(Funny moments included) So today, I was teaching only second and third period. On Thursdays, the classes are longer so I had some time to kill before I taught. I popped open my computer and started working on some lessons for tomorrow. Then I remembered that I needed to make the copies and gather the things for teaching today so I stopped and did that. Then I went back to working on Friday. When the bell rang, I had ten minutes until my class started (I walk with the teacher and we always leave 1-2 minutes before the bell so we arrive when the bell sounds and start class.) So while I was waiting I read over my worksheet. Almost right away, I found a mistake in section one of the Japanese. I asked Mr. Hashimoto to be sure. "Kokonoka is ninth, right?" "Yes!" Dah! I had typed "KokAnoka (so it was an entire character off)." This was the first time teaching this lesson (and unfortunately I had already made the copies but fixed the masters for the other five classes I'll teach) and I was teaching it to my toughest first grade class. (The ones in which I had two students who adamantly REFUSED to participate and were inciting a small boycott in their area. --That is, a group of students started to refuse to do the worksheets at all.) In any case, I laughed and hoped this would show them I'm human too! So when I got to class we did a preposition practice (which we had done last time but they REALLY got into it this time, YAY!), and then I told them about my error. I could tell who hadn't listened as they read out loud my mistake. I pointed to my correction on the board and said sorry again. The boy who tried to embarrass me was one of those two who refused to do the worksheets before. However, when I went around, I saw that both boys had done it! Score! THEN, there was a section two that was fill in the blank. There were letters missing from the months (the names in English) .. only as I was putting it up on the board so we could correct it together... I noticed ANOTHER mistake. HAHAHA! I put a blank AND the letter. The teacher caught it a split second before me. He said, "Uh oh!" and then I was like, "Oh no! Another mistake! Sorry!" I explained the mistake and at this point I was feeling quite giggly. (Lack of sleep helps that.) So I wrote up the rest on the board and asked a student to write the missing letters for the first month, then to give the chalk to another student, etc. Well... guess who forgot to put a month on the board! And, it was these two boys who pointed it out to me. They said, "April MAY! MAY!" I looked over at the board, saw May was missing and just about died. I was laughing so hard it made my knees weak and I had tears in my eyes. LOL The students laughed at me too - it was good times all around! I made sure it was on the worksheet (it was) and wrote it out to the side. They were troopers today! And it took them a bit to get into our game, but when they did, it worked really well. Also! Those two boys copied the pair work (I told them not to copy, but at least they DID it ... kinda), BUT they did the production element too! I thought it would be too much to hope for that, but they did it! (I asked, "What's your favorite month? Why is it your favorite month?" -- I got some really great answers! My students are so smart!) It was a hot but AWESOME class!
After I got back to the teacher's room, I had another 8 or so minutes so I started correcting some of the worksheets I had collected. (I only checked their production element as we corrected the first two sections in class and I was more interested in them DOING the pair work then spelling every word exactly right - listening and speaking was my focus there). Then suddenly I noticed it was one minute to. That startled me and I put everything down and went over to Ms. Fujieda's desk to find her. She wasn't there! I thought maybe they had gotten my schedule wrong, but when I checked the copy room, she was there. She asked me to wait for her and to give her a few minutes at the beginning of the class. I agreed and went back to wait at my desk. As we walked to class (a little late) I mentioned it was my fear that I would forget something. And today I had a lot of visual aids to take, plus paper, plus markers, plus magnets, plus worksheets, etc. So as she is speaking to the class, I realized I had forgotten the paper. DOH! That day came much sooner than expected. AHAHAHA! I asked Fujieda-sensei, since I wasn't sure how much longer she would be speaking to the class, after she finished to get the paper. She kindly obliged and by the time she got back, we were ready for it. Whew. The class taught me about Japan and things in Japan - it was great! They are such talented artists and so funny! My students rock! After class was over I apologized to Fujieda-sensei again about forgetting the paper and thanked her. I told her the same thing I just wrote here. "I dreaded the day I would forget some material and it's already here!" She was very gracious and we laughed about it and went back to the teacher's room. Oh - before we left the classroom there was an announcement. It actually played as I was trying to end class. I wasn't sure what it was so I didn't want to talk over it if it was important. Ms. Fujieda told me that there were bear sitings in Morioka and they were telling everyone to be careful. "Bears!? I LIKE bears!That's so cool!" Her face said, "Are you KIDDING me!?" LOL
Once I got back to the teacher's room, I finished my grading then got back to my lesson planning. Holy moly I had so much to do today! HOWEVER, I finished my plans for tomorrow! Before that happened, though, I was working and then heard the lunch bell. I grabbed my lunch and went to peel my fruit (which is like a grapefruit but a little more tart and it's yellow - I don't know its name) since the peel needs to go in a special trash and I warm my curry and rice up in the microwave. When I got back to the teacher's room, I saw the vice-principals cleaning. What the!? (They usually help, but it's primarily the student's task to clean the school. So when I clean everyday, I am working with the students.) I put my lunch down and helped them finish up. Afternoon classes were cancelled today. I'm not sure what the students did. Some teachers worked on grading and perhaps planning. Not all the teachers were in the staff room and I could have asked what was going on but only 3 English teachers were there and they were all working hard and I didn't want to bother them. I can only assume that it's something with the exams next week. (Maybe they were catching up on grading. Maybe they were planning their exams. I have no idea.) Also the students were only allowed up to a white line on the floor in the teacher's room. It was all very confusing for me. In the meantime, I finished my planning (YOSH!) and worksheet making. (By the way, I have now made 40 worksheets - well a bit more than that but I have 40 of them still saved! Whoa.)
Oh! Also during my planning time, I got a phone call. That was trippy for me. This is the first time I have ever gotten a phone call at school (well on the school line). It was Interac with some information for me that I had requested. At some point Kanamori-sensei wandered over to my desk and ask me to dinner tomorrow evening. :D It was very sweet but some Interac people were thinking of doing a pizza night tomorrow. I asked her what time (I'm a people pleaser and thought I could do both.) I remembered my haircut and told her I had that scheduled and then it was like, "A haircut!? Oh, you're much too busy then." Uh... ok? Is that the Japanese equivalent of "I'm washing my hair"!? I felt really badly! But she said, "Next weekend!" And I readily agreed. So yay! One of the teachers wants to be my friend outside of school too! :)
I also got my SLP today. I have nothing written for Tuesday! Not even "prep." I'm sure it's for student testing but now I'm not sure if I'm supposed to show up or not! And I was given 3 hours to grade 240 compositions. Wow, the school believes me super human! I'll do my best! I am teaching 3 lessons on Monday, 3 on Wednesday, and then I have 3 periods blocked off for grading. I have no other classes to teach Thursday so if I need additional grading time, I will have it. (In my opinion they should have scheduled one class of grading to a block rather than two. That would be a more accurate representation of how much work I will be doing! Unless the school's faith in me is sound and I FLY through those compositions!)
When I got home I ate some dinner and then I went grocery shopping (I needed a few things - the grocery store had given me a paper in a plastic thing and I asked Ms. Suzuki what it was today and it was a 500 yen off so I used that today too! :D). After that, I came home, printed out lesson plans, etc I've got to get ready for bed pretty quickly here. My earliest morning of the week is tomorrow. All my best, XOXO, A
P.S. I must be more homesick than I thought - a couple weeks ago, Michael McDonald was always popping in my head. The last 2 or 3 weeks I've been CRAVING James Taylor and listening to him almost everyday. Then this morning I woke up singing Paul Simon! I miss my family! Love you guys!
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