Moved in! and lazy
Trip Start
Nov 06, 2008
1
8
18
Trip End
Ongoing
Tokyo,
Kanto,
Japan
Friday, November 14, 2008
days! I have been a little busy. I know you are all riveted to hear
what has been going on, so I will fill you in. The day after I went to
the Kitty store, I received an Email from GABA (a company I had applied
for earlier) it was a follow up on my resume, and they wanted to
schedule an interview! yay! BUT there was a catch, before I could go in
for my interview, they had a task for me to complete. I opened the
attachment included in the email and saw they wanted me to complete a
few questions. These questions needed to be done before the interview
date posted (Friday, 14, at 3:30PM), this meant I needed it in Thursday
at the latest. Not only was Thurday the due date for my pre-inteview
task, it was also the day I would go check out my new living quarters
and enevitably make a contract. The questions on the Task were strange
but I think I did okay. want to see them? okay!
1) Creativity
(A) Please finish the story.
Pikachu, Naruto, Doraemon and I were
waiting at a bus stop early one Saturday morning when out of nowhere
came a horrific sound "BZZZZT POW!". Startled, all four of us jumped.
"What was that?" I asked in a panic. "Beats me" Naruto replies "but it
didn't sound good". "Should we go check it out? It sounded like
someone could have been hurt!". This suggestion usually wouldn't be
much of a problem, but today was different. We were heading to a
premier of a new cool movie that just came out and we could not be
late. Doraemon looks in the direction of the sound, and then back at
Naruto, Pikachu and I. "If we miss the bus, there wont be one for
another half an hour, we wouldn't be let in to the movie!" Doraemon
explains. The four of us stood silent for a moment, staring blankly at
the ground, and then all at once decided it was a better idea to see if
everyone was okay. We left the bus stop and headed in the direction of
the sound. "The sound had come from just over this hill!" I remarked.
With disappointed faces we reach the top of the hill only to discover
that the horrible noise had come from the bus we were waiting for. The
city had recently switched to electric buses and it looked like this
one wasn't working too well. As we get closer we notice the driver
sitting next to the bus, crying. "Sir! Are you okay?" Doraemon asks
"is there anything we can do?". The Driver lifts his head and wipes
his eyes " well if you can magically make enough electricity appear out
of nowhere to charge the battery, I could keep my job" He exclaims
doubtfully. "Hmm well it just so happens that we have an electric
Pokemon with us, we CAN charge your battery!" Naruto smiles and looks
at Pikachu. "PIKA!" Pikachu climbs up the side of the bus and starts
charging the battery with his electric cheeks. After the bus driver
notices what pikachu is doing, he jumps up for joy and gives each one
of us a hug. "Thank you so much!" the bus driver blurts out excitedly
"is there anything thing I can do to return the favor?". "Actually
there is" I explain " we are on our way to a movie premier and we are
going to be late". "NO PROBLEM!" Before I can finish my sentence the
bus driver cuts me off "I will drive you right to the front door!"
Pikachu finishes charging the battery and we were on our way to enjoy a
great day at the movies, we would have missed if we stayed at the bus
stop.
(B) Explain a game/activity you would use in a lesson to teach "like" and "colors". [E.g. I like blue.]
I would teach "like" and "colors"
using colored pencil crayons for the lesson. To begin, I would teach
the Student the name of each color by holding up one of the colored
crayons, saying the name of the color and then having the Student
repeat what I said. I would continue this process for about 10 minutes
or until I feel the student is comfortable with all of the colors.
After going over the color names, I would ask the Student to choose
his/her favorite color. If the Student is having trouble understanding
my directions, I would demonstrate by removing the colors I don't like
until I find My Favorite color. Once the Student has chosen His/Her
favorite colored pencil, I would have them repeat after me; "I like
blue/red/yellow" etc. We would practice until the student is
comfortable. To finish the lesson, I would have the student draw
something He/She likes, in His/Her favorite color then recite the
proper "like" sentence including the name of the object the student had
drawn.
2) If you were reincarnated, who or what would you like to come back as? Why?
Since my plan for this life is to
travel as much as possible, it would be nice to be reincarnated into a
large tree. As a tree, I could move only in the wind. With roots deep
in the earth I wouldn't have to worry about being pulled out. My life,
as a tree, would be dedicated to learning about the smaller things that
are everywhere. I could perfect skills that are a challenge to learn
as a human. I would be an expert at patience, a great listener, and
every breath I take would help the world breath. Even after I pass
away I would be helpful, I could be fertilizer for the earth, or a
beautifully crafted chair. Spending a lifetime as a tree would be an
enlightening experience.
3) What do you feel are the most
important qualities that a good children's instructor should possess?
Who would be an ideal children's instructor (i.e. celebrity, fictional
character, athlete, public figure, etc.)
I feel the most important qualities a
children's instructor should possess are patience and positivity. A
children's teacher should not discourage a student by moving too
quickly with any lesson. The teacher should show support to the
student using positive reinforcement. Reminding the student of His/Her
improvements during class will boost overall confidence and help the
student feel comfortable. I feel a fictional character would most
likely be an ideal children's instructor, because the character would
relate to a child's interests.
THIS ONE WAS TRICKY
4) Sometimes it is better to lie than to tell the truth. Please comment?
