A day that started a bit early

I woke up earlier than my alarm again, which makes that around 4:30am. I’m getting up earlier and earlier and I really don’t like that. I didn’t get to bed till much later than I had wanted to, which makes that about 11pm.

The first class I had today, didn’t get as well as I had expected it to go only because the lesson I planned only turned out to be about 10 minutes long and I still had another 40 minutes to go. I managed to use up a few more minutes before I just let the students work on their paperwork for the test that’s coming up. I’m making them think about what they really want to present and I’m not having them follow any scripts which is the old way of doing things. I think that is making things a bit difficult for them and me, but I think that in the end it will pay off. I’m not sure if it will because things are looking rocky with the process of them learning, but I guess I’ll see what they are really capable of once I get their test papers in and am able to review it.

The second class was another 11th grade class. They are at a much lower level, but I extended my lesson to about 35 minutes, which isn’t bad and added a lot more information than I did in the last class because I didn’t want anyone confused. Although I know that’s virtually impossible with so many students and everything being in a foreign language, I figure it’s still worth a shot anyways. There’s no harm in trying at least.

Third period was a bit different because it was a change in the schedule. That makes 4 for the year so far and it’s still the first semester. Anyways, it was a 7th grade class so we just got them up to the front of the class and they were preparing for their recitation contest. They were reading their parts and we were just helping their fluency. I think they were pretty good and especially when other teachers were coming in the room to observe our activities. Today was an open school to Juku teachers so they could see what our school is about. I heard a couple of the teachers try to speak English too, which makes the lesson pretty good. I was supposed to lead this class at the beginning of the year, but decided that I didn’t want to work with the 7th graders and wanted to put more effort and focus on the 11th grade.

Fourth period was with the loud 9th graders. This class is one of the toughest classes that I work with because they just don’t give a damn about school. Their attitude towards learning is low and they aren’t motivated by much. It’s not just English, it’s pretty much everything that has to deal with learning. So it’s a tough class. I’m glad I’m not leading it, or I’d have to run it military style and make many threats, otherwise nothing would ever be accomplished. We are going through the lesson and they are receptive of it. Well some students are able to understand and are able to participate, even though it’s only limited and they do it in an “interesting” way. I think they do understand though, but just have this air about them that isn’t the best. We just followed along with the book and finished the chapter on talking on the phone.

Fifth period was a test for the 10th graders. We were getting ready for them to take an oral exam, which is basically just an introductory speech. Something that is quite remarkably easy and I’m not sure why they are doing this in the 10th grade when people in junior high school are already doing it. But it’s what the bosses want so I’ll do it. I think that the assignment is easy enough and this is one of the higher ability classes which is also one of the more fun classes I teach too. I know most of their names so I’m able to converse with them. But the other teachers were making comments that I was grading too strict, which I believe I was only grading how I thought was going to be the standard. I think CP’s grading is a bit strict, but I agree with it. I’m not sure how the grading works in Japan, so it could very well be generous. I need to find that out, but I think I worried the Japanese English teacher because she made a comment and then felt reserved afterwards. I felt as if she was holding something back that she wanted to say. In my opinion I was grading a bit low, I thought that they were very good and much better than the scores would reflect, but from what I’ve learned in other classes, I graded as what I felt was good scores. For example, I gave most of the students 8’s out of 10, but that’s only average. In the U.S. that’s a B equivalent, but I guess here it’s an A. That’s what I was told by CP, but I’m not sure how that figures.

Sixth period was with the 7th graders, with the same teachers as the last class. It was the Japanese English teachers’ home room class. They had the same lesson plan as the 3rd period class. We just had them come up to the front of the room and just practice their passages for the recitation contest. I think this class did the best of all the other classes that I teach. They were energetic and louder, which is a bit tough since it was the last class of the day and everyone was beat and tired. I think all the teachers were getting exhausted too since it began to get a little too warm.

I left school really early today. I left a little before 4pm, which makes it seem that I’m leaving earlier and earlier. But I wanted to beat the heat to come home. I wanted to work on my website, which never ended up happening. I bought some KFC to take home to have for dinner and then I enjoyed the Soccer Game on TV. It was between Japan and UAE, and Japan lost. I don’t know how since they were dominating for most of the game, and UAE just got a lucky break, but it was enough to win. I’m not really much of a soccer fan, but I think that while I’m here I should enjoy it. Then after that I started typing this entry.