Thursday, May 24, 2012

Gone Seoul Searching in Japan ESL resources: This is Jeopardy!

  

My paper version of Jeopardy! When you have no computer you get creative!
  
Teach students the Jeopardy language before starting the game and show a TV clip.
 Teaching English in Japan through Westgate Corporation at Japan Women's University has been one of the biggest blessings in my life thus far. The daily lesson planners have been chosen very wisely, and there is great freedom to create your own lessons each day as long as you meet the suggested daily goal. To review the first 2 1/2 weeks of class, I taught my students how to play the famous American quiz show Jeopardy.
    My British co workers had no idea why I was holding a newspaper microphone and yelling "This is Jeopardy!" as my students clapped and introduced their teams with the theme song playing in the background. This was my first time to play Jeopardy as a tool to review in class and I'd say it was a huge hit. The first two classes went well, but I ended up having to change my rules. I had 5 categories for review: agree/disagree, emergency language, vocabulary/bonus, goodbyes, real/natural English. Below each category was one clue underneath a number from 100-500 which served as their points. I initially wanted each student to Ask, Answer, and Add (AAA) a model suggested by Westgate for each question, requiring them to make  a short conversation for each question. I liked this idea because it took more time, and I was worried that the students would fly through the game if they simply answered, and practicing the AAA model is always good. However, this was too time consuming, and for the remaining 6 lessons I simply let the students answer by either making the question, or answering.
     A fun way to keep the students in line with playing the game is by teaching them the language of the game. Requiring them to say "What is..." before every answer, and "I'll take agree/disagree for 400 please" was a fun way for them to get into the game. Giving each team a paper microphone also helped them to get into the Jeopardy spirit. To really get the students excited and have them fully understand how the show works, I recorded a clip of Jeopardy onto my I touch and showed this in class. The students were able to see what the show was like first hand, and enjoyed seeing a Western style quiz show. Playing the Jeopardy music was also a tool to keep track of the students time between answering questions, and to help them relax and focus on answering the question at hand. The music also prevented the other teams from stealing each others answers.
    Overall, the students noted that it was a great way to review past material. I even had students stay after the class to uncover all of the remaining point cards just to practice answering the questions. The review was much needed, and what better way to review than by with a quiz show game. To really get students enthusiastic, the teacher needs to play the role of the host successfully by being enthusiastic and properly scaffolding the game. 

Newspaper microphones helped mys students get into playing my ESL review version of Jeopardy.
  
I used my I pod touch and music baby to show the class a clip from a Jeopardy show.
Make your review categories simple and relevant to what you have been teaching in class.
If you have any questions or comments about "Gone Seoul Searching in Japan ESL resources: This is Jeopardy!"  please leave them in the comment box below or email them to goneseoulsearching@gmail.com 
  Creative Commons License  Gone Seoul Searching by Marie Webb is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at goneseoulsearching@gmail.com.



Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Gone Seoul Searching in Japan: Photo Essay: Annular Solar Eclipse in Tokyo

This is a follow up photo essay about the annual solar eclipse that happened on May 21st, 2012 viewed in Tokyo, Japan.








If you have any questions or comments about "Gone Seoul Searching in Japan: Photo Essay: Annular Solar Eclipse in Tokyo"  please leave them in the comment box below or email them to goneseoulsearching@gmail.com
Creative Commons License  Gone Seoul Searching by Marie Webb is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at goneseoulsearching@gmail.com.


Monday, May 21, 2012

Gone Seoul Searching in Japan: Annular solar eclipse in Tokyo

The annular solar eclipse was a pleasant surprise for me this morning on May 21, 2012!

   
     At 7:25 this morning my entire neighborhood was out and about in the streets and on their balconies wearing 3D glasses staring at the sky as I thought to myself "Did God decide to broadcast national 3D television in the sky today?" No really Japan, what is up with those 3D glasses? Ok, the sun was pretty bright once the eclipse appeared through the clouds and at that moment I heard oohs and aaahs from every house on my block. Yes, today was an exciting morning in Japan as it was the first solar eclipse that I have ever seen in my lifetime during the day, or at least from what I can remember! Because I have been so out of touch with the world, no tv and barely any time to surf the internet, I briefly remember someone mentioning the eclipse over the weekend, but I had completely forgotten in a matter of seconds thinking it was no big deal.

Another shot of the solar eclipse at around 7:30am.

    Today's event served as a great warm up conversation in all of my classes. I started by listing the word solar eclipse on the vocabulary section of the board and asked my students "Did you see the solar eclipse this morning?" Some of my students knew the word immediately, while others didn't and I had them explain in English what solar eclipse meant. They came up with things such as "the sun and the moon meet together and there is a bright ring or circle." They did pretty well and immediately the other students understood.

