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A long distance view of the JET experience

  When our son received the letter of acceptance for JET we  were suitably impressed both with his achievement and the quality of the stationery used by the Japanese Embassy. The followed months waiting to hear his specific destination in Japan were agonising for the entire household. A distinct sense of relief followed the news…

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Children

Recently, at a family wedding, I was very distressed to find out that my year and a bit worth of teaching experience has not improved my ability to talk to children. I met a rather cool three year old (he could talk three languages and sing most of Frere Jacques) and, when called upon to…

Don’t Go There
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Don’t Go There

I’ve done a few programmes like JET now; stuff where you’re in an unfamiliar environment, working in exotic locales (or, at least, more exotic than where you’d normally be) and generally away from the life you knew for quite a long period of time. Inevitably, people get misty-eyed and want to return. I always tell…

Sh_tting Yourself:  A Tale of Hospital Discovery
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Sh_tting Yourself: A Tale of Hospital Discovery

Despite being accident prone for most of my life, I have done an astounding job of avoiding hospital stays. While I may have had a brief brush with the emergency ward after breaking my collarbone at age five I have never actually had to do an overnight stay. Until now that is. Still making it…

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The Disappointments and Pleasures of a New JET Arrival

      Day 1 – 14:00   I was expecting a beautiful young woman in a maid costume. But my supervisor turned out to be a middle aged man with furry eyebrows. Major bummer! He didn’t drive a suped-up Civic with pounding bass either. But the passenger door opened at the push of a…

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Arbitrary

  Education is arbitrary: what we learn is arbitrary; how we learn is arbitrary; whether we learn is arbitrary. This was something I suspected as a student and have had fully confirmed for me while on the other side of the chalk board. To put forward a very obvious example, there’s the seating plan. Quite…