I work as a cashier/electronics/salesfloor team member at Target. (Mostly Cashier/salesfloor when its slow and don't need too many cashiers)
First job, not too bad. I make crap pay though. Hoping for more than a 7 cent raise this year >.>
I used to work at Target for 5 years. It was an ok job but the pay was crap. I loved who I worked with though. I worked at cashier, food court, guest services, carts, sales floor, fitting room, electronics, and a stint in overnight stocking and making bikes.
Now, I teach English here in Japan. I have been doing it for the past 4 years and entering my 5th and final year next August, I teach at a total of 5 schools; two junior high schools and three elementary schools. Monday and Wednesday's are at my largest elementary school, Tuesday is a split day between junior high in the morning and elementary in the afternoon. Friday is the same except for a different set of schools. Finally, Thursday is all day at one of my junior high schools.
Usually Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are 6 classes the entire day while Tuesday is usually 3 classes and Thursday can be 1-3 classes. In elementary, I will teach grades 1 through 6 but typically I only teach 5th and 6th grade. I make the lesson plans, games, and generally run the class. The homeroom teacher typically observes just to make sure kids don't go nuts. The class consists of some grammar and vocab exercises and tons of games. For example, today I will be teaching six classes of 5th graders. I will be teaching about school subjects. The target grammar point is:
"What classes do you have on Monday?"
"First period is Math, Second period is Home Economics, Third period is Calligraphy, etc etc etc"
Then we will play a memorization game as well as a game where I give a key word. In pairs, students must grab the eraser when they hear the key word. The first kid to grab it is winner and then changes desks. Finally, they will do an interview activity where students will form there ideal school schedule (periods 1 through 6) and have to ask other students "What do you study on Thursday?" The interviewee has to answer while the interviewer writes down their schedule and they have to ask 4 other students.
At junior high, I teach grades 7 through 9 and I make the lessons as well unless the Japanese Teacher of English has something planned. We typically do grammar and vocab drills, listening tests, and projects. However, I typically am given 20-30 minutes to do an activity or a presentation. For example, I demonstrated the difference between Japanese and American comedy. I showed several clips of a Japanese comedy drama that is popular right now and then several clips of "Community" and "The Office". They laughed at moments I didn't laugh at and vice versa. I then called that to their attention and started our discussion from there.
Anyways, besides that, I eat lunch with the kids, play at recess (I do a lot of american football matches), and clean the classroom with kids. On occasion,. I have to do cooking classes (i've taught how to make pumpkin pie, goulash, chicken pot pie, how to cook a turkey, etc). I also do cultural activities such as help run a Valentines Day party, Christmas party, Halloween haunted house, and so on. I dress all in green on St. Patty's Day and wear Christmas neckties on Christmas. It's fun and the kids really enjoy it. Finally, I also act as a translator but I am not the best at translation so that is delegated to other English teachers who are more proficient than me. I also have to attend conferences, meetings, and drinking parties with the other teachers and the parties are expensive ($100 to attend) and are mandatory.
All in all, I enjoy this job and once my 5th year is over, I plan to look for other forms of employment here.
