Pre-departure Seminar
I am not a morning person. I am very much nocturnal. So after staying up til 4am watching Peace Maker Kurogane, I was not amused when my mobile reminded me at 8am that I had to attend a compulsory “pre-departure seminar” in a little under an hour’s time.
It wasn’t that terrible really, but like I said, I’m not a morning person. Those of you like me will know all the unsaid frustration and general crankiness I went through.
They covered the stuff you’d expect them to cover - what will happen once you arrive in Japan, what life is like in Japan, some expenses that you can expect to have, what to bring and what not to bring. None of it was particularly news to me, I had either heard it all before from the eikaiwa or researched it on my own. The only really beneficial part of the whole seminar was the video shown of an actual class taking place. After watching what was done in that class, I felt a lot more confident that I could do the job myself.
Interestingly enough, the level of the students you can get is deceptively high! This video showed 3 young Japanese adults who could answer questions fairly well, could give creative and impromptu role play performances and who I think I could work very well with in a class. It seemed to me like these students had mid to high levels of English skills, but according to the eikaiwa’s ranking system, they were on second bottom level! It was such an immense relief hearing that. I think I should be okay in the classroom :D
What was mildly annoying about the day was the woman brought out to speak about life in Japan, because she really couldn’t tell us much.
What’s the food like?
I can’t really judge, I’m a vegetarian.
Is it worth bringing over my computer/laptop?
I can’t really say, I didn’t do it myself, I bought a second hand one there.
Is it easy to connect to the Internet?
I don’t know, I didn’t try it myself.
How about my mobile phone? Will it work there?
I’m not really sure (note: another hired teacher told me that it would work so long as it was a triband phone)
Geez.
I still can’t get decent information on how to get internet in my apartment in Japan, and this is frustrating. I don’t fancy being internet-less over there. My main concern is that there may not be a telephone line in the apartment, so I may have to try to get some “mobile broadband” card which is only new technology in Australia, although I’m sure it’s been in Japan for years.
Anyway, despite most of the seminar being pointless, I’m glad I went to see that video of a class in action. Plus, all the photos and video footage of Japan made me want to be there right now. I suspect those pictures are what draw in prospective teachers the most, heh.
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