Bad Influence in Class
Junior High School Days can be a bored, but it can be a lot of fun. Especially on days when the kids are in an awake mode and, never thought I'll say this but, when they are "destructive" in class. Let me explain this last point. First, you have to understand that the teaching method are very different from the ones in other countries. In Canada when a kid is doing his own thing and talking with his friend while the teacher is talking, they're given a hard time. In Japan, the teachers will usually tell the kid to pay attention (in a very polite way) and go back to talking. Let me give you some example, by recapping the day other day at a Junior High School. As a little background note: I was fortunate enough to be working in the same schools as I did last year, which really makes bonding and talking to the kids an easy task.
Day 1: Smallest Junior High School in town, with a total of 32 students in that school.
The day started off with the eldest class, the 3rd grade. We started the class with a short test (detection): some vocabularies and 2 sentences that's taken straight from the textbook. I do my usual pace around the room and... gave subtle hints. Like making a face when I spy a misspell word, pointing out misspell words, and at the end even as far as sounding out words for the kids. How did the Japanese teacher (aka JTE) react to this? Nothing really. These "subtle hints" is actually something I picked up from her XD
This JTE really goes all out to make the kids talk and practice English when I'm around. How? With stickers. When the kids collect enough small ones on a sticker sheet, they
get a better, more shiny one. Shortly after the regular Bingo session, KS-kun digs out a completed sticker sheet from his folder and waves it in my face as I walk by. I indicated he should tell the JTE, and not me cause she's the one with the better stickers. Instead of deciding to tell her with words, he decided to fold a plane with the sticker sheet. I walked away, far far away, as he started folding it. He never did throw the paper plane at the JTE, and managed to get her attention when all the other kids began focusing their attention on him.
The kids were suppose to spend last half of the class writing. Two kids, one of them being KS-kun and the other being MurakamiY-san, started playing with their pencil cases. More specifically, they were copying a kids show where the kids made remote control and pretended to control their "robot" father. They wanted me to play along with them, but I refused. Partly because I felt it was inappropriate, and partly cause it would had been too embarrassing.
Oh, and did I mention OR-kun was throwing eraser pieces at his classmates the entire class? (mainly at KS-kun)
The second class of the day was with the 2nd grade kids. For some reason, they were especially lively today, even the girls! When I was asking the usual weather/date question their hands were flying up non-stop. They also had a short test at the start of the class, and I also gave subtle hints though that didn't really help with these kids.
Today was a review of the textbook on a conversation that took place in a restaurant.
First the JTE created a new menu, so the kids can sub in what they like and be a little creative. Boy were the kids opinionated today! They didn't want this or that. Then they wanted more food suggestions, and whined when the JTE made them say the drinks in English (Macha vs Green Tea).
They finally got into pairs and practiced the dialog using the new menu the JTE made on the board. OM-san was trying to give her partner a hard time, by saying "No" when she should be saying "Yes". At least she was learning something by asking me how to say it properly instead of just straight out no.
Then when it came time to present, the JTE gave them a new rule and said every word in English, "You can't say the same food twice! So you got to listen!" The kids didn't understand. The class troublemaker, YK-kun, looked at me for help. So I put it in more simple elementary school level for him and said, "No repeats". He got it after I said it a few more times, and soon translated it in Japanese for the rest of the class. To my surprise, OS-san, who usually goes along with anything said, "Ee, but I don't want to name an item that I dont' like!"
After that was completed, JTE told them to turn their books over for a little memory practice. YK-kun refused to and hide the book inside his desk, just enough so he can still read it. Eventually I just grabbed his book and turned it over. What did he do? Oh he didn't just turned it back around, that will be no fun for him. He kept the book turned upside down, but try to adjust the book so he can peek at it when he looked up at it from the side of the table.
At last came the final task, presenting the dialog without looking at the book. And surprise surprise, YK-kun actually volunteer to go first.
SH-san: Excuse me, will you explain the lunch special please? (memorized it perfectly)
YK-kun, who was challenging himself to peek up at the book while the JTE was helping them memorize the dialog, could not remember. So he looked at me for help.
me: Sure.
YK-kun: *looks at front* Sure. *looks back at me*
me: *smirks* Today's lunch special (slightly different from the text cause I was doing it by memorization too, but not the point)
YK-kun: Today's lunch special is steak and kidney pie.
SH-san: I'll have that. (agani, memorized it perfectly)
YK-kun looks at me AGAIN. I really wanted to smack him by this point, but just laughed and feed him more hints.
Moral of this day: the danger of being too friendly with the kids can lead to nothing getting done in class XD
But no seriously, I do adore these kids. Experiencing this kind of teaching method is part of the reason why this job is so much fun.