    They were excited as one student said there is only a full solar eclipse ever 300 years. I found this hard to believe, but its true! Every 300-400 years there is a total solar eclipse. So technically it wasn't a solar eclipse, but an annular eclipse also known as a total eclipse is what happened today, when the moons shadow passes over the earth. So today was a special day and everyone was freaking out for a good reason! One of my students even busted out her special solar eclipse sun glasses and posed for me next to the white board! I told her, "I just wear my sunglasses!" and busted out mine!

    The annular solar eclipse of 2012 was an exciting moment to experience in Japan. Many of the students explained that seeing the eclipse is a sign of good fortune and a new beginning. They strongly believe in the natural world and made it clear that the eclipse was an exciting event. I am so happy I was able to witness this today on my walk to work and share the experience with my co workers and students!  In addition to the eclipse, the walk home from work was absolutely beautiful with the sun setting in the background. Right now roses are in full bloom and my entire neighborhood is blossoming!


The sun setting on the subway ride home from work.



The small river right by my apartment as the sun sets today.




A photos of some cool houses off my street.


One of the nicest houses on my street.

Another shot of my neighborhood with the sunset.

My neighbors garden in bloom.
More of the roses.
My favorite rose in my neighbor's garden in Tokyo, Japan.

My apartment building in Tokyo, Japan with the sunset in the background : )

you have any questions or comments about "Gone Seoul Searching in Japan: Annular solar eclipse in Tokyo"  please leave them in the comment box below or email them to goneseoulsearching@gmail.com
Creative Commons License  Gone Seoul Searching by Marie Webb is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at goneseoulsearching@gmail.com.


Thursday, May 17, 2012

High tech rotating sushi: Sushi speed trains are in, the conveyor belt is old school (Part of 14 days in Japan, 14 amazing places to see)

As part of Gone Seoul Searching: 14 days in Japan, 14 amazing places to see

"Sushi speed trains" are a blast when they show up in front of your table, the conveyor belt is old school!




2. High tech Rotating Sushi: Sushi speed trains are in, the conveyor belt is old school

   To celebrate my first girls night in Japan on a Thursday after work I met up with one of my friends at the biggest rotating sushi restaurant I have seen so far in Japan. Inside the massive building, are tables and bars lined with conveyer belts of sushi that was just made and what I like to call "sushi speed trains" that will deliver sushi and other items that you order from your touch screen menu. Picking up the pre-made sushi is easy as the waitresses just count your plates for your final price and there is no dealing with Japanese or any waiter or waitress. Navigating the tough screen is intimidating, but do-able. Simply click on the picture of the item you would like to order, then press the quantity button, and finally the red button that says to order. In about 1-3 minutes a "sushi speed train" will show up right in front of your table delivering your order. Simply press the button on the box next to the touch screen and it will send the speed train back into the kitchen until your next order!


Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Gone Seoul Searching in Japan: 14 days in Japan, 14 amazing places to see

Sight seeing in Tokyo is never ending and there are a million things to experience and see for yourself!
 
 Wow! I can't believe that I have only been in Japan for 14 days and have seen and been to so many wonderful places! Each day for the next 14 days I'm going to try an update this post and a separate post about places to see and things to do in Japan! So far I have seen the most famous crossing in the world at Shibuya, hiked at mount Takao, purchased Sumo tickets at the stadium for the Sumo championships, taken in views of Tokyo Bay at Odaiba, witnessed the newest addition to Tokyo at the Sky Tree which opened in April, walked around the Imperial Palace grounds, witnessed a wedding at Meji Shrine right outside of Harajuku station, eaten purple sweet potato ice cream outside of the Buddhist Temple Senjo-ji, taken the cutest subway train in the world along the coast to Kamakura, seen the great Daibutsu Buddha, hung out at island of Enoshima, stuck my feet in the water at Sagami Bay, seen Mt. Fuji from the subway on a clear day, and the list goes on!




1. Enoshima Island

The island of Enoshima is offers absolutely stunning views of Sagami Bay and its surrounding beaches. Walking over the bridge from the station to the island you will see young Tokyo lites having BBQ's rain or shine. If its raining they will all hang out under the bridge drinking beers and BBQing up a storm. Once on the island there is plenty to see.

Walk through all of the shops and restaurants up the hill to the shrine and temples. There are plenty of look out spots where you can view the beach and bay area filled with people paddle boarding, surfing, and sailing. The neon colored orange, pink, and blue sailboats will inspire you to rent one of your own!















