JET Placements

Sweet! Got our welcome package from the Shizuoka BOE. Nick and I are being placed in Hamamatsu City and are replacing a married JET couple from 2009. I've been assigned to Hamamatsu Shogyo High School (Hamamatsu Commercial/Technical High School) primarily but once a month I will be visiting the Hamamatsu Deaf School and team-teach kindergarten through 9th grade.

Same question as Nick - what is popular with the high school kids? It looks like my classes are for 1st year and 3rd year students, so I've got younger and older teens.

JEZ you guys are soooooo lucky!!! XD

Hamamatsu?!?!? Oh shit! I will have to introduce you to my contact there! What a coincidence XD. I'm not sure what high school students are into. I wouldn't think about it too much because it really depends on the individual kids. I would jump right into conversation with them and ask what their favorite music, manga, anime, hobby is. That would be a lot better than taking the word of anyone who is not a Japanese high schooler.

If in doubt, any Johnny's group/Arashi will have a quite a following at any school.

BTW will definitely be going to see Nick and Shar. Probably multiple times since I was planning on going there again anyway. Yay, I can't wait to see ya'll.

cl wrote:BTW will definitely be going to see Nick and Shar. Probably multiple times since I was planning on going there again anyway. Yay, I can't wait to see ya'll.

For sure man! It sounds like we have 2 bedrooms, a living room, kitchen, and bathroom. Sleep over!

I talked to my Japanese friend in Hamamatsu and she said hamamatsu kita koukou is the smartest high school in hamamatsu. That means Nick is gets the kids who actually studied in JR high. lucky.

Hooray! Motivated students!

Lucky Nick! We just attended the ALO. Basically my understanding of Technical or Vocational high schools is that, these are the students who are NOT being geared toward university but instead to join the work force immediately after completing school. The kids are really into their clubs and extracurricular activities but academics is not their priority. Anyone have any tips on how to teach these types of classes?

Those types have very very short attention spans, so you might want to implement as many games as you can into the lessons...preferably to get them up and out of their seats. Maybe we should make a thread for lesson/game ideas?

cl wrote:Maybe we should make a thread for lesson/game ideas?

^ Extremely good idea.

One more reason to go to Shizuoka

Haha awesome. We just checked from Hamamatsu Station, it will take 75 minutes by JR line and cost about $13 one way.

On another note, I wanted to ask a question about giving stickers to students. How often do you give them? For the bigger "premium" stickers (shiny, puffy, holographic, whatever), do the students like it when you give the sticker on a sheet that they can peel off and stick on their own stuff? Or do they just like having the sticker stuck on their tests/point card/what have you.

Shar wrote:
On another note, I wanted to ask a question about giving stickers to students. How often do you give them? For the bigger "premium" stickers (shiny, puffy, holographic, whatever), do the students like it when you give the sticker on a sheet that they can peel off and stick on their own stuff? Or do they just like having the sticker stuck on their tests/point card/what have you.

I think letting them put it on their own stuff is a better idea. My students usually stick their stickers on their pencil cases, notebooks, etc. Some of my elementary schools stick them on their name tags.
I usually hand them out whenever we do any competitive games, or if students volunteer when the entire class isn't participating as often as they should. Reinforcement as often as possible works the best for me.

Did you guys declare any of your expensive items like PS3, camera equipment, etc. or even the total Yen you were bringing on the flight? I previously put Nothing to Declare when I traveled to Japan and the Philippines because all items were for personal use. We are shipping ahead some toiletries and winter clothes.

Don't declare anything. I wouldn't put your ps3 in your suitcase unless it was REALLY well cushioned. I'd actually risk taking it on the plane instead. They didn't have any trouble with laptops and my super famicom, so I'd IMAGINE that a ps3 would be fine.

Yeah. I'm not bringing mine, but Nick's putting his on his carry-on because we don't want it to get damaged on the check-ins. I'm bringing my DSLR & a few lenses, Polaroid & a few packs of film (film shipped separately). We're both bringing our laptops.

I read when shipping boxes separately, you have to declare them so they will get delivered and you don't get taxed on it later? We are shipping through Kuroneko (Yamato Transport).

I don't know about shipping... but bringing a game system to Japan in luggage or carry-on shouldn't be a problem.