I woke to news of the not so good kind, coming from the home front. I got to work on helping out as best I could and resolved to give it my all when I returned from my workday. I checked my e-mail to find I still hadn’t been sent this week’s lesson plan for the elementary school, so I walked to work thinking nothing could be too hard to wing. I was almost very wrong.
When I arrived, I inquired about the plan for today and found out I would be teaching on pretty much my own for the three classes I had today.
I was supposed to sing “Head, shoulders, knees, and toes”, then play Rock Paper Scissors, then introduce numbers 1-10, then sing different song I had never heard, then play a game I don’t know, then leave. When I got to the first class, I opened with my greeting then segued into the “Head shoulders…” song. This breaks the ice a little bit and gets the kids excited to speak English. It worked! I then gave my introduction speech. I didn’t get to use my PowerPoint so I was forced to draw everything. I found drawing can be pretty fun but I was unable to explain some things from my PowerPoint and had to leave them out. After I talked, I asked if the kids had any questions. Oh boy, did they! I got asked so many different things between the three classes I taught, I can’t even remember them all. One kid asked I there were alligators in America. A couple kids later he asked another question about alligators. A couple kids later he asked another. The teacher scolded him and told him I was an English teacher, not an Alligator teacher. Tee hee! I was asked about Max and Hannah and their likes and dislikes, their birthdays, ages, star signs…etc. Hannah’s favorite flower was going to be a rose, but the kids guessed tulip, and I looked at my drawing and realized it did look more like a tulip, so Hannah’s favorite flower is now a tulip. Max doesn’t like meat and Hannah likes ketchup but dislikes tomatoes. Elmo’s favorite food is grass. California looks like a sock. My drawing of a monkey looks a lot like a bear. After the Q&A we played “Janken” or “Rock Scissors Paper” The whole class stands up and we play against me. If they beat me or tie, they stay standing, if they lose, they sit down. We played 2-3 times in each class, and only twice did I win completely! The classes really liked the game and they were sad when we had to stop and I had to go. I was successful in teaching by the seat of my pants, and also successful in disregarding the lesson plan and not getting redirected.
Why would I want to introduce numbers, body parts, and Janken all in the same lesson? Let’s focus, people!
Before lunch we had a visitor to the teacher’s room. A wasp as big as an index finger! It flew around for quite a while until it was captured, released, and flew away to live a long life, happily, with its wife or husband and family. No, actually it was smashed against the ceiling, moved outside, and squashed via Vice Principal shoe, thrice. After a good smashing, it was unceremoniously discarded into the trash. I thought these people were supposed to be Buddhists and Shintoists…
I took some pictures of some piggy banks the kids made for an art project.
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| Under the Sea |
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| Lion King |
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| Pengin! |
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| Play Ball! |
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| Pretty! |
At middle school there was an assembly for the student council candidates to give their speeches. I just kept thinking about Napoleon Dynamite and his dance. The song “Canned Heat” is in my mind because I sang it at karaoke on Monday morning. I could just about see one of these Japanese kids start dancing to some funky disco-esque tunes… Maybe that would have kept me awake! The after lunch coma was starting to come on. Am I getting so old that I need to have a nap? My favorite dessert isn’t yet cottage cheese, nor do I crave prune juice. There may still be hope. Another one of those gigantic wasps came to watch the speeches. It left in the middle of them, how rude! During the cleaning time, I was able to practice the fine art of sweeping the same area for 15 minutes in order to look busy. No, actually I was rather industrious. I swept three rows and then some. I have seen some students sweep forever in the same area, or push the same pile of dirt around for the entire time, but today that didn’t happen. Not on my watch.
I got some delicious food from the middle school to take home and devour.
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| Milk, Teriyaki Fish, Rice, and Rabbit Jello |
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| Red bean eye |
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| Didn't taste like rabbit. |
After school I help the speechmaster, then went home and got changed. I went and bought a screwdriver and set about fixing my package box. I have a package box in my front door that has a combination lock on it. The idea is to leave it unlocked until you get a package. When the mailman puts the package in the box, he shuts it, then locks it by swiveling the numbers of the combination. I know the code so I can open the box and retrieve the package at my leisure. The previous tenant locked the box and I don't know the code. There is a way to reset the code but I can't figure it out!
I went to Japanese class and studied hard. Most of the class graduated tonight, so next class will be pretty tiny...
Tomorrow: Den Yakiniku!
Those are some pretty sweet piggy banks buddy! The title makes me sad and sorry to hear that there's been bad news back on the farm. Anything I can do?
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