2. High tech Rotating Sushi: Sushi speed trains are in, the conveyor belt is old school

   To celebrate my first girls night in Japan on a Thursday after work I met up with one of my friends at the biggest rotating sushi restaurant I have seen so far in Japan. Inside the massive building, are tables and bars lined with conveyer belts of sushi that was just made and what I like to call "sushi speed trains" that will deliver sushi and other items that you order from your touch screen menu. Picking up the pre-made sushi is easy as the waitresses just count your plates for your final price and there is no dealing with Japanese or any waiter or waitress. Navigating the tough screen is intimidating, but do-able. Simply click on the picture of the item you would like to order, then press the quantity button, and finally the red button that says to order. In about 1-3 minutes a "sushi speed train" will show up right in front of your table delivering your order. Simply press the button on the box next to the touch screen and it will send the speed train back into the kitchen until your next order!

Gone Seoul Searching in Japan: Embracing the Morning Commute

The morning commute in Tokyo is around 1-2 hours for most people and some students even commute up to 3-4.

 You start work at 9:10 so you wake up at 6:45 and rush to get out of the door before walking a total of 1 hour per day and taking 6 trains as a part of your total daily commute to and from work. Instead of being completely overwhelmed by the completely normal 1-2 hour commute for those living in Tokyo and its suburbs you need to kick back and learn to embrace the morning commute by welcoming it into your day and finding the hoop holes for surviving the sardine-like trains.

This was taken on my way to the beach in the front car on a Saturday.
    The first step to making your morning commute is to enjoy the face that the morning in Japan is the most beautiful part of the entire day. With such an early sunrise and clear skies every morning, enjoy the fresh air and sunlight before the clouds and rain come in later in the day especially during the rainy seasons. I was never a morning person in my entire life and I love staying up until the wee hours of the day watching the sun come rise. But since moving to Japan, I have found myself waking up earlier than ever to get my day started and am thrilled as I walk 15 minutes from my apartment to the subway.

Again the front car offers the best views.
     The second step towards embracing the Tokyo subways is to appreciate the beauty of the railway system itself. Japan has one of the most sophisticated and efficient railways in the world. You could have to buy a moped if you were living in Ho Chi Min, Vietnam like a good friend of mine and brave the crazy and dangerous non stop traffic every day. At least in Japan, you have a safe and reliable form of transportation that will always arrive on time. Check the train times before you leave your apartment and you are golden.

Another view from the front of the train.
     The next recommendation I have is to beeline and take the extra time to walk to the end of the platform. Because many people are in a hurry they don't have the time to rush to their connecting train and therefore get on the first cars. If you can make it to the end of the platform, you might notice there are only 1 or 2 people lined up for the end car. That means you get a window view! As the rest of the car gets filled up, I simply jam on with my i pod on, take pictures of the tracks and enjoy the ride smashed up against the window. Having a clear window in the front and back of the train where the train drivers are working is a luxury. Most trains have the drivers hidden and therefore you never get a head on view of the tracks while you are moving. Standing in the end car gazing out the window as Tokyo passes you by makes you feel like you are in control of the train and you decide its final destination. Keep your body faced to the outside and you won't even recognize the pile of people behind you trying to grab on to the last remaining hand rails and straps.

The women's only car really is nicer.
     The most biased part of my recommendation is for the girls. In Japan, there are women only cars. I'm not quite sure how the women in Japan managed to pull this one off, but if you can't get in the end car hop inside one of the women only cars and you won't have some old smelly guy's armpit smashed in the back of your head or even worse in your face.
 

These guys have one of the best spots.
    Finally, if all fails and the car is completely full like the 3rd train I catch in the morning, wait until the car is almost completely full and it looks like no one else can fit. Then just before the doors are closing shove yourself inside and you will be smashed up against the doors as the train starts moving. One day my 2 coworkers and I did this on accident and the train worker at the platform literally gave us a push inside the train, and removed one mans bag that was about to get caught in the door. Sounds risky, but its really not once you get the timing down and once again you wont be in a sea of people.
     Blast your Jack Johnson to chill out or bust out the rave music and really freak some Japanese people out and your morning commute will be as fun as ever. I never thought I would be one of those people taking a crazy crowded train with a 1 hour commute every day. At first I was completely pissed off, but now when I get home to my apartment in the suburbs of Tokyo I absolutely love the peaceful environment outside of the hustle and bustle of the city. Going for runs in my neighborhood along the river and biking to Costco and the local Japanese markets has given me the ability to see parts of Tokyo that most people will never see. Get a bike, go for a run after work, and appreciate all of the amazing experiences that you wouldn't have if you were living in the center of the city. If you are a Tokyo suburb dweller like me, you will see and experience the real Japan on a daily basis which is much more exciting than just living in another big city. Head down to the beach on the weekends or into Tokyo for some fun! : )


Don't become a victim of the Tokyo Subway, embrace it!

If you have any questions or comments about "Gone Seoul Searching in Japan: Embracing the Morning Commute"  please leave them in the comment box below or email them to goneseoulsearching@gmail.com
Creative Commons License  Gone Seoul Searching by Marie Webb is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at goneseoulsearching@gmail.com.


