Anyhoo, I spent the first few days getting my sea legs back. I felt a little unsure of what to do and how to teach coming back to the new semester. But I'm happy to say that now I'm back! Last semester I was just getting the hang of teaching, but this semester I'm gonna be a pro! Those students will know so much English, they won't know what to do with it! OK, so maybe I exaggerate a little, but that's how I feel today. That's what 2 good days in a row can do for you. Make that 2.5, actually. Scratch that - it's been a good week! Here's a look at this week and why it makes me happy.
Wednesday, January 12. Not much teaching happened, though I did have some fun with the 8th graders during recess. Nozomi is an 8th grade girl who is very shy, but she's been brave enough to come to my Thursday evening conversation classes. Another teacher told me that she's felt unhappy lately, like she doesn't fit in or she's not good at anything (remember back to when you were 14 years old?). But she's been enjoying English class more recently, and during recess, she was a happy participant in the English conversation I struck up with some of the girls. The teacher commented that it was good to see her smiling and enjoying herself, and that comment really brightened my day. OH - one more thing!! I wore the full set of kendo gear at practice today for the first time! One step closer to being a kendo warrior!
Thursday, January 13. First day back at Yamanishi Elementary School. I was a little nervous, and felt a little underprepared, but the lessons worked fairly well. I taught "What do you want?" "I want ~" to the 5th graders and "Where are you from?" "I'm from ~" "Where is ~ from?" and "~ is from ~" to the 6th graders. The 6th graders also learned the names of countries, all of which have fantastically awesome gestures accompanying them. JaPAN! (punch the air) Ko-re-a (rub your cheeks) GERRRmany! (growl and flex your muscles). Then came my evening conversation class, or Eikaiwa Class. This is my Achilles' Heel of teaching. Controlling the kids for the first hour then raising the energy for the adults in the 2nd hour, both in such small informal groups, is very difficult for me. But today was a success! With the kids, we played a flashcard running game and memory. With the adults I played King's Cup, English Conversation Version, and that was also a great success. And time flew, and I was happy. Yay!
I also bought new curtains. But they turned out to be too short (and they were the longest ones available in a pattern I liked). Damn. But, I took out the hem, and played with the hooks, so now they look fine. Yay!
I also bought new curtains. But they turned out to be too short (and they were the longest ones available in a pattern I liked). Damn. But, I took out the hem, and played with the hooks, so now they look fine. Yay!
Friday, January 14. A fairly normal day at school. In the evening, I spent the entire kendo practice in full gear! Practice was challenging, but I got a lot of compliments from the teachers afterward. There are almost more teachers than students in kendo, but there are usually no more than 3 or 4 teachers present at a time. Today there were 6 or 7, which is unusual, and one of them is actually a teacher at the middle school and that was the first time he saw me do kendo. Now we're officially double colleagues!
Saturday January 15th. A minor down point: I was supposed to go to the students' kendo tournament this morning, but everyone left at 7:55, rather than at 8:00 like I was told, so when I went outside at 8:00 exactly, everyone had left and forgotten me. Usually I ride with Masami chan, but she has been sick with the flu, so I guess everyone else just forgot. So I went back to sleep til 10, did some things around the house, then got ready for the Kendo New Year's party in the evening. The party was a ton of fun! Usually it's only adults at these dinner drinking parties, but this time all the kids were there, too, at their own table with slightly better-tasting food and drinks. I got to talk lots with the teachers I rarely spoke to, with the kids, with the moms. The adults were totally immature, while the kids played quietly on their Nintendo DSs. It was great! The kendo people are like my family. Conversations included, among other things: kids grabbing onto my legs, parents commenting on my different body type, japanese vs american culture, teenagers pretending to be too cool to talk to me, my new year's resolutions, my potential boyfriends (their suggestions, not mine), and discussions of general kendo techniques (several drinks in, one of the teachers did some hilarious impressions of the students' kendo quirks, to the vast amusement of everyone present). Definitely the best drinking party I've been to in Japan.
Sunday, January 16th. I did nothing. It was great.
Monday, January 17th. Middle school in the morning, but the students had tests, so I studied Japanese. Elementary school in the afternoon. Simon Says and "Head and Shoulders" with the 4th graders. Fairly normal day.
Tuesday, January 18th. TEACHING BREAKTHROUGH! At Kawahara Elementary School, I have a class of eleven 5th graders that are a really tough crowd. It's hard to get them really engaged. But today I did! They're a bit behind on their numbers, so I tried getting them to work on some math problems to warm up. They were intrigued, and started thinking really hard about their numbers, and after that I did a silly skit with the homeroom teacher, and they were much more energetic than they usually are, and really seemed to enjoy the class. A much better result than their usual State of Mild Confusion. The 6th graders were fun as usual, though a little unruly.
Wednesday, January 19th. I introduced the 8th graders (middle school 2nd graders) to N'Sync's "Bye Bye Bye", which they really like. You can tell it's a hit when they're still trying to read and understand the lyrics on the second go around. There are a few boys I may even be able to convince to dance to it at the next school festival. Lunch time was great fun. The students I sat with asked me if I had a boyfriend. My response: "No. I have 10 boyfriends." This simultaneously conveys 1) it's not really your business and 2) let's turn this into something fun to talk about. I spoke so much English with these boys. I even had a Fake Boy/Girlfriend-Off with one of them. In English, he told me of his 3 significant others: his [male] friend sitting next to him (they do everything together, bowling, karaoke, soccer), 14-yr-old Stephanie from Nebraska, and 25-yr-old Jesse. Jesse has a young face, though. I should mention that this boy is very good at English, but usually acts like he's too cool for me. But today he stooped to my level. I laughed so much, it took me well into recess to finish my lunch.
Thursday, January 20th. Minimal effort, maximum results. That best describes today's teaching efforts. I brought some play money for the 5th graders, had them cut out the set of fruit cards from their notebooks, put prices and practice shopping conversation, and then start buying things. I was amazed at how much English and how confidently they were speaking today. I taught them "Welcome!" and "Come in!" which they shouted freely. I taught them "It's on sale!" and "Do you have any change?" They'll probably forget it all by next week, but they were so good today! I told them as much, too. If nothing else, it's a great confidence boost for their ongoing English studies.
And my 6th graders were awesome as well. I have two classes of them at Yamanishi ES, and they have very different atmospheres, but both went pretty well. The first class is silly, thanks to the silly antics of a few hyper boys in the class. So we spent much of the class making faces at each other and doing silly voices. The other class is so well-behaved, they're almost boring. But both classes thoroughly enjoyed the writing game I played with them today. After practicing the new sentences ("Where do you live?" and "Where does ~ live?"), I had them practice their writing by spelling some country names. Then they raced. The row of students to finish writing down a country the fastest earned points based on how many students wrote it correctly. They ate it up! They wanted to play more, and by the time we finished, even the slow writers were finishing quickly and correctly. It was great! This really boosts my confidence in being able to make them strong writers in middle school. Then I ate lunch and jumped rope at recess with the silly 6th grade class. Then I found out that one of my best friends got into med school! Yay! And now I'm sitting here writing this blog instead of planning for my Eikaiwa (conversation) class, which starts in an hour. So I guess I should get going.
Until next time!
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