Hello everyone! I can’t apologise enough for the huge gap that stands between my last post and this one. I guess it goes without saying that I’ve been really busy since I started teaching, but I’ve also found myself staring at the computer screen on numerous occasions just not knowing where to start! I imagined I would right a ‘first lesson’ post, followed by a ‘summary of the first week’ post.. But I have yet to write a single post about my teaching experience at all.
So.. I’m going to start from the middle. I’m in a completely different time zone from the rest of you and I often feel like I’ve slipped into a different dimension thanks to the complete change in scenery and language and everything, so it makes perfect sense to start in the middle and swing backwards from time to time. That is whilst all the while looking forward, keeping the past in mind and living in the present. But I digress…
I’m not drunk by the way, just exceptionally tired, in the way that only adolescents can make you feel tired.
This week has been a bit of a strange one as the students are now about to take their mid-term exams. I work in two schools, my base school (not far from my one-roomed mansion) and my visit school (an hour long commute.) The basic set-up is that I work at my base school on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, and I work at my visit school on Tuesday and Friday. It’s a good set-up actually, I adore my visit school but the journey is a bit of a pain (two buses, two trains and a ten minute walk) so the balance is just right I feel. Anyway, since exams are starting a few days earlier in my visit school, I have been told to stay at my base school for a couple of weeks. A good excuse to spend time planning ahead for lessons and studying for the Japanese exam I am taking in December!
The kids are a fairly mixed bunch. I have a handful of amazing students, a bunch of good students, and a hell of a lot of unmotivated and painfully shy students. Some of them try and get away with murder in my classes; they act up, talk over me to their friends, do their homework instead of the worksheets I assign to them.. and then there are others who can’t wait for me to walk into their class and break up the week for them. Now, I know you’re not supposed to have favourites, but I can’t help preferring some students over others. Surprisingly, it’s nothing to do with their ability! Since I started teaching I have realised it isn’t about which ones shine more than others, it’s a question of who takes part. More and more I find myself looking forward to certain classes because I know that there are a few students in them who will joke along with me, eagerly put their hand up to answer a question just so I will give them a stamp, and motivate their friends to compete with them to win a game or finish a worksheet first. They move the lesson along, which is more than I can say for some classes. One class in particular drives me to distraction. I have affectionately renamed them the ‘blinking fish’ class. Blinking is a vital skill on their part - it lets me know they haven’t stopped breathing. It is the only way I know they haven’t stopped breathing.
In a few of my very first lessons, a few boys thought it would be hilarious to practice their English with me through what appeared to be a succession of dares. Open-armed declarations of ‘I love you’ persisted throughout the lesson. Only one student so far has used the F-word. He went down on my black-list for a couple of weeks but managed to redeem himself eventually; at the end of the day, there aren’t really any swear words in the Japanese language so he probably didn’t even realised quite how offensive he was being. But boys will be boys I guess.
Girls, inevitably, will also be girls. The female reaction to my presence has been as varied as the academic level at my schools. Some girls were really excited to meet me, their cried of ‘kawaii!!’ and ‘small face!’ echoing down the corridor. Others have been less than kind, laughing openly at me in class as they point at me and talk about me in Japanese to their friends. It doesn’t bother me so much - I would rather be where I am now than back in year 11 where they are with braces, spots, boy troubles, and general adolescent woes!
Small face is a compliment, by the way. Just thought I’d throw that out there!
Lunch is normally spent in the teachers’ room. I have become food -lazy recently, due in part to the lack of proper sandwich bread (the toastie bread is amazing but not so practical) and the abundance of instant noodles.
Never again will I eat pot noodles from the UK! Here, I normally eat vegetable noodle pots or deep fried tofu noodle pots. Not so healthy of course, but I am only here for a year after all!
For those of you that are interested, breakfast is different all the time. Sometimes I buy the impossibly creamy full fat milk from the convenience store (conbini) and have cereal à la anglaise, other times I grab a quick pastry containing chocolate (if I don’t grab a sweet bean bread by mistake) or apples.
“This forest seems to be very delicious.”
This pastry has apples in it and the character on the packet is called Rilakkuma (relax bear). I took this picture with a certain person in mind.
