Thursday

Woke up at 7:10am, had cereal for breakfast, then set off for school. Today was quite cloudy so it wasn’t as stuffily hot, thank goodness. The temperature still rose throughout the day though. All you could hear in the staffroom was “It’s so hot today”. The caretaker spent the morning cleaning the aircon in the staffroom, and by 4th period it was up and running. Ahhh, so thankful that my school uses the staffroom aircon without restraint. I actually thought they wouldn't start using the aircon until much later. Class with 3-1 in period 3 and it was pretty good. I’m very thankful for last year’s 2nd grade teachers for disciplining the kids so well (in terms of English class) because it’s carried over to this year’s English classes. 3-1’s teacher isn’t the most enthusiastic about English, so I was worried it might affect the kids, but they’re still going strong. We played the dot-to-dot game today to practice numbers, and they really liked it. 3-2 was just as good in period 4, and their homeroom teacher is much more involved. Yesterday she made sure to come ask me about today’s lesson, and even made sure to clarify what she could to help throughout the lesson, like asking the kids “What number in Japanese?” to clarify their understanding and everything. She also tries to use a lot of English, and asked me how to say “draw a line” in English so she could say it in the dot-to-dot game. It feels like I see the 3rd graders a lot less now, compared to how much I felt like I saw them (as 2nd graders) last year, but I’m glad they’re still as affectionate and friendly with me as ever.

Lunch today was yakisoba and bread, egg soup, and half a banana. Eating with 5-2 is always fun. There were leftovers again today so I got second helpings of yakisoba. 5th grade must just get served massive amounts, because later on 5-1’s teacher came over with their bowl of leftover yakisoba. 5-2 has many kids who are actual eating machines though, so they helped finish it off for him. The kids were lively as usual today, and we talked about a lot of things. They were most surprised at how expensive Japanese food can be in NZ. Class with 6-2 in period 5 to finish today off, and it was another good lesson. They’re really getting the hang of small talk now – my JTE and I asked each other about our birthdays, and what we want for birthday presents, and the kids could answer correctly when I asked them at the end! We then did the textbook listening activity, calendar bingo, and some writing worksheets at the end. Their homeroom teacher was very kind to turn on the aircon for us. When my JTE and I walked into the classroom, we were both like “wow” at the coolness, and then as we walked out at the end, it was again “wow” but this time from the heat in the corridor. Had some meetings with my JTE for tomorrow (all the 6th grade teachers are away in the afternoon, so they gave the kids to us for English haha), and found one of the 5th grade teachers to quickly discuss tomorrow’s lesson. After that I went to buy some souvenirs (the Gateau Festa Harada rusks) for my exchange friends since I’ll be seeing them this weekend in Kyoto! Went home, did some laundry, and Japanese study.