Let's try something...

I decided (based on a suggestion from Crystal) that I am going to write a diary of sorts of the things that happen at school or the things that I do.  Sometimes my days are boring, and sometimes they are interesting.  I thought it could be fun to just write it all out and see how that goes.

So... Thursday, October 14.

Teacher's meeting today.  nothing especially interesting.  On Monday, a teacher retired, but nothing today.

First period, I had 2nd years.  UGH.  I really just do not get them. First, we do greetings.  Here is how the conversation goes:
Me: "Good morning!"
Students "..."
Me: "GOOD MORNING!!"
Students: "g....d  mo.....g"
Me: "How are you?"
Students "I'm..."  (at which point they look around to see if their friends are answering or not.
Me: "ok... How's the weather?"
One student "It's sunny."
Me:  "Yes!  It's sunny!  Yay!"
Students (laughing at me)
Me: "What day is it today?"
Students "It's....."

etc etc etc...I think you get the idea.  It is like pulling teeth to get these kids to talk.  These are questions that they should most definitely be able to answer.  The fact that they still stumble over the ever-intimidating "how are you" is really frustrating for me.  But...oh well.

 Ok, so a bit of back story... I had them do a project for the school festival.  The project was to make up a school including a name, a symbol mark, and 6 rules (thereby practicing the "have to/don't have to/must grammar they just learned)  Anyway, my original plan for the project was to have them all on display at the festival and have everyone who came vote for their favorite.  well, that just didn't happen, which I should have expected.  But, they did finish the posters and they were displayed, so I was happy,and surprisingly, the posters turned out pretty well.  However, in this particular class that I had today, we did have the students vote for their favorite and today I announced the results.  You would expect there to be some excitement, but NOOO.  nothing.

Ok, so I announce the two groups who tied for second place.  Applause?  NO!  Then the JTE tells the members of the groups to come up front and get their homework passes.  Does anyone come?  No.  They have to look around and check and make sure their friends are going.  And even then, it is just like hesitation all around.  WHY?  We were giving them homework passes!!  Ok, so the winning group is announced.  Applause?  No.  this group got candy and a homework pass.  Were they excited about the candy?  No.  Did I get a single "Thank you"? NO.

So, we end that and move on to the day's activity.  But first, a bit of review.  And here we have a prime example of something I deal with daily:  a JTE makes a mistake when writing on the board and I am faced with a dilemma...do I say something or not?  There is a lot of advice given to JETs about this very category.  Some say that you should never (ever ever ever) correct a JTE in front of students because it embarrasses them and it makes them look bad as professional teachers.  Others say to tread lightly and maybe sneak in a correction when the students are busy with something else.  And others still insist that JTEs are allowed to make mistakes and that it is our job to correct them, but to correct in a nice way, of course.  here is the mistake today, it's not a big one, but this is a real example.  On the board the JTE wrote: 
             I wan to play soccer.
So, really not a big deal at all, right?  Well, I am still faced with the same dilemma.  I chose today to let it slide because a few seconds later he wrote a correct 'want to' sentence, with both t's.  The problem is, these students (the 2nd years) are the type to write exactly what is on the board.  They do not try to answer problems for themselves, so I guarantee that at least 20 of the 26 kids have it written incorrectly in their notebooks.  the other 6 are the exceptions to the rule, but we will talk about that later.

Next, actually doing the activity!  Today was practicing using the conditional 'if'.  We do an activity called "Interview & Report".  This involves the students first translating Japanese questions into English, then asking me, and then reporting my answer to the JTE.  I think it is a good activity because the students have to practice a lot of things.  first, making questions itself is always a challenge for them.  Then, they have to ask me, as in come up to me and ask me the question out loud.  (oh no!)   And then, when I answer, I use first person, but when they report my answer to the JTE, they have to make it 3rd person, and this is the best practice ever.  "I want to see my friends." has to be changed to "She wantS to see HER friends."  It is not hard to do, but it definitely makes the students think, and that is always a good thing for them.

Well... again 26 kids in the class.  I think in 30 minutes, only 10 of them came to ask me questions.  that means that the other 16 were just goofing around.  They were doodling on the handouts, passing notes to each other, flirting (oh yeah) and I saw one sleeping.  I understand that kids are kids, but I feel that this ratio is unacceptable.  I recognize that not everyone likes languages or school or wants to study English, but the 2nd years have their numbers backwards.  usually, most people are fine with a class and then a handful are just ridiculous.  However, this class, for example, 6 like English and try and the rest just don't give a damn!  The good news here is that it is not just English.  According to the other teachers, these kids are not interested in ANYTHING.  They do not try in their other classes, either.  While that makes me happy to a point, I also feel bad for these kids because that is no way to go through life.  These kids are the first ones to say "oh, thats too much of a bother" when I give them an assignment.  Life is a bother!  Get over it!  Also, until these kids have had some real experiences and hardships in their lives, I think they are not allowed to just blow things like English worksheets off as "too much of a bother"  If they are already thinking that now, what are they going to do when life ACTUALLY hits them and becomes truly difficult?!

