Friday

Woke up at 7:10am, had rice for breakfast, threw out the trash, and drove to school. We’re back to gorgeous sunny weather today! Relaxing day today, only 3 lessons to teach. First up was 5-2 in period 2, and the kids presented their self-introductions. First we let them have 5 minutes of practice time, and had them give feedback to each other. Then we started the presentations! They all did super great! Their homeroom teacher was also really helpful with writing presentation checkpoints – clear voice, eye contact, and speed. I forgot about speaking speed, but it’s true that a lot of the kids rush through their self-introductions with zero pauses. Sometimes it sounds like this “IlikeblueIlikebasketballIlike…” which is actually quite cute and endearing haha. 5-1 in period 3 and they were super great today! For presentation time, it actually came in handy that they’re a quiet class, because they didn’t talk much in between presentations, so we were able to get through everyone on time! They were also taking notes of their classmates’ presentations very diligently.

Lunch today in the staffroom because of broadcast. My JTE made a broadcast schedule, so today I talked a bit about Golden Week, Children’s Day, and how other countries differ in terms of public holidays. Lunch today was rice with pork and veggies, spicy soup, and an orange slice. Last class of the day with 6-1 in period 5, and it was sadly a very average lesson…it was like they were back to their 5th grade noisy habits. The greeting was done halfheartedly, no one was really paying attention during Small Talk, the listening activity was done just ok-ish, and they completely botched the game. I played Hot Potato (pass the soft toys) with them because it had worked so well with 1st grade, and to be honest 6th graders love games a lot too, but they just couldn't stop talking, messing around, and throwing the soft toys everywhere instead of passing it to the next person properly. I guess I expected too much from them ha… My JTE gave them a stern talk at the end of the lesson though, and I was really really glad she did. Even she thought they did the game terribly, and she bluntly said so (A BIG YES TO THIS). The kids were dead silent and listened properly to this, and you could tell they all actually felt a little bit sorry. I also felt sorry too for the few kids who were trying to do the game properly. It’s so easy to ruin a game. Let’s hope 6-2 plays the game better on Monday!