At school today I had just two classes, so it was no sweat. The morning class was a little traumatic at one point. I was doing interviews in English for the students to get ready for the English standardized test that everyone likes to take here in Japan.
One girl was totally bombing the exam. She didn’t even understand when I said “How are you?” to start the conversation. I switched to Japanese to explain what we were doing, but when we did the interview in English, she was completely clueless. At the end she actually started crying a little bit because she wasn’t doing well. I sent her back when she was done, but she got a real reality check on her English level. Next time I’ll find an easier interview test for her to take. But it did mark a milestone in my teaching career – I made a student cry for the first time.
The afternoon class was a live listening test with Tsutsumi sensei. The students did really well – I think I maybe underestimated their English level. Next time it will be much more difficult.
After school I came home to find Kuniko asleep in bed – she is enjoying having some afternoons off because her school is doing exams right now. In the evening we watched some TV and had a really good beef and potato stir fry that Kuniko made for dinner. After dinner I retired to the computer to watch the season finale of Lost, and then we both hit the sack. The weekend is fast approaching…
