Friday, December 3, 2010

Christmas Spirit

There is no way there will ever be a White Christmas in Shimizu, but a girl can still dream, ya?

Since the weather around here is still early fall-ish, the "Christmas feeling" hasn't sunk in yet. Yes, a few houses have lights up and Christmas carols play in the supermarket, but I just haven't gotten that bounce in my step.

Well that all changed the other day. At school, some of the third year students in the elective music course gave a performance of White Christmas on hand bells. I couldn't stop smiling throughout their performance as I was thinking of the loved ones who are waiting for me.

These kids are like my babies because we started together, and we'll probably finish together.
Love 'em!



Thursday, December 2, 2010

My Own Horn

Toot! Toot!

In the previous post, I mentioned that I attended a seminar. So let me elaborate.

Every year, the JET programme has Mid-Year Seminars (MYS) for all their prefectures. In Shizuoka, all 2nd-year and above JETs are required to present at this seminar. Since I am in my 3rd year now, I had to present. I could choose my own topic, choose to have a partner or fly solo, and debate whether I should risk the success of my presentation on Powerpoint.

I decided to be old-fashioned with a handout, magnets, posters, white board, markers, and a great Vanna White audience assistant. There was some great discussions, helpful participation from the audience (primarily first-year JETs and recently-transferred or appointed JTEs and Supervisors), and a lot of laughs. The 50 minutes alloted for the presentation suddenly seemed as though it wouldn't be enough time! I suppose that's a better "problem" to have than to have 15 minutes remaining and twiddle our thumbs.

During lunch break of the second day, participants in MYS could vote for the best elective workshop/presentation and the winners would be announced in the closing remarks.
Well toot, toot, ta, toot, toot! I got 2nd!

As a teacher, sometimes I feel that my hard work goes unappreciated by those that receive it. It can be a HUGE downer over a long haul (like the current second semester) and kill motivation. So it's nice to have my efforts recognized by others who work just as diligently.

If you'd like to take a peek at my handout, it can be viewed here at Google Documents. The formatting has gone wonky and this may be because the head JET doesn't have the font I used on his computer. Ah well, he was kind enough to upload all the handouts used at MYS so I am grateful because now I have even MORE resources to pull from in the future.... like third semester.

1 week and 6 days until I am home!