Argentina vs. Serbia Montenegro

I had third period with 7th grade kiku today and we were working on the counting the kidney beans. We were working with having all the girls getting into groups and counting the beans. They had to guess how many were in a jar and then they would have to count them all, but they would do it in groups and each student would have to count them in English and go around in a circle. So one student would count 1, and the next 2 and so on. I’m surprised that they didn’t cheat, and count in Japanese, since most of the students last year and the year before did. But I think that it is getting better. Today was an open school day so we had many prospective students and their parents come and look at the class. So we went over time and even into their break because we wanted to show off our oral English program.

The 4th period class was with 8th grade ran and I was having a problem with this class. It happened at the end. And it was beef with the other teacher. I shouldn’t have remained silent and for that I regret. The assignment for the girls today was to write a little something about their favorite souvenir. First CP would write something on the board and would make them copy it. Then after they did that, they needed to write their own little speech based on what she wrote on the board. But her instructions weren’t that good and I think that the students were confused. So they started writing their own speeches and CP starts to go through and check them and she realizes that some of them aren’t writing their own and are just copying. There was one student that I know and work with and I checked it and it was good in grammar and everything. But some of the things about her speech weren’t true, but I didn’t have the authorization to check it. It said in her speech that her wallet had a picture of her sister. But I didn’t want to ask her to check her wallet, so I just believed it and went away. When CP came and checked it, she asked to look in her wallet, which I don’t believe that she should have and sort of scolded the student and then came to me and started saying how they don’t understand and can’t link things together. I think she overstepped that and it pissed me off. After that, the student didn’t feel like working anymore. I think that she shouldn’t have done that because it causes the students to be unmotivated. That’s not the purpose of the class, which is meant to be fun and promote English learning, we aren’t grammar teachers. So I was pissed off with that. After that I told all the students to go to CP to check their papers since she was all knowing.

Then we had lunch, and I had time to cool off. I felt it was necessary because I was really heated after that incident. CP did more damage than good. She doesn’t know what her affect on students is and I believe that it is detrimental to their learning.

5th period was with another 8th grade class and it was yuri. I was much more careful in this class because I didn’t want to get taken down with any other mistakes. I always asked the students to have CP check it after I checked it. I told them that it was fine, but CP might want to change something. They are a higher level class than the last 8th grade class. I didn’t want to get myself into anything that I didn’t want to get myself into, so that’s where I left it. I helped the students the best I could, without interfering too much.

The last class of the day, I was with the 11th grade kiku class. The sister that I referred to earlier is in this class. We first started with the vocabulary quiz like usual, which would actually be their last one and then we got started with the listening test, it would be the only one that they will have with me. It didn’t take as long as I thought it would since we moved faster and completed things quicker. I think that they did well overall since they are the highest level class. After we finished, I gave them some time work on and finish up their speeches for next week. They didn’t have that much time and I think most of them are confused, but if they are, I’ll take the heat for it. I just want them to imagine and work on it in English. That’s the purpose and not really to test them just to test them. I want them to have fun, and learn something all the while. I think that my goals are being achieved though, so it’s a good thing.

I stayed after school only to correct their booklets and vocabulary quizzes. I had three classes worth of information to correct and work on. It took me up till around 7:30pm to finish it all and I was working non-stop. I was really getting tired at the end and I just wanted to go home. I needed to get out to get some dinner. I ended up getting dinner at a place where I haven’t been before but always wanted to go to. It was a Chinese restaurant that was on the way home. It is right next to the Seifu Grocery store that I go to. I ordered the Fried Rice, which was awesome and the soup was pretty good too. It was really nice and I should have been their earlier, but I would have to go back often. It is a bit expensive compared to the other Chinese restaurants that I go to, but it was good so I think it might be worth it to go some times.

I came home and was really tired, but I decided to watch some world cup anyways. It was the Argentina vs. Serbia Montenegro. And it was one impressive display by Argentina. It was one of those games that I liked because there was a lot of scoring. They just tore up Serbia Montenegro to show their dominance. It was really impressive. I was surprised to see it, but it was a great game. I’m glad that I watched it.