Annnd tomorrow (or rather, later today) I'll be heading to Tokyo. Getting super excited about this concert, and the new members announcement! Oh and UFA is evil, releasing new goods just for the last 2 shows. And some of the photos are actually decent... oh my poor wallet D:
Day 1: Smallest Junior High School in town, with a total of 32 students in that school.
The day started off with the eldest class, the 3rd grade. We started the class with a short test (detection): some vocabularies and 2 sentences that's taken straight from the textbook. I do my usual pace around the room and... gave subtle hints. Like making a face when I spy a misspell word, pointing out misspell words, and at the end even as far as sounding out words for the kids. How did the Japanese teacher (aka JTE) react to this? Nothing really. These "subtle hints" is actually something I picked up from her XD
This JTE really goes all out to make the kids talk and practice English when I'm around. How? With stickers. When the kids collect enough small ones on a sticker sheet, they
get a better, more shiny one. Shortly after the regular Bingo session, KS-kun digs out a completed sticker sheet from his folder and waves it in my face as I walk by. I indicated he should tell the JTE, and not me cause she's the one with the better stickers. Instead of deciding to tell her with words, he decided to fold a plane with the sticker sheet. I walked away, far far away, as he started folding it. He never did throw the paper plane at the JTE, and managed to get her attention when all the other kids began focusing their attention on him.
The kids were suppose to spend last half of the class writing. Two kids, one of them being KS-kun and the other being MurakamiY-san, started playing with their pencil cases. More specifically, they were copying a kids show where the kids made remote control and pretended to control their "robot" father. They wanted me to play along with them, but I refused. Partly because I felt it was inappropriate, and partly cause it would had been too embarrassing.
Oh, and did I mention OR-kun was throwing eraser pieces at his classmates the entire class? (mainly at KS-kun)
The second class of the day was with the 2nd grade kids. For some reason, they were especially lively today, even the girls! When I was asking the usual weather/date question their hands were flying up non-stop. They also had a short test at the start of the class, and I also gave subtle hints though that didn't really help with these kids.
Today was a review of the textbook on a conversation that took place in a restaurant.
First the JTE created a new menu, so the kids can sub in what they like and be a little creative. Boy were the kids opinionated today! They didn't want this or that. Then they wanted more food suggestions, and whined when the JTE made them say the drinks in English (Macha vs Green Tea).
They finally got into pairs and practiced the dialog using the new menu the JTE made on the board. OM-san was trying to give her partner a hard time, by saying "No" when she should be saying "Yes". At least she was learning something by asking me how to say it properly instead of just straight out no.
Then when it came time to present, the JTE gave them a new rule and said every word in English, "You can't say the same food twice! So you got to listen!" The kids didn't understand. The class troublemaker, YK-kun, looked at me for help. So I put it in more simple elementary school level for him and said, "No repeats". He got it after I said it a few more times, and soon translated it in Japanese for the rest of the class. To my surprise, OS-san, who usually goes along with anything said, "Ee, but I don't want to name an item that I dont' like!"
After that was completed, JTE told them to turn their books over for a little memory practice. YK-kun refused to and hide the book inside his desk, just enough so he can still read it. Eventually I just grabbed his book and turned it over. What did he do? Oh he didn't just turned it back around, that will be no fun for him. He kept the book turned upside down, but try to adjust the book so he can peek at it when he looked up at it from the side of the table.
At last came the final task, presenting the dialog without looking at the book. And surprise surprise, YK-kun actually volunteer to go first.
SH-san: Excuse me, will you explain the lunch special please? (memorized it perfectly)
YK-kun, who was challenging himself to peek up at the book while the JTE was helping them memorize the dialog, could not remember. So he looked at me for help.
me: Sure.
YK-kun: *looks at front* Sure. *looks back at me*
me: *smirks* Today's lunch special (slightly different from the text cause I was doing it by memorization too, but not the point)
YK-kun: Today's lunch special is steak and kidney pie.
SH-san: I'll have that. (agani, memorized it perfectly)
YK-kun looks at me AGAIN. I really wanted to smack him by this point, but just laughed and feed him more hints.
Moral of this day: the danger of being too friendly with the kids can lead to nothing getting done in class XD
But no seriously, I do adore these kids. Experiencing this kind of teaching method is part of the reason why this job is so much fun.
Annnd tomorrow (or rather, later today) I'll be heading to Tokyo. Getting super excited about this concert, and the new members announcement! Oh and UFA is evil, releasing new goods just for the last 2 shows. And some of the photos are actually decent... oh my poor wallet D: