私の English は、ちょっと clumsy ですよ！

Although this has been whirlwinding it's way around my mind for a while, I was talking to a friend earlier about it and certain realisations led me to believe it'd make an interesting blog entry.

I've noticed that although being in Japan for only 8 months so far, my use of English has changed slightly. The irony isn't lost on me, seeing as teaching English here is my job, but I find myself forgetting things outside of the classroom. Certainly I'm probably slightly behind with recent colloquialisms, seeing as I am not exposed to them here and have no use for them anyway, but that's not what I've noticed.

If I'm talking to a Japanese person I use the Japanese I know. If I'm talking to a Japanese person who understands English at conversation level I find myself slipping in and out of Japanese and English. Half a sentence, or several words may be in one language, the rest in the other. Now I know this probably means my Japanese level is improving, and that's fantastic, but in an attempt to justify the title of this blog I find myself forgetting English words mid sentence, replacing them quickly with the nearest Japanese equivalent and moving on. It's not until afterwards I realise what I've done, and desperately wrack my brain for the correct English.

I also find myself omitting plurals and conjunctions like "and" and "with." Indeed, I often do so while writing blog entries. And talking to friends and family back home. Sometimes I'll say something and catch myself afterwards, my ears not understanding what my mouth just said.

And sometimes it would seem the use of certain phrases, exclamations, idioms, slang, quotes, sarcasm, etc etc is redundant when I, an English speaker with limited Japanese, talk to a Japanese person with limited English, but I'm happy to say it's not always the case. Half the time when I explain a quote or phrase, I find there's a Japanese equivalent. Which is nice.

All in all I know I'm over-analysing it, but it's an interesting observation nonetheless. Perhaps I should start studying English as well though, just incase...

My first day teaching

Above: My JHS office. My desk is in the foreground with the laptop.


Above: View from the office window.

Sweet jesus, I'm knackered! The killer combination of Taiko last night, a bad night's sleep, and a hot and long day at work has left me sat here at 18:16 completely exhausted.

However, my fingers still work thankfully, so I can manage a couple of blog entries. Let's start with school then...

I started work today. It was very much a day of firsts. Well, every day is a day of firsts here, but it was certainly a lot more evident today.

My alarm went off at the unholy time of 6.45, and after a quick breakfast and shower, donned my suit for the opening ceremony of this new term at school. Although I don't usually sweat much, the crazy Japanese humidity (Japanese: mushiatsui, or むしあつい) had me rather clammy by the time I drove into the staff carpark. Buying a sweat rag was definately a wise move!

The ceremony caught me off-guard. I stood with the Principal while the students filed in, and after a brief introduction by the Principal, I took to the front of the hall to introduce myself in both English and Japanese. I'm used to standing in front of large crowds, but the butterflies were doing a conga inside me. Thankfully I didn't fluff my speech, and I turned from the microphone to much applause.

My schedule today (worked out by a complex and confusing series of cross-referenced tables) gave me just two lessons, both of which I used to introduce myself to the first-graders. It's true what is said about foreigners becoming celebrities in schools here, especially if you, like me, are tall or have big feet. The students wanted to arm wrestle me, compare hand or foot sizes, or try to jump higher than my height. I'm certain one student called me "Schwarzenegger" and another called me "Terminator." When I hummed the theme to the movie they erupted with laughter and cheering.

In my time between lessons I have been studying Japanese, drafting these blogs, and altering my introduction lesson for the classes I am to teach. Every Friday I am to visit two Elementary schools, and have a full day of lessons! I only hope I don't run out of genki (see blog) - a lifeless ALT wouldn't last 5 minutes with these kids!