Ohayo. Ohayo. New Jersey.

…for influenza.   Looks like the flu season happens no matter where you are (great!).  I could see it approaching as I began to notice more face masks on faces and more absences in classes.  Then I began to hear “in-fu-ru-en-ja” in many of the conversations between teachers.  Ah, yes, “influenza.”  It’s hit my region pretty hard.  I finished my last lessons at my high school just in time because I heard that 51 (!) students were out with the flu last week.  Also, several classes were combined at my elementary school since a bunch of students were out sick.  I think teachers should be given mandatory flu vaccinations because we have a high risk exposure (just like my job at the hospital last year), but alas, that’s just wishful thinking.  In the past, I’ve usually been able to steer clear of the flu, even without the vaccination, so we’ll see if I can stay out of the path of destruction this year (*knock on wood*).  Good thing I’ve got a bus ride and flight ahead of me where I’ll be around a bunch of people, all of who I’m sure are perfectly healthy…

Much to my surprise, I discovered that KFC is the food of choice to celebrate the birth of Jesus here in Japan.  I certainly don’t remember that from the last time I lived here.  So for the holiday, families gather around their Christmas trees with their Christmas cakes and a bucket of extra crispy or original recipe.  Now that’s something worthy of Norman Rockwell.

Sadly, I have had my last lessons with my high school seniors.  The school year runs from April to March, however, they graduate in January and have a break from school from mid-December until then.  I will attend their graduation ceremony, as I’m advising the group that’s performing a song for it, but the lessons were still bittersweet.  I was only able to give a full lesson to two of the classes due to scheduling issues, but the teachers were flexible and I was able to make my rounds to all four classes.  The students had never heard me play the viola before so I brought it in and gave each class a mini Bach recital.  I was surprised how fascinated the students were with my viola… it’s not common for students to play string instruments here.  The last class I played for was the class that I’ve had the most difficulty with.  I generally had to talk over the students and had a few sleepers, but for my last visit, they were the most emotional.  Students that usually just talk or sleep through my lessons got all teary eyed were very sad to see me go.  I felt like I made a tangible impact and it was wonderful to see it.  Later, the teacher told me that many of the students were moved by my music.  Aww…you guys.  I’m going to miss these spunky kids.

After a week of tests, my high school students got respite from academia with a two day long sports competition between the classes.  There were contests in badminton, volleyball, and girls’ dodgeball.  Such competitions are very conducive here as each grade level is separated into four home rooms, so each class competes against each other and no one class has a favorable amount of athletes.  Each class also got to design their own team t-shirts.  Barack Obama seemed to be very popular among the designs as one had a drawing of him while two others had the Obama campaign catch phrase of “Yes, We Can!”  My favorite shirts were designed by one of my third year classes (seniors), and had a picture of Marilyn Monroe and the word “tenacity” scribed above her portrait.  The students also had artistic liberty with decorating their shirts, and let’s just say they took advantage of that liberty (who knew Marilyn Monroe could have such large breasts!?).  One priceless shirt said, “To a Gay Power!”  It was hilarious, and certainly miles apart from anything I’d see in an American high school. 

It was a bunch of fun watching the sports, but I have to say that the cheers were the best part.  I had no idea what they were chanting, but I could tell that they’d shout a little rhyme and then someone’s name or they would make a loud “whoa” whenever their team served in volleyball.  I couldn’t help but to join in on the fun.  Once the games started breaking down into the semifinals and finals, I noticed a peculiar phenomenon.  Whenever any of the girls’ teams won, they would break into tears!  It was funny to watch them all crying while hugging each other after winning…and it was just multiplied when they won a championship game.  Tears and hugs abound!  Of course the boys’ teams were super competitive, but even they got emotional after a championship win.  

I watched as my seniors clinched the championship titles in each area.  I don’t know if this is the norm, especially since the seniors are the oldest, but they certainly don’t look like the sportiest of the grade levels.  I was happily surprised when my favorite class, and smallest class, took the grand championship…yeah, they’re pretty awesome (and they’ve got relatively awesome English to boot!).  I had a blast as a spectator…now when do the teachers get to compete against the students?

