As you might expect, teaching young kids can be an interesting job. One of the things I love about teaching is that the students make every day and every class interesting. Each class is more than just going through the textbook, and the dialog between the students as we progress through the lesson is what I like most.
One of my students asked me out of the blue if it is OK to fart in America, and so I had to analyze that question a little before coming up with a suitable response. It’s not just a simple question of whether it is OK or not – it depends on the situation. In the end I told him that it generally isn’t acceptable to fart in public, and if he had to fart to please go to the bathroom. He assured me that he didn’t but it did make me wonder why the topic even came up.
Such is the level of general discourse in my classes.
After I wrapped up three classes I made the short walk over to teach a private one-on-one lesson with Yuka. Yuka is a first year high school student and she’s trying to really boost her English speaking level. Mom is footing the bill for a private tutor, and so I work with her three times a month in an effort to get her more comfortable speaking English.
The walk to her place is really nice – it’s a ten minute walk through a quiet neighborhood. During one part of the walk I cross between two big rice paddies and even though the pathway is narrow and paved you are completely surrounded by water and rice seedlings. One of my more interesting commutes.
The classroom at Nozaki sensei’s house isn’t always available to me on Mondays so I go to Yuka’s place and we talk in her bedroom. I personally would prefer somewhere a little more public (like the living room) but the mom wants it that way and apparently Yuka doesn’t mind.
We usually just chat, and I try to get her to form some opinions in English, and talk about what she does. Her vocabulary is pretty limited though, and I think she needs to do a little more basic memorization before she can really excel at English.
Kuniko and I both arrived home after 8 p.m. so we had a very simple dinner of tonkatsu and rice and then went to bed. Tomorrow I have one more night class and then I’ll be free and clear in the evenings this week.
