Losing control

Today, things seem to be blown out of proportion. I’m not sure what’s really going on anymore. The first class that I had today went pretty smooth, but there were some abnormalities. The 8th grade class was loud, but they were speaking English. The problem in that class wasn’t actually the students, but with the Japanese English Teacher that is there to assist us. That’s weird; she was having a conversation with a student in the middle of class as we were trying to get the rest of the student’s attention. The lesson was something quite easy and something that the students could easily understand and be able to use, but it was strange that the teacher would be the one speaking in Japanese and not encouraging the students to speak English in oral communication class. The lesson for the day was just on asking questions and them being able to form questions of their own to ask… well me. I was the example that followed pretty closely from the book. They asked the usual questions like, how old am I, how tall am I, where do I live, how many siblings I have, do I have a girlfriend, you know those kinds of things.

Then in the next class, things were getting weirder too. It wasn’t the usual suspects that were being bad today. It was new students that were being loud and inattentive and disruptive of the class. It was girls in the front of the class too, right in the front row where I was standing. So I made the loud and noisy students stand up and give a presentation, well actually just read the dialogue using their real answers and not the ones in the book. For most of the class, we didn’t have any Japanese English teacher support either because she was giving one of the students a lecture about something. That was part of the reason why the class was quieter today. I was stalling a little bit because I needed her to translate something for the students and she wasn’t even there. So we got through the lesson better than the previous weeks, and I didn’t hear any students complaining that they didn’t understand. I actually believe that they were able to understand and just being a little lazy. But today, they weren’t very responsive, so that’s a bit discouraging for me. I don’t like teaching out of a textbook, but that’s what my superior has me doing, so I’m just going along with it. I’m sure it’s boring as hell for the students, since it’s boring for me to teach it too. I feel my style is getting cramped by being standard. I do not really like where that’s going either.

The 7th grade class was much better even though they were a bit antsy. It was still good and they were productive. That’s what’s really good. I think they are making good progress for the recitation contest. They are a bit softer on their voices and expression than the other classes, but at least they are doing it. They need more pep before the performances, or they won’t stand a chance against the other classes for a prize. They are still doing well never the less.

The last class of the day was the 11th grade. This is a class that has always been tough because they are just unruly. Today was probably the worse that they have been this school year. They really didn’t care what was going on and didn’t even have any idea what we were talking about. They were surprised that I mentioned that there was a test coming up even though I mentioned it a lot last week. I’m not sure where they were or what they were doing, but they aren’t paying much attention. But it’s not just in my class; it’s in all their classes too. So, we’ve concluded that we’re losing a lot of control and interest in the students. I’m not sure whether it’s because of the hot, humid weather, or because it’s a week before mid-terms and they are just going a bit crazy to get prepared to take those exams next week. For me though, it’s the weather. I haven’t felt 100% lately and very tired and sleepy during classes. I didn’t really go over much today, I just gave up and just let them work on writing down the information that they would need for their presentation. The teachers just walked around the class and just helped out the students individually.

After class, I hung around school even though I didn’t have to. I was talking to a few teachers about different things. I heard that there will be an advanced screening of Star Wars Episode 3 in Yokohama about 2 weeks before the official release date. Yes its 2 months after the release everywhere else in the world, but its Star Wars tradition to release the movie in July in Japan since that’s the beginning of summer here. I was also reading a book about Japanese history and customs and culture. It was interesting. I was reading quite a bit about it and didn’t end up leaving till around 5pm. I had dinner at the place near Hongodai station, which is always good, but there was an insect in my water, so I didn’t touch that. They always give free coffee anyways, so I just drank that instead.

There was a song at the place I was at on Saturday night that was really popular that they played it at least 7 times. It’s called dragostea din tei by Ozone. It’s a French song I believe, but there are some Japanese sounding words in the song, so the Japanese love to play it in clubs and stuff. I think the Japanese people know is as Maiyahi. The chorus goes noma, noma, yay! Which means Drink, Drink, YAY! Interesting isn’t it?

Here’s another website that I found that has some good stuff on it if you’re interested. Read up on it. http://tumanov.com/entry/297

Check out this little flash website, and you’ll understand what I’m talking about.
http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/maiyahi.php

Here are the lyrics in Japanese, well for those of you who have Japanese on your computers or the IME.

??? ?????????? ?????????????????????????? ?????????????????????????? ?????????????????????????? ?????????????????????????? ??????? ?????????? ?????????????? ????? ????????? ?????????? ????? (??????????) ??????? ?????? ???? ??????????????? ?????????????????? ?????????????DAY ???????DE??????? ??????????????? ?????????????????? ?????????????DAY ???????DE???????

Here are the lyrics in English, well translated.
?--------------- ?My Yeah He! ?My Yahoo! My Ahooo! ?My Yeah Ha! Ha! ?---- * 4 ------ ?Crazy Day! ?It's Bomber, Bomber, Yeah? ?Bomber, Bomber, Yeah! ?Bomber, Bomber, Bomber, Yeah! ?Keep Dancing! Love Study Days! ?Now, Best Match Babies! ?Hate Day! ?It's Bomber, Bomber, Yeah? ?Bomber, Bomber, Yeah! ?Bomber, Bomber, Bomber, Yeah! ?Keep Dancing! Love Study Days! ?Now, Best Match Babies!