I’ve decided to make this horrible phrase the theme of my experience at the Hokkaido Mid Year Conference, a reclaiming of sorts.  I’ll enlighten you with its origins in a moment.  Every year, around late November or early December, our prefecture hosts a mid-year conference for the Assistant Language Teachers (ALTs) in Hokkaido.  This includes JETs and private ALTs alike, and our Japanese English Teachers are invited as well.  It’s a good opportunity for some fresh ideas on lesson plans and our roles as ALTs, and if anything it’s a great time to reconnect with friends across the island.  For me it was a great reason to head out to my favorite city of Sapporo early and hang out with good friends in a more cosmopolitan setting than what I get out here in the boonies.

Winter had spared no expense on this city.  It got several heavy snowfalls while we were there and the beautiful holiday lights had been lit across the city and in the parks.  I had an oddly nostalgic experience while walking one morning there.  There was fresh blanket of snow and a powdery crunch accompanied my footfalls.  As I passed houses, the fumes from their kerosene heaters lightly spotted the air.  Doesn’t sound too pleasant, fumes and all, but it was the most distinctly nostalgic experience I have had here, and clearly reminded me of when I lived in Japan 20 years ago.  The scent of gasoline and snow reminds me of my father plowing the driveway back in Alaska or crossing busy streets in the winter time.  But the kerosene, as lovely as it sounds, is something distinct to Japan.  Another highlight of that morning was Team Marimo’s first snowman.  Edwin wasn’t the showiest of snowmen, but a good snowman nonetheless. 

So on to the actual conference!  There were about 300 of us participating.  We were put up at decent hotel on the river, where, by the way, I had a fantastic view of Nakajima Park.  The first day was marked by speeches and keynote addresses.  The second day was for workshops and group discussion.  From what I understood, this year’s conference was markedly different from last year’s, where everyone decided to use the conference as their wet blanket and complain the whole time…sounds like my idea of a good time…if I hated myself.  My first workshop on high school motivation was pretty good.  Although, I am beginning to find that my situation is very different from the norm in that I do a large bulk of lesson planning and most of my activities are more for fun rather than reinforcing specific learning points (yes…we can have a debate about the merits of this later).  So, I usually pick and choose what I take from these seminars and I had a lot to choose from.  So far, so good. 

My second workshop is where this entry’s theme originates.  When we were asked to sign up for workshops this one was entitled “New Techniques in the English Classroom.”    Wasn’t my first choice, but sounded enticing enough.  Maybe I’d get a few new lesson ideas or learn a fancy maneuver.  So imagine my excitement when I get to the room and see our hand out: “Marketing Techniques in the Classroom.”  Oh, and what’s this?  A short biography on the presenter boasting of her accomplishments in the marketing world and her graduation from an Ivy League institution…I guess they don’t tell Ivy Leaguers that you don’t spell exercise with a “z.”  Boasting and simple spelling errors aside, I gave it the benefit of the doubt and left my mind mostly open.  Well, after a 20 minute overview of marketing concepts (which are fairly obvious to most people) and the introduction of “mindshare penetration” (we giggled too) my mood quickly changed.  I am not the biggest fan of the apply-marketing-to-everything mindset but acknowledged the potential for this to be a possibly worthwhile presentation.  However, everything that was presented was missing that one important link to teaching that would have made trash into something a step up from trash.  I found it horribly ironic that a presentation on knowing how to effectively market to a target audience was so off the mark in making the sell to us, the actual audience.  And, I have an inkling that the presenter is the type of person who might google “mind share penetration” just to see if her catch phrase is catching on.  If she is indeed reading this, I’m the one who signed his feedback form.       

On a more positive note, the conference ended with a short yet heart-warming speech by a Japanese education official from Hokkaido.  And for more positive notes, the night life during the conference was great.  I spent a good deal of time at the Electric Sheep, a bar I had mentioned in previous posts on Sapporo.  The snowfall mixed with the neon lights of Susukino viewed from the 9^th floor of a major intersection is quite beautiful (I suppose I shouldn’t have forgotten my camera at home).  The company was good and so were the conversations.  Now that was some real mindshare penetration.