The rain this morning was pretty heavy at times, but I was more concerned with the wind. I walked to school with an umbrella, but when the wind is blowing hard it can twist up your umbrella and turn it into garbage. Luckily, I kept it under control until I got to school.
On Wednesdays I have four classes, all in a row, from the second period to the fifth. I get a short lunchbreak, but it’s pretty much back to back classes. I don’t mind – the day goes by much faster that way.
Each class has a different teacher, and it’s an interesting experiment to see the different styles in action.
My first class was with Matsubara sensei. Her English level is not the highest of the teachers, but she makes up for it with enthusiasm and a great smile. We had a pretty good lesson with some of the better English students. They really try hard to do well, but right now they are a mixed class – they’re not used to sitting next to the people around them, and they are pretty shy. I’m working hard to get them to relax, though. Matsubara sensei is really good at explaining things in Japanese and helping them grasp concepts, and with both of us smiling up there, it’s only so long before they give up and relax.
Second class is with Mr. Hayashi. It’s a third year class, only the second time that we’ve taught it. Mr. Hayashi came to class unprepared, which was unusual. He and I put together some handouts and filled out some answers to prepare, while the students talked amongst themselves and waited. Then we got the class going. Mr. Hayashi was doing OK, but when a couple of students started goofing off with their pencils, he kind of lost it. He went over there and kicked them both hard in the foot, and he wasn’t smiling anymore.
You know when something out of the ordinary happens. The whole classroom gets quiet, some people look away, and I’m left there wondering if I should keep teaching and pretend it didn’t happen or stop. I decided to keep teaching. I’ve never seen Mr. Hayashi snap like that. I’ve seen another teacher slap some students last year, but Mr. Hayashi didn’t seem the type to resort to the physical. I think he’s under a lot of stress right now with his job, and on top of that his dog is in the hospital. I hope he gets a chance to relax in the near future.
After that class it was a pleasure to teach with Maeda sensei. This was my first class with him this year, and the students were really excited to have me help out. Everybody was smiling and saying hello to me as I came in, and they patiently sat through my lesson. At one point I was reading sentences, and everyone was quietly listening, and as I looked over the class, one of the girls gave me a big smile, kind of rolled her eyes a little, and let out a big sigh. I almost lost it. She won’t be happy to hear about my wedding plans.
Maeda sensei’s English isn’t great, but he tries his best and he doesn’t pretend that he’s perfect. He organizes things really well and the flow of the class is always excellent. One of the students on the baseball team fell asleep, and Maeda sensei asked him to come outside after class and apologize to me, in English. That’s a cool way to handle problems.
My last class was with Oshita sensei. Oshita sensei’s English is also not great, but he’s also really shy. He seems afraid to speak in front of the students in English. The problem is, they sense the fear and hesitation, and some of them giggle at his English. That makes him more afraid, and that makes them laugh more. It’s too bad, but as a teacher I can’t do much about it except pretend that his English is 100% understandable and keep things going smoothly.
Oshita sensei’s class has about 30 boys, and only 9 girls. That makes for a loud class. We played a game where students had to do a translation relay, and it got really loud as students were running around. I was really impressed when the students translated things correctly – and they were proud of themselves for doing it.
Finally I was finished, and I had sixth period to relax in the teacher’s room. I did a little bit of studying, and talked a lot with one of the new part time computer teachers. She’s been talking to me the last couple of days, and doing lots of giggling and smiling, so I told her today how excited I was to be getting married later on in the year. You know, just in case. I think she got the hint.
After school I went home, walked through Ito Yokado without buying anything, and cooked up rice, miso soup, and kimchee for dinner. I did go to Ito Yokado later to order some business cards, because it’s never to early to start planting seeds that may grow into job leads in a year or so.
Tomorrow it’s back to a relaxed schedule with only a couple of classes, and Friday is the big welcome party for our school. I’m hoping to run over to Kyoto on Saturday to maybe meet up with Britta Dobson, who is here on business doing an overnight trip out of Tokyo. I’m so lucky to be living where I am – to just head over to Kyoto for a day trip anytime I like, that’s nice.
