Godzilla sensei, you are evil.
Post here and I'll tell you why I love you. Because making a list someone might not read makes me sad...
LOVE FOR YOU.
I can't do cool font manipulation easily so you get italics woo!
Matsui, in all of her generosity, as bestowed upon me NEW English notebooks to grade. It is basically the same as before, except I think this is their monthly homework. I am finding a lot of mistakes...I think they spent more time on the summer assignment.
I also have to check these questions they plan to ask me for a speech test at some point. By check, I mean fix grammar, and spelling, and answer the questions. Most common questions:
How long have you been in Matsue?
How long have you been in Japan?
Is it difficult for you to speak Japanese?
Is it fun for you to teach English?
Do you know how to use chopsticks?
Do you have a book to read?
Have you been to Tokyo/Osaka/Kyoto?
Most inventive:
Have you been to Egypt?
Have you ever been to Turkmenistan?
Do you have any Nintendo games to play?
Is it difficult for you to speak English?
They also asked about a lot of sports and playing guitar. There were a lot of other really unique questions but for the most part they all copy stuff out of their textbooks. It makes it very boring for me.
I also have to look over the test they're making for the second years. Suddenly, I am busy! I suppose if I point out "you have me here for a whole day with jack shit to do. Can I just not come in?" they find shit for me to do!
I know I should ask them more often - it was one of the complaints from my very first employer. It's one of the things I have to work on. But some days...I just want to be told, and not have to ask. I worry about being a pest, or being considered an "over achiever." Productivity is good - being too productive can be seen as bad.
Just six more months.
I have been contemplating being an au pair at some point. Just to see other countries. However, hearing that you basically do not have a salary is not good as I unfortunately have loans to pay off and expensive hobbies. I will keep it in mind though, for when I no longer owe people money for my education.
I used my break after lunch to talk to the librarian and then some students. The first year boys are weird - they play tag EVERY DAY. They just run around the school building, chasing and tagging each other. They seem to out grow this by high school - in any nation. The girls tend to wish I came to all their English classes.
While I can't physically be in 12 places at once, it would not be hard to give me a fuller schedule. I suppose if I insisted on there being more Team Teaching, I would have more classes, but I think my school generally sees TT as "fun time" not "getting stuff on the syllabus DONE time." I know they probably spends lessons just explaining grammar, doing writing practice, or drills and I can see how I would be useless if I am not required to actively engage the students or read something out loud for them. But I kind of feel bad when the kids like me and then see me all of once or twice a month.
Then again, there are 23 classes in the school. On a regular time schedule, I can only physically be in 20 classes a week, and that requires a lot of planning on their part (I am shit at planning junior high school classes) and they might not even HAVE class that often.
Also, I am pretty sure, my company makes it clear to them that if they make me do 20 classes a week, it's "bad." (In order to avoid certain labor laws, the companies make sure you don't really work 20 hours a week. As class time = work, I can't teach 20 hours worth of classes.)
In short, I started off the day hating my job because too much was dumped on my plate at once, and I ended it in a good mood because the kids always know how to cheer me up by stroking my ego with their affection.
They remind me why I came back at all (minus you know wanting my things/money).
I am doing this for the kids.
I kind of still want to punch the third year teachers in the face though. Lately, they keep trash talking the kids they've labeled as "otaku." They're KIDS. What is wrong with them talking about manga, anime, and video games during their free time? You want them to talk about sports? Why? And it's not limited to just dissing the boys - now they're trash talking the girls in the art club because they are "otaku." It really makes me mad because these things really help me connect to the kids sometimes. I KNOW a lot - I don't watch or read or play or listen to all of it, but I KNOW it, and that already makes me 100x cooler than their regular teachers.
I hate when adults think that kids are too old to be interested in kid things.
It also makes me self-conscious because they say "only otaku can draw so well." They regularly comment on my drawings being so great. Do they realize I learned how to draw from the same things they're ridiculing their students for liking? And I talk about Hetalia with the librarian RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM. I DRAW IT AT WORK. HOW CAN THEY NOT NOTICE I LIKE THE SAME SHIT THE OTAKU KIDS DO?
I know being otaku is generally bad but being disgusted over them talking about Akihabara, or their favorite shows is taking it too far. And if it is so bad for the kids to be into stuff, why is it okay for me?
I suppose if the boys are fanboying over "moe" or "hentai" or other school inappropriate stuff, I can see the reasoning behind being repulsed. But let the boys live out their boyhood - a lot of kids do grow out of it naturally. The girls might too - or maybe they will become famous artists. Who knows.
Just leave them alone. But it's not my place to say anything about it because Matsui is one of the teachers dissing the kids and I am sure she thinks I am worth less than the staff who bring school lunch to school.
If this was America, I could say my mind. I wouldn't have to worry about offending my superiors because we don't do things that way, at least not in schools.
Or do teachers not stick up for the students anymore?
Maybe it's just me.
