To try and avoid needlessly detailed accounts of each of my days of teaching this last week, I thought I'd compile as many as possible into one blog entry. Since this was my first time visiting most of these elementary schools, there were still a.) more ceremonies for me to attend to b.) self-introduction speeches for me to give and c.) little kids bombarding me with questions and petting the sun-bleached blonde hair on my arms.
My second day at the middle school was the first in which I got to help teach all three grade levels. By now, however, I was starting to get a taste for what middle school English was really like. I was definitely doing my best to add humor to the class by inserting as much hyperbolic emotion into my readings of the various texts and pronunciations of the various words. I hope that I'll soon start developing a relationship with my JTE that will allow me to put more of my own ideas in class. For now, though, the kids will have to deal with boring worksheets and rote memorization readings...
Tuesday I went to Shimoda-kita (North Shimoda) Elementary School, which though not as small as its southern version still rivals most of the schools in how small its student population is. It turned out that because of special scheduling of Sports Day practice/rehearsal, I was only going to teach one class that day. Fine with me. In the mean time, I got to help the kids clean up the track area (i.e. I do the cleaning jobs which the kids are supposed to be doing while they bombard me with endless questions) and help one of the other teachers demonstrate one of the sports day events. To my understanding, in this particular event you and your partner must 1.) run from opposite ends of the field to the center where 2.) you don a GIANT pair of pants (each person in one leg) and then proceed to 3.) hop together towards a suspended rope where balloons hang so that you can 4.) jump up and grab said balloons with your teeth before finally 5.) blowing up your balloon and popping it by placing it between your body and your partners body and hugging each other. I'm going to this sports festival tomorrow. Can't wait!
Note: The Shimoda-kita kids definitely get the gold star for being the most inquisitive.
Wednesday I went to the elementary school right down the street from my apartment, Takahama Elementary school. This school is fairly new and comparatively large. By sheer chance the school population is lopsided with more boys than girls, resulting in girls that are much meeker compared to their counterparts at other schools and guys who are much rowdier/ ruder (rude?! I didn't think I'd have to use that word to describe my students... it could just be how they act in a group). While my 4th grade class went well, I accidentally slipped into my 4th grade lesson when teaching the 2/3rd graders (same lesson, different level of difficulty), which sorta ended up badly. My 5th and 6th grade joint class, being comparatively large and dominated by males, was much harder to teach since I didn't even have a working blackboard in the room I was teaching (the library, since the classrooms were too small for both the 5th and 6th grade classes together). Oh well. I'm giving myself a break this week because it's my first time. I'll just have to take this into consideration next time.
Note on Sports Day Festivals (we also had Sports Day Practice at Takahama that day): The kids are divided up into two teams, red and white, and where little hats with their teams color. If you invert they hats, they become the other color. Also features a fashionable strap that goes behind your ears and under your chin. That was sarcasm on the 'fashionable' part of that last sentence... though the kids are adorable when they where their little sports day hats.
Note on Takahama Shougakkou: Struggling to find its one, positive characteristic.
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