My colleague KM

JET/ALT Preliminary Selection Results

Dear Mr ,

I am pleased to inform you that you have passed the preliminary selection process for the 2008 JET Programme/ALT conducted by this embassy. You are now on the shortlist for the final selection process to be conducted by the JET authority in Tokyo. Please note that not every applicant who has passed the preliminary selection process will be offered the post. You will be informed of the final results in the beginning of April.

Regards,
N K
Second Secretary
Embassy of Japan

JLPT 2 Results!

Random writing

I haven't written something for quite a while so I thought why not!

It's been a week since the JET interview and I have been stubbornly following web sites and such to read up on the programme and how other participants/interviewees all over the world are doing on their fronts. I realise how much I really do want to go, a worthwhile endeavour to put the remaining strands of youthful energy into some constructive use.

I opened Google Spreadsheets to write a preliminary shopping list if I were going on JET and here are the items so far:

Glasses 250
Jacket 250
MacBook 13", 2.2Ghz, 2Gb Ram, Applecare, Office 2900
Electronic Dictionary 500
== S$3900 ==

Gosh.

I wiped out my work mailbox right on Friday and I cannot seem to get it back. Oh well I guess I should learn how to let go of things. I doubt there is important stuff in the mailbox except for some contacts which I can gather from other colleagues so I guess that is alright. IT!!! Grr!!!

Random photographs

Snip Avenue

High - Lighthouse Family

When you're close to tears remember
Someday it'll all be over
One day we're gonna get so high
Though it's darker than december
What's ahead is a different colour
One day we're gonna get so high

And at the end of the day remember the days
When we were close to the end
And wonder how we made it through the night
At the end of the day
Remember the way
We stayed so close to the end
We'll remember it was me and you

Cause we are gonna be
Forever, you and me
You will
Always keep it flying high in the sky
Of love

Don't you think it's time you started
Doing what we always wanted
One day we're gonna get so high
Cause even the impossible
Is easy when we got each other
One day we're gonna get so high

And at the end of the day remember the days
When we were close to the end
And wonder how we made it through the night
At the end of the day
Remember the way
We stayed so close to the end
We'll remember it was me and you

Cause we are gonna be
Forever, you and me
You will
Always keep it flying high in the sky
Of love

Cause we are gonna be
Forever, you and me
You will
Always keep it flying high in the sky
Of love

And at the end of the day remember the days
When we were close to the end
And wonder how we made it through the night
At the end of the day
Remember the way
We stayed so close to the end
We'll remember it was me and you

Cause we are gonna be
Forever, you and me
You will
Always keep it flying high in the sky
Of love

Cause we are gonna be
Forever, you and me
You will
Always keep it flying high in the sky
Of love

Cause we are gonna be
Forever, you and me
You will
Always keep it flying high in the sky
Of love

Cause we are gonna be
Forever, you and me
You will
Always keep it flying high in the sky
Of love...

Assignment: What went well

AD prompted me to write a positive review of what went well in my interview and frankly while I can think of many selling points, I am unsure if I managed to pull them off by showing them clearly during the interview. Nonetheless, here it goes!

I felt I did well when I talked about PBL and gave a reasonable explanation of the differences between that and the traditional classroom. I understand that the pedagogies have their own sets of benefits and issues. As such, I do not see PBL as the solution to all problems we have in learning but as possible alternatives which we can try if we would like to bring out particular aspects of students.

I felt I did well when I talked about the efforts I am contributing to bridge communications between Singapore and Japan by talking about the IG and how we have hosted students. I thought it was fantastic I told them I would use this opportunity to act as liason with the IG back in RP in the future and to offer important information to write a compelling proposal to send our students over to Japan for a study trip.

I felt I did well when I jumped into picking up the challenge of expressing my future plans in Japanese when asked to as it showed how interested I am in the language and my desire to master the language through continuing studies. I am also not ashamed to make mistakes, and to be willing to accept criticism when warranted.

I felt I did well in showing myself as a resource person where I am in a good position to foster ties between Singapore and Japan through the contacts I have through my academic and professional career. I do not see myself to be in Japan to impose particular ideas but rather to offer these resources and allow my Japanese colleagues to decide what they think will be worthwhile pursuits that I can contribute to.

I felt I did well by chatting with the security guard and TN as well, showing deference and hesitation to them at times as I am not a person who is full of himself and appreciate humbleness as a virtue. However I am also willing to share my thoughts and ideas when asked for them.

*PS: I feel so embarrassed writing this as deep inside me I think I did not express these ideas very clearly but they took the form of separate remarks made in specific contexts. What I mean is a lot of the values I have written above were conclusions I have drawn upon reflection which were not really clear ideas I had sold myself on during the interview. The interview really went by in a blur and I do not feel I have concretely sold myself on those points above.