So, to keep these posts at a reasonable size I shall finish here for now. I will endeavour to continue posting as often as possible despite the exhaustion to keep you all updated. I’m missing you all immensely!
So.. I’m going to start from the middle. I’m in a completely different time zone from the rest of you and I often feel like I’ve slipped into a different dimension thanks to the complete change in scenery and language and everything, so it makes perfect sense to start in the middle and swing backwards from time to time. That is whilst all the while looking forward, keeping the past in mind and living in the present. But I digress…
I’m not drunk by the way, just exceptionally tired, in the way that only adolescents can make you feel tired.
This week has been a bit of a strange one as the students are now about to take their mid-term exams. I work in two schools, my base school (not far from my one-roomed mansion) and my visit school (an hour long commute.) The basic set-up is that I work at my base school on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, and I work at my visit school on Tuesday and Friday. It’s a good set-up actually, I adore my visit school but the journey is a bit of a pain (two buses, two trains and a ten minute walk) so the balance is just right I feel. Anyway, since exams are starting a few days earlier in my visit school, I have been told to stay at my base school for a couple of weeks. A good excuse to spend time planning ahead for lessons and studying for the Japanese exam I am taking in December!
The kids are a fairly mixed bunch. I have a handful of amazing students, a bunch of good students, and a hell of a lot of unmotivated and painfully shy students. Some of them try and get away with murder in my classes; they act up, talk over me to their friends, do their homework instead of the worksheets I assign to them.. and then there are others who can’t wait for me to walk into their class and break up the week for them. Now, I know you’re not supposed to have favourites, but I can’t help preferring some students over others. Surprisingly, it’s nothing to do with their ability! Since I started teaching I have realised it isn’t about which ones shine more than others, it’s a question of who takes part. More and more I find myself looking forward to certain classes because I know that there are a few students in them who will joke along with me, eagerly put their hand up to answer a question just so I will give them a stamp, and motivate their friends to compete with them to win a game or finish a worksheet first. They move the lesson along, which is more than I can say for some classes. One class in particular drives me to distraction. I have affectionately renamed them the ‘blinking fish’ class. Blinking is a vital skill on their part - it lets me know they haven’t stopped breathing. It is the only way I know they haven’t stopped breathing.
In a few of my very first lessons, a few boys thought it would be hilarious to practice their English with me through what appeared to be a succession of dares. Open-armed declarations of ‘I love you’ persisted throughout the lesson. Only one student so far has used the F-word. He went down on my black-list for a couple of weeks but managed to redeem himself eventually; at the end of the day, there aren’t really any swear words in the Japanese language so he probably didn’t even realised quite how offensive he was being. But boys will be boys I guess.
Girls, inevitably, will also be girls. The female reaction to my presence has been as varied as the academic level at my schools. Some girls were really excited to meet me, their cried of ‘kawaii!!’ and ‘small face!’ echoing down the corridor. Others have been less than kind, laughing openly at me in class as they point at me and talk about me in Japanese to their friends. It doesn’t bother me so much - I would rather be where I am now than back in year 11 where they are with braces, spots, boy troubles, and general adolescent woes!
Small face is a compliment, by the way. Just thought I’d throw that out there!
Lunch is normally spent in the teachers’ room. I have become food -lazy recently, due in part to the lack of proper sandwich bread (the toastie bread is amazing but not so practical) and the abundance of instant noodles.
Never again will I eat pot noodles from the UK! Here, I normally eat vegetable noodle pots or deep fried tofu noodle pots. Not so healthy of course, but I am only here for a year after all!
For those of you that are interested, breakfast is different all the time. Sometimes I buy the impossibly creamy full fat milk from the convenience store (conbini) and have cereal à la anglaise, other times I grab a quick pastry containing chocolate (if I don’t grab a sweet bean bread by mistake) or apples.
“This forest seems to be very delicious.”
This pastry has apples in it and the character on the packet is called Rilakkuma (relax bear). I took this picture with a certain person in mind.
So, to keep these posts at a reasonable size I shall finish here for now. I will endeavour to continue posting as often as possible despite the exhaustion to keep you all updated. I’m missing you all immensely!
