Private lesson number 2

I had my second private lesson today. I had awakened earlier today than usual. I mean the appointment wasn’t until 1pm and I was awake by 9am. I think it could have been because I went to sleep earlier. I seem to be getting tired faster and having to go to sleep earlier. That’s not a bad thing since I usually get up early for work. I guess I’ve formed my daily routine and my sleeping patterns have developed. Well I suppose that’s what’s happening. So what I did in the morning was just plan for the lesson and the one thereafter. I think that I put together a pretty comprehensive lesson and I think it will be challenging for her. I think it should be helpful for her to improve her English.

The location was nice too. It seemed pretty busy on a Sunday, but it wasn’t that bad inside the library. We found a nice place to sit and spent the next 1.5 hours engaging in English. I think I learned a lot about her and something that I didn’t realize about what I planned. But I think that it might have sparked something in her that would be able to help her improve on her own, if she wanted to. I reviewed the homework that I gave her and then pointed some things out to her. Like some errors that I found and what I would be able to help her to do. She’s at the level that I feel she should be in high school because she’s only 17 years old and hasn’t ever lived abroad. I think that she should be exactly where she’s at, but of course it’s not where she wants to be, especially since she wants to go live in New York in about a year. I think she has some room for improvement, but she isn’t bad either, she’s in between.

If I could improve I think I would need to add more focus into what she wants to learn and have her apply more of what she already knows. I feel as if I think she just has the yearning to speak. I just let her go and speak even though it wasn’t as structured. It’s only the first meeting anyways. I think that she’s got the capabilities but is too dependent on the dictionary. Of course like I could say anything since I live through the dictionary too, and I’m in a position that I should speak fluent Japanese since I’ve lived here for about 7 months now. I’m falling behind rapidly.

After the lesson, we parted ways at hongodai station and then I went to the restaurant I have been going to on my way home to grab something to eat. I ordered ramen today. It was much smaller than I anticipated, but it was still delicious. I think I shouldn’t go to that place so often because they give me weird looks, but they seem like nice people. After that I just went home and took care of some things and hung out in front of my lovely computer. Seems like I’m only doing one or two things a day and I don’t feel like I’m living the whole I’m in another country experience. I feel lazy, that I should be doing more than I already am. But honestly, what more could I do? I felt like I’ve done everything that I came here to do and hit every major tourist spot in Tokyo and Yokohama. I guess I could go a little further once I get my hands on more dough. That’s what I’ll plan for then.

At night, since it wasn’t so freezing, I decided to watch a movie on my new DVD player. I mean the room wasn’t so bad, so I could tolerate it and watch a movie and eat dinner. So it was nice. I decided to watch Big Fish. It’s a great movie and very inspirational, well at least to me. But near the end of the movie the disc must have been scratched because it kept on skipping on me. I was pissed off because it was right at the part when it was about to end and the son was telling the story. It almost made it all the way through, but it was still nice to see it.