March 24, 2005 – 4 empty lessons!
Posted by Barniferous in Teaching English on March 24, 2015
I tied a personal record today with 4 empty lessons. Not only that, but they were all in a row! Thankfully NOVA pays us even when there are no students.
March 20, 2005 – Trying to stay awake
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan on March 20, 2015
This morning I woke up feeling tired, and kept feeling tired all day. Thanks to the miracle of caffeine I was able to survive the day. Now I am trying to stay awake so I can go to sleep at my usual time and hopefully reset my schedule.
March 19, 2005 – Mountain Climbing and Movies
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan, Movies, The Penpal on March 19, 2015
Today I had a day off due to a shift swap with another teacher. Since it was a Saturday, I got to spend some quality time with The Penpal. We went mountain climbing and watched a movie.
For those who have been reading a while and noticed that most of my leisure activities involve sitting, singing, drinking, or all of the above at the same time, you may think that mountain climbing is a bit out of character. You would be correct. The “mountain” we climbed has a peak about 400 meters above sea level, and has a hiking trail up the side.
Mt. Kanuki is famous for a large pagoda on the top. It is also famous as a home of wild boars. Fortunately we didn’t encounter any on our hike. I didn’t get a picture of the pagoda, but I did get a great picture of Mt. Fuji from the top of Mt. Kanuki.
Mt. Fuji as seen from Mt. Kanuki
We ate lunch at the top of Mt. Kanuki and spent some time enjoying the view and hanging out. After that, we started the walk back down to the bottom and returned to my apartment. We watched Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away. It was my first time to see the movie, and it was fantastic. The movie is a story about a spoiled little girl who has her family taken away and her name stolen, and she has to fight to get them back. Highly recommended!
March 18, 2005 – More games less teaching
Posted by Barniferous in Teaching English on March 18, 2015
Teaching English to kids has always been the most challenging part of my job at NOVA. In talking with my supervisors today, they suggested that I am probably expecting too much from the really young kids in the class.
We are given set lesson plans for each kids class, and are supposed to get through the vocabulary and written homework each class. I have been trying to follow this to the letter, which doesn’t work very well for the young kids.
I now have the green light to let the kids play around and have fun, while exposing them to the lesson English. I will now focus on more games and much less formal “teaching”.
I tested out the new strategy today, and have already seen improvements. Hopefully this will work for some of my other classes as well.
March 17, 2005 – St. Patrick’s Day
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan on March 17, 2015
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Living in Japan, I did not have much opportunity or reason to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in any way. Compared to usual St. Patrick’s Day activities, my liver was probably better off this year.
March 16, 2005 – Lazy days off
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan on March 16, 2015
Lazy days off rule.
March 15, 2005 – Sake DOES give hangovers
Posted by Barniferous in Drinking on March 15, 2015
At some point in my year and a half of teaching English, one of my students tried to convince me that good Japanese sake doesn’t give hangovers. After conducting some field research last night, I completely disagree. I would also like to find that student to have some harsh words with him.
But later… not feeling well now.
March 14, 2005 – White Day
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan on March 14, 2015
Happy White Day!
On Valentine’s Day in Japan, women give chocolate to men. White Day was created in 1978 so men would have to give something to women in return. The tradition has recently spread to South Korea, China and Taiwan.
After work I went to a really classy internet cafe / bar with some other teachers. This particular bar features DJs or live bands during the week. It was a nice change from the izakaya, and I will have to go back in the future.
March 12, 2005 – Bad kids
Posted by Barniferous in Teaching English on March 12, 2015
Today was not so busy at work, but the kids in my kids class were BAD.
March 11, 2005 – Fuji School
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan, Shizuoka on March 11, 2015
NOVA is updating the kids lesson curriculum. Today I had training on the new lesson material in Fuji school.
Fuji school is in Fuji city, which is located right next to (you guessed it), Mt. Fuji. Fuji is an industrial town, home to paper factories, auto parts manufacturers, and other businesses which make it not terribly nice to look at or smell. The branch is nice and spacious, but the view from the Voice room is several hostess pubs across the back alley.
According to the teachers, there is a very good Indian restaurant in the city that is run by a man who draws comparisons to the soup nazi from Seinfeld. I look forward to trying it out!
Drinking in Japan 
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