6 classes and a trip to Omiya

Today, the classes were very tiring. I was about to pass out by the end of the day. But it wasn’t near the end of the day for me since I still had to go to meet up with my friends in Omiya later on. Since I had 6 classes, which meant I had to get up at 5am to get ready for work. I think I slept on the train to work today, which seems to become more common for me.

The first class was with my 11th graders. We just worked on getting ready for the test that is coming up fairly soon. I believe that it’s next week. So after they passed their papers to me so I could correct them, I gave them back today. I wanted to give them a preview of what their test should look like and did a little demonstration for them. Then I had each one stand up and give a little piece of their speech at the front of the room. I wanted to get them prepared for the test, since I’m a hard-ass grader and not really nice. This is a fairly high level class, so I didn’t expect any problems from them.

The second class was much of the same thing. But the difference was that none of the basketball players were in this 11th grade class. That means that there was a little less than half the class in attendance. They have a big basketball game coming up tomorrow, so they need to practice for that. It’s understandable, but just inconvenient. I really can’t say much because…well, it’s the boss’s basketball team we are talking about here. The class was still fun and more people that haven’t spoken up before started to speak up more often. So it was a nice change of things for me. I just hope that they will be ready for the test that’s coming up.

Third period was a little break for me, since I wasn’t leading the class. It was with the 7th graders. I think that the class was nice. We were only practicing for the recitation contest for tomorrow. They just read their passages, and it seemed that some students still weren’t able to remember it after practicing it for so long. I think that they need to get some really good practice in otherwise it will be disastrous tomorrow.

Fourth period was with the loud and proud 9th graders. They like to be loud for some odd reason. It’s not very good since we are the teachers. It really isn’t helpful when we are trying to teach them. Their test is coming up soon and today we had to do it without the aid of a Japanese English teacher. I think that a little discipline was in order to get them in shape. We had to do some yelling to get them involved and to just be quiet so the students that wanted to learn, could learn.

Fifth period was with the 10th graders. I had to lead this class to get ready for their speech. I was just helping them brainstorm what they wanted to do for their demonstration speech that is coming up. Since CP and I switched from Friday and Wednesday classes, she’s leading this class. I would prefer to, but that’s not really my decision. Although I think that next semester I will take the initiative to do it. They were doing pretty good with their ideas, but some of them are strange. It’s ok, I just want them to be inventive and to be creative as long as they know how use the English correct, it should be fine.

The last class was with the 7th graders. It was a nice break from teaching since I was tired as hell. We were getting the students ready for the recitation contest tomorrow. This will obviously be their last practice before the big show. They did very well and I think that some of the students have a chance of winning tomorrow. I think most of the time I was nervous about what was going to happen next. From next, I mean after school. After the class finished, I left around 4pm. It’s a bit early for me.

I was on the train and e-mailed one of my friends from the Omiya area. From what I learned, we weren’t supposed to meet. I found that very odd since it was her friend that invited me to go. I would have thought that she would be invited too, but she was going to another party or gathering with her friends and teachers. I was confused as to what was going on, but excited at the same time. I really didn’t know what to expect from anyone or anything anymore.

The plan was just to meet up at the same place and to just break up into different groups, but since no one knew what was going on, we just combined both groups. I met up with my friend at Omiya station first. We were there very early and we talking to each other while we were waiting for other people to arrive. It was nice to see her because we haven’t seen each other in a long time. Everyone arrived a little late and the first few people met up with the others at another location. The people that I knew didn’t show up until much later. We went to an izakya place. We had a nice dinner with everyone. I wasn’t too happy because I wasn’t sitting next to the people that I knew so I didn’t feel so comfortable. So it wasn’t bad, I met up with Haruka, Daisuke, Yoichiro, Yuichi, Reina, Mana, Mashu, CNto, and a few other people whose name I didn’t catch. It was fun and I enjoyed it, but it would have been better if I had talked to someone that I was looking forward to seeing.

I didn’t get home till really late, and I mean really late. It was bad because I had to get up really early to go to the recitation contest tomorrow. I didn’t get home till around 2amish.