Wednesday

Woke up at 7:15am, had rice for breakfast, then set off for school. Rainy weather again today! Had a few quick speedy meetings with a 1st grade teacher and 5th grade teacher about today’s lessons, since we couldn't meet up yesterday. First up today was 1-1 in period 2. It was a really good lesson – 1-1 is definitely the easier of the two 1st grade classes to deal with. They’re EXTREMELY affectionate, and they haven’t slowed down at all. They cling onto me as soon as I walk in, and won’t let go. We sang a lot of songs, and played games to revise numbers and colours. They absolutely LOVED the game where they had to find people with the same cards (number cards, and then colour cards). They were so happy when they found a “fellow comrade” and would be like “YAAAAY FIIIIIIIIIIVE” and cheering so excitedly, they’re all just so cute! 1-2 in period 3 and it was a bit messier. They take a teeny bit longer to quieten down than 1-1, and their homeroom teacher really expects a lot from them so she’s constantly reminding them of stuff. We still managed to finish all the games though – at one point I was wondering if we would or not, because they were taking forever finding partners and matching cards!

5-2 in period 4 and it was a pretty chillax lesson with them just working on their self-introduction posters. Got some interesting things such as “I like lightsabres” and “I want a Minion army” and “I want the Millennium Falcon” and so on. The self-portraits some of them were drawing were hilarious too – some kids really have a great sense of humour! A few kids managed to finish before the lesson ended so I got them to start practicing and memorising their self-introduction mini speeches, ready to present in the next lesson. I’m really liking how in 5-2 we teachers hardly use any Japanese anymore. The kids are able to guess what we’re saying by now, and there’ll always be a kid who will say the Japanese of what the teachers are saying, and even if it’s not 100% exact, they’re usually on the right track. Lunch with 5-1 again today and we talked a lot again, this time about snowboarding, skiing, skateboarding, etc. Today’s lunch was delicious – seaweed edamame rice, miso marinated fish, soup, and grapefruit.

5-1 in period 5 to finish the day, and we worked on the self-introduction posters. It’s always a bit quieter in 5-1, since they’re just more subdued than 5-2 in general. Their teacher is always commenting on why they seem to have a lower ability in English, but I personally think it’s just personality differences. The kids might not speak up in English class a lot (or speak in English) but the ability is still there – I don't think they’re lacking the ability, it’s more just a question of confidence. Also because Japan has such a group mentality, it really affects a class’ performance. For example in 5-2 there’re plenty of outgoing kids who aren’t afraid to speak in English, and that helps the shyer kids to not be afraid as well. Flip that around in 5-1 where the majority of kids don’t speak up and try, and that dampens even the kids who can speak in English, cause they don’t want to break the silence/status quo. Anyway, the teachers promised to make sure the kids finish the posters by Friday so that they’ll be ready to present (I don't think any kids in 5-1 finished by the end of the lesson). Got off work on time again at 16:00. I’m going to have an insanely free day tomorrow since 3rd grade lessons are cancelled, leaving me with only 1 class with 6th grade in the afternoon.