The other side of the classroom
So! I finally had my first days working in the middle schools and teaching classes! Damn, those kids'll wear you out. XD
My first day was this past Monday. I took the bus all the way up a mountain to San'chuu and then proceeded to sit at my desk in the teacher's room for the entire day, because the kids had to take exams the whole time. All 20 students them in the school. Yes, that school is so tiny that it has fewer people in attendance than in each of my classes at the other two schools o.o
The worst part about it was that I didn't have Internet, or a computer for that matter. The same is true at my other 2 schools, but it doesn't bother me as much when I have my sketchbook with me and have classes to teach. xP At least I got to take a bit of time correcting a translation for the upcoming English speech contest.
On Tuesday I got to work in the classrooms for the first time! For my first lesson in every class, I'm expected to do an introduction lesson, so in order to make it more interesting and to get the kids involved in the lesson, I created a quiz game. I split the class into teams and have them use picture clues on the board to try and guess things about me. The members of the team that answers the most questions correctly gets a prize from my collection of American baseball cards and those colorful, shaped jelly bracelet things! :Db
To make the lesson planning easy on myself, I use the same questions for every class, no matter what the grade. The difference is that 1st and 2nd years get multiple choice, and 3rd years have to guess answers on their own or pick from a word bank. Most of the questions are simple things like "Where am I from?" and "How many people are in my family?" but I've got some in there like "What was my major in college?" and "How many costumes have I made?" where there's not really a good way to hint at the answer. The kids were always really amazed to learn about my pet lizards and about all the different characters that I know and have cosplayed.
At the end, if there was a tie or the scores were really really close, I would add a bonus question: usually "What is my favorite Japanese TV show?" the correct answer being Kamen Rider. XD The kids never believed me when I told them, but it sparked a lot of conversation after class was done. ♥ They were usually too shy to say or ask much about my nerdy interests during class, but I once had half of a class follow me to my desk in the teachers' room, just to see pictures of all my cosplays. X3 I had one girl recognize my Windscale hat from Kamen Rider W without me even mentioning it in class and found me later to talk about it and about my interest in Shitenhouji from TeniPuri! And one class wasted about 5 minutes of class with me, talking about our favorite Pokemon and how their names are different between Japanese and English. XD It's really interesting to me that I've shared so much of my love for anime and cosplay with the kids in my class, when at the Board of Education office, I was too scared and shy to disclose much info on my otaku tendencies. :o It feels good to be so open and honest with the kids, and hopefully to relate to them just a little more.
As an extra little thing for myself, I've somewhat "joined" the Art Club at I'cchuu. It's compromised primarily of girls who are obsessed with manga and like to copy official art of their favorite characters. XD; I like to listen to their conversations and hear them quote their characters' favorite lines, while setting aside some time for myself to do some illustration and design stuff in a way that I haven't done since graduating. ♥
That all being said, I am totally worn out by these kids. XD Teaching and engaging with the students is hard work, and for this particular set of lessons, I've been the driving force for the class. At least there's just one more day before the weekend, and I shouldn't be expected to do much besides help judge a mini speech contest during 5th and 6th periods.
After that I'm leaving almost directly for Tokyo to catch a night bus to Sendai, where everyone's favorite Kime-hime is starting his live concert tour! XD Paula and I will do a little sightseeing around Sendai Saturday afternoon, catch the concert in the evening, and then return to Tokyo overnight, to go to a cosplay event on Sunday. We're going to debut our costumes from the Maria Magdalena musical series~. Don't know that the excitement and adventure will do much to help me rest after a week of work, but it should be a lot of good fun. :D ♥
My first day was this past Monday. I took the bus all the way up a mountain to San'chuu and then proceeded to sit at my desk in the teacher's room for the entire day, because the kids had to take exams the whole time. All 20 students them in the school. Yes, that school is so tiny that it has fewer people in attendance than in each of my classes at the other two schools o.o
The worst part about it was that I didn't have Internet, or a computer for that matter. The same is true at my other 2 schools, but it doesn't bother me as much when I have my sketchbook with me and have classes to teach. xP At least I got to take a bit of time correcting a translation for the upcoming English speech contest.
On Tuesday I got to work in the classrooms for the first time! For my first lesson in every class, I'm expected to do an introduction lesson, so in order to make it more interesting and to get the kids involved in the lesson, I created a quiz game. I split the class into teams and have them use picture clues on the board to try and guess things about me. The members of the team that answers the most questions correctly gets a prize from my collection of American baseball cards and those colorful, shaped jelly bracelet things! :Db
To make the lesson planning easy on myself, I use the same questions for every class, no matter what the grade. The difference is that 1st and 2nd years get multiple choice, and 3rd years have to guess answers on their own or pick from a word bank. Most of the questions are simple things like "Where am I from?" and "How many people are in my family?" but I've got some in there like "What was my major in college?" and "How many costumes have I made?" where there's not really a good way to hint at the answer. The kids were always really amazed to learn about my pet lizards and about all the different characters that I know and have cosplayed.
At the end, if there was a tie or the scores were really really close, I would add a bonus question: usually "What is my favorite Japanese TV show?" the correct answer being Kamen Rider. XD The kids never believed me when I told them, but it sparked a lot of conversation after class was done. ♥ They were usually too shy to say or ask much about my nerdy interests during class, but I once had half of a class follow me to my desk in the teachers' room, just to see pictures of all my cosplays. X3 I had one girl recognize my Windscale hat from Kamen Rider W without me even mentioning it in class and found me later to talk about it and about my interest in Shitenhouji from TeniPuri! And one class wasted about 5 minutes of class with me, talking about our favorite Pokemon and how their names are different between Japanese and English. XD It's really interesting to me that I've shared so much of my love for anime and cosplay with the kids in my class, when at the Board of Education office, I was too scared and shy to disclose much info on my otaku tendencies. :o It feels good to be so open and honest with the kids, and hopefully to relate to them just a little more.
As an extra little thing for myself, I've somewhat "joined" the Art Club at I'cchuu. It's compromised primarily of girls who are obsessed with manga and like to copy official art of their favorite characters. XD; I like to listen to their conversations and hear them quote their characters' favorite lines, while setting aside some time for myself to do some illustration and design stuff in a way that I haven't done since graduating. ♥
That all being said, I am totally worn out by these kids. XD Teaching and engaging with the students is hard work, and for this particular set of lessons, I've been the driving force for the class. At least there's just one more day before the weekend, and I shouldn't be expected to do much besides help judge a mini speech contest during 5th and 6th periods.
After that I'm leaving almost directly for Tokyo to catch a night bus to Sendai, where everyone's favorite Kime-hime is starting his live concert tour! XD Paula and I will do a little sightseeing around Sendai Saturday afternoon, catch the concert in the evening, and then return to Tokyo overnight, to go to a cosplay event on Sunday. We're going to debut our costumes from the Maria Magdalena musical series~. Don't know that the excitement and adventure will do much to help me rest after a week of work, but it should be a lot of good fun. :D ♥