Tuesday

Woke up at 7:00am, had rice for breakfast, and set off for school. Drizzly weather these few days, but it’s nice that the temperatures dropped a bit so it’s not so hot! First up today was 4-1 in period 1, and we started the new unit on “Jobs”. It was a good lesson. Even though I might have pushed them a bit too much with the vocab (I just went all in and used all 24 of the job cards!) but they did well! They already knew a lot from previous years, so it was really just learning a few new ones. We played the missing game, gesture game (they loooved that and had so much fun with it) and finished off with karuta. All in all another great lesson. 4-2 was just as good, and they also had a lot of fun with the gestures. After class ended, one of the kids showed me his pet rhinoceros beetle! I guess in Japan it really is popular to have insects as pets. He just found it in one of the nearby parks and brought it home. It’s in a proper tank (like a fish tank) and everything. 4-3 was also super good, and we got some of the most hilarious gestures in the gesture game. Whenever I show the kids the flash card for “zookeeper” “vet” “farmer” they’re always like “EEEEEH HOW DO WE ACT THIS OUT!?” and make a big fuss amongst themselves. It’s always funny to watch.

Lunch with 5-1 again today and it was another nice lunchtime. I sat in the same spot since that’s the only desk that’s free, and we talked about their after school activities again today (softball and soccer). The kids in this class are just so nice. I think I have everyone’s names memorized in this class – the kids were helping me drill the names into my memory! There was a ton of soup leftover again today so I helped myself to a large serving of seconds. The sandwich we had today for lunch was also really delicious – I think it was the bread and the mayo. Cleaning time was really fun again, the kids love finding rubbish and calling out to me “JAIME-SENSEI RUUUUBBIIIIIISH”. Proud to say that the corridor we’re in charge of is sparkling clean and always free of rubbish. Last class of the day with 6-2 and it was a really fun, great lesson. The JHS JTE was late because of schedule conflicts, but it didn’t affect the flow of the lesson. It was actually quite cute, because we were playing some games and practicing vocab while waiting for her, and then when she came I was like “OK! SMALL TALK TIIIIME” and the kids were like “Yay!” – I was so happy to hear that! Glad that they’re actually liking small talk. They did great too because today’s small talk was on birthdays, and they got the dates correct for the JHS JTE’s birthday, and her mum’s birthday. Finished off with the missing game, and the stereo game. They had so much fun with the stereo game, it even brought out the shy kids (who don’t usually put their hands up) out and participating! The stereo game is where 5 kids stand at the front of the classroom and say the answer (in this case, a month of the year) at the same time, and the rest of the kids have to listen and try figure out the answer. I think the kids just got really excited over being able to yell freely in the classroom, and having to figure out what everyone is really saying.

After class ended my JTE and I had a quick meeting with the JHS JTE for future lessons. She had some feedback too, from observing today’s lesson, and proposed that we have to have all kids participating and answering, as it’s usually the same kids putting their hands up over and over again. Got off work on time at 16:00. All the teachers were out doing the home visits so I couldn't do any meetings.