Monday, May 14, 2012

Gone Seoul Searching in Japan: Teaching English in Japan

Gone Seoul Searching is teaching at an all girls university in Tokyo Japan during the summer 2012.




A peek inside of my classroom on class day number 2 teaching ESL in Tokyo Japan.
  Gone Seoul Searching is finally back in the classroom teaching in Japan during the summer of 2012. Because I have a break in my Master's program, I needed a full time job during the summer that would put me back in the classroom and on literally on the map. Finding a short term job abroad for 3-4 months with great pay was virtually impossible until I heard about a company (I won't name it right now because of liability reasons) in Japan from old coworkers of mine. The 3 month contract came complete with a great salary, housing, utilities, and a job at a Japanese University.  All of my criteria were met, so I asked my graduate school professors if I could miss the last 2-3 weeks of class. They all supported me in my teaching and I worked my behind off the entire month of April to get my work submitted early. I was able to complete everything for my graduate school coursework and I just emailed over my graduate thesis proposal a few days ago.

My weekly teaching schedule from 9:10am-5:15pm.
     I was not initially planning on spending the summer abroad. After a rough transition from Korea back to California with my parents in my latest update, I really wanted to dedicate myself to working things out at home. There are plenty of language academies in California that I could have worked at  during the summer, but what I really wanted was to be in a university setting. Since working on my Master's Degree in TESOL at The University Of San Diego I have wanted to apply my skills in university language programs. Any long term ESL professional that wants to make a career out of teaching English should consider the vast benefits of getting a Master's which will allow you to teach at the community college level and above. The pay checks with teaching at a university are not even comparable to that of what you might make getting paid hourly at a language academy that does not require higher level coursework such as a Master's.
On campus at the University.
More shots of the university.
     Another thing that I really enjoy about teaching at the community college level, is the diversity among the students. While doing my practicum at a local community college in San Diego I was able to interact with a class of about 35 students from all over the world. The students came from Russia, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Vietnam, Korea, China, Philippines, Morocco, and many other countries. Having such diversity in the classroom makes for an exciting and challenging environment in which your students can do a ton of cross cultural comparison.

Inside the cafeteria.
     Having the opportunity to teach at an all women's University in Tokyo, Japan for the summer has given me added experience upon entering the ESL job market in America. So far, the experience has been more rewarding than I can explain, and I would strongly recommend this short term contract to anyone looking for a more professional ESL environment. The Japanese are very accommodating and hung around my classroom the entire first day of lessons just to make sure that everything went well. The office staff is constantly checking in to see if the other teachers and myself need anything and kindly showed us the teacher's lounge and tea machine.
     There are many differences from my experience teaching in Korea in comparison to Japan. First off, the students are very different. Korean's seem to be more open than the Japanese as I have noticed many of my Japanese students are very shy and reluctant. This shyness is a direct correlation with Japan's formal culture. While Korea did have such formalities, Japan's formalities are on a much deeper level. There is a place, time, action, and word for every situation in Japan, and thus many students are hesitant when first adjusting to Western style teaching and conversation styles. My girls are all extremely polite and want to make sure that they are on their best behavior at all times. They are literally like little robots that will do anything that you tell them too. As an English teacher, this is good and bad. I love when my students are respectful and try their hardest in class, but I also like when my students ask questions and tell me if they can't understand something or are uncomfortable with something. My Korean students seemed naturally curious about Western culture and my own personal life, while my current Japaneses students seem to respect my privacy and allow me to take the lead in the classroom.
     Keeping a student centered classroom with 50 Japanese women university students can be quite challenging. A majority of the girls are in their very first semester of college and have never been exposed to communicative learning or teaching. They enjoy when the professor speaks the entire class, and want you to provide them with a lot of assistance. Because of such strong differences in culture, my company actually recommends drilling and accuracy production as parts of the lesson plan. I was extremely hesitant when I first came across this as I have never drilled before and the companies teaching philosophy seemed grounded on behaviorism with very Skinnerian viewpoints. However, after the first lesson teaching high-Basic I understood why drilling was necessary. As the students get more confident and comfortable speaking English, I will try to drill less and less, but for now such rote methods seem to be a good strategy in the beginning of the class periods. Later in the lesson more free activities are allotted so that the students can practice fluency.
    This is just a short glimpse of life in my Japanese university classroom. More about living in Japan, travel, and teaching will come throughout the summer. So far I have been here 14 days and everything has been more amazing than I ever could have pictured.

If you have any questions or comments about "Gone Seoul Searching in Japan: Teaching English in Japan"  please leave them in the comment box below or email them to goneseoulsearching@gmail.com
Creative Commons License  Gone Seoul Searching by Marie Webb is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at goneseoulsearching@gmail.com.







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Gone Seoul Searching by Marie Webb is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at goneseoulsearching@gmail.com.
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