I must say, it is good to be American.
I cannot wait to see if our new president can truly turn around our country and get the majority of Americans to stop being such ignorant, arrogant idiots.
I really hope my vote doesn't go to waste these next 4 years.


Also, I am excited that this blog has reached over 100 views, while probably 90% are either myself, the office or friends. I am amused that I have had one visitor from Tel Aviv, which is really neat.



Now back to the point of today's blog.
I'm taking a break from the lengthy, drawn-out, no-one-in-their-right-minds-would-want-to-read posts about boring work things to show you photos.
While there aren't many (mainly because I totally forgot to bring extra batteries for my camera), here are are a few photos from HSJ's company shinnenkai that I talked about a while ago.
I apologize for any fuzziness, pixelation, weird colorization or whatnot. I had to adjust these on a work computer which only has Photoshop 5.5. If any are completely terrible, I will change them when I get home.



This is the second year in a row where we held the party at a hotel buffet near Gifu Station.
Every table had teachers of our various languages from various countries, each who brought a dish from their home country. It's the one time of the year where we get close to all of our teachers in one room, so it can get very noisy. But, there's always a lot of great food!










One of the awesomest dishes there, homemade Green Curry with chicken rice. It was to die for!
Sadly, I didn't get many pictures of other dishes, but it was all so good. There were a lot of spicy dishes this year. A teacher from Sri Lanka made two types of curry, and one of the other Thai teachers made awesomely spicy Tom Yam soup.












This was my contribution to the festivities: my Grandmother's recipe for Church Windows, minus the usual walnuts and coconut. Wasn't sure if any of the families who were coming had children who had nut allergies, so I opted out of putting nuts in. I personally hate coconut so I didn't add any either. I made a full batch, and must have had 40 or more slices, and it was gone within the first half hour.
I also made Rum Balls, but while they were liked, they didn't go out nearly as quick.












We also had every single one of the Japanese teachers assigned to a group to do a "performance". The owner did a traditional comedy dance, one group did Pythagora Switch's "Algorithm Taiso" and "Algorithm March", one group dressed up as a cross-dressing disco comedy group that's popular right now.
Several teachers from other countries offered to share some of their traditional dance and music as well.





One of our teachers from China played us a very beautiful song on an Erhu and also a song on a Hulusi. They were just beautiful to listen to.




















A Korean teacher had herself and both of her children dressed up in traditional costume, and performed a dance with a drum for us. It was amazing to watch. I wish the lighting in the restaurant had been better so I could have taken better photos, but this was the best I could get.



















Now, this has nothing to do with the shinnenkai, but one of my coworkers just shoved this in my face. I thought it was a bottle of soy sauce or teriyaki sauce (which is nearly impossible to find in this country, ironically).


This is actually a bottle of orange drink. It's overly sweetened, like an orange popsicle, and isn't actually that good. It's weird to drink and looks just like a bottle of soy sauce, completely with the red cap that most bottles of soy sauce have in this country.

While I would love to talk about the company new year's party from yesterday, my camera's battery is too dead to load pictures. That will be discussed later in the week when I have fresh batteries in it.



The past few tl;dr posts I posted were about the main branch of the company I work for, Hop Step Jump(HSJ). Today I'm going to finally get around to explain exactly what our other branch, Learn Japan, really is.


HSJ specializes in English, but also offers a total of 20 non-Japanese languages for adults and occasionally the rare child who wants to learn French. We also offer translation services, and last summers I spent several nights at the office until almost midnight translating Japanese marriage, birth and divorce documents into English, as well as a night of translating care instructions for Noritake chinaware. Despite being pretty busy as it is, the owner, Goto-san, has for a while wanted to expand our services.

As a result, we have Learn Japan now. Goto-san saw how reliant on the Internet the world is becoming, and how many of our adult students have had to quit due to not being able to make our class times. Now, Japan is by far much more computer illiterate as a whole, compared to America, and many homes still do not have a home computer or broadband internet. They are increasing, thankfully, and Goto-san is hoping to make a mint out of that. As such, she got it in her head to start up an "online language school" where students who can't make it to our regular class times can surf the available times of different teachers (both English and other languages), and have private lessons at their leisure from the comfort of their own homes.

Learn Japan relies mainly on Skype to do such lessons. Considering we're more of a conversational school instead of grammar, it fits. The ability to talk over a web camera and microphone, plus have a chat window to fix spelling and to explain grammar is nice. Several of the add-ons are compatible with tablets, in case a teacher is like me and likes to illustrate grammar points with horribly drawn pictures. The current set up has us offering classes (beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels) of either 25, 55 or 85 minutes. Technically it's 30, 60 or 90, but displaying them as five minutes less gives both the teacher and the student 5 minutes of leeway to get their webcams and microphones working. Because Skype tends to hate people and not let them use their webcams and microphones sometimes, and we realize that.


