Welcome to another edition of the Deskwarming Diaries, where an ALT enters her last year of teaching. This post features plenty of highlights, some updates, CPR training, and an earthquake drill. Let’s jump in!
First, the highlights:
- In elementary school, I’m teaching the kids a handful of irregular past tense verbs — went, ate, saw, enjoyed, made, and was. The other day, I was re-explaining ate and reviewing the vocab. I held up two flashcards: the first was a steak, the second was shaved ice. “Huh?” I said, “Why is there an ‘a’ in front of ‘steak’ but not in front of shaved ice?” The first student to answer came close (“Shaved ice is plural!”) but that’s not quite correct. I gave the students time to discuss with each other while I put up ‘an onigiri’ and ‘somen’ (cold noodles served with a dipping sauce) on the board as well. The reasons quickly became funny. One student raised his hand and said, “Ummm, the top things (a steak/an onigiri) are hot, and the bottom things (shaved ice/somen) are cold.” Instant whispers as the students argued whether or not an onigiri is hot. Next student: “The bottom are things we eat in summer and the top are things we eat whenever.” Student after that: “The top things are from the convenience store and the bottom we buy at festivals.” “OK MOVING ON!” They were laughing so hard!
- In another elementary class, we played the bakudan game (bomb game) with their vocab. Quick explanation: All the students sit in a circle. The student who goes first holds a toy or something, says the vocab/grammar point, then passes the toy to the next person who says vocab/grammar point, and so on. The teacher holds a timer. When the timer goes off, the student holding the toy has to do a penalty game. SO. In this class, we did it in groups instead of as a class and the students didn’t pass anything around because of Covid. They got SUPER into it! Once they realized that I held up my hand when there was 5 seconds left, the kids would intentionally stall, saying eeny, meeny, miny, moe absurdly slowly to try and stick the kid after them with the penalty. They were screaming, jumping up and down, freaking out — maybe too much excitement haha.
- The other day, we had bread with school lunch and a small packet of blueberry jam. At the end of school, the teacher who sits next to me was complaining about how there was a rediculous amount of jam packets left over and he was stuck with them. Then he stopped. Then, “Jayelon…… Do you want some jam?” And Jess and I took a packet each. Literally 15 minutes later, another teacher came by and gave us each a small lemon cupcake! Was not expecting so many random acts of kindness but it was greatly appreciated.
- Today at lunch, one of the kids was complaining nonstop that he was still hungry, making a big show out of it. One of the other kids suggested he go down to the teacher’s room and see if he could get an extra bottle of milk. And off he went, running down the hall. The whole class was very invested at this point, so you can imagine their disappointment when he slumped back into the classroom with empty hands…. only to pull back his white lunch coat and pull a bottle of milk out of his pocket! The kids were dying laughing, and he quickly proclaimed that it was the best milk he’d ever drunk haha.
I am officially a unicorn
This is a title given to those on the JET Program who make it to their fifth (and final) year. How does it feel? Unreal. I can’t believe I’ve already been in Nagano for four whole years! Part of me is ready to pack up and leave, but the other half can’t stop thinking about how the last year and a half has felt wasted because of Covid. The inability to travel has really put a damper on my life here. But I’ll save the sappy reflections for later, because it’s too soon and I’ll start stressing and crying if I think about it now.
Vaccine Update
I’m finally fully vaxxed! After months of dragging their feet and insisting they weren’t going to give teachers a priority, my town suddenly added us to the schedule over summer break. I just got my second shot on Sunday! It feels like a weight has been lifted! Apart from a short period last year, we’ve always been doing in-class learning. And while I definitely prefer that, it is hard to go into a classroom where NONE of the kids are wearing masks or in classes where they are, they’re taking them off and slingshotting them across the room.
CPR Training
On the very last day of summer vacation, Jessica and I attended CPR training. It was pretty boring until it was time to practice! Our group consisted of three other teachers: Mr. Y, Mr. K, and Mr. S. We both knew Mr. Y and Mr. K pretty well, but it was still a little intimidating. First to practice CPR was Mr. K. He tapped on the dummy’s shoulder and yelled 「もしもし、大丈夫ですか？」(Hello, are you ok?), then turned to the other two male teachers. “Mr. Y, please get the AED. Mr. S, please call the ambulance.” Of course, because it’s practice, the AED was sitting next to the dummy. But to simulate real life, Mr. Y picked up the AED and took a short walk away before walking back haha. Mr. K looked a little annoyed — it’s not easy giving CPR!
When it was my time, Mr. Y looked at me and said, “Please do it in English.” Uhhh, ok! Thanks! So I did it in English with gestures to convey what I needed (even though I know the Japanese). They even asked me questions afterwards, like, “What does ‘can you hear me’ mean?”
Earthquake Drill
September 1st is Disaster Prevention Day in Japan so naturally, we had an earthquake drill! Before it started, a teacher actually came over to me and Jessica and, reading off a piece of paper, said, “The place for the evacuation drill has been changed to the first gymnasium.” It was pretty cool! We made sure to compliment them on their English skills.
Once the drill is announced, everyone has to get under the nearest desk/table and wait until the shaking stops. They actually play a noise over the intercom to simulate things falling and glass breaking! Afterwards, everyone evacuates outside. Teachers that don’t have classes to look after are given patrol duty to make sure no one gets left behind. They then have to report to the Head Teacher that their area was clear.
This time, Jessica and I were given patrol duty for the first time! We were really nervous about the reporting part, but the Head Teacher told us that we could just say our area and OK. So it was actually pretty easy! It felt nice being able to participate though. I always wondered what would happen if an emergency actually occurred and Jessica and I were the only two teachers around to help…. You gotta make sure the ALTs know what to do in these situations!
Ack! You didn’t tell us why shaved ice doesn’t have “a” in front of it!!
Leave me hanging like that… 😂
Haha sorry!!! Shaved ice doesn’t use ‘a’ because it is an uncountable noun, like corn or bread. We never say ‘corns’ or ‘breads’ (except for specific instances), but we can say ‘steaks’ or ‘spoons.’ After class, I realized that ‘an onigiri’ is not a great example because, as it’s a loan word, we never put an ‘s’ on that either. Whoops!