Posts Tagged Teaching English in Japan
October 27, 2005 – Return to Fujinomiya
Posted by Barniferous in Shizuoka, Teaching English on October 27, 2015
Today was my second time working in Fujinomiya. You can read more about the first time here.
The Nova branch is in the middle of a mall. It serves both as an English school, and cheap babysitting so you can get your shopping done uninterrupted. Instead of telling you about my day, I present some haiku inspired by the Fujinomiya teaching experience.
Fujinomiya
Foreign teachers watch your kids
You can shop in peace
Fujinomiya
You can sing the alphabet
20 times a shift
Fujinomiya
Long train ride from Numazu
But the food court’s great
The front of the branch is
Open so everyone can
See how bad you teach
What am i doing
This isn’t my usual
School – no more shift swaps
October 11, 2005 – Three schools in three days
Posted by Barniferous in Friends and coworkers, Teaching English on October 11, 2015
Today was the first day of 3 different NOVA branches in 3 days. Today I demonstrated my conversational English teaching skills in Fuji city. Tomorrow I will be enlightening my students on the finer points of conversation at my usual branch in Numazu. Thursday I will be expertly educating at my old branch in Mishima.
I thought that 3 branches in 3 days was pretty impressive, until my thunder was stolen by Alice, who had just somehow completed 4 branches in 3 days. Thanks for stealing my thunder, Alice!
After work I went out for pizza and beer at a really cool place in Numazu. Sleep is really overrated.
October 1, 2005 – Don’t push the “push” button
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan, Teaching English on October 1, 2015
My sixth day of work in a row was a busy one. I learned two very important things today about what does and does not get you in trouble at work.
I learned that people DON’T seem to get in trouble for making inappropriate sexual comments in English, especially if the recipient of the comments can’t fully understand them. There was an attractive young female in the office today, learning about working at NOVA because she was interested in becoming one of the Japanese support staff. My coworker Ronnie, who has never met an attractive woman he hasn’t harassed, spent every minute he had in the teacher’s room hitting on the potential staff member. His usual routine involves being charismatic and funny, but when he realized he wasn’t getting anywhere, the comments just got crude and uncomfortable. It was awkward for everyone involved. Nobody really stepped in to stop him, but a few people tried to engage the young lady in some more productive conversation.
On the other hand I learned that you DO get in trouble for pushing the mysterious “PUSH” button on a grey wall panel in the classroom area. The button is labelled in both English and Japanese, and is found in only one of the classrooms. After a month of wondering what it was, and using it in a lesson about speculation, I gave in to the temptation and pushed the button. It opened a skylight panel in the room which I later learned can only be closed with a special tool that is not kept in the branch. My attempts to apologize to the staff (in two languages) were completely ignored.
So to summarize, it’s okay to harass a potential new employee all day, but never push the “push” button.
(2015 Update) For the record, I don’t think Ronnie was ever disciplined for the way he talked to the potential new employee. I am not sure if the inaction on NOVA’s part was due to Ronnie being one of the most popular teachers with students, or if a certain level of sexual harassment is just acceptable. Either way, the potential new employee never applied for a job at NOVA, which was not surprising in the least.
I did however hear about pushing the “push” button from several authority figures afterwards. It’s important to have priorities.
August 5, 2005 – Late Friday
Posted by Barniferous in Teaching English on August 5, 2015
Today was my first Friday late shift. My new schedule gives me two of the best days off: Sunday and Monday. However, I now work late shifts Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Late shift does pay a little more than early shift, but there is not a lot of options for things to do when work finishes at 9:00pm.
Fortunately I like beer and karaoke.
August 1, 2005 – First day at my new school
Posted by Barniferous in Teaching English on August 1, 2015
Today was my first official day at Numazu NOVA. I have been here a few times before, usually to repay shift swaps, so it wasn’t completely new to me.
Numazu NOVA is located in a pedestrian only shopping area called Nakamise, which is just southwest of Numazu station. It is less than 10 minutes by bicycle from my apartment. The area is convenient, with lots of restaurants and stores nearby.
The branch itself is much larger than Mishima NOVA. The teacher’s room is a decent size and doesn’t feel like a converted closet. There is an employee washroom in the teacher’s room with a proper toilet, unlike Mishima NOVA which has a terrifying Japanese style squat toilet elsewhere in the building. The main floor has the sales area and teachers room, while all classrooms are upstairs.
There are exactly three inconvenient things about changing branches from Mishima to Numazu.
