*Doing language exchanges with fellow students is a great way to make friends and improve your Japanese while helping someone with English. For this, there is an English Speaking Society (ESS) on Tenri University's campus.
As of late Halloween has become very popular in Japan. Once it is around mid-late September most stores will begin to sell Halloween items in anticipation of the holiday. The week of Halloween it isn't uncommon to see students doing everyday things while dressed up in costumes, especially in big cities.
This year one of the schools I've been teaching at had a Halloween party which doubled as a spelling bee contest. The teachers and children dressed up and we did mock trick-or-treating. Needless to say it was a lot of fun!
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| The girls I teach every week! |
I also had the chance to volunteer with a local middle school! We went to 法隆寺 temple in Nara and the students had prepared before hand how they would explain the meaning of the temple and the statues in the surrounding areas. It was so much fun! At the end my group and I took a photo. I put two peace signs up and they said that was the "Tokyo pose". They asked me what an "American pose" would be and I tried to lean back and look cool--how'd I do?! In the photo I was only too happy that they all humored me and did the pose by my side that I couldn't help but smile~~
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| American pose at 法隆寺 Temple! |
**留学生ノート: If you want to work in Japan and are native in English, Tenri University's international office will have information about available positions. In most cases the workers there will tell you before you even have to ask because there are so many jobs available. Just make sure to be confident, speak clearly, and teach with purpose! Japanese students are usually very good and reading/writing but their listening/speaking tends to be lacking.
