Harada vs. Matsunaga, Overseas Experience

It was kind of a hectic morning – Kuniko couldn’t sleep last night so she was out in the living room playing Tetris until almost one in the morning, so she was pretty tired out when the alarm went off. I got up and made lunches, and then woke her up 35 minutes before our train arrived at Okubo station. And believe it or not, we were there to catch it.

At school today I originally had four classes scheduled, but one was cancelled. Actually, it was traded to a music teacher for a draft pick and future considerations. The classes that I did do today were interesting.

I was free during first period, so one of the teachers that helps out with the disabled and challenged students invited me to come watch them practice for the music performance they will do on Friday. I came over expecting to watch, but I ended up participating, with several other teachers.

First, we all played a song on a little mini-koto harp. It was simplified for kids, but the characters and notes were in katakana, and so it took me just a little bit more time than everyone else to find the right key and hit the right note. I was a little embarrassed to be coming in late each time, but everyone else was playing so it didn’t sound too bad.

Afterwards, the students practiced ringing bells on cues from the music teacher, and on Friday they’ll all line up and ring them together. After the music class, I had an English class with one of the challenged students. He is full of questions – and even though I was supposed to ask him questions in English, he turned the tables and interviewed me. It was fun to do, but you could tell that what I was saying was being discarded as unintelligible, and he was just waiting for a pause as his cue to proceed. We did do some drills with the alphabet and months, so hopefully that’ll stick until next time.

Next I had back to back classes with Matsunaga sensei and Harada sensei. They are both teachers for the first year students. After the recent mid-term exam, they switched classes, and so now they are getting used to the new students that they have. Harada sensei has the strategy of take it easy, be nice to everyone, and make them like you first, and then start hitting them with English drills. Matsunaga sensei is more like a drill instructor – get them in line right away. Naturally, Matsunaga sensei’s new students are used to Harada sensei’s laid-back approach, and so she complains that they are all way behind and not that good. Harada sensei’s new students are enjoying the relaxed atmosphere, and that makes for some interesting classes for me.

Today in Harada sensei’s class the students were really in a good mood. We joked around with them for a few minutes to warm them up, and then started covering new material. One student was consistently answering the tough questions, and so after the class I went over and said “Great job today!” She waited until I was finished cleaning up my stuff from the lesson and then told me in English that she was “from Los Angeles”. That probably means that she grew up there while her family was living there on business – probably working overseas for a Japanese company. There are quite a few students at my school that have spent a long time overseas, and their English is quite good. I talked with her a little bit, but she was pretty shy.

After school everybody went to their classrooms to practice singing, and I hung out in the staffroom with Harada sensei #2 – Hiroko. She is kind of an atypical Japanese English teacher. Together we came up with a gameplan for a lesson on Thursday, and I told her a few jokes to help her learn “English humor”.

Now I’m back home. Kuniko is out tonight, so I’m thinking about just relaxing, watching a movie, and taking it easy. Tomorrow is a fairly light day at work, and Friday is a day off, so it’s starting to feel like the weekend already.


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