Kids will say anything that they want. I have heard a variety of things coming out of my elementary students mouths but today’s blurt was great. I walked into my first grade class I did the greeting and when I finished one of the boys looked at me and said “Erin Sensei, your stomach looks big.”

I looked at him and said, “WHAT?”

He repeated, “Your ( Read more... )

On Friday, I vented about my students stating that they shouldn’t have to learn English because they are Japanese and they live in Japan. Today, the students took those statements a step further and I found that I liked how they changed them.

Today the parents were able to visit the school during fifth period and Tsukune Sensei decided that she ( Read more... )

The third years are working on debating in English. Simple things like “I think that junior high school students should have cell phones” and “I disagree, junior high school students shouldn’t have cell phones”.

Tsukune Sensei gave her students a new statement today. The statement was “we should study English”. The students then had to write down ( Read more... )

Lunch was a blast! I ate with 3-2 and the group that I sat with was great. One of the girls went to Superior over the summer so we talked about the dragon boat races in Japanese and explained what they were to the rest of the table. After that I asked everyone if they had any pets. Then the girl sitting next to started speaking really fast Japanese ( Read more... )

 
I arrived to school and when I entered the teacher’s room, I was told “CONGRATULATIONS! Good Job! (Student’s name) amazing!” Our school’s top English speaker entered an English speech competition and did an amazing job. He made it to finals out and placed in the top group of 151 students. Aoyama Sensei came over and showed the trophy and medal ( Read more... )

Some of my students are just rude. Take today for example:

While the teacher is explaining the grammar, I walk around the classroom and check the students’ spelling. I always have problems with one of the students I try to check his work. Either he mouths off or he does not allow me to see his notebook.

Today, I was walking around and I noticed he ( Read more... )

I woke up at six and I went for a run. It turned into more of walk than a run but I did run for a bit. I was having a problem keeping my eyes open. Once I get used to waking up at six I think the running in the morning will work.

One of the girls at school today asked to use my toothpaste. I figured this was coming. The students have been eyeing it ( Read more... )

Aoyama Sensei greeted me when I got to school today and showed me today’s newspaper. (She was jumping up and down from excitement.) Our student’s FIRST PLACE win, in the English speech competition, made the news (as did the students who got second and third place). I also got a bit of a shout out. Aoyama Sensei said “The school’s ALT has been ( Read more... )

Aoyama Sensei called me a couple of minutes ago and our student placed FIRST in the English speech competition! FIRST PLACE! I was hoping for a third place finish because we had no idea what to expect but FIRST PLACE. Dang, that kid is good.

The very good English speaker at my school (aka Genius) is competing in an English speech competition. This is the first time anyone at the school as competed in this and no one knows what to expect. My forensics and theater background have come in handy because I actually know how to teach someone to give a speech.

The focus of the speech is on ( Read more... )