I just returned from the 10 best work days I have had in Japan. I was a teacher at Sechibaru English Summer Camp, which is a Nagasaki prefecture program that brings upper level English students together for an intensive 10 day English-only experience. The students came from various high schools all across the prefecture. We had 30 students, 7 ALTs (like me), and 6 JTEs (Japanese Teachers of English).
Sechibaru is up in the mountains near Sasebo, and is a nice spot to have a camp like this. It is a nature camp, and has some trails and forest surrounding the camp grounds. Most importantly though, it is away from the familiar landscape that the students and teachers are accustomed to. This allows everyone to focus on what is happening at the camp, without being distracted by the hustle and bustle of modern Japanese life. It becomes possible to create an atmosphere wholly separate from the outside world. I found myself on many occasions reflecting on the fact that I had no concept of being in Japan, or that the students I was teaching were Japanese. It was so interesting for me to feel this way, especially in a place where it is usually so glaringly obvious.
The first day of the camp, the students were so nervous! Everyone was speaking in Japanese, and were very quiet and reserved. We played some ice breaker games which loosened them up some, but there was still a lot of Japanese being used and at our nightly teachers' meeting we were a bit concerned about that.
Day 2 was the first full day, and we started with morning exercises, cleaning, and breakfast. We then had our interview assessments of the students in our group. Students came one at a time and we asked them about themselves, had them tell a story, pronounce words, etc. Everything went fine, and we were able to get an idea of the English level of the students.
Later in the day, the students gave a self introduction to the group. After that, the ALTs had the chance to introduce themselves and their culture to the students. It was interesting to hear about our different backgrounds, especially Rachel from England and Allan from Trinidad and Tobago. The remaining ALTs were from the US, although drastically different parts.
Here is a picture of us demonstrating Rachel's birthday tradition of hitting the lucky person's head on the floor one time for each year of age...From day 3 on, there began a drastic change in the students... after an encouraging speech by Yumi, a wonderful Japanese teacher, the students really took on the challenge of this camp. The students began speaking English all the time, even when they thought no teachers were around. They broke free from their restraints and shared their unique selves with the rest of the camp.
Over the next few days we wrote and performed dramas, held a debate, walked in the woods, had a BBQ, as well as many other activities. The students continued to improve and many friendships and strong bonds were created during these days. One of the popular activities was writing letters to one another and dropping them in the special post box. Students and teachers could write messages and encouraging notes to each other in English and they would be delivered each night before students went to bed. Everyone was excited to get mail, and I think this idea is something I will try to use at my school on Ojika.
This is a picture of some of the students writing letters to send via the "Sechibaru Post"!
During the final three days we spent much of the time at the University of Nagasaki. The campers had some interesting classes with college professors. The most interesting were Professor Yamasaki's lectures on pronunciation and non-verbal communication.
Allan and I sat in on his lectures and helped him out with pronunciation from different areas. Allan speaks English with a Caribbean accent, being from Trinidad and Tobago, and I speak with a fairly standard American English accent. We compared different ways of speaking common words and phrases. It was quite interesting, even for us native speakers, and the campers were busy trying out all of these new words and pronunciations.
I have to say, spending those three days at the university really rekindled my desire to return for a masters. It was nice to be in that university atmosphere of learning again, even for a short time. I am quite certain that I will be back at university after JET. The questions now are where and for what degree!
Photo of Professor Yamasaki's lecture:
After many days of waking up at 6:30 and finishing work and going to bed at midnight... all of the teachers (and students) were quite tired...
here I am falling asleep on the bus taking us back to Sechibaru from the university.
The final full day wrapped up with a campfire back at Sechibaru, and the strength of the bonds created between everyone was evident. The students walked to the campfire location through the woods, and even before they arrived, the tears were flowing. We played some games, made some smores, passed the talking stick, and finished the night with a symbolic burning away of our fears and worries in the fire. Everyone wrote their worst fear, worry, or trouble on a piece of paper, and then tossed it into the fire to let it burn away and be forgotten. It was a very emotional ceremony, and nearly everyone was openly crying and hugging each other. Many students did not want to leave the camp, and wept as they said so. It was a really special feeling, and it brings tears to my eyes now just to think of it. I'll never forget it.
It is amazing how much improvement these kids made! From the shy and reserved students speaking only Japanese on arrival, to the confident, energetic students that departed, there was a night and day transformation. I am proud to have been a part of this! This is definitely the highlight of my time in Japan so far!
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