Well, unfortunately the momentum from the trip has finally ebbed, but I'm trying to hold on!
Last week I took three of my students to dinner at Musashi, a Japanese restaurant in Allentown. It was the reward for a bonus project that I offered to my classes.
I treated them to sushi/ sashimi, beef sukiyaki, udon noodles, and tempura, complete with miso soup and salad with ginger dressing! I wanted them to get a fair taste of the many types of dishes I ate during my weeks in Japan. All three of the girls were very brave and tried everything! They even used chopsticks! I don't if they'll ever opt to eat it again, but I know I left with a very full stomach!
The follow-on plan/packet was also due last week so I mailed out everything to Tokyo and New York. I included copies of an essay explaining the influence of the Japanese Culture unit on them written by two of the students that went with me to dinner.
I can happily say that after our discussion at dinner I'm reminded of how much my students enjoyed being introduced to new things as well as how fun it was to share my experiences with them. This summer I hope to finish the video portion of my follow-on and maybe in a few years I'll see if any students want to take a long journey with me. Maybe they'll even have gotten a pen pal letter back!
Sunday, June 3, 2007
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Keeping the JFMF momentum going!
With the trip now being almost three months away, I'm trying to find ways to keep the momentum alive! The question is... How?
I have stayed in touch with quite a few people, I've taught my Japanese Cultural Unit (of which the posters are still hanging in my classroom), and I've even created a movie night to show The Last Samurai and Memoirs of a Geisha. I'm even still slowly consuming Learning to Bow, the book about a teacher's year teaching in Japan, and I'm loving every page of it!
My American friends have gotten back into the flow of our regular lives, including myself, so we aren't as connected as we once were. Although, I can say that my teacher friend, Matt from NJ, is willingly keeping in touch, probably due to the convenience of being able to get together for breakfast and such, like we did on Saturday. We were able to step back in time as we looked at my 500 page picture album. yikes!
However, I want to do more. As a matter of fact, I've been looking into the idea of an EF Tour to Japan. I've always wanted to travel with my students, some more than others, of course, but what a perfect opportunity! The current catalog has a tour to Japan that covers both Tokyo and the region of Fukuoka, where I met the most wonderful people. The problem is, how do I get students to raise that kind of money? It's 2,400 dollars, which really is quite good for airfare, meals, and accomodations, but it's still a lot of money. Maybe once our pen pal letters arrive my students will be more interested, hmmm....
Then, at Saturday's track meet, as I lugged my big album around with me, I introduced the concept to my college athletes. Wow, was I pleasantly surprised at their reactions! They thought it would be a great idea. Some even said they would love to go. Seriously? My mind is now on overload thinking about how in the world I could bring such a trip to fruition! If I could go with my college athletes first, and then begin making plans to previous students to travel back to Japan with me, wouldn't that get the ball rolling? I realize it's far away, and I'd need to get time off school, and do fundraising and all sorts of stuff, but I think it would be a great way to start appreciating another culture as well as focusing more on our own.
If anyone reading this, either from Japan or the US, has some strong feelings about this, from athletes to parents, to students, I'd really love some ideas on how or if I can make this work, please let me know! I hate to see this interest stop at a yearly lesson and stories about a trip I once took!
I have stayed in touch with quite a few people, I've taught my Japanese Cultural Unit (of which the posters are still hanging in my classroom), and I've even created a movie night to show The Last Samurai and Memoirs of a Geisha. I'm even still slowly consuming Learning to Bow, the book about a teacher's year teaching in Japan, and I'm loving every page of it!
My American friends have gotten back into the flow of our regular lives, including myself, so we aren't as connected as we once were. Although, I can say that my teacher friend, Matt from NJ, is willingly keeping in touch, probably due to the convenience of being able to get together for breakfast and such, like we did on Saturday. We were able to step back in time as we looked at my 500 page picture album. yikes!
