greetings from Hokkaido

I hope this message finds you well as you do your best to keep cool in your part of the world (if applicable )

I would have posted my intro before my first thread, had I realized it was here. I was so focused on where to ask questions, I thought there was no place for introductions, silly me. :sorry:

Anyway, I'm a female ALT living in Hokkaido. I just completed my first year. My motivation to study Japanese comes in waves and I'm riding a wave now. All my friends speak better English than my Japanese, so it is awkward to try to practice Japanese with them.

Is there anything else you want to know?

Hi Marmoset,

Welcome to the forum! How do like your life as an ALT? I used to be an ALT myself and enjoyed it a lot especially in the beginning of my second year when I already knew the routines etc. The third year wasn't that fun anymore because I just got annoyed by getting used to a new school and the school to me, being used to it I already had to finish it and had to go to another school to do the whole process over and over again (I think I have been to over 30 schools here in Kobe within 3 years. )

Maybe time to find some other friends whom you can speak Japanese with?

My life as an ALT has been awesome. Sometimes I'm a little upset with myself for not doing more (like getting more involved in the students' lives, making more opportunities to talk to them, taking opportunities to say more than "good morning, how are you".)

But, usually I am happy with everything. Little by little I have developed more and more relationships with the students. I have created opportunities, such as cooking together, eikawa time, etc. and the other day I participated in volleyball practice (it rocked).

And I get the perfect balance of working and down time and off time, I'm sure I will miss that so much when I leave.

As far as friends, I could also make more effort to just speak Japanese when I'm with them.