Shizuoka AJET

Well this is a big week here as it's recontracting week. Hopefully the awful weather we had yesterday didn't affect any decisions. It's almost unfair that the decision has to come this week, with the mix of that weather and the already unsettling winter blues. But whatever you do, turn in your form and don't look back. Second-guessing yourself will get you nowhere. And for you first years, whether you do or don't recontract, don't let February get you down. February is a rough month, especially here, but it will end and then spring will be right around the corner.
Also, Yuki Matsuri is coming up. This Friday, many of our fellow ShizAJET members will be heading up to Sapporo for a weekend of fun in the snow. If any of you have any last minute questions about what to pack, where to go, or what to do while you're there, feel free to ask an AJET officer and we'll do our best to get you an answer.
Finally here are my suggestions for 3 things I think you should do while there:
3. Tour the Sapporo Beer Gardens. The tour itself is nothing special, but you get some cheap samples at the end who doesn't like that?
2. Check out the Odori site during the day and the Susukino site at night. The Odori site is not lit up very late and the Susukino site is more spectacular at night so that's my suggestion.
1. Ramen Alley. Do it. Butter/corn ramen. Do it. I ate 4 meals in Sapporo and 3 of them were in ramen alley. Just do it.
Have a great time!

I'm sure there were probably a lot of Christmas/holiday parties going on this weekend. I hope everyone had a great time. This is one of the best times of the year to get together with the people around you and celebrate the closing of another year and to see everyone off before their holiday travels. Up here in the Tobu region we had the Wednesday Nightclub Friday Night Christmas Party this past Friday night. A great time was had by all. It was one of the classiest Christmas parties I've been to in a while and was well organized by our good friend Joe Pournovin. On a personal note, I think Joe's done a great job organizing the Wednesday Nightclub over the past few years and it's too bad such a wonderful tradition has to come to a close. The Wednesday Nightclub always did a great job of bringing people together from all walks of life and all nationalities. It was so much more than just a random time to get together and drink. So much more. And this final Christmas party was no exception. This Christmas party was fun and classy and I and I'm sure many others are glad we were a part of it. So kudos to Joe for a job well done in planning this and every other Wednesday Nightclub over the past few years. We appreciate what you've done.
Though there are no official AJET holiday parties or plans, we hope you find a group of people getting together and can enjoy spending time with friends this month.
Check out the poll on the left side of the page. Let's see how many people are doing what for the holidays.

Calling all ALTs, JTEs and concerned citizens!

My name is Caroline, and I coordinate Project Outreach in Hokkaido.

This year Project Outreach, in association with GO M.A.D., is collecting donations for the Baan Unrak and Baan Dada children's homes in Thailand. These homes are close to the Myanmar border and serve children who have been orphaned or whose parents can't afford to raise them. Many of the children in the homes are ethnic minorities who have fled persecution in Myanmar.

What exactly are we raising money for?

The money raised by Operation Christmas will be donated to the Baan Unrak and Baan Dada. At Baan Unrak the money will go toward building a new house for the teenage boys at the children's home. At Baan Dada, they need funding for a vaccination program.

The Goal:
I'd like to raise at least 100,000 yen, with half of the money raised going to each home.

What can you do?

Simple: Give up to Give More

Now I know that raising money can be a challenge, so here's something that should make things a heck of a lot easier. It's really very simple...give something up so that you can give more money to charity.

Allow me to illustrate with my own personal example.

I drink a lot of 500mL bottles of soda (7-11 is very conveniently located on my way home from work). In one week I probably purchase 3 or 4 bottles of pop. That means I spend 500 yen a week on drinks that I don't really need!

So here's what I'm going to do. From now until our Hokkaido Mid-Year Conference (December 3rd and 4th), I'm going to give up buying drinks at the convenience store and donate that money to Operation Christmas. Over the five weeks between now and then I'll save 2500 yen that I can donate all without breaking a sweat (or the bank).

Anyone can do it, because we all spend money on things we don't need. Do you buy lunch from the convenience store every day? Give it up for a week, and donate the money you save. Have a chocolate bar habit? Quit for the month and give Operation Christmas the money instead. Smoker? Drinker? UniQlo shopper? Cut back (or give it up) for the next 5 weeks, and help Project Outreach help children in Thailand.

Need more information? Want to donate? Check out the Project Outreach website or email me!

http://www.hajet.org/project-outreach/
outreach.hajet@gmail.com
 

One download available:

• The presentation

Two downloads are available:

• The presentation
• Action Plan worksheet
• Goal-setting worksheets

Three downloads are available:

• The presentation
• The worksheet with the Bloom's Triangle and verb wheel
• The worksheet with the sample lesson plan

Two downloads are available:

• The presentation
• The worksheet

Two downloads are available:

• The presentation
• Education of the Rising Sun21 (via the Educational Resources Information Center)

For more information, email Marcus Springer: travelour [at] hotmail [dot] com

Three downloads are available:

• The presentation
• The sample grading spreadsheet
• A handout with detailed instructions on how to obtain the free software demonstrated

Mid-Year Seminar 2009 is approaching!
AJET will be providing a place to host your presentation if you wish to make it available online for attendees to view after the fact (or for those unlucky souls who didn't have the opportunity to see your fabulous presentation). This is especially useful if you have media in your presentation that might deteriorate upon reproduction, if you have too much information to include on one handout, if you have long links that might be hard for people to type into their own browsers, if you just want your attendees to think you're super professional, or if you are too lazy to make copies.
If you have a PowerPoint, we can make it available in PowerPoint format or we can export it to PDF. Please contact Ashley, Kory or Kelly with questions.
Email your presentation to shizajet [at] gmail [dot] com with subject "Put my presentation online." We will take presentations November 11-24.