Maemura Sensei Rocks
It is one of the dreary days where it would be wonderful to curl up in a comfortable chair, with a hot chocolate, and a good book. Unfortunately, that cannot happen because I am at work today.
I walked into the teacher's room, Maemura Sensei asked me to help her teach four classes, and then she informed me that while I was busy this week next week I would not be too busy because Friday is testing. She also told me that the week after next the third years have examinations and practice for graduation so I will not be too busy then either.
The four periods that I taught today went well. The students, for the most part, did their work and were well behaved. It helped that I taught 2-5 today, they are my favorite out of the five second year classes. The students there have a pretty good understanding of English and are not afraid to shout across the room if they need my help. Today four or five students flagged me down with an “Erin, come on, come on”.
I spent fifth hour going over my Japanese speech with Maemura Sensei, she spent a half hour working with me on my pronunciation and showing me where to pause for a more natural sounding speech. She really helped me to make my speech sound more natural and she made me feel much more comfortable when it came to speaking. I am so glad that she took time out of her day to help me out.
Once again, we worked in the teacher's room so the teachers who had a free period were able to listen to me stumble over some of my Japanese words. I even got a couple laughs when I got flustered from mispronouncing the same word five or six times. I think that practicing my speech with Maemura Sensei really helped and I gained some confidence from working with her in the teacher's room. I just need to remember not to panic and not to rush through my speech.
Oh, I will be posting my speech in another entry in a couple of minutes. I will post the Japanese version and the English Translation.