Here is my mandatory end of year report. I tried not to write it at all, but I got re-asked this morning.

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Based on my two years experience teaching here, there are a number of
suggestions I have for the improvement of English education and team
teaching. Unfortunately, many of these suggestions are constrained by
the dependence of the Japanese education system on poorly designed,
poorly thought out and poorly implemented testing. English in this
country is taught and evaluated with the same basic techniques as math
or science. Countless studies throughout the world have shown that
this is a poor method at best, and may actively hinder learning in
languages and critical thinking.

I also realize that no one really cares about my recommendations, and
that this letter is largely perfunctory because "everyone" knows that
year end reports should be written. If Japan was interested in
improving English education, then they would have started taking the
advice of ALTs and JTEs decades ago. Truthfully, I resent having to
write this at all, and think it is a waste of time for me and for the
few people out there who may actually read what I have to say.
That being said, hope springs eternal, and I do have some suggestions.

The first and most important is the removal of the separation between
speaking and grammar. English is not a dead language like Latin.
Nowhere else in the world is language taught with this kind of
segregation, and Japan lags almost last in the first world in English
comprehension. These two facts are not isolated. The lack of English
comprehension does not reflect on either the students or the teachers,
but rather on the system in which education is performed.
Memorization is not an effective way to teach a language. Stop
teaching English as a series of "sound bites" or phrases that need to
be memorized with little or no understanding of how they are used
contextually. Despite the similar use of the word "on", the following
phrases should not be taught together:
On Time
On Board
On The Table
I have personally seen this kind of grouping for memorization, and it
is pointless and frustrating for students.
Second, the text books for English are the worst texts I have ever
seen in my life as a teacher and a student of language. Instead of
starting simply and building in complexity, they merely give new
examples of word usage for memorization. I have seen almost no
complexity difference between the 1st year Junior High School book and
the 3rd year Senior High School text.

Third, English classes should be taught in English. I can't believe
how obvious this one is, and yet 99% of all English grammar classes
are taught almost exclusively in Japanese. If teachers aren't
comfortable teaching in English, they should be replaced by either
native speakers, or JTEs with a higher level of ability.

Fourthly, creative use of English should be stressed. Students should
be required at minimum to write as much as possible in English, and
speaking drills should not be memorized, but rather interactive.

In regards to my school in particular, there are a number of
suggestions that I feel would improve English learning. The first is
that ALTs at my school are incredibly under-used. I, and my
predecessor before me, taught less than 6 hours a week. My strongest
recommendation is that each class be cut in half, to double the number
of classes taught by the ALT and to improve one on one interaction by
shrinking the class size. It is impossible to teach spoken English
effectively in a class of 40 or more students.

In terms of the tests, exams should be graded on a positive scale
instead of a negative one. In other words, a student should start
with 0 points and gain points rather than starting at full points and
losing points for trivial grammar or spelling mistakes. The current
system encourages mediocrity, as students who play it safe and write
the minimum are much more likely to get high marks.

Finally, if the school were truly serious about teaching English, the
ALT would be used for 2nd and 3rd year students in addition to
freshman. It is incredibly sad that the average high school student
is best at English their first day at school, and that their ability
to speak and listen decreases throughout their three years in high
school.

Those are my suggestions for improvement. To tell you the truth, I
wish you would stop asking ALTs to write these sorts of reports,
because they just bring home to us how under-valued and basically
useless we really are. I have never in my life before felt more
helpless to enact change or to effectively do my job, which is
teaching incredibly intelligent and motivated students how to speak
and understand English. Clearly, the Japanese government does not
really want it's citizens to speak English, as they fear any change
that might reduce the country's "Japanese-ness".

Here are the picts from the 2nd day of our Culture Festival.

Bunkasai, 08/06/22

Here are some pictures from the first day of Nobetaka's Bunkasai (Culture Festival) '08:

Bunkasai '08 Day #1

Same student who wrote about the Dark truth of studying:

This week, his topic was "I disagree with the idea that Japanese High School should return to a six day school week."

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If happen this, the students won't know pleasure, because they will be busying studying and they won't play. I think that studying very very very hard is bad for the students.

If happen this, the students will surely become evil human.

I make an assertion that Japanese High School should not return to a six day school week.

