Tokyo Orientation

The following day we started orientation, two days of seminars welcoming us to Japan and preparing us for the task ahead. This was comprised of the official welcome, presentations for ALTs on teaching foreign language in Japan and CIR (Coordinators of International Relations) daily life of a CIR in Japan. Later it broke into various workshops dealing with:

·         Elementary Education

·         Teaching multiple schools

·         Budgeting

·         pop culture in the classroom

·         teaching students with special needs

·         life in rural Japan & driving in Japan

·         Japanese etiquette and Japanese study

·          troubleshooting in the classroom

·         Team teaching

·         Adult language classes

·         Self introductions

·         Food, cooking and eating

·         Technology and other tools in the classroom

·         Effective lesson planning

·         ETC.

Konnichiwa Japan!!!!

I FINALLY MADE IT!!!  My crazy and insanely long trip to Japan has finally come to an end. I can safely say I don’t want to see another airplane for a long long time. Upon arriving at the Narita Airport the 60 or so new ALTs (Assistant Language Teachers) and I went through customs relatively quickly in comparison to the nightmare that was the Miami Airport. After customs we were met by a team of TOAs (Tokyo Orientation Assistants) made up of current JETs who ushered us through the remainder of the airport to the awaiting designated buses to the Keio Plaza Hotel in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Everything was moved smoothly until we reached the airport exit and we received a huge shock to find out that a Caribbean Airlines plane had crashed in Guyana while watching the news on a big screen TV. We didn’t get the details of the crash at that time but for Tanya and I it was even more shocking because it was that Airline and the type of aircraft we took to Trinidad only a few days earlier.

Up, Up and Away.

I must apologise for the late posting of this blog I've been doing a great deal of traveling and the internet wasn't always available to me but I've spent the time wisely observing and documenting as much as i can.

DALLAS LEG

For me I found the Dallas leg of the trip to be the most difficult leg of them all. So continuing on my journey to Japan the Caribbean group and I had a 3 hour flight from Miami to Dallas. I have to admit I really liked the fact that it was the shortest route during the journey and it allowed us to see the American terrain as we crossed over several states. This leg allowed us to link up with many other Americans also coming to Japan from the Miami and Dallas connection. The other participants came in all shapes and sizes and from several walks of life. It was really good to see the enthusiasm and nervousness on the faces of the other participants and it was really refreshing to see that it wasn't just my small group going through that.