Daley-sensei's Adventures in Himeji, Japan.

I've been learning some interesting tidbits about what, exactly, I'll be doing in Himeji, Japan. Firstly, my official designation is that of an "ALT" or "Assistant Language Teacher." The other position available is the "ASE" or "Assistant Supervisor of English." As an ALT, my primary function is to be a "cultural ambassador" whose goal is to get the students--and community--excited about learning English and to expose them to American culture. I'll be working with the equivalents of middle and elementary school students, as well as teaching classes to the community. My function in the classroom, from what I've learned so far, seems to be somewhere in between that of a Practicum Student (where you observe teachers for a certain amount of time, and help out in a limited sense) and a Student Teacher (which I've been doing for the last semester; where you learn how to teach and to co-teach with the help of an expe...

This wonderful opportunity to teach in Japan was only made possible thanks to Phoenix Sister Cities ! I had always heard good things about the program, and every now and then would read about them in the Arizona Republic. They're way more supportive than the JET program, with all of the teachers (both Phoenician and Australian) living in the same apartment complex: The Shirasagi Residence.  Whereas the JET Program just dumps participants all over Japan--even expecting them to find their own apartment--PSC allows us to live in a community with the other awesome English teachers. The interview for PSC was pretty stressful, though. I was told the entire process would take about an hour, but quite honestly I was done in about 25 minutes. "You have 14 minutes to answer 10 questions, go!" "You have 10 minutes to plan a lesson, go!" (This is totally true, by the way.) Weirdest interview question: "How comfortable are you with trying new foods?" Th...