Wednesday

Woke up at 7:00am, had udon for breakfast, then drove to school. It’s steadily getting colder and colder! Today’s high is only 9 degrees with a low of -1! Nice busy day with all 6 periods filled with lessons today. First up was 2-3 and we were doing a revision lesson today. They did super great! They remembered all the vocab from the previous lessons with practically no prompts, and they got through the planned games so fast (I prepared 4) that we had to play Simon Says as an extra 5th game. They loved the team bingo – I guess bingo in general is just super popular with all grades. They always cheer so hard when they get bingo. 2-2 was also just as good, which I was a bit surprised at since they’re probably the most apathetic towards English out of all the 2nd grade classes, but they’re still eager I guess! They also were able to remember all the previously learnt vocab, and only needed a little bit of prompting for “shrine” and “library”. They also finished all the games super fast so we played Simon Says as well, which they actually really like. I think they like the challenge it presents. They feel really pleased with themselves when they don’t move when I didn’t say Simon Says.

2-1 wasn’t as good as the other 2 classes, in terms of noise level and promptness. We didn't even manage to finish the 4th game bingo! Not sure why lately English classes with 2-1 have been noisier than normal. They weren’t like this at the beginning of term – at least they are very into English class. I was walking down the corridor and they were already announcing loudly JAIME-SENSEI IS HERE, even though it’s usually only 1st graders who do that. Same with 2-2, they also had difficulty remembering “shrine” and “library”. And for some reason there’s always tears in 2-1 when we play games – a few of the kids are really sensitive. Next up was 5-1 and we finished the rest of the presentations. They seemed to be a bit better today on listening to others, and my JTE started a new way of starting the class. The kids in charge of greetings would come up to the front to say it. This worked out really well – the kids were more alert and paid attention, and also you could hear their voices better, instead of them staying at their desk and mumbling the greetings. We also changed up the way we do the beginning lesson greetings (how are you, date, weather, etc.) by having me ask them, and having them answer as a class, and then my JTE would follow up by asking the questions again to individual kids (the kids who didn’t answer the first round as a class, or who didn’t open their mouth, etc.). We tried it out for the first time today and it worked pretty well too! The kids who got called on individually also managed to answer well enough – I was actually a little worried they wouldn't, cause the 5th graders can have quite the attitude when they want to, but they answered nicely, albeit a bit slow.

Lunchtime with 6-1 again today and the milk challenge continues! Today got a new high score of 10.81 seconds! Insanely fast, considering the previous record was 12.13. One of the other kids watching (he’d already drank his milk unfortunately) claimed he could finish in 3 seconds – we’ll see about that tomorrow! The kids are so funny about it – they made it a rule to do the milk challenge after they finish eating, because if they do it before on an empty stomach they count that as an unfair start/”cheating” haha. Today’s lunch was purple rice (shiso rice), salmon coated in sesame, and soup. I spent the lunchtime outside today since I finally didn’t have any prep work/English board prep work to do at lunchtime! Played jump rope with a few 2nd graders and gave a few piggyback rides to some 1st graders. It was a lot of fun! Felt real good to be outside after being cooped inside for the past few lunchtimes. The 2nd graders already asked me to play jump rope with them again tomorrow.

Last two periods with 5th grade. 5-2 in period 5 and we started on their presentations. Most of them did alright, but one kid really stood out with his clear loud voice and pronunciation, so I gave him a sticker in reward. I think he’s one of those kids that’s not afraid to make mistakes at all and just speaks a lot of random English words (and random sounds sometimes) without fear so that’s really good. I wish more kids had his bravery! 5-1 in 6th period so we just played games. They actually had an extra hour more than 5-2, so 5-2 won’t get to have this games lesson hour. We played fruits basket (but subjects version, so “subjects basket”) which they absolutely LOVED. When I announced that we were playing it, they all broke out into smiles and were like “REALLY?” and “YAAAY” and more “REALLY?” as if they couldn't believe it. I just find it absolutely adorable and so funny how the older grades love fruit basket so much. I guess it’s because they play less and less games as they become 4th/5th/6th graders, so it must be a nice break to play games they once loved when they were little 1st and 2nd graders. For the last 15 minutes we played the Castle Quiz game, and instead of holding up the subject pictures, I said hints to get them all thinking. They were really good! I didn’t have to say all 3 hints, they usually got it after I said just 1. Team 3 had an overwhelming victory today – their castle was towering above all the others.

Got off work at 14:20 and drove to Daiso to get some wrapping paper for the Secret Santa exchanges, the bank to update my bankbook, and the drugstore to restock on some Vitamin C. Also bought some gloves at Honeys since it’s really getting cold! Had rice and fish at home for dinner, and then spent the rest of the evening preparing a ski trip for January and February (accommodation gets booked out so fast!!!).