Alison @work

今日教室でビデオ撮影を行いました。みなさんと私の仕事場の雰囲気を共有したいと思いました。

６月と言えば。。

６月と言えば。。梅雨でしょう？それと試験の準備です。 It seems like the school year started only recently. There is great disorder for weeks into the semester while class numbers and levels are finalised. Textbooks suitable for each level need to be ordered and then they take time to arrive. Only in the past few weeks have things settled down but I started thinking about exams last month and now I'm busy writing them. I consider myself to be fairly computer literate, though my exam writing skills are challenged by how well I can align text to the right or underline the question number. Another non-teaching task that challenges me is taking attendance. I have large numbers of students from various countries around the world. My Chinese students have 'two' names – their Pinyin (romanised Chinese) pronunciation and the Japanese pronunciation of their name. It is a great struggle to get my tongue around the Japanese pronunciation. While I cannot pronounce Chinese tones well, it would be much easier for me to use the Pinyin or 'real' pronunciation. As most classes are large I then have to double-check the marks on my attendance roll by counting the students. I am extremely MATHEMATICALLY CHALLENGED, so having to count 30-odd students is a 'simple' task I often have to do two or three times! Apart from these problems I love teaching all my students. I get great joy from being able to motivate unmotivated or weak ability level students. Just as well I feel positive about my job because I'm back at school tomorrow!

Starting a new life

初めまして皆さん！私の名前はアリソンです！
オーストラリアの出身です。
初めての投稿です。

I came to Tokyo in June 2012 to begin my working holiday.  My goal was to improve my Japanese through this time and live like a 'freeter.'  I have been an English teacher for nine years and I wanted a break from full-time teaching.  So, I took a part-time waitressing job where I had to use Japanese all the time.  I continued to teach part-time as Tokyo is a very expensive city to live in! 

I really enjoyed by 'freeter' experience but when my Working Holiday visa came to an end, I was happy to get a full-time teaching job when my teaching visa was granted.  I know that teaching is the best job for me as I love to see my students achieve their language-learning goals.  Feel free to follow my blog posts about my teaching life in Japan!