The 2008 JET Interview

I reached Takashimaya at 10am and spent 30 minutes fawning over my looks. I then caught a cab to prevent myself from stinking badly due to sweat from walking, and reached there way early. The interview's at 1110am, I was supposed to arrive 10 minutes beforehand and I reached at 1040pm. Gosh, I ended up sitting like a statue at the lobby for 40 minutes!

At the lobby with me was another lady (seems Japanese or Korean!) and the security guard. I did not do much then except act like a statue and stare at the plants outside the Embassy until the lady was ushered through the door for her turn at the interview. The security guard and I started to chat, and I decided to 'risk it' by striking up a conversation on what he was reading in the newspaper - he was reading an article on the prices of the F1 formula night racing tickets here in Singapore! It was rather fun I guess and I learnt a couple of interesting things, such as Singapore actually having a legal race track at the Thomson area in the 70s. There was an interesting fun observation he shared with me about the interviews though, that roughly 80% of those who report for the interview are female and the rest male. Does that increase my chance or what?

It was soon my turn, and I was ushered in by this lady who is very vaguely familiar - it is none other than Ms TN, the lady who deals with the contacting and such for JET! She actually remembered me, perhaps due to the alarm I raised a few months back when I was concerned about my chances of success having rejected once. I should not have raised the alarm I think, but oh well better to be prepared! My concern was that there seem to be different connotations as to which part of the process you tendered your rejection... anyway while I was playing deference and waiting for her after I pass each doorway, she followed up with "You know what to do!" which made me laugh at myself. I tried to make some conversation by asking her about how her CNY has been, and I was once again ushered into the waiting area while the interviewers get ready.

There were three interviewers on my panel, all of whom I have met in my previous interview 2 years back. So uncanny! For the record, there were 5 interviewers last time of which I know privately one of them who had since left the panel. Who remained then? On my left is a/the caucasian, the middle a man of age (Chinese/Japanese) and on the right a Japanese man. The interview started when the Chinese guy told me to start by introducing myself. I should have asked them to clarify if I am introducing myself to 9-year olds, but I didn't and just continued with whatever that came to my mind which I meandered by talking about CNY and how I am a year older when I reached the part on introducing my age. Subsequently we talked about my my professional life in RP, and the Chinese guy was rather interested in hearing the differences between the traditional vs PBL learning environment. That I obliged, though it seemed he either misheard me, I came across too forcefully or he was just throwing a red herring when he asked me about how do I expect to inject PBL into language and to the schools I would be with in Japan. Such horror! I said I would tap on what students already know such as how they would react in their culture and everyday life and use it as a form of contrast with the particular language (in this case English) and explain what are possible hidden assumptions when interacting in such a particular manner in both cultures. That was quite smoking! Of course I will not do that but offer them as skillsets which my Japanese colleagues can call upon if they would like to, rather than me blundering in without much understanding of the local culture! I went on emphasising that I do not think PBL is the best solution and different pedagogies have their issues. I really hope that was just a red herring!

Subsequently apparently one of them flipped through my documents and realised I was a repeat, so the questions became rather easy (in my opinion). I just mentioned about my tight family situation then and how I am now very ready for JET. The Japanese guy asked the usual questions (those that I had in the last interview), such as how would I do if I were placed in a rural area (I told him I'm fine and I can learn much things from an inaka lifestyle). Oh, the caucasian guy also asked me about my placement choices, which was the wonderful time to bring in Hirakata and how I can help in making arrangements for RP students to visit them by being more detailed about what information RP needs before we can get approval. I hope they bought into that, though I did emphasise once again the location does not matter, I chose it because it seemed useful to help RP sort it out. I hope I did not give them the impression that I would neglect my job over there to plan trips for RP! They seemed accepting though...

As usual, Dr. SR's letter of recommendation earned me a question from the caucasian interviewer. According to her recommendation, she wrote she was impressed by the interesting and creative topics that I wrote about in my essays (in her Africa class) so he tried to twist it around by asking me what creative ideas I have to bring the English language closer to the hearts of Japanese students. Those are two totally irrelevant questions! Argh! I ended up saying that I might try food fairs especially in the Singapore context since we are rather obsessed with food. That one did not come through clearly.

Now to think of it, there were a lot of times when I felt I did injustice to the questions raised and the panel was just nodding their head and I did not really get a clear idea of whether they get what I mean, or are they just passing time because they have given up hope. That feeling was particularly strong from the middle of the interview, when they realise I have rejected the programme once. When the realisation-cum-question that I have rejected it once came from them, they became quite "switched off" and started nodding their heads when I thought they would at least be keen in hearing my explanations. SIGH!

