I had some funny experiences with my students today. I had a class with the third year deaf students. Today we learned some new vocabulary. They have a really tough time with pronunciation, and they often get distracted. They really seemed to react well to the lesson with me there, and the other teacher said as much after the class. I guess they feel like they really have to make a good impression when I’m there. I was happy to hear that my being there makes a difference in their education – sometimes you wonder if you are really being useful there.
I also taught a class with Harada sensei – the top English students in the school. Harada sensei asked me to do the class almost entirely by myself, and I was eager to do it since that is how I usually ran classes back at my old school in Takasago.
It turned out great – the students really got into the activities. I came up with a few simple games, and they were a hit. Harada sensei really enjoyed watching them working everything out. Overall I was completely satisfied with how the class went.
Lastly, a class just before lunch featured a singing rendition of the Carpenters’ “Sing”. One of the students cracked me up by repeatedly beating his chest like a gorilla in time with the music. “Sing” isn’t exactly what I’d consider chest-pounding music, but this kid was feeling the vibe. Maybe even stranger was that the other students didn’t seem alarmed that this kid was banging away during the song.
After school I went up to the ping pong club HQ and played a series of casual games with the students there. They’ve been trying to get me up there to play them for a while, but I’ve been fairly busy. Today it was fun to line ’em up and knock ’em down. I did really well and I felt quite proud, maybe a little too proud for having only beaten three 14 year old kids.
Kuniko was home before me again today. She had a delicious dinner ready to eat – hamburg and Japanese-style fried eggs, with carrots and spinach on the side. It really hit the spot.
Tomorrow I have the day off, but even though tonight should feel like Friday night, it doesn’t really. Tomorrow I’m going to try to sleep in a little though, and then maybe it’ll start to feel like a work holiday.
