Things to Do During Your First Month

First things first:

• Copy the emergency phone list and put it by your phone.

• Write your introductory speech.

• Send change of address cards to friends and family.

With your advisor’s help:

• set up a bank or postal account.

• get your hanko/inkan (personal stamp) made.

• get your alien registration card.

• get your insurance card.

• have meishi (business cards) made.

Teaching-related things to do:

• Ask to meet teachers.

• Find out if your schools have English language labs, English clubs, pen pal clubs, etc….

• Help students who are preparing for Fall speech contests.

• Ask for and review textbooks you’ll be using.

• Figure out what you’re going to do in your introductory classes.

Simple but beneficial

• Subscribe to Kansai Time Out. You can pay for and subscribe by taking the form to the post office.

• Read the Nara Handbook, the Team-Teaching Handbook, and books from CLAIR.

• Order catalogs, including Foreign Buyers’ Club.

• Buy bus and phone card–more convenient than coins .

• Go to the big bookstores in Kyoto, Osaka or Kobe and see what extra resources you’ll have.

• Shrink down the ALT phone list and put it in your wallet.

• Write about what your goals were in coming to Japan. It will be useful to look at during the times you feel kind of lost, bored, or when you just don’t know what to do.

• Keep a journal of your experiences here.

• Join an exercise club to maintain sanity, meet new people and blow off steam.

• Study Japanese and sign up for language classes.

• Do a cooking, tea ceremony, or other class.

• Explore the Kinki district.