Towards the end of the interview, the Japanese guy finally spoke and pointed out I have circled "Intermediate" in the section on Japanese language ability. He threw one bomb on the spot by asking me to share in Japanese what I would like to do in the future after JET. I tried coming up with something about working in international communications between different cultures be it back in Singapore and America, from primary schools to secondary schools, and there he was smirking away. He was nice to correct me on a word though. Damage done. I seriously did not know was it because he thought I was hopeless and he's just toying with me, or that since I'm a repeat then I get the ticket so he's just having a bit of fun. He ended that question with "So you will continue to brush up your Japanese?" and I had to of course say yes.

That was the end of the interview and they did not ask me if I had further questions or whatsoever but wait outside the room for TN to pick me up. She did after a short while, asking me how the interview went (which I truthfully told her they focused more on my RP experience other than my exchange experience) to which she raised an eyebrow and said "RP...". I think she knows my source haha! Alamak! I was rather casual from then which I hope would not come back to bite me as I blabbered a bit of Singlish as I bumped into XY, a secondary classmate of mine who was incidentally the interviewee after me. So scary! Please do not penalise me!

LET ME GO TO JAPAN!!!

* follow up: these recollections came to my mind

The caucasian guy also asked me what are some possibly sensitive topics that I think I would be asked and how I would approach. I only thought of possibly the diversity in the population itself and how different groups have clashing agendas which might be taboo. He prompted WWII (which I guess should be the correct answer) and asked what about it. I said I would not really touch on those topics unless asked, and I will only touch on the more difficult issues outside of the classroom when the Japanese I speak to are more receptive to discussing such as gulp in bars after work.

The Jet Interview - being myself

Here I am, in the evening (or night) right before the JET interview and I am totally nervous!

Today was rather cool where I met a couple of colleagues to play badminton over lunch. After work, I went to Snip Avenue, the very affordable hair salon to cut my hair in preparation for a passport-photograph taking but I waited a whopping 2 hours! Now I must remember to book it like weeks in advance! I had wanted to give up waiting and visit Storm instead but they were not open, oh no!

I had to rush for a Toastmasters executive committee meeting after that, and then rush home for lo hei. Lo hei is rather Singaporean, and hey I can talk about it in the interview tomorrow if it rises! There are different kinds of vegetables such as radish and carrot. These vegetables are chopped into fine pieces and after laying them out nicely on the plate, we proceed to pour sweet sauce over the vegetables. Here is where the fun starts! All of us gather around the table and use our chopsticks to toss the vegetables, saying auspicious words like 'fa da cai!'. We also try to lift our chopsticks as high as we can.

I hope that is a simplistic explanation enough, gosh!

I realise after talking to AD today about tomorrow's interview that I have seem to misplace the exuberance and motivation of what it means to be an educator.

It is so nice to see my old pictures of my trip to Australia, especially remembering very cultural elements such as
- Ipswich Day;pigs race;farm produce;
- Roma Street Rally
- Beach volleyball, gold coast

I think I am one step closer to being ready.

Kitto umakuyatte ikeru.

Randy Pausch - The Last Lecture

Very inspiring:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5700431505846055184

What a crap book - The World is Flat!

Because I spent a whopping $20 on the book which seems to have caught everyone in a feverish chase I thought I would do the same as well, only to find that not only were the points blatantly obvious and a repetition of what I have picked up from university classes, the slipshod way he draws sweeping conclusions from biased sources without providing a legitimate counter to what his detractors might say (and I think he should, as an esteemed journalist, be aware of such simple academic writing rigours) really made me fell like I have thrown my good money and time away. I regret spending time dragging my feet through the book, when I could have better spent it on a walk outside sunny Singapore! Grr!

Read me wrong - I do agree with some of the premises he suggests in the book, though the way he writes is while entertaining, highly suspicious of his biased intent.

More random songs

Closer to Free - Bodeans
Sorry - Buckcherry
Torn - Natalie Imbruglia

$90 on 6 books!

Argh, I just spent $90 bucks buying 6 books from Borders, thanks to the 40%+10% promotion! They are:

Blink - Malcolm Gladwell
The World is Flat - Thomas L. Friedman
The Tipping Point - Malcolm Gladwell
Lonely Planet Japan
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
The Rules of the Game - Neil Strauss

I haven't felt so much fun from reading so intensively!

