Preparation for the Debate Class

Today’s 10th grade lesson plan was to prepare the girls for a debate that we will be having in 2 weeks. Like I expected the day would be, it turned out to be exactly as I imagined it.

The first 10th grade class that I taught was horrible. It was really mismanaged and the students had no idea what was going on. The other teacher barely had an idea of what was going on too. I think the communication between me and her was poor and therefore led to poor translations, which led to much confusion among everyone. This is one of the higher level classes too, which puts me in a difficult situation of how to handle it. It’s gotten much worse and I see no end to the dismantling of their education. They are being taught by two first year teachers, I have an idea of what I want them to do, since I’m the one who made it up. But to put blame on the other teacher just wouldn’t be right, since it’s my job to communicate these things with her and to make sure that she gives the correct translation. Which I’m sure she hasn’t because the students are really absolutely lost. So what am I to do, the next meeting is the debate, and I know they are not prepared to answer the questions or even speak up at the front of the room.

The second 10th grade class was also not done to the best of level. There were only 27 students which is by far the fewest of any of my classes. They are one of those in between classes. They are believed to lack the ability to speak and learn English, but I believe that they could do it and are probably the most creative of all my classes. They pointed out something that I didn’t catch before while I was making the plan of how to teach the class. So I was able to make the adjustment, although I could tell the other teacher wasn’t happy. We made the final adjustments at the end of class, and hopefully they will be able to get it done in time. They were supposed to have another week to work on it, but next week there is no school. I have encouraged all the students to come to talk to me in the office, but I know for a fact that none of them will. The other teacher suggested to me that I be a little bit more organized for the next class since they are a bit out of control. And if they don’t understand it will be just a mad house.

So I worked throughout the whole lunch break fixing all the errors from the first two classes. I got all the papers printed out and made the adjustments of how I will teach them. So the third 10th grade class, supposed to be the lowest level actually got it. With the adjustments that I made during lunch, this class went absolutely fabulous. They even had enough time to finish and turn it in, even though it wasn’t due till Thursday. I think the explanation was clearer than in the first two classes and even the other teacher said that it went well. Quite a shock to me since I always get the feeling she hates me. So that was a relief to finally get a good class out of the day. But then again, I expected this because this was how things went last week too.

The last 10th grade class is said to be the highest level in ability, but I feel they lack the creativity to be superb. In this class, I had to do the first 20 minutes alone with no translator. At first it seemed as if I was losing control until I got their attention by yelling. It worked quite well I think. Once I was able to get control, I finished explaining it. After I yelled at them, it was a little too quiet though. Like I would ask a question and no one would say anything. Their homeroom teacher is a very strict fellow and they are often scared to be out of control. But I think that they thought they could get away with it today since I was on my own. I explained it to them and then we went on with the lesson. I think it went well except for the fact that I had to yell to get their attention. But at least they were able to listen and get it so they will be ready for their test in two weeks.

I would later meet some of the girls from the last class in English club. They thought I was mad. I wasn’t, just needed to get their attention to show them how I will grade them. It was important stuff and that’s why I needed to do it. The club seemed fun today. There weren’t any junior high school kids today, which is weird since Tuesdays are the junior high school students English club day, and Mondays are the high school students. But it was fun; we talked about universities differences from the States and Japan. And then we planned the end of the year party. We will throw a party for one of the English teachers that will be married soon.