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Clip Art – Body Parts 2
Clip art by Stephanie Stoner
Clip Art – Clothes
Clip art by Stephanie Stoner
AJET Connect Magazine: November 2011
November 2011: JET Effect Spotlight
Ishikawa family home stay.
Tell us about yourself.
My name is Estelle Hebert and I’m a second year JET in Hiroshima City. Honestly speaking, before coming to Japan, my knowledge of Japanese culture and language was pretty much zero… I came here for new inspiration to make a documentary project after completing my Masters degree in Toronto, Canada. I had just wrapped up a 2-year documentary project, and I felt it was time for me to move on to a new place, a new environment, and new experiences. An ex-JET spoke to me about her experience in Japan, and soon after, I was on a jet plane heading to what I now consider one of the most extraordinary countries I’ve ever visited.
What project are you involved in? How did you get involved ?
Last July, I traveled to Ishinomaki in Miyagi Prefecture simply to volunteer and provide post-tsunami relief efforts. Through couchsurfing.com, I met a fantastic girl named Chizu, who hosted me for my entire trip there. She had survived the tsunami, along with her family, and my home stay ended up being the best highlight of my entire year spent thus far in Japan.
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Culture Corner – Sumo
Of all the sports in the world, none is quite so unique as sumo wrestling. In what other sport do the pre-match rituals last longer than the game? Where else will we see the competitors and referees wearing styles as dictated over three hundred years ago? For that matter, what other sport boasts referees more gorgeously attired than a courting peacock? Where else will we see quite so much salt tossed, or so many girthful bellies slapped?
While baseball may be the more popular sport in Japan, few Japanese will argue that it has replaced sumo as the national sport. While baseball is a recent import from across the water, sumo is a homegrown sport born from the rituals of Shinto. Originally, sumo bouts were held as part of fertility and harvest festivals (and some still are). Even today in Tokyo, the top-ranking sumo wrestlers take part in the New Year ceremonies, and in the bean-throwing ceremonies at certain temples on Setsubun (a holiday in early February, marking the beginning of spring in the old calendar).
Watching the bimonthly professional sumo matches means taking a step back into the antique rituals of the Edo era. Pro sumo tournaments began in the 1680’s, and the gyoji, or referees, still wear the elaborate embroidered garb, stiff with gold, of an Edo courtier and soft black caps that tie under their chins. Holding an object like a fan out before them, in strong voices they call the names of the combatants and the names of the winners. Despite the heavy garb, they are quite swift. The rikishi (wrestlers) still wear the glossy top-knotted hairstyles and loincloths designated to their class long, long ago.
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Pearson offers free Webinar (Web-Seminar)
Pearson offers free Webinar (Web-Seminar)
A webinar is an interactive presentation that you can participate in over the internet. The presentation is live, which means you can ask questions, make comments or discuss points with the other participants.
Pearson is pleased to invite you to attend the latest Professional Development Webinars. Professional Development Webinars allow teachers to join events aimed at developing teaching skills and methodologies. In addition, Pearson Professional Development Webinars allow teachers to ask presenters questions and get immediate feedback.
How to join:
- Click Here
- Register for the event with your name, email address and location, and a confirmation email will be sent to you. Be sure to keep the email for the attached link.
Next Webinar:
When: November 1st, 9.00pm and November 3rd, 10.00am (Japan time)
Topic: How to get students started on academic writing
Presenter: Linda Butler, author of Academic Writing for Beginners
Presentation Abstract: Click Here
Upcoming webinars:
Rob Dean: Blended Learning – What’s it all about?
Carol Numrich: Giving Oral Feedback
Julia Williams: Creating Rubrics for Assessment
Ian Lebeau: Beyond Conversation: Developing students’ speaking skills through scenarios
Sue O’Connell: Focus on IELTS: Writing Skills
Jan Bell and Amanda Thomas: Does exam preparation have to be boring?
More topics/webinars can be found here.
No surveys at this time
National AJET is not conducting any surveys at this time. Thank you for your interest.
Be on the look out for more surveys early 2012!
Building a Better Teacher – Via NY Times
This article describes the two faces of teaching: teaching a subject, and how to be a teacher. In it, they explore how to measure teaching ability, and it includes some additional reading that teachers in Japan might find very useful.
JALT National Conference – November 18th to 21st, 2011 in Tokyo
The JALT (Japan Association for Language Teachers) National Conference is held every year in the fall. This year’s conference will be held in Tokyo from November 18th to 21st at the National Olympics Memorial Youth Center in Yoyogi. For more information, and to register to attend, please visit http://www.jalt.org/conference. Online registration begins July 6th.
A few of the topics to be presented on will include:
Autonomy in Language Teaching and Learning: How to Do it “Here” (Phil Benson, the Hong Kong Institute of Education)
Acts of Identity: Typical and New English Learners (Laura Kamada, Tohoku University)
Competence and Performance in Language Teaching ( Jack C. Richards, the Regional Language Centre, Singapore; University of Sydney)
Motivating the Unmotivated–Do Teachers Have to Do ALL the Work? (Ken Wilson, author of Teacher and Teacher Trainer)
25th Anniversary JET Programme Symposium
It’s been a significant month in the world of the JET Programme.
