows and I lead nine 30 minute sessions. Each of us taught a specific topic the whole day. My session was "Class Preparedness." We defined prepare, listened to a cloze activity, ran a relay for school materials, identified the first class tomorrow, and made a checklist of materials needed for each class. It was a fun and exhausting day. I met 121 students today from Tokyo International University who embarked on their 11 month journey abroad to Salem, Oregon. Majority of the students are Japanese and there are students representing China, Korea, and one with a dual citizenship.

It is brave of these students to go somewhere outside their culture and home bubble.

Tomorrow is the first day of spring classes! Let the adventure continue.

one week until the new class arrives!

Greetings!

Next Tuesday we will welcome the American Studies Program (ASP) Class of 2013. They will be arriving bright and early Tuesday morning from Japan. They will undergo orientation for a week until classes begin Tues. Feb. 12.

Many things to think about and do before they arrive.

I will be teaching Grammar for Section 3, as well as Listening & Speaking for Section 2 & 3. I will also be supporting the administration in the College Life Orientation Classes.

Countdown to Moving to Japan: 8 Weeks

"Don't be sad that it is over, be glad that it happened."

It is quite surprising how fast the semester goes by... Upon looking back, I rarely posted about the incredible events and moments that I would have loved to document on my blog. These moments will always be with me in my heart, and I would have been more grateful to have shared those experiences to the greater community.

The final weeks of the program were bittersweet. There were joyful and relieved faces that finals were done, yet there were melancholy faces that the study abroad experience was coming to an end... At the Graduation Ceremony this past Friday, 130 young adult Japanese college students finished an intensive 10 month American Studies Program in Salem, Oregon at Willamette University. Majority of the students flew back to their hometowns in Japan Saturday morning. Their experiences in the States will always be a part of them whether they are conscious of it or not. Their time in another country, culture, language allows them to grow and stretch in ways they would never have been able to do if they did not take that step to journey outside their safety box. I appreciate the bravery, creativity, and spirit of these students...

すみません。

こんばんは。

Good evening.

I always think about posting a new POST, and I'm not sure why I don't! So many great things happen everyday, and I learn new things about teaching EVERYDAY.

I'll give you the "quick & dirty" rundown:

• Vocabulary Class: we visited the Mill Museum, played kickball on Sparks Field
• Volunteerism Class: we interviewed the principal and coordinator at the volunteer site, volunteered with the kids in the daycare
• ZUMBA!!!
• Learning Japanese - meeting with my Japanese tutor once a week, and started a Japanese class
• Tutoring
• Building language with context is the most memorable way to learn a language
• The importance of modeling, the giving gradual release of responsibility, and scaffolding
• "Love what you do, and do what you Love."

ありがとうございます。

paparazzi photos!

Guess who's the dork in the blue on the left with her mouth wide open?? Yep!! Me!!

Officially on the TIUA Website under the Faculty Tab on the BOTTOM click GTFs!

Where's Eva? 10 points if you can find me.

This was taken back in June when we were in Tokyo for the reunion...
The Willamette University Reunion is this weekend!!! :)

A day in volunteerism class...

What a great start to the week! Today I led majority of the class time in several activities in the Volunteerism class.

We worked on predicting skills, word fluency, vocabulary, comprehension skills, identifying main ideas, and pronunciation. AND we ran out of time to review and have a closure activity. :( I will continue to finish reviewing and check for understanding on Wednesday.  Time went by so quickly!! Some activities did take longer than expected, but I am getting used to that. There are things I would like to improve in my teaching. How I word my questions, and how I check for understanding.  I think I could have done better by asking questions that show the students comprehend the article, and I could have had them fill something out as we read the article about each paragraph.  In the end they would do a summary of the whole article. Do you think that would help??? 

Anyhoo... The more that I am guiding activities in the classroom the more I am able to learn what could work and what I need to do better. In the back of my mind I am constantly thinking about what to do that could work when I am in Japan teaching. I am getting more and more excited, and with that I am still nervous!! I am very grateful for these months of training at TIUA before I head out to TIU. It is such an amazing experience!!