Let the Self-Introductions Begin!

I have no idea how many times I have introduced myself since I got to Japan. Of course during Tokyo Orientation we all wanted to know where people were from and compare what little we knew about our placements. The Kyoto Prefecture JETs want to know where we work, where it is in relation to Kyoto City and who we’re replacing. During my first two weeks here I had awkward introductory meetings with the Mayor of Joyo, the Superintendent, 5 Junior High School Principals, 10 Elementary School Principals and 2 Kindergarten Administrators. I had to introduce myself in front of everyone who works at the Board of Education Office, and I was the first order of business at a meeting of the actual Board (volunteer positions, I think). On the first day of school after summer vacation I introduced myself in front of the whole school and then again in a teacher’s meeting.

Now I’m at Minami Joyo Junior High School, where I’ll spend most of my time between now and March*. There are four homeroom classes in each of 7th, 8th and 9th grades. In my first two weeks I have one English class with each of them. And in each class the focus of the lesson is (drum roll please)…my self-introduction! I prepared a PowerPoint presentation about Seattle, my interests and my family. After the 20-30 minute presentation (in slow, simple, repetitive English) The Japanese Teacher of English (JTE), who I team-teach with, asks the students to introduce themselves to me on paper.

It’s gone well so far, and I really like being in the classroom and interacting with the students! I still have a lot of time to sit at a desk with no work to do, but hopefully I’ll be able to integrate myself into the school and get some more responsibilities.

*In Japan the school year starts in April and ends in March. My schedule, and even the schools I go to will probably change at that time. The JET program recruits heavily from Universities, so it follows our school year.