new beginnings (again)...
Yesterday was my first day teaching at my new school. In true Japanese fashion, I got told pretty late the day before I was supposed to go. I guess the bonus of that was that my lessons were planned for me. I had to wake up super early yesterday to meet a teacher at the train station. This new school is a good hour away by car/train. I met the dude at 720 at the station and then he drove me to the school. It’s pretty much in the middle of nowhere. I mean literally as soon as you leave the school you’re on a mountain in a forest. Although, having walked around the school area, you can see the train tracks below and in the distance there are some houses. Haha.
The school has a total of 100 students for 3 grades. The staff room only has about 15 teachers in total. It is quite the opposite of my main school! Most of the teachers were friendly at the new school even though they didn’t speak English. There was a 1st grade class trip so 1/3 of the students and teachers disappeared all day.
I taught two classes in the afternoon and they went alright. I did have students sleeping, arm wrestling, talking, playing with a baseball etc… I guess I wasn’t even shocked by any of this since I’m sort of used to it. The teacher I taught with was really excited and enthusiastic. As for the student’s English level, well, its not good at all. They really can’t form any kind of sentences and don’t know enough to have a conversation. Their listening skills are pretty good actually, which surprised me. In general, I was just told to be aware that a lot of students absolutely hate studying English so they wont be paying attention/putting any effort in class. Haha.
I took the train back to Miyoshi which took an hour. Halfway into the journey, a lot of Andy’s students got on the train and just packed out the carriage. Yes, that’s carriage in the singular since this train service only has one tiny carriage. Imagine big mountains and a little train passing through it!
I also had adult classes last night which went a lot better than usual I thought. Maybe that’s because only the good students were there and no loud mouth farmer to distract them!!!!!!!!!
That’s about it for the moment. Not feeling so good today so hopefully gonna go home during lunch time and just sleep. Then again, after this ridiculously strong coffee, I’m not sure if I will be able to or not!
Philosophical thought of the day: I finally get to teach from next Tuesday!!! It’s only been a month of sitting at my desk doing fcuk all!!!!!!
The school has a total of 100 students for 3 grades. The staff room only has about 15 teachers in total. It is quite the opposite of my main school! Most of the teachers were friendly at the new school even though they didn’t speak English. There was a 1st grade class trip so 1/3 of the students and teachers disappeared all day.
I taught two classes in the afternoon and they went alright. I did have students sleeping, arm wrestling, talking, playing with a baseball etc… I guess I wasn’t even shocked by any of this since I’m sort of used to it. The teacher I taught with was really excited and enthusiastic. As for the student’s English level, well, its not good at all. They really can’t form any kind of sentences and don’t know enough to have a conversation. Their listening skills are pretty good actually, which surprised me. In general, I was just told to be aware that a lot of students absolutely hate studying English so they wont be paying attention/putting any effort in class. Haha.
I took the train back to Miyoshi which took an hour. Halfway into the journey, a lot of Andy’s students got on the train and just packed out the carriage. Yes, that’s carriage in the singular since this train service only has one tiny carriage. Imagine big mountains and a little train passing through it!
I also had adult classes last night which went a lot better than usual I thought. Maybe that’s because only the good students were there and no loud mouth farmer to distract them!!!!!!!!!
That’s about it for the moment. Not feeling so good today so hopefully gonna go home during lunch time and just sleep. Then again, after this ridiculously strong coffee, I’m not sure if I will be able to or not!
Philosophical thought of the day: I finally get to teach from next Tuesday!!! It’s only been a month of sitting at my desk doing fcuk all!!!!!!