February 3rd, 2006

Ok, sorry its been three weeks since my last update. Its hard to
believe, but working, just one hour a day makes time pass soooooo much
faster than it does when I just sit around at home. I hadnt realize how
dreadfully tired I was of not doing anything (although, sleeping until
9:30 or 10:00 everyday was kinda nice). Anyways, I will tell you
about what I am doing. First a quick over view. I teach at 6th graders
at two schools. Around 30 minutes a day, five days a week. On Mondays I
go to Nagahama and teach from 2:00 to 2:45 or whenever Im done. On
tuesdays through fridays I teach at Kandogawa for 25 or 30 minutes
depending on the day. I usually stay about an hour after class talking
to Yamamoto sensei and Watanabe sensei.



So thats that, now I will go into more detail about the schools.



Nagahama Shogako (Long Beach Elementary School)



I absolutely adore my kids at Nagahama. I teach a class of sixth
graders (2 gumi/class 2) who are absolutely wonderful. They are
excited and know English really well for there level (well, compared to
my other school at least). These kids are always raising there
hand, trying to answer questions, and all and all just enjoying the
class with me. That makes class really fun. I have gone to
Nagahama 3 times now (every Monday) and every time has been super
fun. The first time was a combination of both classes and a
welcome meeting for me. I ended up teaching the kids how to play
Red Rover. Heh, that was a mess because we played inside and it
didnt really work. I hope one day I can convince them to let me
take them outside and play some American games...maybe the last week
before graduation. Anyways, the next two weeks I actually taught
the class. The first class was pretty amusing. We played a
game where the kids had to guess what instrument was being
played. It sounds boring but it was fun. My last class was
the best class I had. The kids were interested in what I was
showing them (shapes, of all things) and had fun with my game.
Guess the animal I am describing (oval body, triangle tail, live in
water...its a fish!). The kids LOVED it. We were constantly
laughing and messing with each other and they were good at them.
I also got to teach them a song. It was funny. Another
funny thing is that the teacher, Mr. Mochida go into the game to.
He is learning English with the kids and he would try to guess the
animals with them or help them out. I really like Mr.
Mochida. So thats Nagahama. Its fun and I like this class a
lot.



Kandogawa Shogako (Kando River Elementary School)



And then there's Kandogawa. These
kids...are...difficult. When they told me I had Class 2, they
cringed and mentioned that the girls were really shy and they weren't
that good. Great idea for a brand new teacher right?
Anyways, my schedule is that I go in at 3:00-3:30 on Tuesdays and
Thursdays and 8:25-8:50 on Wednesdays and Fridays. Not that
confusing and a good mix. Anyways, these kids arent awful and I
only hate them sometimes. However, they are usually uninterested
in anything I am doing and are difficult.

The biggest problem is that I cant talk to them in
Japanese and they dont understand very much English at all. But
then, its my opinion that they dont care or try very hard. Most
of the time they just stare at me completely expressionless when the
teacher is there. He tries his hardest to help me out (he's a
real teacher so he immediately knows what to say to get them to do
something or how to coach them along, Im not so Im still learning) but
he doesnt speak much English either. So thats tough.
Especially since they pretend they know less English than they actually
do. They also pretend they dont understand me when I speak
Japanese to them. I think they are being deliberately obtuse for
the most part. Like the day I tried to get them to pair up
and do a dialogue, they ignored me and pretended they didnt understand
what 'make a pair' means. Gah!

The next problem is that these kids are 5 weeks away
from graduating elementary school and going to middle school.
They are excited and could care less about learning English. They
just want to play around. I should have known from day one when
the whole assembly was bored with the activities that were
planned. Although, they did like my 'Four Corners' game.
Although the kid that won was really really upset that he won.

Anyways, my class is just bad. The girls dont want
to every do anything. They just giggle and hide behind there
hands and wont answer if I ask a question. I have to bascially
force them to do anything. But I do know. I made the
mistake of not earlier. The boys are just rowdy and
annoying. They are constantly talking and not paying
attention. There are a few kids that stand out to me
though.

-There is Shinpei (I only know his name and two others, isnt that
awful?) who is that really cool kid. I would bet my entire
month's salary ($200 for the curious) on the fact that he's the most
popular kid in schools. He's smart, athletic, funny, and good
looking (no, Im not being creepy or a pedophile, but you can tell the
pretty kids from the ugly kid and he's a pretty kid.) He's bad.
He's constantly cracking jokes and disrupting the class...he does know
more english than most kids though.

-Then there is the kid who won Four Squares. At first he
was...helpful, but now the kid is really creeping me out.
Everytime I am near him, his starts talking really low. I think
he keeps telling me his name, but he always says the same thing.
He's always into my things if they arent sitting down and I think he
may have stolen a card I had yesterday (though I am not going to accuse
him because that would devestate him...I think he likes me...). I
dont know his name but in my mind he's 'that kid who won the four
squares'.

-There is the annoying kid who is hyperactive and always into
everything as well. He's tall and weird. He's in the
popular group probably to be that kid who the popular kid picks on but
lets him hang around anyways. He's just weird (we would probably
have been friends had I been in school with him in America, just so you
know). He annoys me though, but he writes very well so I refer to
him as the goofy kid who writes really well.

-There's Koda (I think) and he's kinda nice. He knows English ok
and behaves pretty well. He doesnt volunteer or anything, but
he's not mean or bad, so thats good.

-And then there is the girl, Nastuya. There is something wrong
with her, but for some reason I have the strongest urge to help
her. She's the shy kid. I mean, shy enough that I think she
either has a learning disorder or maybe a personality disorder.
When she talks, no sound comes out. I dont know, its her face
that tugs at my heartstrings I think. She just looks so
frightened and scared when she has to answer and I get so very very
proud when she does answer me. Makes me so happy. I only
know her name because I was having the kids spell their names and the
teacher was helping me out with her and said her name since I couldnt
hear it when she said it (she doesnt make sound and the other kids were
sceaming).



So those are the kids of Kandogawa, there are other kids that stand out
but those are the main ones that immediately pop out. I hate that
I dont like my Kandogawa kids. I want to have fun with
them. I try really hard to have fun and interesting classes but
there are just so bad adn wont work with me. For example, today,
I just wanted to play an easy game called "Karuta". Its a simple
and fun card game. The kids all knew the rules. But they
were SO AWFUL. They kept picking up the cards and moving them and
tossing them over and mixing them up and not listening. I ended
up shouting at one group for being bad. I mean I YELLED at
them. Grrrr. They were bad. I dont know how to
make them better. I think I may get one of the other english
speakers (probably Watanabe-sensei) and have her come translate for
me. If they want to fart around and be shitheads, then
fine. But Im not going to plan fun games anymore, they can just
do worksheets for the rest of the time here. Bah. They are
so bad. I wish it was better.



Anways, sorry for fussing about my kids. I just had a bad class
today, if you couldnt tell. I dont hate it, but its
disappointing, especially since its my first time teaching. I
really do spend close to an hour trying to come up with a lesson plan
for them and by the first 5 minutes of class, they have disrupted so
much that I cant do much of anything. Its sad and
frustrating. Oh well. Thats teaching. Im glad Im
doing it. I wish I could be an ALT so I could work with more kids
instead of one class. I want to make friends with the kids and
play around with them as well as teach them (like eat lunch with them,
do recess with them as much as teach them english) but I cant in my
current position. Keep your fingers crossed for me that I get a
better job soon.