Today’s two gigs were in two different cities in Fukuoka prefecture, and for both of them it was my first time in the city. So of course for this morning’s school they had no idea what I supposed to be doing, even though reps had been sent out to them and they had agreed to the terms of the visit! Apparently they were under the impression it was an English lesson, and hence half the staff had taken a holiday ( the average Japanese teacher’s reaction to English or International Understanding Education) . Man, what do you have to do to make schools realise what my job is?!! But the teachers were really good and although they do no English at all ( except for one project in 4th grade) they were keen. It is a long time since I’ve seen a school that does nothing! But the teachers asked good questions, they didn’t have the air of desperation ( and hence relief when I show the materials) that I find in Fukuoka, but were still quite cool.

Then this afternoon’s school was completely different!! They are really into things and hence know all about Genki English! In fact the Head teacher seemed to know more about me that I do myself!!! They made a ton of requests for stuff to present which is great! There were 4 or 5 really keen teachers and really I could have done a really high level workshop, but there were also some not quite so confident teachers so I did the basic “from the beginning” gig and they lapped it up. Then afterwards I had a meeting with the teachers and went through a lot of suggestions for refining the good work they’re already doing. Excellent. Certainly a school to watch.

Then back home for a shower, a bit of a rest ( watching Richard & Judy with Eddie Izzard as a guest) and then spent the evening playing around on some of the really fantastic soft synths that you can download legally from the net for free. Wow, these are cool, tons of classic sounds and all from my laptop. Excellent, now if only my fingers would stop playing techno music I could get some great work done!