Orientation Camp

In the mountainous area of Nagano prefecture our school own a study house which can accommodate about 200 students and maybe twenty teachers. The study house is located in a town called Tateshina and has a huge kitchen with a dining hall, classrooms, bedrooms, bathing facilities, and recreational areas for all the 200 students. From next week the first graders of my school will go there in two groups, the first one from Monday to Wednesday, and the second one from Wednesday to Friday. This orientation camp is for them to spend some time together and hopefully make new friends.
Every year after the first graders come back from this camp they become more uncontrollable than before because somehow they form strong alliances to do the opposite thing the teachers ask from them. I wonder how things will change after this year's orientation camp.
I'm not sure about their schedule for this year but usually they'll go to visit some sort of zoo, do a mountain hike and make either Japanese Soba noodles or butter. In the evening they'll do some recreational activities in the dining hall before going to bed. Well, going to bed doesn't mean going to sleep... they usually stay awake for a very long time preventing the tired teacher from getting their rest.
Hiking course on Kurumayama:

April 2009

A New school year has started on April seventh. The opening ceremony was attended by various principals from other schools, PTA members, all the school staff, and the freshmen parents. I was placed at the gymnasium's entrance to guide students and parents to their seats, making sure the entrance didn't get clogged up. It was nice to see new uniforms being worn for the first time with fresh creases along the sleeves and back, buttons all shiny.

As every year, every freshman's name is called, they'll stand up and and reply, and sit down again one by one. Then there are seemingly endless speeches from principals, vice principals, and other "important" people. A freshman's representative delivers a statement of commitment to the school and its curriculum. Japanese people love these kind of things where everything is done by tradition and in a strict time frame. Really nothing fun about it, but most parents might feel relieved that their children are in disciplined hands.

After the entrance ceremony the first year students go to their first homeroom class with their homeroom mentor. Due to a revised time schedule the homeroom class was shrunken down to a bare 35 minutes. There was too much information to be given in such a short time so much was printed out on paper. Parents filled the back of the classrooms and the corridor watching their sons and daughters first day at high school.

Speech Contest Results

Fourteen participants eventually made it through to the speech contest being properly prepared. As the only English native teacher at my school, I assigned myself to the final coaching of the speech contestants. One week before the actual speech contest I had to students do their speech in front of me,after which I gave them advice to improve pronunciation and intonation. I tried to give all speech participants an equal amount of advice and coaching.

There were three judges including me. Of course the other two judges were English teachers with many years of experience. We judged the speech participants on the contents and structure for which they could score 30 points. Pronunciation, rhythem, and intonation was worth another 30 points. Lastly, delivery and comprehensibility could score a big 40 points. The time in between speeches was quite short so we had to decide their score quickly and write some comments.

This time all the participants really prepared well which made it very difficult to judge. For a small school as mine with only little over four hundred potential participants we really had the ones with most potential and ability performing their speeches. At the final count, the first three prizes were only 12 points apart.

Before awarding the trophies I was asked to summarize the contest and give a short speech. I could only praise the participants and told them they did an excellent job. I explained that it was hard for the judges to make decisions because all speeches were very good. Our principal awarded the trophies and certificates and spoke a few words in his best English.

Over all, I think this years speech contest was very successful and I hope this positive tradition will grow more popular because Japanese students can learn a lot from this experience.

Working Hours

Full-time foreign teachers at Japanese schools are expected to work the same amount of days and similar hours every day as their Japanese counterparts. This means that during summer, winter, and spring breaks we actually don't have any breaks... Meetings and lectures are scheduled during these holidays to keep us off the streets. Even the Sundays which are very valuable to most teachers to get some R & R are sometimes rescheduled as working days. In my case, I am also coaching the school's soccer team which results in zero holidays. If there is only practice on the weekends, I try to get one of the other teachers to supervise the team so that I can spend some time relaxing at home.

I just realized that after this non-stop weekend there is again a fully scheduled week with the Japanese national holiday (March 20th Shunbun-No-Hi) filled with a practice match re-scheduled from Sunday the 22nd because that day freshmen will come to take placement tests. This will eventually result in a 20-day non-stop working streak if I don't collapse before that.

Speech Contest

In March there will be an English speech contest at my school. At first only five students applied to participate so I went around the school during break time and spoke to some students who have good English skills. I encouraged about 15 students of the first and second grade to sign up for the English speech contest. Eventually ten more joined the contest.


Yesterday we had a meeting with all English teachers and divided the students and assigned them to the teachers. Assigned Teachers will support the students and correct the written speech content.


I made a summary of important points related to the judging of the speech. Judges will look for, Contents and structure (30 points), delivery and comprehensibility (40 points), pronunciation intonation rhythm (30 points). As most participants are first graders with little experience, I added a list with possible topics.


The winner of the English speech contest will be send to next level at which 24 winners of different high schools from all over Japan will compete. Last year we came in fourth which was the highest place ever for my school. My school principal and English teachers were very proud and pleased. I want to aim for at least a top 10 place, but this really depends on the willingness and abilities of this year's winner.