I couldn`t think of a title. But I made home-made pizza for dinner cos it is easy so I guess it is all relative!
Quick update…New job is good!!! I also have an extra 3 hours of private lessons lined up a week (on top of 2 hours I already do) so that means extra cash!! YAY! Had a private lesson with the school owners daughter tonight and she is learning to read. She can actually read Ok already, but I think she only reads in English once or twice a week so it seems she forgets words from one week to the next. I have never taught anybody to read before (We focus on speaking more so in the preschool class because the children age from 2-6….they can all recognize the alphabet letters but can not write. The six year old can read basic words but not books.) I have tried to go back to when I was learning to read but I don`t remember much. A lot of games that I did when I was a kid come back to me though….all of which are easy to adapt to younger children who speak English as a second language!
The level of English is amazing. I can not beleive there is a little girl who is still 2 that can speak English and Japanese already. All the children in the preschool speak really well. One little girl though speaks with English words in Japanese sentences (for example all the nouns are English but the verbs and pattern in Japanese) I think it is because she wants to talk to much that she can not think of it fast enough to keep up with her mouth!!
One of the best things about the new job is that the boss (well owner) is never at the school really(apparently sometimes she stops in for half an hour in the morning…otherwise we just speak to her on the phone!). So as long as we stick to basic curriculum we can try all sorts of things with the children and change things around depending on their mood and our mood!! The other two teachers are great and we all work together.
The other great thing is that the preschool class (9:30 til 2:30) has 10 different children and we have up to 10 children a day, sometimes we only have 5 or 6. So it is good because I have already started to develop relationships with the children because the class size is small and some of the children come every day. Kids are so cute!!!
I thought I would be a lot more exhausted but it isn`t so bad. Then again it is only 9:30 and I could climb into bed now and sleep for at least a day!! Can`t think of anything interesting to write so I guess I will call it a night!
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I am just a twenty something Aussie girl living in Chiba, Japan with my Japanese husband trying to make sense of the crazy Japanese world we live in! We welcomed our first son in December 2009 (Noah) and a second son in January 2011, 2 months premature (Shion). I am working hard at raising them to be confident, bilingual, happy kids!
Hi from a lurker… I stumbled across your blog a while back and it’s very familiar to me as an Aussie living and working in Tokyo.
It’s a lot easier for us to learn to read as kids than it is for Japanese kids as we already know most of the words we see. I find a lot of Japanese kids seem like they can read but they are actually just memorising the shape of words in their books rather than sounding each one out. If you teach them phonics as thoroughly as possible (including the “magic e” on the end of words that makes vowels long) after a while something seems to click and they can read. Good luck!
P.S. Can you make pizza in a toaster oven??
Sounds like you’re having a blast
Your school sounds so good, how awesome that you get to try different things out.
The prime age to learn a new language is when you are first developing your first language, so it makes sense that the kids are picking it up so easily. It sucks that so many people don’t know this and only offer languages to the older kids.
If you ever want some tips or good websites or even actual resources sent over, let me know
Hi Jess, where in Australia are you from? Luckily this girls English is already really good. She was in International school from age 2-6 five days a week so she knows a lot of words too. Her vocab might not be quite up to the standard of other 8 year olds but she is pretty damn good.
Next week I have some phonics to work through, a simple book and some writing practise. I have to find her a better text book. She is above writing her ABC`s 50 times. Thanks for the advice!!! I will remember the magic `e`
Where do you work?
Oh and yes I make pizza in the toaster oven. I buy crusts then just use pesto and my own toppings. It is great it you don`t have a lot of time to prepare dinner and also great for a snack!
Boysenberry- I am enjoying it. So I am happy. Lots to do, but I kind of like that after a couple of months of what seemed like nothing!! Sure being lazy is great but it is great to be getting out of the house a lot more!! Even if I am getting a bit exhausted.
Jen- I am really happy with my school. Tomorrow we are making cotton ball snowmans…Can`t wait!! (I made the example today and I was so proud I wanted to take it home to hang on my wall…hehe)
No matter what happens (ie, have kids with Shun or don`t) If I ever have kids they will be learning English and Japanese, plus another language hopefully. I am thinking spanish!!
I use the web for a lot of ideas (god I love the internet) and we can order resources online a lot which is great. I was thinking I would pick up some Australian type stuff, and some new picture books when I am in Australia in May!! Animals and the Ocean are coming up after summer!!! Thanks for the offer (Hey when I am in Australia we can shop together!)
So glad the job is going well! x
Your new job sounds great
Yeah! you’ll be able to get heaps of stuff in Australia. That’s what I used to do. Books on learning to read and stuff. Kinokunya in Shinjuku has lots of stuff but i’m sure you’ve already looked there.