Studying is good!? That's a complete fiction!

********

Fuckin' A. This may not seem great to you, but compared to the other essays in his class, it's *amazing* Not only is he using complex English forms, but he wrote a closing sentence! He had a rational argument that he defended...I love this kid.

Most of the essays were, "This should not happen because I like free time." - That's the level of difference we're talking about.

So my students are starting to do what I call "debate style essays" Check this one out:

If your student number is odd, tell me why English should not be taught in Japan until Junior High School (at least 20 words.)

Elementary school students haven't known truth of studying yet. Studying is sometime Dark, and very difficult. If the teacher teach English to elementary school students, they every time study hard, so they will not remember to play. Elementary school students must play every time, because, when they become a Junior High School student, they can't play every time.

Ah, the Dark truth of studying....

Seriously, I laugh, but this is quite a difficult concept to explain in a foreign language in 15 minutes of in-class writing. I don't think I could write something this good in Japanese in that time-frame....

Well, not really, but close enough.

As I said yesterday, some guy in the house right next to my school killed himself with poison gas. The cops and the fire department came by about 1:45 yesterday afternoon, and they made us close all the windows and doors in our school, which made teaching right uncomfortable (getting hot in Japan at the moment)

Found out a few more details in the news today...the guy was 20 years old, living at home with his parents, who were out when he killed himself. He bought the chemicals to make the gas at a hardware store, and the clerk called the police due to the fact that many people have offed themselves in this manner this year...the police broke into his house, but too late to save him.

I really want to show this sort of thing to the incoming JETs who are starting to post with wide-eyed innocence on all the websites. I feel like saying, "You know, if this is such a *great* country, why do its citizens keep offing themselves in record numbers?" Not only that, but they seem to enjoy killing themselves in ways that cause maximum problems for those around them.

I have no real issue with suicide. Hell, I've recommended it, semi-seriously, to some of my depressed friends on occasion. If you truly feel like your life has nowhere to go, then maybe ending it is the best thing....

But.

Don't fucking bother the rest of us with it. Last week in the neighboring prefecture, 70 people were hospitalized after some asshole pulled the same gas-bullshit. Several weeks ago in Tokyo, it was over 300 people.

You want to end it, end it. If you have the energy for grand statements, make them in person. Dickheads.

Oh yeah, still haven't found out who our successors will be, so we have no idea if they'll buy our stuff, or even if they'll be married and can thus have our apartment. Semi-stressful. I'd almost rather know I wasn't going to get a successor, then I could start dealing with stuff. I don't mind taking care of things, I just like to know when I have to.

In final news, I have to go to work tomorrow to SIT AT MY FUCKING DESK ALL GODDAMN DAY, BECAUSE SOME SHITHEAD [edited but left in so comments make sense] CLUB LEADERS HAVE TO GO TO A BIG SPORTS MEET. See, being Japan, it wouldn't be fair for some teachers to have to work, so the rest of us have to come in and jerk off all day, even though we have nothing to do. I'm going to slip out about noon and hope no one notices - it's not like any of them talk to me anyway. Worst that happens is I fall on my sword on Monday and claim I "forgot" to write down my half day of vacation.

I'm done. I still really enjoy teaching my classes, but that's a maximum of 5 hours a week. The rest of the time at school, I'm just thinking about leaving.

I went along with the first graders today on their field trip of the local area. We went to Kitaura Fishing Port, Shiroyama Park (Shiro means castle, so literally, "Castle Mountain Park", site of the ruins of the samurai castle in Nobeoka), and to a Shochu (alcohol, kinda like Vodka) plant.

Lots of pictures of happy smiling students, mostly taken for them and for my teachers, not sure how interesting it will be to anyone else, but these are my kids, bless them all :) I only have them for another week, then they move up a grade and I get a new batch. They've been awesome, and I will really miss them.

Nobetaka Field Trip 08-03-12

The four main islands of Japan that is (Honshu, Kyushu, Hokkaido and Shikoku)

For my yearly trip with the English teachers, we went to Shikoku, Ehime Prefecture. Matsuyama, the capital (and where we visited) is famous for it's castle, and the fact that it has the oldest onsen (hot spring bath) in Japan. Being Japanese people, my teachers think nothing about driving for 4 hours to take a bath in a room that looks just like the room they normally take a bath in ;) It was a nice onsen, but very crowded, and indoors, so you really are just looking at 4 wooden walls, much like anywhere else you'd go.

