(no subject)
about yesterday's entry: it wasn't anything important, just about my day yesterday and how the classes went. the usual.
today i taught two 2nd year classes at Misato Shogakko (E.S.). i've been to that school once before, so getting there and everything was alright...
...although i do have the urge to rant about the HUGEASS POISONOUS-LOOKING INFESTATION OF SPIDERS that line the street on the way to the shogakko. omg... i watch myself so carefully when i go there. >_> and it's like a good 15 minute walk down that street........ GENERATIONS of spiders all over the place-- black with red and yellow markings, and some are so big they see you coming and scurry away. THEY'RE THAT FRIGGIN' BIG.
....if one of those ever got on me, god help me-- i'd freak so bad. i make sure NOTHING on me touches anything down that street, which is hard to do because i have to huge the side of the road because it's insanely narrow and there is no sidewalk. ;-; if i freaked, i could easily be hit by a car coming from either direction.
.....but anyway, moving on from the nightmare-inducing spiders. both classes went relatively well. 2nd years are great. they're extremely enthusiastic and active, but not so much that it's threatening to ones health like 1st years. i'm fairly certain that my ideal classes are 2nd ~ 4th years. any more or any less and things become harder to do. i taught body parts, btw, and did "head, shoulders, knees, and toes" + "simon says". when it comes to 2nd years, it's best to keep them constantly active, thus i chose "body parts" over my other option ("food").
after the classes i had like.. a half hour conversation in broken japanese with a guy who i think was either the vice principle or the principle of the school. maybe he likes talking to ALTs because he talked to me more than your average shogakko teacher does the last time i was there too. we had an interesting convo about english being taught at shogakkos and how more english would be taught in shogakkos soon, as well as how crappy chugakko textbooks are and how american teaching methods are different than those that are used here etc etc etc. it was interesting and nice that he tolerated my shitty japanese, but afterwards i felt a little good that i was even able to make it thru such a long conversation. yay for minor accomplishments. yesterday's entry included.
got back to the BOE and did.. stuff... for 3+ hours. it was nice seeing a few of the other ALTs again. we exchanged funny/scary stories about our ALT adventures and such. nice. and i got AWESOME news. again. i'm on a lucky streak-- which i just broke by pointing it out. tomorrow i was suppose to go to Ikku Chugakko (J.H.S.) which would suck for various reasons.... but one of the school's JTEs called the office today and told me that they were canceling my classes for tomorrow. AWEEESOOMME, another BOE day. ^-^ a FULL BOE day. my first in forever. so i'm happy. no stressing for me tomorrow-- what a wonderful end to a nice week.
ooo. and i ordered the Death Note manga in its entirety in english(!) via Amazon last week and they (Pelican delivery) attempted to deliver it today, but i've been gone all day... so they called my phone (how nice of them) and i was able to reschedule it for saturday morning. w00t! i can't wait to read an english manga again... reading japanese manga is very hard. :/ plus i can show these to my students who don't seem to believe how popular manga/anime is around the world. they'll absolutely FREAK to see Death Note in english. i can't wait to see their reactions lolololol. perhaps i can even photocopy parts of both the japanese and the english manga and use them for class/club activities. ^_^
good week indeed.
today i taught two 2nd year classes at Misato Shogakko (E.S.). i've been to that school once before, so getting there and everything was alright...
...although i do have the urge to rant about the HUGEASS POISONOUS-LOOKING INFESTATION OF SPIDERS that line the street on the way to the shogakko. omg... i watch myself so carefully when i go there. >_> and it's like a good 15 minute walk down that street........ GENERATIONS of spiders all over the place-- black with red and yellow markings, and some are so big they see you coming and scurry away. THEY'RE THAT FRIGGIN' BIG.
....if one of those ever got on me, god help me-- i'd freak so bad. i make sure NOTHING on me touches anything down that street, which is hard to do because i have to huge the side of the road because it's insanely narrow and there is no sidewalk. ;-; if i freaked, i could easily be hit by a car coming from either direction.
.....but anyway, moving on from the nightmare-inducing spiders. both classes went relatively well. 2nd years are great. they're extremely enthusiastic and active, but not so much that it's threatening to ones health like 1st years. i'm fairly certain that my ideal classes are 2nd ~ 4th years. any more or any less and things become harder to do. i taught body parts, btw, and did "head, shoulders, knees, and toes" + "simon says". when it comes to 2nd years, it's best to keep them constantly active, thus i chose "body parts" over my other option ("food").
after the classes i had like.. a half hour conversation in broken japanese with a guy who i think was either the vice principle or the principle of the school. maybe he likes talking to ALTs because he talked to me more than your average shogakko teacher does the last time i was there too. we had an interesting convo about english being taught at shogakkos and how more english would be taught in shogakkos soon, as well as how crappy chugakko textbooks are and how american teaching methods are different than those that are used here etc etc etc. it was interesting and nice that he tolerated my shitty japanese, but afterwards i felt a little good that i was even able to make it thru such a long conversation. yay for minor accomplishments. yesterday's entry included.
got back to the BOE and did.. stuff... for 3+ hours. it was nice seeing a few of the other ALTs again. we exchanged funny/scary stories about our ALT adventures and such. nice. and i got AWESOME news. again. i'm on a lucky streak-- which i just broke by pointing it out. tomorrow i was suppose to go to Ikku Chugakko (J.H.S.) which would suck for various reasons.... but one of the school's JTEs called the office today and told me that they were canceling my classes for tomorrow. AWEEESOOMME, another BOE day. ^-^ a FULL BOE day. my first in forever. so i'm happy. no stressing for me tomorrow-- what a wonderful end to a nice week.
ooo. and i ordered the Death Note manga in its entirety in english(!) via Amazon last week and they (Pelican delivery) attempted to deliver it today, but i've been gone all day... so they called my phone (how nice of them) and i was able to reschedule it for saturday morning. w00t! i can't wait to read an english manga again... reading japanese manga is very hard. :/ plus i can show these to my students who don't seem to believe how popular manga/anime is around the world. they'll absolutely FREAK to see Death Note in english. i can't wait to see their reactions lolololol. perhaps i can even photocopy parts of both the japanese and the english manga and use them for class/club activities. ^_^
good week indeed.