Hi guys! I've done and taken my GRE (Graduate Record Examination for those John Darlington's of the world who do not know what this is) and I said that I would write more often, so I am now attempting to make good on that word. My scores turned out pretty good, I wish I had done a bit better on the quantatative section but considering my track record with math, I am fairly satisfied with my score. Writing was on par, which was a relief since I don't usually do particularly well with writing in a limited time frame. But I am a little bummed with the score I got on the verbal section, not that I didn't score above average (because I did- sorry I have to flaunt it a little, primarily because my math score is so NOT above average) but because I scored 1 point (I emphasize, ONE POINT) below the score that is required (in conjunction with uGPA) to receive a 10,000$/yr academic scholarship from one of my top choice schools. And after a bit of thinking, I decided that 10,000$ is a lot of money so it looks like this kid is going to be attempting the GRE again in a couple months to bump that verbal score at least 1 pt. to score some academic $$$. Fingers are crossed (I'm also secretly hoping to get my quant score up as well, but really my primary focus this time around is going to be on verbal).
Anyway, I assumed that after the GRE my life would become a little more settled and that I could get back into blogging again regularly. However, based on the lack of blog posts I think it is safe to assume that you can tell just how busy I have been.
Last year I thought that signing up for a second year would mean that there would be more down time because i had already prepared so many materials for class lessons that I could essentially recycle them; less work and more free time. WRONG-O! This year I have become more acutely aware of ways that I can improve upon my lessons from last year to a) make them more practical/useful for studying English and b) to make them more fun (my students are really receptive on this point). And so now a lot of my down time at the office is used to pour over my old lessons and see what ways I can make them better. Sometimes it is an easy fix, simplify the grammar and make it more interactive, whereas other times it requires completely stripping down the lesson and starting again from the ground up.. As tiring as it can be sometimes, it is always worth it to see the students enjoy the hardwork I've put in and even more exciting when I can really see how much their English is improving (little by little, but still).
Other reasons why this year has been more taxing on my social and blogging life is because I have become a fixture at a lot of the community events around Oshima that are held outside of school hours. For example, the Halloween festivities that I planned during October, community English classes, occasional pen-pal writing activities, and whatever odd festival/event that is held around here that the organizers figure will be more interesting if the token foreigner was there.
The latest community event that I have been asked to be a participant in was Towa's (the town (village/hamlet/small community I live in) Christmas Event. At this event Crystal (the other English teacher in Towa) and I were asked to prepare some Christmas activities and read a Christmas story. So in preparation I spent the week leading up to the Christmas party building a large scale Rudolph to play pin the nose on the reindeer (complete with magnetic Rudolph noses) and scoring through the few English Christmas books that Yamaguchi City public library had on reserve (I ended up choosing The Polar Express). And Crsytal led a Jingle Bells sing-a-long complete with improvised dance moves.
After our segment was done we got to listen to some Christmas stories told in Japanese and participate in the main event of the Christmas party, Mochi Pounding!!!!
This was the first time I have ever participated in making mochi from pounded rice, so it was really exciting. And since my students were really eager to do all of the pounding, it wasn't too much effort on my part! ;) I did help smashing the mochi up a bit, but the kids definitely did the brunt of the work. My students also taught me how to make kinako by grinding soy beans with an old Japanese style mortar and pestle. It was really cool to spend time with my students and having them teach me things about their culture and me sharing a bit about mine.
I intended to post a bit more, but if I don't post this now I fear it will never get posted. Nearly a week had already passed since I started this post. I may add photos later if I have time. We'll see.
Until Next Time!
Keri
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