ALT Day

On Tuesday, we had our first ALT Day at Kizaki Jr. High. I invited 3 ALTs, Jeff, Jason and Pete to my school so that my kids could get a chance to interact with other native English speakers. In order to build up the excitement, I had put up their pictures and profiles on the English Board a week before their arrival. I also made signature cards for each of my kids, and told them that every time they asked the ALTs a question, they would get their cards signed.

The day began with all of us going to the gym and getting on stage to introduce ourselves (not me, really) at the morning ceremony. It was nice too in that we have somewhat different accents, as Jason is from North Carolina and Pete is from England. I guess Jeff and I sound alike since he's from Oregon, but I just sound a bit more Asian. ;) Anyway, it was a great opportunity for my kids to hear ALTs with different accents.

There was a lot of drama about which periods we were going to teach; I was especially hoping that we wouldn't need to teach 1st period since we had not discussed the lesson plans prior to that day! Haha. Anyway, things worked out because we ended up getting 1st and 2nd period off. We stayed in the library to discuss the lesson plans as we busted out our snacks (hello, we need energy for the kids!). Hehe.

The four of us taught 4 lessons together, 2 2nensei lessons and 2 3nensei lessons, while my JTEs stood in the back and watched. Also, the break time in between classes were filled up since my students pretty much attacked the ALTs to get signatures from them. The card idea worked out better than I had hoped because the guys had long lines of students waiting to talk to them every free minute they had. Poor guys didn't even have time for a restroom break! Haha. The idea was good in that it got the students to talk to the ALTs, but I felt bad for the ALTs since they had to answer questions like, "What sports do you like?" about 300 times. Sad.

We ended up eating lunch at the kouchou sensei's (principal's) office by ourselves. Whoa, it felt like we were important or something. It's funny, because I never usually ask for seconds, but because all the ALTs that came were guys, my tea lady served us like 7 lunches! Haha.

After lunch, the guys kept getting bombarded by my students. So much in fact, that my JTE had to move them to the Meeting Room. Um, now that my students worked so hard to get their cards signed, I have to get better prizes for them! Sad.

Anyway, the day went very well. None of the lessons bombed, so what more could you ask for? Hehe. Well, my 3nensei could've been a bit more genki, but oh well. By the end of it though, the four of us were soooooooo tired, it was ridiculous. We had gone non-stop from 3rd period to the end of the day, and we were exhausted.

In all, I think this was a wonderful experience for the students. It's one of those experiences which I could actually see my kids saying years from now, "Remember that day when all the different ALTs came to our school...." I dunno what I'm saying, but you get the drift.

I've encouraged the other guys to have an ALT Day at their schools as well, just b/c I could definitely see the difference it made for my kids. They still talk about the ALTs now! But yeah, I think Jeff will definitely try to arrange one at his school as well, so that should be fun. However, I'm scared to go to his school b/c apparently all of his students know me, and think that we're a couple! Haha.

The only bad part about ALT Day was that I forgot to take pictures! SAD! Oh well, I'll just have to take them when Pete, Jason or Jeff has the next ALT Day at their schools! =)