- I no longer have a commuter train pass since I live in Numazu. My current train pass is not nearly as useful as when I lived in Kawasaki, but it was still nice to have even a little free transportation.
- I am now further from The Penpal’s office, so we can’t meet up after work on my early shifts. My days off are much better for seeing her now, so I can’t complain too much.
- Because my schedule changed from Monday / Tuesday off to Sunday / Monday off, I only get one day off this week.
Even with these minor annoyances, I am excited about the change and the opportunity to work with some different teachers and students.
July 21, 2005 – 8th day in a row
Posted by Barniferous in Teaching English on July 21, 2015
This is my 8th day of work in a row after returning from my vacation. Somehow I haven’t gone crazy (yet).
Before work, I went for another nice long bike ride. It’s great to get out and get around the city, however if I am not careful, I may actually end up in good shape.
I worked at Numazu school today, and actually had a lot of fun teaching for the first time in a long time. Being able to have fun at work is a wonderful thing. The students must have appreciated it as well; at the end of the day one of the Japanese staff told me that I had received compliments from several students.
Usually when students go out of their way to compliment or complain about a teacher, the staff add it to the teacher’s official employment file. However, as I am not yet officially a teacher at Numazu (just on loan from Mishima today), I was told that the comments would not be recorded in my file. I can only hope that complaints away from a teacher’s home branch are treated the same way.
July 19, 2005 – No hands handstand
Posted by Barniferous in Teaching English on July 19, 2015
Today before work I picked up Harry Potter 6 on DVD! Woohoo!
At work during a kids class, one of the students thought it would be fun to do a headstand against the wall. He got into an impressive headstand position, then removed his hands so his entire weight was being supported by his head. His 5 year old neck buckled, and he fell to the floor in a heap.
For those wondering, a typical NOVA kids classroom has no furniture. Classes for younger kids feature a lot of moving around, with some sitting on the floor for textbook work. It is not uncommon for kids to be moving around.
I have seen kids throwing things, trying to escape the classroom, and fighting before, but I had never seen a kid try to do a no hands handstand before. I didn’t really know what to do, so I went over, helped him up, and asked if he was okay. He said yes, so I continued with the class.
As soon as I turned my back for a second, he was back against the wall doing yet another no hands headstand. The results were exactly the same as the first time, except this time he grabbed his neck and started yelling “itai! itai! (it hurts! it hurts!)”. I told him not to do that again in both languages. Moments later he was trying once again to break his little neck for a third time. I picked him up and moved him away from the wall while he was laughing.
I don’t understand children. Not at all.
July 14, 2005 – Back to work, schedule changes
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan, Teaching English on July 14, 2015
My vacation is now officially over, and I was back to work today. I agreed to work a shift swap to help out another teacher, which means that I will be working the next 11 days in a row. It’s going to suck.
However, I also got some good news about work. I learned that as of August 1st, I will be transferred to NOVA’s Numazu branch. This will save me some time getting to and from work. Getting to Mishima NOVA doesn’t take me very long now, but I will be able to get to work in less than 10 minutes by bicycle with no train ride required.
More importantly, my days off are changing to the rare but extremely popular Sunday / Monday. This means that I will be able to spend time with The Penpal on the weekends without begging for a shift swap! The bad news is that 4 of my 5 shifts are late shifts, including continuing my streak of late Saturdays. It’s still a small price to pay for Sunday / Monday off.
June 23, 2005 – Missing: the good kid
Posted by Barniferous in Teaching English on June 23, 2015
I spend a lot of time complaining about teaching English to children on this blog, but don’t get the wrong idea: there are some really good kids in the classes. I was even lucky enough to have a good group when I worked at Kawasaki NOVA.
Today, one of my favourite NOVA kids students didn’t show up for class. Why is it that the good ones miss class, but the difficult ones always show up?
June 20, 2005 – Shift swap scrooges
Posted by Barniferous in Teaching English on June 20, 2015
Today I worked at Numazu school as part of a shift swap with another teacher. One of the best parts about working for NOVA is the ability to trade shifts. In order to support lessons 7 days a week, teachers have a variety of different days off. Being able to trade is very convenient for teachers.
Since I have frequently benefited from shift swaps, I try to be as generous as possible in trading with other teachers when I am asked. I am hoping that people will remember how generous I am when I ask them for one of their days off. There are some teachers who jealously guard their days off and refuse to trade, even if they have no plans on their day off. It’s their choice and they have every right to refuse a shift swap, however it’s everyone else’s right to think they are jerks 🙂
Drinking in Japan 
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