However, I want to do more. As a matter of fact, I've been looking into the idea of an EF Tour to Japan. I've always wanted to travel with my students, some more than others, of course, but what a perfect opportunity! The current catalog has a tour to Japan that covers both Tokyo and the region of Fukuoka, where I met the most wonderful people. The problem is, how do I get students to raise that kind of money? It's 2,400 dollars, which really is quite good for airfare, meals, and accomodations, but it's still a lot of money. Maybe once our pen pal letters arrive my students will be more interested, hmmm....
Then, at Saturday's track meet, as I lugged my big album around with me, I introduced the concept to my college athletes. Wow, was I pleasantly surprised at their reactions! They thought it would be a great idea. Some even said they would love to go. Seriously? My mind is now on overload thinking about how in the world I could bring such a trip to fruition! If I could go with my college athletes first, and then begin making plans to previous students to travel back to Japan with me, wouldn't that get the ball rolling? I realize it's far away, and I'd need to get time off school, and do fundraising and all sorts of stuff, but I think it would be a great way to start appreciating another culture as well as focusing more on our own.
If anyone reading this, either from Japan or the US, has some strong feelings about this, from athletes to parents, to students, I'd really love some ideas on how or if I can make this work, please let me know! I hate to see this interest stop at a yearly lesson and stories about a trip I once took!
Thursday, January 4, 2007
JFMF Reflections
This, assuming it is the falling action to my blogging experience, will be one of my most difficult to write, I think.
I'm not sure how to express my sentiments for this whole trip without crying. Yes, especially for those of you who were on the trip with me, it seems I do cry at the drop of a hat. For instance, you mention my students when I'm standing in front of a class of Japanese students and bam, tears. But I didn't always used to be this way, so chalk it up to menopause or something!
Moving on, yep, it seems it will take me a few days to think about my friends from this trip without shedding a tear too. I think it must be the once in a lifetime opportunities that do it to me. I do remember crying at my job interview to teach at Northeast, but that's another story altogether. For good reasons, of course, in case any of you were laughing!
The previous paragraph was written almost immediately after my return and, as you can see, I was a little emotional. I've been back for a month now and have had plenty of time to experience my life as it was before the trip, and yet, now things seem quite a bit different! I think I'm going to have a hard time explaing this.
The initial experiences after my return, such as meeting the Japanese woman from Lehigh and keeping in contact with my friend from NJ, enabled me to postpone the ending of my trip, to an extent.
Being off this last week for Christmas forced me to get back to reality. Seriously, it was a really great way to actually settle in again. I had time with my fiance, at last, since he is in the heart of his basketball season, but also his family and mine too.
We had a great Christmas, first at his house, then mine when my family came up, and the next day his sister came home too. She went on the JFMF a year before I did. As we talked about our experiences I quickly discovered that we seemed to have similar thoughts about the people and country. It also helped to start sharing the pictures on my computer; I've even had them developed now too. I think I'm finally ready to reflect.
Taking into account only my experiences, (I have to say that as a disclaimer so my Dad doesn't make a comment about brainwashing) I clearly believe that the people of Japan are a kind and generous people. Their beliefs are evident in every air about them, their genuine concern for humanity, their need to please people and their amazing hospitality. This JFMF experience is so well-organized, planned and executed it's easy to believe that every teacher in their ten year history has come back without being in awe of their culture. I should, of course, add that I am very proud to be an American. However, I think it is more american of me to say that while we do have things good here, we could learn from their society. Quite a bit, I'm afraid.
Where are our manners when it comes to new technology, such as cell phones, or our love for learning when it comes to education? When did we become so afraid of the taxpayers that we can't teach the way we want to anymore? Will my students not learn about culture, honor and discipline from my trip? Or should I feel guilty that they haven't memorized "How to take a standardized test" questions and save my trip for later? Talk about teaching higher level thinking skills, I have seen my students allow their curiosity to take them towards questions I could never have taught! They are impressed by the schooling and the kindness that I tell them about. They are also interested in the kyogen masks and the fancy kimono that I brought home, but none of them are going to move there anytime soon. Let's be realistic. I can only hope they are learning to be a little nicer to someone that looks or lives differently than they do, to think before they speak and say something they can't take back, and to grab life's many opportunities before they slip away.
