Tuesday was a good day to start off the week. It is summer vacation for kids here, so things were quieter during the kids’ class times of the day as most of them are taking vacations or something. Other than that, nothing new or particularly exciting has gone down in terms of the school. Every day is better than the last, but the changes aren’t so significant that I have anything new to say about them. After work was chill though.
Because I was headed to the main office again yesterday, my head teacher asked me to bring some documents with me that they didn't want to have to send. I was already home, but didn’t mind coming to pick em up since the office is so close. I met my head teacher and manager at the train station on the way and before we parted, my head teacher suggested Ramen for dinner. My manager backed out and thus, the head teacher said he would treat me, so I of course said yes. It turned out to be a good decision. We went to the ramen place I like, which is the closest to my house, and actually got to know each other a bit better. I was glad for it. As most of you can tell, I have authority issues, but hanging out with him that night was definitely a plus for his and my professional relationship. He may not be perfect, but I believe he ultimately means well (in terms of me at least) and I think he is quite fair in many departments. I will keep this in mind when I do my thang at work. I hope things stay this good or get better. Oh, he also gave good advice about tackling the climb up Fuji. Very helpful!
Yesterday I had training again in Shinjuku at the head office (Tokyo). This time, it was for a workshop on how to conduct interviews for all levels of prospective adult students. I definitely needed this training, as there have been changes made to the interview doctrine at AEON and I still wasn’t comfortable about doing them with my lack of experience. It was a very informative and helpful four hours . . . and even a little fun (I know . . . I’m lame). It was also good to see the trainers again as well as one of my training mates. Always a plus.
After that I returned to my school and only had one class to teach, which went ok. The teaching point was tricky to explain and get the students to understand, but they mastered the teaching point effectively enough by the end of class fortunately. After class I lingered at work for a bit and took care of some logistical stuff and got out of the place by about 940ish. Then it has been a night of working out, catching up, and preparing for the weekend.
I have one concern though that has been on the back of my mind. In my TEFL class last summer, I learned in depth about the trajectory of the phenomenon of culture shock. Basically after 2-3 months, foreign teachers experience a down in their over experience in the country they are in and kind of resent life and their hosts as a product. I am coming up to that time, and am really hoping that I will defy the numbers on this one. How sad would it be for all this happiness I have been gushing since I have been here to be overturned in less than half of the time I am supposed to be here? I think I will be fine though. I’m not a baby and also know how to appropriate and channel any frustrations I have effectively enough. If I start to complain a lot though, lease let me know 0_0 I refuse to be the whiney American!
Anywho . . .
Tomorrow is a new day . . . looking forward to it.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment