Preparing your self introduction - JET programme

So before you even leave Japan you will surely be told that you have to do a self introduction to each of your classes. Hearing this I was pretty nervous... how do you do an introduction for 50minutes to High school students! Ahhh.

But, honestly, this will be even easier than your actual classes you face later on (not that they are hard either). It really is up to you.

So, I did all my introductions with Powerpoint (check with your supervisor if this is available to you) in a Audio/Visual classroom. You'll have a long time to prepare because of the Summer break, so here are a few pointers I thought the students found interesting (beer in mind....hahaha... that I was presenting this to high schoolers).

• The students love looking at picture of your countries strange food. I come from NZ so it is nothing extraordinary, but they loved it. I made a slide full of interesting foods. Ice cream flavors not available here, pies, etc etc.
• A slide of all the things my country is famous for (I made them guess for points). Gives a good overview of the country.
• I used my countries tourism video. It was about 5 minutes with a great overview of culture and scenery. 
• Pop-culture from my country. Comedians, movies, songs, etc. I included a video from Flight of the Conchords (very funny), a tralier from Lord of the Rings (while pointing out that it was all in NZ).
• Things in your country that are slightly different from Japanese things. Saying there was Onsen in NZ, wow! Hotpools, boiling mud, etc, was very interesting to them. Point out some similar things between Japan and your country then destroy that similarity by telling all the differences. Yes, we wear swimsuits in our Hotpools!
• Things which are so different in your country that they're alien. 
• Brief history of something interesting in your country. I did some extinct birds. The Moa. I compared the size of a human to a drum stick (englarged KFC) to a human. Wow, it is the same size as a fully grown man! Then, tell them that some giant eagles (Haasts Eagle) used to eat these other birds. What! The other bird was already soooo big!
• Cultural dances, songs, sports. I included a video of the All Blacks (NZ rugby team) performing the Haka (cultural dance... I guess). They loved it, and knew about it. Amazingly some girls really got into it and asked for it to be played a second time. They loved the big Adidas logo at the end.
• I built a few quiz into my powerpoint to make sure they were listening.

Of course, after all of this, you still have to introduce yourself. Make sure they know a little about you, who you are. The above are just a few examples of what I did, but you know, craft something for your students interests. Think of the 50minutes as 10 5minute slots (although you may use 5 minutes due to greetings and other unknowns, and another 5 for questions already). What 10 categories (or just interesting things) can you share about your country, yourself? 

Ok, last thing. Also, for your first time, prepare something in case you have extra time: a 5 min video, small game, country quiz, speech, whatever.

Let me know if you have any questions about your intros.