My hectic summer plans

Niigata prefecture has decided to milk me for all I'm worth.

For the first 2 weeks of Aug, I have to conduct refresher workshops for Japanese teachers of English (JTE). The 4-day long seminar is elegantly named "English brush-up seminar for JTEs".

Then I go back to Singapore for 2 weeks.

And when I return to Japan, it's an overnight train journey to a 2-day students' English camp at some really ulu part of Niigata straight from Narita airport.

In case you're wondering, no, I did not sign up to do them...I'm not that on the ball. It is compulsory for JTEs to attend the "brush-up" seminar every 3 years. Many of them come to the seminar in trepidation and start their self-introduction with "I'm feeling very nervous because I cannot speak English well". By the time I hear the 50th teacher say this, it's really hard for me to suppress the urge to scream "then quit your job already!", but I have to smile encouragingly and say "you're doing really well, everything will be fine, just relax and have fun". I know, I'm quite impressed myself!

There is a distinct generational difference. The younger teachers speak awesome English and come with an attitude to have fun. The old fuddy-duddies are obviously uncomfortable and speak in a painfully slow pace punctuated with lots of head-tilting and "SSSSSs". Grrr!

Looking forward to the local food back home! ;P