Basically, classes are set up according to how the student wants to learn. If you'd like to work out of a textbook, we have a page listing what textbook we recommend using. If you just want to work on chatting it up, that's fine, too. Traveling abroad on business and find yourself without a translator at a business meeting? We can help with that, too. Got into a fight with your host family while as an exchange student, or having trouble with the college you're attending? No problem. We offer it all.


Our current teacher profile set up has been around since last Spring, but we are looking to change it. Recently we've been having all of the teachers create profiles that are more in depth. I think each teacher will have their own page now, instead of just a long list. The new profiles will include photos of our hometowns, our hobbies, explanation about what writing system our language uses, etc. They're actually kind of nice compared to what we have now. Our current set up was created by a Sri Lankan friend of Goto-san who is a programmer/software engineer who recently graduated from Gifu University, I believe. He and his wife are really nice, and even though they now live on Tokyo He still helps out with the backend of the site. My only complaint is that there's no way for us to currently edit or update the site without him. It would be nice if he made a simple way for us to keep up with the backend when he's too swamped with out.
Our HSJ site is the same way. No clue who designed it, but sometimes we have to wait MONTHS for the current teacher page to change after a teacher is replaced.


One thing that saddens me about the whole thing is how much Engrish is on the site. I had gone over the site several times before it was live and pointed out all of the grammar and spelling mistakes, and there are still some. They're not really big ones, but still, we're an English-focused language school. We should have impeccable English on the site, not Engrish. Our flashcards for our kids classes often have mistakes on them as well. (._.;)



I'm not really sure what else to say. It's a great idea that sadly is not grabbing as much of a foothold as it could, but I think there's a lot of reasons why. None of which I will mention here.

If anyone has the time to look through the website and has any feedback, comments, suggestions, feel free to post them here or e-mail me. We could definitely use the feedback.



I think I'm going to take a break from work-related posts and post a few photos next time. Both of the new year's party and of some I've taken here while I've been living here in Japan. Look forward to them! Hopefully I can make a photo post once a week. It's one of my goals for this blog.

Despite Monday being a national holiday, I had to teach three Open House classes. While the classes were fun, they're just a pain. Open House classes are where parents (usually just mom) come to observe how well their kids are doing in class. These are always taught by a native-English-speaking teacher, but the Japanese teacher is there for support and to do conferencing with the parents.

What makes these difficult is that kids often become very, very shy in front of their parents. It makes it very hard to conduct class at times (as the kids are way too quiet), but most of the time classes end up going back to their usual noisy selves by the end of the hour.

Monday's was interesting in that I hadn't seen the classes since September, and one of the kindergarten boys in the first class, who is usually the first one to greet me and usually loves me to death, was beet red when he noticed it was me who was teaching today. Either he has his first crush and was embarrassed to see me after so long because of it, or he was angry at me not coming to his class for so long. Or both. It made the classes that much more amusing.




While I wanted to talk about Earth Plan's second company, Learn Japan, I just don't have any time. I'm going through the motions to move, as well as having 4 classes a day (today I'm blessed with 8 classes), and have had two Open House kanai classes I've had to do this week. 5 of today's classes were kanai classes.

While I would have time to write tomorrow, I need to spend the day shopping and making Church Windows and Rum Balls. Sunday is our company New Year's party, and all foreign teachers who are attending must bring a food from their home country. So I'm making my grandmother's Church Windows and Rum Balls. Sadly, since most will be driving to this party, I cannot use real rum.


Expect something about Learn Japan on Monday, as now I have to run to class.

Finding a link for a proper Rum Ball recipe took way too long. Most don't call of Coca-Cola, but my grandmother's do. Took me a good 15 minutes to find that link, and it's a freaking Word document. It will have to do.

Since my boss requested it, and I'm stuck at the office for the afternoon, you guys (though there's probably just one of you reading this, and I bet it's you Mami-chan) get to hear what we do besides going to class here at Hop Step Jump. Learn-Japan will have to wait until another day.

Also, if you haven't noticed, there's a big link to Hop Step Jump's website up at the top. Take a good look at the English recruitment page and see if you can spot the Engrish!



Back on topic, besides running Gifu and the surrounding areas, schlepping English materials from one side of the city to the other and back again in the course of a few hours (company cars are a lifesaver), Hop Step Jump teachers have other responsibilities that are so much more fun.