More research on social networking sites/education

http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7025.pdf
a quick summary of what Facebook is and possible implications to learning (view relationships in the broader context of learning)
http://chimprawk.blogspot.com/2006/01/how-university-administrators-should.html
10 rules on approaching facebook – some good suggestions on how facilitators can approach students who use facebook
http://www.economist.com/debate/index.cfm?action=archive
http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2008/01/15/the_economist_d.html
Deserves a look – one argument that learning can be hidden under the excitement of technologies and learning; it takes imaginative educators to show them how they can go beyond using the tools for fun and communication with their friends and sharing music to real power of the technologies to do more; read and write in a meaningful way;
http://ibiblio.org/fred/academic.html
Fred (Bibliography)
my question is that all these while technology trends with regards to learning have been created by educators and then introduced to students

however that suffers rather often on take up rate because it becomes too fixated on the educator's agenda

so i was wondering if we can look at popularised technology such as facebook and howw e can snuck learning in
http://speedchange.blogspot.com/2008/01/social-networking-and-education-as-we.html
A review of current threads of thought in social networking

My messy desk

Random songs

Norman Brown - Out'a Nowhere
Simply Red - So Not Over YouSteve Oliver - Positive + EnergyGreg Adams - Cool to the Touch
Mindi Abair - Bloom
Augustana - Boston
Dah Dah Dah - Trio
Bryan Adams Summer Of 69 live
ハナレグミ - 音タイムHigh and Dry - Jamie Cullum
91.3FM 1. (2) When You Look Me In The Eyes - Jonas Brothers
2. (1) When I'm Gone - Simple Plan
3. (4) Don't Stop The Music - Rihanna
4. (6) Bleeding Love - Leona Lewis
5. (3) Apologize - Timbaland featuring OneRepublic
6. (9) Breathless - Shayne Ward
7. (7) Helpless When She Smiles - The Backstreet Boys
8. (10) Teardrops On My Guitar - Taylor Swift
9. (5) Tattoo - Jordin Sparks
10. (8) Piece Of Me - Britney Spears

SL, FDR, possible interview clothes

Photos

My dream Japanese electronic dictionary, TheJapanShop videos

Casio Ex-word XD-GW9600 electronic dictionary (newest is 9700),

TheJapanShop Japanese videos

A DS lite dictionary! I guess if I'm heading for Japan I'll bring my DS Lite along!

;)

The problematic "Forward"

I wrote this in response to HM's blog entry on "The way forward" which has become really a rather irritating buzzword these days and it frankly does not mean much. This is a thought-provoking topic to me, because I hear it so often in my workplace. I admit I use it rather often, and frankly it is said for trying to explain situations away or to save face. Neither do I have any confidence in the people who use it without providing feasible and meaningful suggestions and follow-up action, and actually get down to implementing them.

To me, when people say they "look forward", it used to be a nice phrase to say they move on with life, to be willing to let go of what has happened. However, many a times people use that phrase when something bad has happened, and while there may be valuable lessons learnt, they just take it as a convenient and quick way to brush the incident aside and move on to continue with the way things are done. As such, they continue with their existing ways which are already problematic and refuse to change or rather avoid change altogether, hence setting themselves up for yet another disappointment when the same problem surfaces again.

Maybe it's the skeptic or cynic in me, but that seems to be overused and exploited. Grr!

Malcolm Gladwell's blink, Alison Wolf's Does Education Matter

It's becoming a rather rainy weekend, with the sun and the rain co-existing at the same time. I haven't really done much this weekend other than catching up on which PML has graciously lent me. It's really quite a rivetting and intriuging read, and it has got me motivated to get the book for the rich examples in there. Maybe I'll spring it tomorrow when I cash in on Border's 50%! Then I just finished Alison Wolf's Does Education Matter, which is an economics book that looks critically at whether governments are wrong when they talk about boosting education and increasing university places as possible solutions to boost economies. Are we spending too much resources when they can be better-spent elsewhere? Is it really true that by having more degree-tottling workers, the economy improves on the whole. While it may work on an individual level, it has come up with for example artificial distinctions such as which universities should we go to and so on. Quite nice, but bad readers like me just want to get into the action and as such I did not really get a good idea of the arguments. Maybe I'll read it again when I have the time though it's a library book!

As usual I'm reading too fast and too surface, hence ending up with splitting headaches and I had to lie down and rest. Argh!

Looking forward to guitar class later, and I better think about what I can do next week when both my Japanese and guitar classes call it a break!

Here it comes!

Dear Mr ~,

Thank you for your interest in the ~/~ Programme.

I am pleased to inform you that you have been shortlisted for an interview scheduled for ~ at ~ at the Embassy of Japan, ~.

You are requested to bring along the attached Interview Voucher duly completed and your Identity Card. You will not be interviewed if you do not have them with you.

Please report to the embassy 10 MINUTES BEFORE your scheduled time of interview.

I would appreciate it if you could confirm your attendance by sending an email to ~ at.

THAT'S IT!