In most cases telling the truth is
better that telling a lie, but sometimes telling someone what is needed
to hear is more helpful. When teaching a student who is having
difficulties, it is best to tell them they are improving to help them
feel confident during class.
5) Number five was about proper Tenses. It was in a table, I didnt feel like being creative with the format.
6) Lesson Planning
The following is a lesson case
study. Please create a detailed lesson plan using the following
information. Please choose the lesson target and incorporate your own
teaching style and ideas.
· You have a demonstration lesson with a six year old boy who has never formally studied English before.
· The boy's mother has told the staff that he only knows a couple of words of English, and that he likes sports and animals.
· The lesson is 30-35 minutes long.
Basic Introduction Skills
Objective: The focus of this class
would be to make the student feel comfortable with formal English
lessons and to introduce new vocabulary with the theme animals. By the
end of the class the student should be able to name at least 8 animals
(ie Mouse, cat, sheep, duck, frog, dog, horse, cow)
Materials: Animal flashcards (two sets)
Resources: http://www.mes-english.com/flashcards/files/animals1_cards.pdf
Study: (20 minutes) spread the
flashcards out so the student can see all eight animals. Point out an
animal and say the name, have the student repeat the name to you. Go
over all of the flashcards until the student feels comfortable.
Introduce the question "whats this?". As you point to a flash card, ask
"whats this?" and then have the student say the name. Point at all of
the flash cards to see if he remembers.
Engage: (15 minutes) After the
student feels comfortable gather the flashcards up, shuffle them and
lay down three or four in a row face down. Have the student guess
until he gets the animal right continue down the row.
Extra game: (10 minutes) If the
student is catching on quicker than expected or is not enjoying the
first engagement activity lay out both deck of cards face down and play
the flip and match game.
Lay the card down in 4 rows of 4.
Have the student randomly flip a card, say the name and the flip
another card until all of the cards have been matched.
For home work have the student draw his Favorite animal and bring it back next class.
7) Prioritize the following 5 words
in the order of importance to you: career, freedom,
relationships, responsibility, conduct.
Briefly define each and give your rationale for the order.
Relationships are the connection that one has to family, friends or coworkers.
Conduct is the way someone behaves. Especially during an event or occasion
Freedom is the power to speak, act or think as one wants without hindrance
Responsibility means to have a duty to deal with or to have control over someone
Career is an occupation one has for a significant period of time during a person's life.
I have chosen this order starting
with relationships because the people you have good relationships with
will be with you forever. Conduct is very closely related to
Relationships because most of the time your conduct is what determines
if you can have a positive relationship with someone. After conduct I
have Freedom because the power to speak act or think as one wants
without hindrance is very important but if no one was behaved we
couldn't live in peace. After Freedom I believe Responsibility is
important. Responsibilities in life help a person feel needed which is
exactly what one requires, to live a happy life. I have prioritized
career at the end because, in this day and age careers come and go and
can be replaced.
It took me a while to finish the questions because I kept getting
distracted. There was this guy named John Cotone at my Hostel from
Australia and he decided that he wanted to work in Japan while he was
there. So he bought me some beers and was using my computer to send a
resume or two, but he wasn't to stoked on the formatting he had used,
so I spend alot of the time I should have spent on my Task helping him
with his resume. But I managed to get my questions done the next day
(Thursday) after I checked out my house. My new residence is a guest
house located near the Kamishakujii station, it is called "first
house". I live with other Gaijin(foreigners) and my rent is really
cheap, its like 600 bucks a month. Not bad for Tokyo. I will put up my
mailing address right when I understand it :¬d
I moved in that day, and bought a nice futon mattress thing, a blanket,
some curtains, and a pillow. I still need some pictures to put up on
the walls . So if anyone has some random photos I could put up, and
they feel like sending me them in the mail, that would be
greeeeeaaaaaat. Oh and if you could come in on saaaaatuuuurday, mmmthad
be greeeaaat. anyway.
I hit the sack relatively that night and had a pretty good sleep (I
have to get used to my new diggs still, but I am sure I will have a
good sleep tonight). I woke up this morning and went for a a bowl
hunt. I forgot to buy a bowl to have my Japanese Frosties in ( thats
what they call frosted flakes here *smile). First I walked to the
"Life" store but they weren't open until 10am so I decided I would
journey down the road a bit further to see if I could find the ¥100
store ( thats like a dollar store). With no luck I limped back to the
life store and bought a bowl with cats on it for 4 bucks. I was
limping because I effed up my ankle area some how and it really hurts,
I just have to stay off it for a while. I think I pulled a muscle.
So I had my cereal, had some coffee out of a carton, Ironed my shirts
and then headed out to find the Ebisu station. The Gaba interview was
about a 15 minute walk from the Ebisu station and relatively easy to
find. With God's help I found my way there early, and had a very
successful interview...I think. I will find out if I got the job
withing the next 10 days, so within that time I am also going to apply
at ECC which is the company that Becky was working at. Did I say that
she is moving back to the UK? well if I didn't now you know. Its
disappointing, but she has a few things she has to deal with so she
can't hang around. I am very thankful she was here to help me out
though :¬)
I am friends now with one of the girls here names Jackie, she seems
pretty cool. She is from the states and works with ECC. Its nice that
she is here because then when Becky leaves I wont be comletely alone.
So my plans for this weekend are to 1) take it easy & 2) let my ankle get better.
But now I MUST go to bed. Good night/good morning
