on my mind

a few things of note.

i am considering applying to be an assistant at the Tokyo Post-Arrival Orientation at the beginning of August, 2006. As a part of the application I have write up a proposal of what my presentation would consist of. I am chosing to flush out my ideas for a presentation titled, "Independent Japanese Study: Beginner." The only problem is that I don't recall what the presentations in Tokyo were like. I would like to organize mine better than those, and perhaps have some interesting ideas for activities that could be done with a crowd of jet-lagged, wide-eyed foreigners. To be honest, I only attended two of those seminars. Both were somewhat helpful and i have a vague recollection of what was said, but most of it didn't stick. I guess i still have the handouts, so those should be a good source. Of course, we all left Tokyo with 10 extra pounds of books and handouts so who's to say that mine will be the one kept?

am also thinking that my second graders are the most disengaged students in the world. a bit of an exaggeration, i understand, but what a lousy 45 minutes for them and me. don't know how my JTE feels about it. he seems to be as disengaged from the process sometimes as they are. i know that learning language sometimes is boring and i know that learning grammar of a language you don't care to learn is even more of a consternation: but can they all be that uninterested? is it the teenage hormones that are preventing them from expressing any possible emotion?
that's not true. whenever we have an activity that involves moving around and asking each other and me questions, some students do get a bit genki. For the most part they are happy for those moments because they give them the opportunity to move around the room and pretend to be working on something while chatting with their friends. it's difficult to think of things to do that would make it fun for them; i am somewhat limited on time within the curriculum and the less i get to do creatively in the classroom, the more stagnant i feel and the less i want to do in the future. it's a bit of a vicious cycle. but i will get out of it. today, i had two seeminly fun ideas for vocabulary activities while bored out of my skull in the classroom. hopefully, i'll be able to put them into action.

also on my mind is the political development in Taiwan and Palestine. I have been reading up on both and so thankful that i have access to the BBC from school. Their website is wonderful for in-depth analysis of the situation. I wonder if the money EU sent to the Palestenian Authority will be put to good use--i certainly hope so, but with Hamas weeks away from taking power--who knows. Yet, i wonder how an extreme terrorist organization will reinvent itself as a governing body. Some parts of that organization are going to have to be sucked into the bureaucracy of running a country that has been slowly going financial under. They will have to rethink their primary objectives as an organization--perhaps helping their people will become more important than destroying others.

ha.
who am i kidding.

what a sad world.

also would like to apologize for not putting up any photos for a little while. the USB cable from my camera has decided to take a sabbatical--i have been very pursuasive for it to come back, but nothing seems to be working. perhaps i'll have the pleasure of using friend's YahooBB and camera connections this weekend, until then, cross your fingers for my poor little Minolta and its issues.

today for lunch we had yakisoba, a kroket, and some fruit in a milky sauce. not too shabby.

in the afternoon the entire school will be listening to a concert of visiting mucisions. don't know what they will be performing, but it's nice anyways.

later today i get to use my brand new karate gi for the first time in practice. went through a kata at home wearing it last night. that's a nice snapping sound it makes. i like it.

cheers