CP's birthday

I thought that I would have been able to get a good amount of sleep, but it turned out that I had spent too much time updating my journal and talking to a friend that I didn’t get enough sleep. So I was tired as hell as I was going to work today. I slept on the train and lucky for me I was able to secure a seat in the morning. Well at least on the first train and then when I transferred I felt like I still had enough power to last me throughout the day.

I arrived at school later than I have been lately, but still early. So I would classify it as the perfect time to arrive at school. I didn’t really have much of a plan going into my first class. I figured that I would just wing it on a few notes and see where that went. I think that I do better when I’m just paying attention to where the class wants to go, rather than my notes. I think that I’ve been focusing too much on the notes lately that I haven’t been a very effective teacher, at least one that would be able to keep the attention of the students. I was a bit worried since I really don’t know what I want to go on and what topics I wanted to cover, but I think things worked out well. I think the students were pretty interested in what was going on. I introduced more topics that the students would have to cover on their test. Last year they had a lot of scripts to go on, but I want them to think on their own and to make up their own sentences. I wouldn’t want to get bored listening to their speeches because all of them used the same structure. I want them to get out there and try something different. I’m not sure if they are used to thinking on their own in English, so I’m just going to test the waters a little bit. I had them sing Happy Birthday to CP.

The second period 11th grade class was much like the first period class. I just went in going on what I just did in the last class. I think it worked fine, but these girls are at a lower level so they needed more time and more examples. But I think that for some of them it was still too easy, which I also think its way to easy for them. They should be able to pass with flying colors. They just need to put a little effort into it, which might be something really hard for them to do. I’m not sure, but we’ll see how things turn out. I also had them sing Happy Birthday to CP

Third period was a nice little break for me. I had used up a lot of energy with the first two classes and was kinda running on low fuel since I hadn’t eaten breakfast either. I was getting tired faster. We only did the passages for the recitation contest today. We didn’t do any fun games, but getting the students to practice pronunciation and expressions. CP likes to focus and emphasize her efforts on the stress in English so that they sound more natural and more like a native speaker. My main goal is just to get them to understand English and be able to use it. I think that CP might be aiming too high for them since I think that if they don’t understand their pronunciation would be useless. But that’s just my perspective on that.

Fourth period was a bit rough since they are the unruly 9th graders. They were incredibly loud today, and I was beginning to space out here. I mean the topic itself was already boring since I’ve seen and done it a few times already, but the class was just bad and that didn’t go well with me. I felt like screaming shut up in the middle of class because they were getting on my nerves, but then again, I think that was their point. They really didn’t care what was going on, but I think that they understood what was going on. They are at that stage in life where they are just annoying and doing it on purpose. There are some students in the class that are known school-wide for being trouble-makers, which doesn’t make me feel better that I have to be in same classroom as them. I’m glad that I’m not leading this class and that CP has more experience with them and this kind of situation. I think that it’s a challenge that I’d take on at a later date and time when I have more experience to handle it and when I have the patience for it too.

Fifth period was great today. I was really happy that I decided to teach this class. I enjoy teaching this class a lot. I know a lot of the students’ names and I’m able to talk to them at a higher level. They really like to participate a lot, which brings me great relief and I’m happy with the results. I think that everyone in the class is enjoying it even though next week there is a test where they have a presentation of themselves. My partner, Mrs. Ho.da had them sing happy birthday to CP.

Sixth period was tough to get through. I was beginning to get really really tired. I was about to collapse because my legs were about to give in. I was standing for a really long time and really didn’t like it. I think that it was perfect timing when the class finished because I went back to the office and just sat down to get a rest. I mean having 6 classes in one day is tough. Before I could handle it, but the weather is getting freaky bad. I was really tired because it started to get hot and the worst part was that it was humid too. The humidity is starting to kick in and everyone is feeling the heat. And since we were only doing the reading of the passages for the recitation contest it was boring as hell. So the day didn’t end that great. But it was the end of classes for today and tomorrow I get to be in complete control of the class without any worries. I think that I’m looking forward to that.

I left school early again around 5:30pm because I needed to go buy CP a birthday gift for her birthday party tomorrow. I think I decided to get her some Chocolates from Godiva. She’s been talking about chocolates a lot recently, so I thought that it would be a good gift for her. Otherwise I think a book would have been nice too, but I went with an easier one since I don’t have the time or energy to go into too much thought about it. I grabbed dinner at Yoshinoya when I went to the Godiva store on Motomachi street. It was nice to get home earlier, but still I think I’ve been falling behind on things because it’s already 10pm, and I wanted to sleep at 9pm. I won’t be going to sleep tomorrow because I’m going to be at an all-nighter birthday party tomorrow night for someone I don’t even know. But it should be fun, I hope.