Do I sound like a teacher on a soapbox? Maybe. But I will stand on my box, crying, of course, proud of the fact that someday down the road one of my students will have learned something from me that they do remember. (I guarantee how to get the right multiple choice test question answer, won't be one of them.) Or, better yet, when one of my students opens his or her pen pal letter from someone half a world away, they might think that their teacher taught them some pretty cool stuff. Maybe, some day, they'll even share that with someone else.
I'm not sure how to express my sentiments for this whole trip without crying. Yes, especially for those of you who were on the trip with me, it seems I do cry at the drop of a hat. For instance, you mention my students when I'm standing in front of a class of Japanese students and bam, tears. But I didn't always used to be this way, so chalk it up to menopause or something!
Moving on, yep, it seems it will take me a few days to think about my friends from this trip without shedding a tear too. I think it must be the once in a lifetime opportunities that do it to me. I do remember crying at my job interview to teach at Northeast, but that's another story altogether. For good reasons, of course, in case any of you were laughing!
The previous paragraph was written almost immediately after my return and, as you can see, I was a little emotional. I've been back for a month now and have had plenty of time to experience my life as it was before the trip, and yet, now things seem quite a bit different! I think I'm going to have a hard time explaing this.
The initial experiences after my return, such as meeting the Japanese woman from Lehigh and keeping in contact with my friend from NJ, enabled me to postpone the ending of my trip, to an extent.
Being off this last week for Christmas forced me to get back to reality. Seriously, it was a really great way to actually settle in again. I had time with my fiance, at last, since he is in the heart of his basketball season, but also his family and mine too.
We had a great Christmas, first at his house, then mine when my family came up, and the next day his sister came home too. She went on the JFMF a year before I did. As we talked about our experiences I quickly discovered that we seemed to have similar thoughts about the people and country. It also helped to start sharing the pictures on my computer; I've even had them developed now too. I think I'm finally ready to reflect.
Taking into account only my experiences, (I have to say that as a disclaimer so my Dad doesn't make a comment about brainwashing) I clearly believe that the people of Japan are a kind and generous people. Their beliefs are evident in every air about them, their genuine concern for humanity, their need to please people and their amazing hospitality. This JFMF experience is so well-organized, planned and executed it's easy to believe that every teacher in their ten year history has come back without being in awe of their culture. I should, of course, add that I am very proud to be an American. However, I think it is more american of me to say that while we do have things good here, we could learn from their society. Quite a bit, I'm afraid.
Where are our manners when it comes to new technology, such as cell phones, or our love for learning when it comes to education? When did we become so afraid of the taxpayers that we can't teach the way we want to anymore? Will my students not learn about culture, honor and discipline from my trip? Or should I feel guilty that they haven't memorized "How to take a standardized test" questions and save my trip for later? Talk about teaching higher level thinking skills, I have seen my students allow their curiosity to take them towards questions I could never have taught! They are impressed by the schooling and the kindness that I tell them about. They are also interested in the kyogen masks and the fancy kimono that I brought home, but none of them are going to move there anytime soon. Let's be realistic. I can only hope they are learning to be a little nicer to someone that looks or lives differently than they do, to think before they speak and say something they can't take back, and to grab life's many opportunities before they slip away.
Do I sound like a teacher on a soapbox? Maybe. But I will stand on my box, crying, of course, proud of the fact that someday down the road one of my students will have learned something from me that they do remember. (I guarantee how to get the right multiple choice test question answer, won't be one of them.) Or, better yet, when one of my students opens his or her pen pal letter from someone half a world away, they might think that their teacher taught them some pretty cool stuff. Maybe, some day, they'll even share that with someone else.
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