It's the end of the school year!

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

....3 months early.....

I'm not sure exactly why but I've finished teaching my 3rd years at both schools. School doesn't end until early April-ish but something about practicing, studying, testing and training is the reason why my seniors are finished with classes already.

I'm kinda sad to see them go especially since I didn't even know it was coming! I thought I still had another 3 months to hang out in class with them!!!

And that really is what I do too. I'm so for group activities that have me walking around the class helping students so I can practice my Japanese and finally answer their questions decently. My Japanese has gotten good enough that I can understand what they're asking or what they're trying to say and I can finally help teach them the proper way to say it in English!!

I'm admitting it right here, I have my favorites and though I try to hide it, it still shows. It's a bit difficult not to! The kids that are not my favorite want nothing to do with me. They don't want to talk, they don't want my help, all they want is to sleep in class. Well fine. I can't stop them anyway so I might as well hang out with the kids that are as interested in talking to me as as I am in talking to them!

The only exception to this is a kid in my 1st year class at Odochi. He's a very nice boy who is always eager to try and speak English...kinda. He always wants to talk to me but also constantly overestimates my Japanese ability. The reason why he does not follow my "favorites" trend is because....he smells.

The kid is dirty, ok! He's just.........I don't know. He's a good kid and I don't ignore him by any means, he's just not my favorite. Luckily for that class, there are only 7 students so I actually have the ability to spend enough time with every student and still talk with my favorites :)

Incidentally, Odochi has my number 1 favorite student. Unfortunately for me, he's a senior which means I'm done teaching his class forever. Unfortunately for me, he decided to skip out on my very last class just because he was bored.

Hey, he might be my favoritist student, but that doesn't mean he's smart, ambitious, modest, or anything other than a punk kid! I can't tell you why he's my favorite, I don't know myself. But he's definitely not the brightest crayon if you follow me.

Anyway, I caught him in the hall and told him I was disappointed that he didn't come. He gave me the blank stare of a person who doesn't understand English but is really curious as to what I'm saying but at the same time is tired of trying to figure it out because he's always freakin curious and he never knows what I'm saying! (that's a fantastic face if you ever see it) So I tried my best in Japanese and left it as "I'll miss you. You are my favorite" and I walked away. He was probably surprised.

Is it against teacher rules to tell a student that you like them best? Good thing for me I'm not a real teacher. And besides, I'm not teaching his class anymore anyway so what does it matter?

In other school news, I was teaching today with my least favorite teacher at Tosayamada and he did something that I absolutely loved. A girl was sleeping in his class and instead of letting her sleep or trying gently to wake her up just to have her go back to sleep, he walked over and slammed his palm on the desk. She was completely shocked and sat straight up. No one was sleeping in class after that. His students, though technically some of the worst 1st years, always behave in his class. It's probably because he pulls a bit of authority on them. He tells them when to stop talking and he makes them wake up. No one argues with him because they're Japanese and he's the teacher! It's the way is should be!!!

He's still my least favorite teacher though.

In other other news, I am so over the cold. This winter has been incredibly warm all over the world and I don't care. I'm tired of wearing turtle necks and doubling up my pants. I want to wear shorts, tanks tops and flip flops!!!

At the same time, it's nice not to be so hot that I stick to myself. My hair looks better without the humidity, and sometimes, I look pretty good in my winter get up. But I'm a Florida girl nonetheless!

3 shared their love:

Anonymous said...

So if school's over, what do you do with your time? Is this like summer vacation? What are your plans? When does school start again? (mom)

NinaSama said...

Schools not over per se. I only teach two third year classes at Tosayamada out of 11 classes and only one at Odochi out of 4 classes. So I am still teaching the first years, I just have a smaller work load (but not by much).

Anonymous said...

Reminds me of Eliason's no sleeping tactics...

 
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