OK...end of rant.

Next...second period!  first years!  YAY!  This was the special ed class.  12 students.  They are so much fun!  They know how to properly say "Good morning" which always makes a class better.

Today we did a Halloween quiz.  First they guess answers about random Halloween facts, and then we go over it.  And if they got half right, they get stickers.  (once they collect 25 stickers, they get 2 pieces of candy).  What amazes me most about this bunch is how if I speak English slowly and use gestures, they can usually get most of what I am saying.  And their pronunciation is impeccable.  I also like how they are interested in the activities and they try a bit and are surprised by the answers.  When I did the Halloween quiz with the 2nd years, all they wanted to know was if they were going to get candy.  grr.

And that brings us to 3rd and 4th periods.  I had no classes so I sat in the teachers' room and worked on this entry and studied kanji.

Good news of the day: I got a key to the ladies locker room finally so now I can bring a track suit to keep here for emergencies.  And also a suit jacket for those days when I forget.  and also now I can wear skirts because I would be able to change before cleaning time!  Isn't that exciting?!  Of course, it is frustrating that it took them 6 months to realize that giving me a key might be a good idea, but better late than never.

Lunch today was milk, mushroom shumai (like dumplings...steamed...and delicious) rice, soup (eggdrop of sorts, but with mushrooms, carrots and onions in it and a better broth) and a 5- veggie mix...I think the only one America has too is carrot, but the rest are the only in Japan type of vegetables.  I ate with 3rd years.  Sometimes they talk to me, but not usually.  There are a few in this class who like English, so they talk to me before we eat, but during the eating time, not so much.  Oh well.  I rotate where I eat lunch every two weeks.  Generally eating with the 3rd years is fine.  Even if they do not talk to me much, it is not awkward.  Eating with 2nd years...well...how do you think it is, based on the first half of this post?  The good news is that the 2nd year teachers are nice to me, so they talk to me, even if the students do not.  Eating with 1st years is AWESOME!  I look forward to when I am back with the first years.  I ate with them once already, and I really cannot wait to go back.

5th period... 1st years!  Regular ones, this time.  First we reviewed grammar which they still seem to struggle a bit with: the third person 's'.  They learned how to do questions and negatives recently, but they are thrown off by the fact that if you have a 'does' in the sentence, the third person 's' is attached to the does, and therefore the main verb does not need the 's.'  But, they like their 's's so I get sentences like "My brother does not eats breakfast."  I think it clicked for two girls I was helping today.  I saw her "aha" moment and then she asked me "Oh, so when you use does, the verb does not need the 's' right?"  That made me happy.  The question is if that was a today only understanding or if she will remember it from now on.  My 2nd and 3rd years (and most Japanese people for that matter) mess this up frequently because it is something very very very different from Japanese.  After grammar, we played a fun game, and they seemed to enjoy it.  aaaaand that is that!

6th period...nothing.  more kanji studying and I did a bit more preparation for the Halloween game I want to try.

then cleaning.  I do not particularly enjoy cleaning, but I participate.  Last year, I sort of hid in the English office and pretended to sweep.  This year, I actually clean.  I take the trash out, and then zoukin (clean the floor).  There are students who come help clean the teachers' room, but they are a bit on the lazy side, so I do a lot of it on my own.  These students also like to complain that the teachers should clean the teachers' room for themselves.  If only I were a bit meaner and more confident with Japanese.  I would let them know that the teachers do more for them than they could possibly imagine, and the least these kids can do is clean the staff room for 15 minutes.  But, I never get to say anything.  Anyway,I think it is good that the students clean their own school rather than custodians.  I think it helps at least a little bit with their responsibility.  If they spill something, they will clean it up because they know that eventually a student has to clean it up.  American students are not so considerate.  I think American students would be a LOT more likely to just take a "oh, the custodian will get it after school" and they will leave the mess.  Of course, not all American students are so inconsiderate, just like not all Japanese students are considerate.  But in general...

Random thing for you...every day 5 minutes before cleaning there is an announcement over the speakers and they play a song.  For the first few months of the school year it was a different song every day that the students chose, sometimes popular j-pop songs, sometimes English songs (Avril Lavigne is really popular here) and now, for some reason that I have yet to find out, for the last few weeks, the song has been the Andrea Bocelli/Sarah Brightman "Time to Say Goodbye."  I have no idea what the inspiration was for choosing this song, nor do I know why it has been played EVERY day for the past three weeks at least..  If you are unfamiliar with it, it's quite pretty, but also quite operatic and quite in Italian.

And so ends my day.  Tomorrow we have some sort of teacher training and a demo lesson in Nakano.  Unfortunately, it will be all Japanese.  And we, the ALTs have to just sit in the sessions because that is how it works.  The training like this last year that we went to was a complete waste of a day for people like me who cannot understand Japanese.