Monday

Woke up at 7:15am, had rice for breakfast, then drove to school. My front left tire is looking a little flat so I’m going to get that checked after school. Very relaxed day today with only 3 classes, perfect for just coming back from a big weekend. First up was 3-2 in period 2. We first started off with a silhouette quiz to revise the vocab. This powerpoint quiz was actually made by another ALT and he had kindly sent it to all the Takasaki ALTs through the education board’s communication system. The pictures/silhouettes that he used were pretty funny, so the kids were just laughing at every single slide, it was pretty hilarious. Overall the lesson was super noisy BUT at least they did all the activities properly, so I was pretty happy with that. 3-2 turns out to be the same as 5-1 – I called out individual names and they stopped talking, or their bad behavior, and actually turned around to face me properly so that was super good! I think it’s because in Japan they don’t really call out names, they’ll say it a lot more abstractly like “There’s someone facing the back” or “There’s someone talking and not listening” and then wait for the kid to realize and fix their behavior, but that takes a lot of time and doesn’t work with 3-2. They also all had a lot of fun with the charades relay game, and then the card exchange game. I was actually pretty surprised (and happy!) that 3-2 actually did the card exchange properly, as in I actually heard them saying “What’s this?” and “It’s a (object)” when usually they just run around like crazy.

Went to practice the play with 4-2 in the 20 minute break, but only 3 people of the group were there so we just went through the lines. 3-3 up next in period 3 and they were super well behaved and listened well today – all thanks to their teacher having the stern talk with them! Before we started the lesson today she reminded them once again. I guess they must have wrote some reflections or something, cause she was telling them to remember what they wrote, and their promises and stuff. Super cute. They also loved the charades relay, and it was so funny seeing the kids absolutely flip out when they find out they have to act out a gorilla. 3-1 was also super good. Had some technical difficulties when my laptop suddenly died and had trouble starting up again, so we played charades relay first, and then did the silhouette quiz when my laptop came back to life. Their homeroom teacher chose “onion” for the kids to act out and it was so funny. They were outlining the onion shape with their hands, and then cutting it and then crying, smart kids! 3-1’s English capability is a lot higher, so they were able to properly reply using “It’s a” whereas the other classes would always forget, and just say the object name. We ended a little early, as we always seem to since 3-1 is so well behaved and moves fast.

Lunch with 2-1 today and it was super lovely. Not only do I know the kids really well since I’m in charge of their cleaning area, but their homeroom teacher also talks to me during the lunchtime so it’s really nice. So many different conversations flying around (have I eaten bugs before? How much is your house? Guess what my animal zodiac is!) and then it started snowing halfway through lunch!!! It was just teeny flakes at first, but they just got bigger and bigger and super light and floaty, and before we knew it the school grounds had turned all white. All the teachers were fretting about safety and the drive home. Went back to 4-2 during the lunch break to practice the play more, but again not all the kids were there since the excitement of snow just overtook them all. Periods 5 and 6 free so I just sat around doing prep and random stuff. It was really cute hearing the kids get off school, because it was just happy screams everywhere as they played in the snow on their way home. The staffroom was also really lively as all the teachers were talking about studless tires and driving in the snow. Got off work at 16:00 and drove in the snow to Autobacs to get my tires checked. The tire was fine and not flat, but got them to put a little bit of air into it. The snow really started falling heavily and Takasaki turned into a winter wonderland! Did some quick laundry at home before going out again for dinner with another ALT and her Japanese friend who wanted to practice her English. The Italian café that we had planned to go to was closed because of the snow, so we went to a Hokkaido Italian restaurant across the street, and it was actually really delicious! We had pizza, pasta, and tiramisu for dessert. I’m definitely coming back to this place again, it was that nice! After that we all made our way home slowly in the snow.