Many of the kindergartens we go to, along with two elementary school, have "International Relations" events where several of our teachers from various countries show up and talk about their home countries. These are probably my favorite part of working here.
At the kindergartens we get treated to a Q&A time where kids ages 3-5 ask us what fruit we like 5 times in a row (yes, it's happened). Sometimes we introduce our countries a bit, and show them the flag or map. Sometimes we just introduce ourselves. Changes with each school. Afterwards we're sent off to join a class where we often read a picture book in English, then join the students for an activity. Being the origami lover that I am, I usually get paired up with that class if I have a choice. If they have classes assigned before we get there, I get stuck with the little kids (2 year olds or 3 year olds) because I specialize in our Mommy and Me classes I talked about yesterday.
While these kinds of events are usually only once or twice a year, we do have one kindergarten that invites us for an "International Day" once a month. Usually only 3 teachers get to go, but sometimes we do really interesting cultural activities with the kids. In November we painted koinobori with the classes. Each age level had a different size and color they had to paint. The kindergarten even brought in a "master" koinobori maker and his assistants to help out.

With the same kindergarten we also accompany the kids on their yearly picnic field trip in March, to watch them sing songs and play games with their parents, and chase them around the park. Many kids are surprised when we foreigners show up and run around on the grass barefoot. Most would never think of taking their shoes and socks off at a park, which is sad because that's what being a kid outside is all about.

Every winter we also go to several of our kindergartens to participate in mochitsuki. These are awesome as we get to eat A LOT of mochi and kinako, possibly two of my most favorite foods. Most kindergartens use traditional wooden bowls and mallets, though some also use newer metal or stone bowls.


There are also two elementary schools that we go have an "International Day" at with their 6th graders. These are basically just Q&A sessions with a group of kids, who then have to report back to the WHOLE 6th grade class what they learned about their foreigner. These are relatively fun because you get some strange questions besides the usual "What music is popular?" "What do you do for Christmas?" "What do you have in your home country that you wish Japan had?" I've had kids ask me what my house was made of, why we don't take our shoes off at the door, if we have rice in the US, if there's fish in the US, and if everyone carries a gun with them at all times. Though I always say that the one thing I miss is 24-hour ATMs. Oh, man do I want a 24-ATM that doesn't charge out the butt after 6pm.



In addition to these types of events, we also encourage students to set up student-run events. Many of our English students end up going to Australia, New Zealand or Canada on working holidays, and a classmate will usually set up a good-bye party for them. We've also had student-run potluck Christmas parties, barbecues, snowboarding trips, hanami, and a trip to fish for squid. The good-bye party for the French teacher that left for Senegal was also partially set up by a student. Many of our students also meet up on Friday nights for "free" salsa lessons at a local Latin bar. We teachers are also encouraged to join in and become friends with our students. Actually, almost all of my friends here in Gifu are students or former students. I really have no life outside of work.


In order for the various teachers to meet up and talk to each other, the office puts on a potluck New Year's party in mid-January. All non-Japanese teachers are invited to bring a homemade dish from their country to share with the rest of the teachers. My first year I had food from Korea, the Cote d'Ivoire, Senegal, Malaysia, China, Korea, Czech Republic, Taiwan, and probably 5-10 other countries as well. I can't wait to try what everyone makes this year. I'm planning on making some of my grandmother's chocolate Church Windows and Rum Balls.


I think I've finally run out of things to say about Hop Step Jump. Maybe now I can go home. I have to start packing for my big move soon. My husband and I are finally moving out of our tiny 1K (one room + kitchen hallway) apartment and into a 3DK (3 rooms + dining/kitchen area). We won't move until February, but we have so much stuff we have to start getting ready now.
Luckily I kept all of the boxes my mom sent care packages in!

Last week being New Years, I decided to take a break from my life and just veg my ENTIRE winter break. Save for a day of snowboarding on New Year's Eve, and movie night at a friend's on New Year's, I don't think I left the comfort of my kotatsu for more than a 3 or 4 times. And that was just to get food.

No new developments on my car accident to write about, so I'm going to be the "good worker" and introduce my place of employment.




Hop Step Jump is a language school in Gifu City, owned by Earth Plan, Co., that specializes in teaching English to children. We do advertize having 20 different languages available if you want to learn something other than English. Basically, we have teachers of 20 languages on call if there is someone who would like to learn a language other than English. Our most popular languages other than English are (in no particular order) Chinese, Taiwanese, Korean, German, French and Italian. However, French is starting to lose it's place as we lost our beloved teacher from Senegal. He's off building a bridge between his home country and Mali as a part of a joint-venture between several Japanese engineering companies, Mali and Senegal. We miss him so. The new French teacher is trying his hardest to fill the spot left behind, so we'll see how that turns out.


