I'm a part-part-part timer

Hi again. In the last few days I've picked up a third part-time job. (Gee, I wish this qualified me for health care!) I will be teaching a 3hr/week beginning Japanese class at the International Institute of Metropolitan Detroit on Thursday nights. I think anyone who is interested can register, so I'm not sure who my students will be--or how many I will have. But the woman I spoke with there said I pretty much have full reign over the class material and all that. I can pick the textbook, if I want to use one, and all that. I'm looking forward to our first class mid-September!

Last week I went to an orientation for DCDS and was able to meet two other new teachers for the 2008-09 school year, and I finally met the school's principal. (He was on vacation during my interview process.) Then I spent the afternoon in training sessions for new software the teachers are required to start using. It will help create what DCDS calls "assignment sheets" (which is like a calendar of the activities in the classroom) for our web pages--we also need to add files like our classroom policy and resources for the students. It seems really complicated... but it's supposed to help parents and students be more aware of what we are doing in the classroom. I hope it ends up being worth all the time we're going to have to put in for it!

Yesterday Becca and I took Malene and Jesper to the airport so they could go home to Denmark... It is kind of weird to think of them being gone--they were here for so long! We had a lot of fun and did a lot of catching up--and it was great to meet Jesper before the big day next summer! I really hope all the plans work out and we can all go to Copenhagen for the wedding. <3 It would be such a blast!

Well, I have a JCMU reunion party to get ready for! Bye!

This must have been how Pinocchio felt...

So, it's official: I'm a teacher! A contracted, full-fledged (yet part-time) teacher!

I'll be teaching the third and fourth year Japanese classes at Detroit Country Day School in Beverly Hills, Michigan. (Did you even know there was such a town?) I'll have three classes (two third-year levels and one fourth) and it should be a blast! I've become good friends with the woman teaching the beginner levels and I think we'll have fun working together. ^_^ She's a great lady and I'm really looking forward to learning from her and collaborating with her~ woooooot!

Funny, though... how I still feel nervous and am thinking, "Can I really do this?" Sometimes I can't believe myself! I really should listen to the people around me more. :P heh... I'm just going to (kinda) be on my own for the first time... but, if the last few days have been any indication, I know I am going to be working with awesome, supportive people. I think the school really has an attitude of "we're here for the students" and if I need any support in my job, I don't think I'll have trouble getting it.

So, school starts in about a month and I have a lot of work to do! The previous teacher, who is just working with the first and second years now, was the only Japanese teacher the school had (ever, as far as I know!) so she didn't write a lot of things down, curriculum-wise. But, we're working with a great textbook (Adventures in Japanese) so I don't think planning will be all THAT bad. (And, as a first-year teacher... nothing is going to go as planned anyway... so it's all good. heh)

Wish me luck!