Getting Their Money's Worth

My town, Iide-machi, got its money's worth today. I worked the hardest and the most that I ever have since I arrived here. It was my first time teaching at an elementary school, which ended up being really great but extremely tiring.

TENOKO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. 54 students total: my second smallest school (my smallest elementary school has 10 students, no joke). I had to teach all 6 classes (grades 1 through 6) and I was at the school from 8AM - 4PM. The day before, I was given a lesson plan for each class and I thought, "wow this is great. I can just go in and show these flashcards. easy, gyeah?"

Or so I thought...

I arrived at the school and was immediately greeted by a staff member. As we were reviewing today's schedule he says,

"Ah, Chryssie sensei (teacher), today schedule ah change-ee! OK!"

I was confused and I asked what had changed. He responded:

"lesson plan no more! today we do Chryssie sensei's lesson plan!"

He might as well have just thrown the lesson plans out the window.

HAHA. My dear lord! It was a good thing that I had planned for this sort of thing. I was so thankful that I did, otherwise I would be writing this blog in a really grouchy mood right now.

Here's how it went:

• Self-Introduction: in front of the entire school. I managed to pull this off in eloquent Japanese. Considering that it's an elementary school I have to speak 70% Japanese and 30% English.
  
  
• 1st Grade: Animals
• The teacher didn't know any English, it was such a challenge. I was greeted with the typical, "Good Morning Chryssie-sensei." In which I respond, "Good Morning! How are you all today?"
  
  And just like programmed Vicki's from Small Wonder they responded, "I'm fine/great, thank you!"
  
  
• I taught them a bunch of animals and I found that the elephant is the most difficult animal to learn. They also have a hard time saying Panda because they are used to saying Pahn-da instead of Pan-da.
  
  
• These students are incredibly cute, but their English is so limited. We ended with a game and that got them happy.
  
  
• 2nd Grade: Animals
• These students have already studied animals last year, so they knew most of them--made my job easier.
  
  
• This time, I introduced myself a lot more and they were much more interested in my life than learning about animals. They were even prepared with questions that they had written before I came.
  
  
• This class was a lot easier than the first one since the teacher could speak more English that the first.
  
  
• 3rd Grade: Weather
• Here's where I start teaching alone really. Suddenly, the atmosphere is a bit different. The students do their typical greeting and the teacher is kind of like: there you go! What do you have planned for us today?
  
  
• The topic was weather, which I thought to be much more interesting that animals. We reviewed basic vocabulary. I talked about the weather in different places and I was impressed with their description of today's weather. Apparently we had hail? The students were also shocked that I have never lived in a place where it snows. They kind of gave me this look that says, "ohhhhh shit, you're in for a surprise this winter!"
  
  
• I did a quick quiz and most kids knew the answer. I find that most of the classes are just okay at English, a few are excellent, and some just can't pick it up.
  
  
• Then we played the infamous Karuta. The game that these little ones train for. Karuta consists of setting flashcards down on a table and as I call out a certain weather type, they have to quickly slap down on the corresponding card.
  
  THEY LOVE THIS GAME. Plus I like screwing with them by throwing in words they have heard of before. I switched it up a couple of times by having them cover their eyes prior to slapping down, or turning around. When I had them cover their eyes, the teacher and I would switch the cards around to trip them up. I thought it was humorous. =P
  
  JANKEN. Plus, the great thing about teaching in Japan is that Janken (Rock Paper Scissors) is the game of all games. The moment there is a tie, the students immediately turn to their "coin toss," Rock Paper Scissors. They are die-hard about Janken. They are good at it and the results of Janken are always official. If you lose, you accept it. No one questions it. For a teacher, it's so great.
  
  Who knew that such a simple game would rock so much?
  
  
• This class was really great and I was really starting to get into the groove of things.
  
  
• 4th Grade: Weather
• Did the same routine, it was much more polished this time around.
  
• Lunch
  
• Ate with the students. The food was really good, especially when you compare it to American school lunch. The students were shocked at the following things:
1. I knew how to use chopsticks
2. I ate all of my food
3. I was able to grub on Japanese food
4. I ate the skin of my grapes. (ALL of them don't!)
   