We offer classes for infants through adults, and these are split into several groups:
- Mommy and Me: English for infants through 3-year-olds with Mom or Dad (mainly Mom)
- Kanai: Large group English classes done in kindergartens on kindergarten time
- Kagai: Small group English classes of 3-year-olds through high school, grouped by age/English level done after school
- Adult Beginner English
- Adult Intermediate English
- All other languages



Mommy and Me classes are my specialty. I am currently the only teacher who teaches Mommy and Me classes, and have a complete blast at it. These are twice a month for an hour, but the hour is split into 45-50 minutes of games and songs to teach the kids English, and 10-15 to teach phrases the mothers can use at home everyday. I luckily teach these with a Japanese teacher to translate things that are too difficult for the kids, which helps so very much.

Kanai classes are also taught by a native teacher and a Japanese teacher. For kanai classes we go to a kindergarten during school hours and teach each class for 15-45 minutes. Japanese kindergartens usually have between 20 and 40 kids per class depending on age. Much like Mommy and Me on a larger scale, there's a lot of singing and games used to teach the kids English phrases and vocabulary. It's kind of like being on a kids show without the TV cameras.

Kagai are our usual kids English classes. These are done at kindergartens, community centers, and sports centers after school hours, and usually start around 3pm. Groups are usually 2-10 kids, and are grouped by age or level. We have these levels:
- 3-year-olds
- 4-year-olds
- 5-year-olds
- Elementary A (grades 1-2)
- Elementary B (grades 3-4)
- Elementary Special (grades 5-6)
- Middle school (grades 7-9)
- High school (grades 10-12)

Classes for 3, 4 and 5-year-olds are pretty much the same, with vocab increasing with age (eg. 3yrs learn "mouth" "nose" "eyes" "mouth", 4yrs learn those plus "head" "shoulders" "knees" "toes", 5yrs learn all of those plus "hair" "chin" "foot" "hand"). Also, lots of songs are sung to make the class fun for the kids.
Starting in the elementary classes, we quit most songs although the textbooks routinely have chants. I skip those usually. Occasionally certain classes may use a different textbook if the teacher deems the class needing more basic work before moving on to the next level. There's also a textbook for between Elementary S and Middle school classes if a group gets through the textbooks fast enough.
Middle school and high school classes mainly work out of their school textbooks, and are more concentrated on reading, writing, grammar, and cramming enough English knowledge into their heads to pass their school exams. These are the longest classes at 90 minutes per class, and the students and I both dread going to them.

All kagai classes meet once a week, time depending on their level. At least one of their classes in a month will be taught by myself or one of the other native teachers, but all others are taught by a Japanese teacher who can explain the grammar and mistakes in Japanese. We native teachers are in charge of practicing the key phrases for that month with the kids via games and flash cards so the kids can here proper pronuncation and such.

Adult English classes are taught entirely by non-Japanese teachers. Typically one of the three native teachers will teach it, but in the event that none of us are available, there are several teachers of other languages who will take of the class.
Hop Step Jump is unique in Gifu in that for 10,000yen (roughly US$100) you can come as many times a month as you want, given that there's a seat open. We have beginner classes on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at night, and Saturday mornings. These classes you can "reserve" a seat, meaning your name is always on the list for that particular time every week. We also occasionally have "optional" classes on Tuesdays, Thursday or Monday nights where there are no reserved seats. There is almost always open spaces for those who are not reserved to come in, but on Wednesdays there's only one free space open. At most, you can come to 18 classes, if there are no optional classes. As long as you don't take two hours in a row (we offer two one-hour-long classes on Wednesdays and sometimes Mondays), you can come whenever there's a free spot. Intermediate classes work the same, but we only offer an hour on Tuesday and Friday nights, and an hour on Saturday morning.



All other languages are by reservation only, and are usually set up personally between the teacher and the student. Usually these are private classes, but sometimes if there is a group of friends who all want to take private classes, we will create a private group lesson for them. Usually these have a set day and time each week. We offer both private lessons and private group lessons for English as well, but try to get people to come to the all-you-want group lessons.



I think, that's about it.
This entry is just way too long, but I really don't want to come in tomorrow for that long if I can help it. Office wants me to crank out another entry tomorrow. Most likely will be about Earth Plan's other venture, Learn Japan.
Now, to go buy bacon, lettuce, a tomato and bread.
Guess what I'm having for dinner.