Jean Of mArc

This year, after a lot of paperwork, an interview in Montreal, and months of anticipation, I have been given the privilege to join the JET Programme’s 2009 Team from Montreal. What’s that? The JET Programme has been up and running for 22 years, sending successful applicants across the world to Japan to teach English. Our applications were due in November, our interviews were in Feburary, we found out our results in April, our orientation was this past weekend, and we leave in July. Woo, did I forget anything?

As preparation for our brand new lives in a foreign country, which speaks another language, and doesn’t contain anyone or anywhere we are familiar with, JET has an orientation weekend a month before departure to help us get ready for the big change. Because the Consulate of Japan in Montreal is also the consulate for Atlantic Canada, I went to Montreal to attend this event for the weekend, and it was 100% worth-while.

First of all, it was a great opportunity to meet the other JETs that have been selected to represent Montreal this year. There were a little over a dozen of us (I think) as well as a number of previous JETs who are now part of the JET Alumni Association.

Second, it was a chance to get to know more about the programme and the people who run it. For example, we were able to get better acquainted with the JET coordinator of Montreal. When I first met Mrs. Giroux (the coordinator), it was at my interview and I was extremely nervous. At the time, she was relatively straight-faced and it was quite intimidating… though I assume that the straight-faces to make sure you can handle the pressure, since being in front of students in a foreign country qualifies as stressful for many people. It was great to get to talk to her more, though, because she is very friendly, inviting, and shared lots of helpful and useful information with us. She mostly facilitated the time between the talks, presented primarily by the aforementioned JETAA.

The topics of the orientation were many:

• Clothing and Packing
• Culture Shock
• Spare Time & Networking
• Money and Taxes
• Inaka (being in the country)
• Conflict Resolution
• Team Teaching
• Lesson Planning
• Classroom Management
• Language & Etiquette
• Reality Check
• Love and Relationships
• Q & A Panel

I won’t go into the details of each one, but suffice to say, there was a lot to take in! The JETAAs had great information to share. It was all very relevant, important to know, and there was a lot that was mentioned that we otherwise would not be aware of. They all had fun personalities as well, turning some topics that might normally be quite dry into interesting and hilarious descriptions of what to expect. What I found most useful, from the information, was mostly about culture: what to expect from the kids, the other teachers, and to be ready for anything because things will spring up on you, etc. But there were also a lot of things I didn’t know about that I can prepare here as well: getting an international driver’s licence, (maybe) registering medication, teaching materials to bring, what to ship, etc. Also, it turns out that our first month will not be spent teaching: we don’t actually start until September. Instead it is a time to get settled in, to begin lesson plans, to get to know the teachers you’ll work with, to get familiar with the schools/students (who are still around even though there’s no classes), etc.

If there was one down-side to the orientation, it was just that it was information overload and I couldn’t think about it all at once! Of course, that was just the nature of a weekend orientation. Good thing I took notes to read and got a handbook for future reference! And by the same token, there is only so much that other members can say and prepare us for. A lot of what we’ll need to know about teaching in Japan will only come from the experience of doing it and the time dedicated to the endeavor.

For those of you who don’t know, I have been placed in Hirosaki city, which is located in the Aomori prefecutre. Here’s its location on a map:

I’ve heard that it is very beautiful there, they have delicious apples, its in a good location and is neither too big nor too small. It’s population is 184,675 people, with a density of 352.7 people/km2. To compare this, Halifax (not the HRM, just Halifax) has 119,292 people, with a density of 1226.9 people/km2. As you can see, although Hirosaki has more people, Halifax has almost 4 times the density. So for everyone who thought that if you live in Japan, you must be shoulder-to-shoulder to your neighbor: if you don’t feel crammed in Halifax, you probably won’t feel that way in Hirosaki. Of course, these are just stats and I have yet to say anything from experience.

For any JETs out there who are reading this, this might be helpful to you:
Christian Lepierre, one of the JETAAs who was presenting at this orientation, has generously donated his teaching materials for download. You can get them here.

While I was there, I got a chance to stay with Donald Hunt, and meet up with Bradon Adams as well. They were both in musicals with me in High School, and it was great to see them again. Donald was very hospitable to me, and it was great to catch up. I also briefly met his girlfriend Hillary, who was very nice. We didn’t really get a chance to talk though.

Only 39 days until departure!!!

On May 15th, I was able to go see the musical “The Wizard of Oz”, put on by the St. Joseph’s Stage Prophets at the Atlantic Festival Theatre in Wolfville… and what a show it was! I wouldn’t consider myself a huge fan of the movie, but even so I was extremely impressed by this show and the talent that came out of it. It was the full show with (what seemed like) almost 100 cast members, from kids to teens to adults, and even a live dog as Toto. It was quite a large cast indeed!

All the lead roles were very strong, and everyone played their role perfectly. They were all completely believable. Shannon Coates played Dorothy, and did a fantastic job. I had the priviledge to work with her a bit during the Footloose production from February, and it was great to see her as a lead role. The Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion were all perfectly casted as well to Allan Slipp, Jacob Sampson and Joe Gnemmi, respectively. Their acting was easily as good, if not better, than the film. All the supporting roles and chorus characters were also great. Even most of the children seemed perfectly in place in the land of Oz. The singing was strong, the acting was over-the-top (in a good, appropriate way), and everyone looked just right in their costumes. And the sets were amazing! It almost felt like a professional show. I say almost only because there were moments where things weren’t quite so smooth: forgetting the next line, costume parts falling, some ackward scene changes, etc. But all of these were minor when compared to the whole effect of this epicly-pulled-off show.

Something funny happened while I was there: I saw the Saturday Matinee, and the scene where the wicked witch melts arrived. The witch started to melt, and smoke came up from the trap. But soon afterwards we heard a loud siren, because the smoke had set off the fire alarm! The Tin Man started walking towards the exit of the theatre and said “Sorry folks, that’s the fire alarm, we have to evacuate the building.” Of course, it was all taken in good humour by the crowd, who was otherwise enjoying the show. It was quite funny for us all to leave the building, and all the characters come out, still in costume, on the side of the theatre with a football practice going on next to us. Any onlookers would have been amused or confused. They were going to continue it outside, but were told that we would be able to get back in soon, so we it just continued after we were allowed back in.

Overall it was a great show, and if you missed it… Well, you shouldn’t have.