I haven’t phoned in a lesson in a long time. Maybe the last time was during my first year of teaching, I’m not sure. It was a long time ago.
These days we are having lessons, but only four lessons a day, and they don’t count for anything, and the students know it. Why they even show up is beyond me. Anyway, today I had only one class, and dream up some activities, I just showed “The Incredibles” on DVD for the 50 minute period. I felt somehow guilty for not putting more effort into the class. I think if this situation comes up again, I’ll try to do something more interesting.
I spent one period with Miyake sensei helping her with her transcription, and we talked about all kinds of stuff in an informal way to help her with her vocabulary and listening comprehension. Then after school I had an ESS meeting, where we just hung out and chatted about each other’s vacations. We played three lively games of Jenga, and then everybody took off to get home early.
We had an English teacher’s meeting in the afternoon to discuss students that were on the brink of failure, but as it worked out there were only two that people were concerned about. After each student year gave their comments, the chairperson asked me to give my comments in English. It was nice to be able to contribute to the meeting in some way.
They are planning a new curriculum in our school starting the school year after next, called “International Understanding”, which will be managed by the English department. Our current principal is really into the idea of making our school more like an “international” school – focusing on a broader view of Japan in the world, not just Takasago in Japan. He’s been working behind the scenes to get things like this implemented, and we’ve had various international events recently, so it sounds like it is becoming a reality. I wish I could be around to play a bigger part in it, but it will be my successor’s chance to enjoy the new curriculum.
Kuniko got home a little earlier than usual, and she cooked up a great dinner of hamburg with a cabbage salad and carrots for dinner. It was really delicious. She made our bento lunches today as well, and they deserve a mention – she put in fried rice instead of white rice, and italian style pork strips that were awesome.
We’ll be hitting the sack early tonight – Kuniko is exhausted from a long day at work, and I’m going crosseyed from studying all day. We’re closing in on the weekend – can’t wait!