On September 8th, the ministries hosted a commemorative symposium at the University of Tokyo to discuss 25 years of the JET Programme; what it has accomplished, and what challenges it faces today. The symposium featured many notable
speakers, such as United States ambassador to Japan, John Roos, and Ms. Yoko Kimura, the Chair of the Board of Directors of CLAIR.
On behalf of AJET, myself and AJET council members Mark Noizumi (treasurer) and Amelia Hagen (Block 10 rep) attended. After brief opening statements by the ministry heads, many speakers were given the chance to spotlight JETs’ achievements, and voice issues pertinent to the program.
One issue, for Japan as a country, that repeatedly came up was the fact that the number of Japanese students who study abroad or attend universities in foreign countries has been on a steady decline for years. This is particularly troubling in light of Japan’s efforts to globalize as more and more businesses are enforcing English as a required standard.
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AJET Relief Fund: Typhoons 15 & 16, Talas, Roke
Photo by REUTERS/Kyodo
Earlier this year, the Association for Japan Exchange and Teaching (AJET) established a monetary relief fund in order to provide JET program participants affected by the March 11th disasters with financial aid. The fund has been open for a period of seven months as JETs from the Tohoku region applied for various levels of assistance to recuperate the cost of lost or damaged personal belongings. After all the applications were processed, a portion of the donated funds remained.
Last month, a series of typhoons hit the coast of Japan, resulting in flooding and landslides across several prefectures in several regions. In the spirit of the fund’s original intention, which was to help JETs heavily affected by natural disaster, AJET has decided to accept applications from JETs who have been financially affected by the damage caused by Typhoon Talas.
To apply for monetary assistance from the AJET Relief Fund, please go to here and fill out the application form with the details of what damages have been sustained. A confirmation of your application will be sent to you from AJET.
* The AJET Relief fund will remain open to applications until the end of 2011, or until the funds have been depleted. Please note that all applications will be kept strictly confidential.
Culture Corner – Kami and Kannasuki
Shinto Tori Icon - by Washiucho
In the Shinto tradition, it is believed that kami inhabit natural phenomena, and are present in such objects as trees, stones, water, mountains, and the heavenly bodies. Kami is a word which is difficult to translate, but roughly means ‘gods’, ‘spirits’ or ‘spiritual force’. These kami have divine power and can assist or thwart human fortunes. Some places, too, have spiritual energy and are worshiped like kami. People, when they die, also become kami of varying power.
In the old calendar of Japan, the tenth month of the year was called Kannazuki, or Kaminatsuki; “the month of no gods.” In that month, the sacred trees, encircled with rice-straw ropes and girded with fluttering white paper, sat hollow for a time, their spirits flown. The sea-bound islands, marked by lonely torii, were abandoned by their keepers. The humble, moss-wrapped stone monuments deep in the forests were left empty, and prayers would be made in vain to empty boxes. Every shrine in Japan, whether it was the grand red-striped passages of Itsukushima or the broad cobbled walkways of holy Ise, could offer no consolation or aid to the pilgrims who came there.
Every shrine but one.
Shimane, which long ago was Izumo Province, is home to many of the oldest myths of Japan, including the creation myths. Izumo Taisha, over a thousand years old and considered one of the three most important shrines in Japan, is the mythic centre of Shimane, and home to Okuninushi, the god of marriage. (According to local superstition, it is bad luck for a couple to go to Izumo Taisha together before they are married.)
Izumo Taisha Shrine - Photo credit japan-i.jp
The eight million gods of Japan, in the Shinto tradition, meet in council in this month, ‘the month of no gods’, which in Shimane prefecture is called Kamiaritsuki, or ‘the month when gods are present’. The gods convene at Izumo Taisha Shrine to discuss the fortunes of mortals in the coming year, particularly marriages, births and deaths. The priests at Izumo Taisha welcome the gods and perform rites over seven days during the council of the gods before finally seeing them off with great ceremony. During that time, Izumo Taisha is believed to have great spiritual energy.
There are, in fact, at least two gods who do not attend the council at Izumo Taisha. One of these gods is Ebisu, the mirthful god of fishermen, luck and labourers. Legends conflict as to why he does not attend the council. Some legends say he doesn’t hear or ignores the summons, choosing to attend his own festival. Others say he acts as a self-appointed guardian, protecting Japan while the other gods are absent.
The other notable god not in attendance is Namazu, the god of earthquakes. In the shape of a giant catfish, he thrashes through the earth, causing it to shake. He is unable to attend the meeting because the other gods have pinned his head in place to prevent his destructive movements.
If you are thinking of visiting a shrine soon, I’d advise you to wait until November. Unless, that is, you live in Shimane, in which case your wishes are sure to be heard!