   
• Cleaning Time
• In Japan, the students have so much responsibility.
  They don't have school janitors that clean the classes and the school for them: they do it. It's really awesome. I joined right in by helping to clean the 3rd grade classroom. I let the kids boss me around (and in classic Japanese manner: it was polite bossing around) and I knew they enjoyed it. I did the classic monk-style cleaning of the floors, which they turn into a race. I raced against two boys and we all collapsed on the ground afterwards because it's so damn tiring.
  
  They are so efficient. EVERYONE cleans. EVERYTHING is cleaned. Plus, they know they have to do it and so NOBODY complains.
  
  How beautiful is that?
  
  
• 5th Grade: Time
• My best class of the day.
  Initially, it was the class right after lunch, therefore the students are sleepy. They're stretched out on their desks with their bellies full and the cool breeze not helping at all. But I wasn't about to let them fall asleep on me.
  
  
• For this particular class we had a group of what they call "The Old People of Iide Town," which I found to be such a hilarious description, tour the school. They stopped by my class and talk about pressure. Not only did I have the Principal, the Vice Principal, some staff and these guests watching me but I had to teach these kids about telling time!
  
  
• I had prepared a Bingo Game that would really challenge the kids to think. But on the spot, I decided to improv a new game. I had the kids race each other. Two teams lined up and they had to race to the board when I called out a time. I used several methods: numerical writing, throwing in the AM/PMs, and then having them arrange it on clocks.
  
  And BOOM!: SUCCESS! It was magic! Worked out beautifully and I was so relieved.
  
  
• The kids weren't sleepy anymore and now they could tell time in English. Mission accomplished.
  
  
• 6th Grade: Time
• Last class always seems like a challenge, but they were my smartest class. They picked up on things quickly and I used the same method as with the 5th graders.
  

OLD MCDONALD. I forgot to mention that "Old McDonald" was this month's English song for Tenoko Elementary. So for EVERY SINGLE class, I sang Old McDonald. The CD version of the song was way too fast for both the teacher and the students, so they relied on me to sing a much slower version.

If I had to tally how many time I sang it today the total would come to: 42. That's 7 times per class. I sang it twice for chicks, once for ducks, once for turkeys, once for pigs and once for cows.

(-_-) And I belted out this song. Over and over. Every time I returned to the Teacher's Office they all joked about how many times I had to sing it today and how many more times I would have to.

I found that the E-I-E-I-O! part was the easiest and the loudest. That song is just too damn fast for those kids.

Elementary school turned out to be not so bad after all. I was tired though. If only you could see how happy I have to be for these classes. You would laugh really.

ENGLISH CONTEST. Afterwards, I went to Iide Junior High to work with my two students for the English Contest. There was immediate improvement over night.

And at 6PM I was done for the day.


SUSHI. I deserved sushi. I went out to dinner with two other English-speaking ALT's from the other towns. It's so rewarding to have long English conversations after you have been speaking broken Japanese all day long. The sushi was great =)

CAKE & DRINK BAR. We dropped into what I thought be a coffee shop, but actually turned out to be cake heaven. I asked where the nearest coffee shop was and out of guilt and temptation, bought a wonderfully crafted slice of Strawberry Green Tea Cake. The two ladies working there were so kind (everyone in Japan is!), so they gave me free creme-puffs since they knew I was heading to a coffee shop.

Is this not the greatest society to be living as a foreigner in?

We went to Coco's, which surprisingly is opened until 2am. We had the "Drink Bar," which for about $3, you can stuff your bladder with as many drinks (non-alcoholic of course) as you can. I had a cappucino, a latte, tea and an ansy bladder.

As we were up getting our drinks we noticed that all of a sudden, this group of probably young 20 year old Japanese girls burst into laughter. At first, we thought nothing of it... until, we turned around and noticed them all looking at us. Something was funny, but we didn't know what it was? I'm sure it was because we are just foreigners.

By now, we are getting used to the stares.

ACHE. So that was my day. I write too much and I don't mean too, but once I get going I just keep on going. As I sit here I feel my legs ache since I had to move and transform so much today. It's time to pull out my futon and wake up for a new day.

It was good hearing from some of you! It really makes me happy.