The castle was cool, we took a chair lift up to the top of the mountain and then walked around the building. It's not quite as spectacular as nijo-jo in Kyoto, but you are allowed to take pictures inside, which was a bonus :)

On the ferry ride over, I took a ton of pictures that I will hopefully use for reference material for matte paintings...not posting those, 'cause how many "tree covered island" shots do you guys really want to see? *grin*

Here are the photos from the trip:

Nobetaka English Department 2008 retreat

So my students are about half through the emailing process, and I just wanted to thank everyone who is helping again, you guys are awesome! In many cases, you are the first non-Japanese, non-teacher people they have ever communicated with, and they are REALLY excited about it.

They also LOVE pictures, so if you have any of yourself, or where you live, or your pet, or pretty much anything important to you, please, go ahead and attach them to your responses.

Again, this means a lot to me, and to them, so you thank you!

Emails will be starting to arrive in your mailboxes next week (probably Tuesday night your time) Once again, I really appreciate the help, and it meant a lot to my students as well.

If you would, please CC me on your responses, just so I can keep track of things.

I'm grading our 2nd year student's english exam. Of course, this being Japan, they have to go and ruin a good summer vacation (well, good if you can count a week and a half of no classes, just extra club activities as vacation) by having exams the day school starts back.


The topic was "Summer Vacation"

This is my favorite thus far:

"I couldn't play very much, because of a lot of homework.
When I get up, they wait on my desk.
When I'm home, they wait on my desk.
Once, they say 'We rob you of your vacation!' in my dream."

So true.

My favorite student in Judo club quit to join the tennis club.

*sigh*

I'm bummed, I'm losing one of my friends. I'll hardly ever see him anymore, and I liked hanging with him.

On the plus side, we got a new Judo coach, Shiratani Sensei, and he likes *playing* judo instead of just practicing forms, so I think I'm going to have a *good* time over the next little while...

So, there was a high school judo tournament in Nobeoka this weekend, and my club attended. We (which is to say, they) did rather poorly, but I did get some cool pictures of them :)

The Judo Club in action.

Today I have to teach 4 classes by myself. Technically, that is illegal.

*shrug*

Ok, the light was awesome on my way home from work, so I stopped to take some more picts. This is a different river from the last one (actually, it's *two* different rivers.

http://www.pinatagod.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=3985

This time from the other side of the river...you may or may not care, but here they are :)

http://www.pinatagod.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=3959

There are a couple of things I don't like about this camera (like the zooming), but on the whole, quite pleased with the purchase :)

So I played around with the new camera tonight on my way home from work. If anyone cares, here are some picts of the river in Nobeoka, taken with the Olympus 720.

Olympus Picts

Countries come and go, but one thing remains the same...the need for bureaucrats to cover their butts.

I was going to share my sports day pictures with the students, but it seems I can't do that unless every student in the picture agrees to have their image displayed. Without knowing for sure, I'm 95% sure that this law only applies to commercial use, because otherwise, how could a newspaper show crowds of people? Nonetheless, it is not going to happen.

*sigh* I have to admit, I'm a little pissed about it.

Translated as: ouch! ouch! ouch!

This morning I ran the 1500m and 100m in the relay. I can officially say that I'm slow as shit. Every student in the 1500 lapped me! I finished though, by God, and I was the only person over 17 to even try, so hey, I don't feel too bad. Besides, in cases like this, it's not winning or losing that matters, it's making yourself "one of the gang" with the students, and I think I accomplished that. Everyone (and I mean, EVERYONE) was cheering me on, including the girl on the PA ;) I finished, but man, I was tasting a wierd, blood-like iron taste in my mouth, and my vision was starting to go a little dim. It's HOT out there, and I ran way faster than I'm used to. Nothing seems to be damaged though, so hey, it's all good :)

We're at lunch break now, back in the daishokuinshitsu, where there is blessed A/C. I'm downloading picts so I can keep my card clean for the afternoon.

But, I bring you: Japanese Fire Drill

Christ, I'm hot and tired.