Today I studied through the morning, and then around lunchtime I went in early to work to prepare for today’s lessons. It was a lot cooler in Nozaki sensei’s air conditioned classroom than it was sitting around the hot house here.
Around 2:30 Miki sensei dropped by to help out with the young kids, so we went over my lesson plan for a while and traded war stories relating to the students that we have both taught. She was surprised at some of my reports – both good and bad – and it was fun to catch up.
Before we knew it the kids started showing up, and they were really surprised to see two teachers waiting for them. I had told all my horror stories about previous classes and the problems that I’ve had, and so she was ready for the worst. Of course with another teacher it wasn’t so bad, but the kids were acting up enough for her to see what I meant.
I had expected that the students would be better with two teachers around, but I was eager to figure out a way to extend this beyond today, and I was eager for some advice from Miki sensei. After the class we talked a little bit and gave me some pointers that might help in the future. She was surprised that it was a 50 minute class, because the kids are so young that they lose attention quickly.
Miki sensei stuck around for the next class, and it was one of my better classes. It went swimmingly, and I was glad that she could observe me actually teaching a class proficiently.
The third class was just two students, and so Miki sensei hit the road. The students and I breezed through the class and then I was headed home.
Kuniko is still at her sports camp, so I had the place to myself again. I cooked up some butakimchee for dinner, but I only ate half – the spiciness had me sweating in addition to the baseline hot temperatures in the house. Bad idea, dude.
The rest of the week should be pretty smooth. Kuniko will be back tomorrow night, but she’s got a lot of parties to attend as her school term wraps up, exchange students come and go, etc, etc. Maybe I’ll go on a somen diet for the next few nights….
