Tuesday

Woke up at 7:00am to rain again, had my potato thingy for breakfast, threw out my rubbish, and drove to school. Nice busy day today with 5 periods of classes. First up was 6-2 in 1st period. Bit of a standard boring class today with worksheets and stuff, but they still did well enough. The funny thing today was that in 6-2, it was all the girls writing up the answers on the board for the activity, but in 6-1 (2nd period), it was all the boys writing up the answers. I found that pretty interesting – the different dynamics of each class are fascinating. Also noticed that 6-1 is quieter on the whole when doing worksheets, whereas 6-2 is a little noisier. Also, in 6-1 while we were waiting for all the answers to be written up, one kid started reading the picture book (it’s digital and was being displayed on the TV) and he can actually read pretty well! I encouraged him to sound out words he didn’t know (“about” “shall”) and he was able to do it, so I was so proud of him. There were also 2 boys in 6-1 who did the Halloween worksheets which I found ADORABLE, because I didn't really expect the older grades (especially boys) to do the colouring in! Another 6-1 boy also handed in his completed worksheet, so that was a nice surprise too.

Spent the 20 minute break returning Halloween sheets to 1st and 2nd grades. It’s almost a given now that I will get as many sheets handed in to me, while I’m handing them out haha. Since the weather is still wet and rainy, the kids were all indoors and at least half of all the 1st grade kids were sitting at their desks colouring in the Halloween sheets! That was heartwarming to see. Also on the 4th floor you get a really good view of the rice fields and mountains, and the weather is FINALLY clearing up a bit. The view looked really cool – it was literally a gap in the sky at the mountain peaks with blue sky, and really 3D looking clouds just below the mountain peaks. I wish I could’ve taken a photo but it was too far away for my phone to capture well. 3rd period was with 5-2, and it was pretty successful as they liked the games and played them well, but also a bit not successful because it took quite a while between each game to explain, as they were noisy and not settling down. Tricked them in the game with “lemon” as they all went for the “R” card instead of the “L” card! Had 4th period free so marked some Halloween sheets and updated my schedule/lesson plans.

Had lunch with 3-1 again today. Lunch was Takasaki-don! It’s a special dish that was made by high school students in Takasaki apparently! It’s made with ingredients found in Takasaki/famous in Takasaki and consisted of vegetables and pork + quail eggs on top of rice. I find 3-1 is a little more reserved and less affectionate, but that might also be a grade difference, because I’ve been so used to being surrounded by 1st and 2nd graders who are extremely affectionate and outgoing. Spent the lunch break returning Halloween sheets, but the rain had finally stopped so most of the kids were playing outside, so I guess most of the sheets will have to be returned tomorrow. Cleaning time was very fun today, the kids were joking around saying “RABBIT!” instead of “rubbish” when they came across any, and they turned the cleaning time into a game of “hunting rabbits (rubbish)”. Gave them gold star stickers today and they were super happy. Also, I’m really glad that the principal is so chill about the stickers, he was there when I gave them the stickers and was praising them for their good work too. The 2nd graders are so attentive! They ALL (all 6 kids) noticed that I cut my fringe and asked me “Did you cut your fringe!?” and they were like “It looks cute!” and “This Jaime is cuter!” – they’re such sweethearts.

5th period with 6-2 again and we finished up on the picture book unit. We started off with the same “word order” worksheet that they’ve been going the past lesson, and had them do it again in 7 minutes as a mini “test”. They were SO SERIOUS doing this. It was dead quiet and every single kid was writing furiously. There were obviously a few kids who couldn't do a lot of the questions so they weren’t writing as furiously, but they were still very quiet and serious about it. Next, every student chose their favourite story from the 3 we read (or the most familiar one) and read a few pages as a mini “presentation”. One of the girls had really good pronunciation, so I praised her afterwards for it. Really proud of her for volunteering to present too because she’s one of the quieter girls, but glad she did, because then otherwise I wouldn't have known about her great pronunciation! Two of the cheekier guys did their practice together well, so I let them present together. They were like “brother brother” pointing to each other (in English) so yea, had to let them present together!

Last period with 5-2 and it was another loud and rowdy class. They still do the activities, but it’s always just a little too noisy and hard to get them to settle down before and after the games. They can all at least write their names in English now, plus they can write the whole alphabet with capital letters, but some kids are still a little bit messy and lazy with their writing. Had the meeting with the 2nd grade teachers again for tomorrow’s lesson and also next week’s lesson since I won’t be at school next Tuesday! Got off work at 16:20 and drove home. Nice to finally be able to see a sunset on the way home after all that rain and gray weather. Had udon for dinner, and then badminton at 19:00. My snowboard arrived just before 18:30 too! Super happy with it, it’s design is so pretty, and it has good reviews too. Plus since it’s last year’s model, it was on sale too!