it's only tuesday
how is it only tuesday? why is it taking so long to get to friday?
added two new kids to my class today, which puts us over the two-teacher limit, so now i've got another teaching partner for the remainder of the year.
one of the new kids is still really just a baby - he'll be repeating nursery again next year. he cried all morning until lunchtime, then happily ate his lunch and played with toys on the blue mat for about an hour before falling apart into tears again. the girl cried the whole day until she fell asleep for naptime.
my new partner (she just started with the company around halloween, but has a lot of experience in japanese preschools before this) was fine, though she apparently asked my area manager if crying kids need to be hugged a lot.... he explained that no, we don't want them to think that crying is a way to get picked up and held and pampered, so it's best to comfort them and try to distract them with a balloon or a toy or something, or sometimes just to let them try and self-comfort if that's what they need... and then my new partner went on to say that at her old school they yelled at the crying kids. O_o
walked from the school to the station with my area manager after work, because waiting for the bus in the cold (in the cold) isn't much fun. i asked about what we'd been told at the last head teacher meeting, if they'd made any decision yet about changing the position for next year (instead of having a japanese and native head teacher at each school, having just one head teacher and to compensate for the extra work load making it it a full-time administrative position instead of something you do on top of your regular class position), and he said they were supposed to have meetings about that today and tomorrow at head office.
i mentioned that at the christmas party, clive had told me that head office recognizes they put me into a situation that i hadn't exactly signed up for when i accepted the head teacher position for this year, and that they think i've "worked [my] fucking ass off" and that i have head office's support and that i'm doing a good job.
which was nice to hear, since i've been suffering from more than my usual lack of confidence (it's my charm point) this year. it probably doesn't help any that my japanese counterpart and our manager have been subtly implying the whole year that i'm not fit for the position. and once my manager just flat out said that she doesn't like my personality and i'm not perky and bubbly enough to be a head teacher. i resisted the urge to tell her to go fuck herself, so maybe there's some hope for me after all.
area manager said that head office has always approved of the work i do, and that basically clive's been sitting there waiting for years for me to grow enough confidence to take on the responsibility they want to give me.
i don't think i'll ever get used to the concept that people like me and they like what i do.
added two new kids to my class today, which puts us over the two-teacher limit, so now i've got another teaching partner for the remainder of the year.
one of the new kids is still really just a baby - he'll be repeating nursery again next year. he cried all morning until lunchtime, then happily ate his lunch and played with toys on the blue mat for about an hour before falling apart into tears again. the girl cried the whole day until she fell asleep for naptime.
my new partner (she just started with the company around halloween, but has a lot of experience in japanese preschools before this) was fine, though she apparently asked my area manager if crying kids need to be hugged a lot.... he explained that no, we don't want them to think that crying is a way to get picked up and held and pampered, so it's best to comfort them and try to distract them with a balloon or a toy or something, or sometimes just to let them try and self-comfort if that's what they need... and then my new partner went on to say that at her old school they yelled at the crying kids. O_o
walked from the school to the station with my area manager after work, because waiting for the bus in the cold (in the cold) isn't much fun. i asked about what we'd been told at the last head teacher meeting, if they'd made any decision yet about changing the position for next year (instead of having a japanese and native head teacher at each school, having just one head teacher and to compensate for the extra work load making it it a full-time administrative position instead of something you do on top of your regular class position), and he said they were supposed to have meetings about that today and tomorrow at head office.
i mentioned that at the christmas party, clive had told me that head office recognizes they put me into a situation that i hadn't exactly signed up for when i accepted the head teacher position for this year, and that they think i've "worked [my] fucking ass off" and that i have head office's support and that i'm doing a good job.
which was nice to hear, since i've been suffering from more than my usual lack of confidence (it's my charm point) this year. it probably doesn't help any that my japanese counterpart and our manager have been subtly implying the whole year that i'm not fit for the position. and once my manager just flat out said that she doesn't like my personality and i'm not perky and bubbly enough to be a head teacher. i resisted the urge to tell her to go fuck herself, so maybe there's some hope for me after all.
area manager said that head office has always approved of the work i do, and that basically clive's been sitting there waiting for years for me to grow enough confidence to take on the responsibility they want to give me.
i don't think i'll ever get used to the concept that people like me and they like what i do.