When I first got here the thought of teaching haunted me throughout the day and into the night. Fear of teaching wild kids who were uninterested in the class, lesson and me; which would result in me becoming ill from stress every so often and the anticipating fear of the next class to come.
As students stare at you for a good 50 minutes, you’d swear to god (as a newbie) children are really Hannibalistic monsters in disguise. When they watch you they’re really honing their senses to detect the first break of sweat that would mean fear, which if you turn your back for a split second they may attack.
Okay, fear comes in many ways – I was just assuming the worst of WORST scenarios.
Stroke of Luck
I am grateful to have such wonderful kids, I have this year. They know when it’s time to buckle down and learn, but they understand the flexibility of time to make jokes and clown around…
~**Mind you, I’m saying this as a newbie, I’m still in the honeymoon stages here.**~
Credit also goes to their teachers as well. All the teachers here are very caring towards the students, and are very supportive in their learning. Makes me kind of miss the good teachers I had back in high school, and how I always thought that if I was to ever teach, I would want to be like them. Teaching on the fly, with no prior experience or practicum, my mind would revert to “What would Ms. Mah do?”, “What would Mr. Buddai say?”, “How would Ms. Uhren act?”. When situations arise I would all of a sudden “become” and “embody” one of my teachers from tone of voice to gestures. Trying to get the kids excited and attempt to instill passion of speaking I would be Ms. Uhren. Waving my arms about in some grand Renaissance gesture, while Ms. Mah’s glare and funny scrunched facial expression would come out during times of “wtf? What are you talking about? Weird.” Mr. Buddai comes the most predominant as his style is casual and humorous, which easily helps me portray the “Alright, let’s do this, sit down I’m teaching.”
Meet the Boys of 1 -1
My last class to teach before the kids enter their midterms. Class 1-1 is a large class and so is split into two when it comes to doing lessons. One half will learn English, while the other learns Math, etc. Though it’s interesting that one class has 25 kids (with only 5 girls), and the other has 15 kids (all boys). Today I had the 15, all boys from class 1-1.
When I got up in front of them that Hannibal theory began to creep it’s way back into my mind. I smiled and gave my introduction and made small talk with the comments that came my way. They were an energetic bunch, with energy that could go in any direction and would be hard to contain if I don’t keep their attention.
We went over mandatory vocabulary that will be used on their midterm, as I got them to repeat and pronounce my English teacher (a kind and funny old man), would translate it in Japanese to make sure they were understanding. Every so often his explanation would would be interrupted by a student who would joke in Japanese “Sensei, English only!”, “Sensei, no more talking, we want to hear the ALT (me) talk”, etc.
My boys are class clowns all together, but then I realized how smart they are. How their ability to comprehend what I was saying was far better than some of my other classes. They just hate the textbook – as do I. Sadly, they need it for their exams. They were eager to answer my questions, but mainly because the English teacher had chocolates for those who volunteered their answer. That was the first time I saw kids actually willing to volunteer so energetically.
Their excitement died a bit when one student finally questioned where the teacher was hiding the chocolates, considering there was no bag insight. The room went silent when they found out the treats were being kept hidden in the teachers back pocket… Then like an explosion the boys starting complaining to the teacher to take the chocolates out and not keep it near his ass.
I burst out laughing, and I think the boys got a kick at how I found them so amusing. I relaxed a bit more and we continued through the class with intervals of us all joking around.
Repeat after me…
When getting kids to repeat after me, getting them to follow along is a bit of a longer process due to cultural & language differences.In North America we say “Ok, on three – 1, 2, 3…”, in Japan they say “Say-no…”. It works perfectly! When I first did it the class went silent, as the students were in awe that “wow! she knows how to say that?!”
BC Roll in Japan 