Wednesday

Woke up at 7:10am, rice for breakfast, then drove to school. Wednesday is one of my busier days (along with Thursday) with 5 lessons scheduled. First up was 2-3 and it was a great lesson! Everything ran really smoothly, the kids remembered all the vocab, and learnt “Let’s (action)” well. Couldn't have asked for more. They also all really liked doing the Hokey Pokey song, so that was good. 2-2 was just as good, but just a little more subdued. Thankfully they still danced along to the Hokey Pokey song – I was worried they wouldn't cause they’re a bit more shy/quieter than the other 2 grade 2 classes, but they were fine. Went to practice the play with 4-1 during the 20 minute break, and they’re all trying so hard! After we finished the first practice, they were like “Let’s practice again!” and then after the 20 break ended, they were like “Can we practice during lunchtime too?” – so heartwarming. Everyone is also starting to put a lot more emotion and life into saying their lines, so it’s really starting to sound like a play and not just reading lines.

2-1 in period 3 and today was a great lesson – they were in top form today! We even finished early so we did the Hokey Pokey song again. Spent the spare period 4 making and cutting out more dress up characters for the English board. Some kids have also started on the snowboard activity, so I cut and stuck up those too. Lunch today was katsu curry! Super glad it was, cause I was absolutely starving after all those active lessons with Grade 2. 1-3’s kids today were absolutely adorable. So many different conversations happened today. First they asked me what countries I’ve been to, and then they talked about what countries they want to go to (one kid said Cuba and Brazil which we thought was pretty rare for a 1st grade kid to say!). They all asked me where I lived as well, and were all boasting about how they each lived super close to the school. Then one kid randomly burst out with “Jaime-sensei, I like eating Manuka honey” which I was very surprised to hear, as was their homeroom teacher! Turns out that his mum buys the honey online for him to eat haha. The kids were also all crowding around me asking me to read the English on their hoodies and jumpers. It was the most random English ever and they were laughing like crazy when I told them the meanings (gibberish basically). Spent the lunchtime with 4-1 kids practicing the play and they were so good! It was super cute, because each time we finished one run through of the play, they’d look at the clock and be like “There’s still time! Let’s practice once more!” and so we ran through a total of 4 practice runs. It was only 4 kids practicing, but they’d all memorised their lines. Their homeroom teacher said that they’ve been practicing on their own in all their spare time too! No wonder. 4th grade kids have such a good conscience, it’s so nice to see them trying so hard to make the play come together. Cleaning time was super smooth (hyper kid was absent today because of a fever). Checked the English corner after cleaning and it’s coming along nicely! Lots of snowboards coming in.

5-2 in period 5 and it was a pretty nice lesson. We did a listening activity and learnt how to order food (“What would you like?” “I’d like (food) please”) and did a question/answer relay which they did alright in so I was pretty happy. 5-1 was also much better today – not perfect yet – but still in one of their better moods. I find it actually helps to call out individual names with a stern voice when they’re talking, they know you’re not messing around and respond appropriately. Good thing I’ve managed to remember all the troublemakers’ names! But it is a bit tiring to have to keep calling out names, even though it does work. Left work on time at 16:00 today since I had to go help out another ALT friend with changing his car’s engine oil. Then I drove a bit to Maebashi since some other ALTs and I decided to have a しゃぶしゃぶ dinner at 温野菜!