ARGH. THIS COUNTRY MAKES ME THINK HARD ABOUT LIFE AND THE WORLD.
LOVE FOR YOU.
I can't do cool font manipulation easily so you get italics woo!
Matsui, in all of her generosity, as bestowed upon me NEW English notebooks to grade. It is basically the same as before, except I think this is their monthly homework. I am finding a lot of mistakes...I think they spent more time on the summer assignment.
I also have to check these questions they plan to ask me for a speech test at some point. By check, I mean fix grammar, and spelling, and answer the questions. Most common questions:
How long have you been in Matsue?
How long have you been in Japan?
Is it difficult for you to speak Japanese?
Is it fun for you to teach English?
Do you know how to use chopsticks?
Do you have a book to read?
Have you been to Tokyo/Osaka/Kyoto?
Most inventive:
Have you been to Egypt?
Have you ever been to Turkmenistan?
Do you have any Nintendo games to play?
Is it difficult for you to speak English?
They also asked about a lot of sports and playing guitar. There were a lot of other really unique questions but for the most part they all copy stuff out of their textbooks. It makes it very boring for me.
I also have to look over the test they're making for the second years. Suddenly, I am busy! I suppose if I point out "you have me here for a whole day with jack shit to do. Can I just not come in?" they find shit for me to do!
I know I should ask them more often - it was one of the complaints from my very first employer. It's one of the things I have to work on. But some days...I just want to be told, and not have to ask. I worry about being a pest, or being considered an "over achiever." Productivity is good - being too productive can be seen as bad.
Just six more months.
I have been contemplating being an au pair at some point. Just to see other countries. However, hearing that you basically do not have a salary is not good as I unfortunately have loans to pay off and expensive hobbies. I will keep it in mind though, for when I no longer owe people money for my education.
I used my break after lunch to talk to the librarian and then some students. The first year boys are weird - they play tag EVERY DAY. They just run around the school building, chasing and tagging each other. They seem to out grow this by high school - in any nation. The girls tend to wish I came to all their English classes.
While I can't physically be in 12 places at once, it would not be hard to give me a fuller schedule. I suppose if I insisted on there being more Team Teaching, I would have more classes, but I think my school generally sees TT as "fun time" not "getting stuff on the syllabus DONE time." I know they probably spends lessons just explaining grammar, doing writing practice, or drills and I can see how I would be useless if I am not required to actively engage the students or read something out loud for them. But I kind of feel bad when the kids like me and then see me all of once or twice a month.
Then again, there are 23 classes in the school. On a regular time schedule, I can only physically be in 20 classes a week, and that requires a lot of planning on their part (I am shit at planning junior high school classes) and they might not even HAVE class that often.
Also, I am pretty sure, my company makes it clear to them that if they make me do 20 classes a week, it's "bad." (In order to avoid certain labor laws, the companies make sure you don't really work 20 hours a week. As class time = work, I can't teach 20 hours worth of classes.)
In short, I started off the day hating my job because too much was dumped on my plate at once, and I ended it in a good mood because the kids always know how to cheer me up by stroking my ego with their affection.
They remind me why I came back at all (minus you know wanting my things/money).
I am doing this for the kids.
I kind of still want to punch the third year teachers in the face though. Lately, they keep trash talking the kids they've labeled as "otaku." They're KIDS. What is wrong with them talking about manga, anime, and video games during their free time? You want them to talk about sports? Why? And it's not limited to just dissing the boys - now they're trash talking the girls in the art club because they are "otaku." It really makes me mad because these things really help me connect to the kids sometimes. I KNOW a lot - I don't watch or read or play or listen to all of it, but I KNOW it, and that already makes me 100x cooler than their regular teachers.
I hate when adults think that kids are too old to be interested in kid things.
It also makes me self-conscious because they say "only otaku can draw so well." They regularly comment on my drawings being so great. Do they realize I learned how to draw from the same things they're ridiculing their students for liking? And I talk about Hetalia with the librarian RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM. I DRAW IT AT WORK. HOW CAN THEY NOT NOTICE I LIKE THE SAME SHIT THE OTAKU KIDS DO?
I know being otaku is generally bad but being disgusted over them talking about Akihabara, or their favorite shows is taking it too far. And if it is so bad for the kids to be into stuff, why is it okay for me?
I suppose if the boys are fanboying over "moe" or "hentai" or other school inappropriate stuff, I can see the reasoning behind being repulsed. But let the boys live out their boyhood - a lot of kids do grow out of it naturally. The girls might too - or maybe they will become famous artists. Who knows.
Just leave them alone. But it's not my place to say anything about it because Matsui is one of the teachers dissing the kids and I am sure she thinks I am worth less than the staff who bring school lunch to school.
If this was America, I could say my mind. I wouldn't have to worry about offending my superiors because we don't do things that way, at least not in schools.
Or do teachers not stick up for the students anymore?
Maybe it's just me.
ARGH. THIS COUNTRY MAKES ME THINK HARD ABOUT LIFE AND THE WORLD.