Tuesday!

Udon for breakfast again this morning, and also threw out my rubbish before going to school since it’s a Tuesday! Arrived at school at 8:00am on the dot. I had three classes to teach today – two 6th grade classes, and one 5th grade. The 6th graders are definitely a lot more quiet and mature! The gap between the younger grades is noticeably large, and even the gap between the 5th graders and 6th graders in terms of knowledge was quiet noticeable. The 6th graders were so polite – they had their eyes on the teacher the whole time! And all of them looked focused and not blanking out (either they are really studious, or they’re just good at looking focused!). Again, the senior grades are a lot more hesitant (shy?) to answer questions, unlike the 3rd graders where they literally ALL put up their hands yelling はーい in their eagerness to be picked! The 6th grade class was still more responsive than the 5th grade class though, as there were still a good number putting their hands up (5 students on average?). The 6th graders also seemed to enjoy the “Birthday Line” game we did (the one where you don't talk and have to work out the order of everyone’s birthday) – it took them a little while to form the correctly ordered line, but they all knew how to say when their birthday was in English!

Lunch today again with the 1st graders. They were a lot more talkative and I guess less shy today, as it was a bombardment of questions this time. This was another point where I noticed the advantage of being able to speak (and choosing to speak) Japanese with the students, as they were all asking me “How do I say ____ in English?”! It was great. They learnt how to say shark, eel, tofu, and chocolate bread, all in one lunchtime. Lunch today was cold udon salad, a mini fruit salad, and chocolate bread! The kids were super cute, asking me how to say the different foods in English. They couldn't say “milk” without saying the Japanese katakana version ミルク though! Same with “straw” – ストロー. We’ll work on that in the future! In the lunch break today, I went around with a group of 1st years and 2nd years finding the animal cards and place cards that I had hidden. Even though they haven’t learnt how to write English yet, they all did such a good job of copying out the words! I was so proud. The BOE stresses here that their English goal for elementary school kids is listening, and not reading and writing yet (except for 5th and 6th grade). The kids were copying out the English words just fine though, so I think it’s great to introduce them, and get them used to the shape of English letters at an early age.

After lunch, I didn't have class until the last 6th period, so did some new English board prep and lesson prep till then. I also got permission from the vice principal to leave a bit earlier than normal today (will leave straight after 6th period) since I have to go to the city hall and get some documents for my car. The city hall reception closes at 17:15, and it takes me a bit of time to cycle all the way there from school, so if I left at the normal 16:15 it would be a bit tight. The vice principal is super chill though, and he also wants me to get my car quickly too, so he had no problems.

The 6th period 5th grade class was great! They were a lot more responsive than the other 5th grade class on Friday, though I think the Friday class might have just been shy/overwhelmed with it being the first day back from summer holidays. Today’s class was super energetic, students put up their hands and were eager to answer questions, and they could do their self-introductions pretty smoothly. We finished the self-introductions and had a spare 5 minutes left so I was able to use my back up Numbers Quiz powerpoint! They loved this too, counting the different objects, and seeing who got the correct answer. They were also pretty good at counting together as a class! They also asked to do an interview with me tomorrow for their class newspaper – super adorable. One thing I have to get used to though is how 5th and 6th graders use the polite form of Japanese, whereas the younger grades are still very casual and affectionate with their Japanese.

After 6th period finished at 15:30, I had two super quick conversations with some teachers to tell them what my lesson plans were for tomorrow, and then I cycled to the city hall to get my documents. I first had to register my name in Katakana in their records at the foreigners’ division, and then went to another division to get my 印鑑証明 (document for the proof of my seal/stamp). It didn’t take too long and the process was very smooth. You get this cool as gold card for whenever you need to get another 印鑑証明 made so that was cool! It’s really gold and shiny and looks like an American Express credit card. After that I went to the Leopalace office to sort out the payment for my parking space. This was a bit more complicated, because I had originally signed the contract to start the parking space from September 1st, but since the car rental process turned into a buying one, I pushed back going to Leopalace since I didn't have all my car details. This resulted in them having to make a new contract that would start the parking space later, but the staff who I was dealing with was super nice and dealt with everything. All I have to do is come back next week to pay for the parking space! He also made sure I didn't have to pay, until I actually get my car and start using the parking space. I’m also very glad their office stays open all the way till 19:00, so that gives me plenty of time to get to from school!

After that it was the cycle home, dumplings for dinner, and some final lesson prep for tomorrow.