The Job

As far as the teaching goes, it's interesting. Today I'm starting my second week of it. Each week I am at a different school and there are three schools that I'll be rotating through. Last week was at a school called Hotoku with the English teacher who speaks the most English, Nami. On Monday there is only one class at 11 (I work 10AM-7PM) with two mothers. They are so very sweet. When we first start the class they both admit to having butterflies in the stomachs because I am there, "me too!" One of them is very eager to learn and tries to speak a lot, the other is a bit more shy but still tries to speak in English with me. This is a 40 minute class and afterwards there is nothing but planning to do for the rest of the day, which Nami has already completed for this week.
I do however get to enjoy my first Japanese school lunch. Maybe because it's all new and exciting but I certainly love it. I can't quite tell you all of what I was eating exactly, besides the rice, edamame and some sort of fried chicken. After lunch, Nami goes to practice singing in two classrooms and I tag along. In the first room the little kids are singing some song about going on vacation and the second class they sing Love Me Tender. Although it's all in English I can't quite make out what they are saying, but it sure is adorable.
Later on we go on a bus to take a small group of children home. They are all so tired and fall asleep on the bus. It is nice riding around town and seeing parts that I haven't seen yet.
Back to the school for more planning, a.k.a. nothing, until there's a teachers meeting which I attend. I don't know what's happening until I'm asked to introduce myself, knowing that the only person who can understand me is Nami, I'm not so nervous about this. I'm sent home at 5, which is nice as I was expecting to stay until 7.
On Tuesday we have two classes in the morning for 20 minutes each where we go into other classrooms and do activities with young children. We play games and recite the alphabet, things of that nature. By 10:40 classes are over for the morning. More planning... The afternoon's on Tuesdays and Thursdays are a little busier with 3-4 classes in the English room back to back. This Tuesday though, Rob and I are going to Osaka with Harry to the Immigration Office. It's a big, big city and the direction we enter it is very industrial. I can't wait to come back with more time to explore this big 'ol city.
When we get back to Hirakata Harry drops us off at the Hotoku school where there is one class left at 6PM. He is a 6th grader and we all play Scrabble. He kicks our asses.
Wednesday. I'm suppose to go to another school, Sanae, to teach another mother's class, but the one student is going to be absent so I just go to Hotoku with Nami. Of course there isn't a class until 2:40PM. I guess I'll plan. The first class is very interesting. It's a 3 year old class. They don't speak any English at all and Nami explains that they don't entirely know Japanese either so it's hard for her. Today in particular. Their mothers are there to watch the class which makes the children act silly. They cry and cling to their mothers and it's just pure chaos in the room, nothing we had planned goes without a hitch and we didn't even get to do some of the activities we had planned one. Later in the afternoon there are a couple of classes in the English room with a few students. I like these classes the best, as they are smaller, usually 1-4 students and I get to interact with them more.
On Thurday I meet Nami at another school, Kasugaoka. She comes here on Thursday mornings because it's the largest school and the English teacher here needs help. We go into 3 or 4 classrooms and do some coloring exercises. We have lunch here, a form of Japanese curry, and then walk back to Hotoku where we have a busy afternoon with classes in the English room, the same as Tuesday.
Friday we go to the zoo! Not quite what you think of when you think of a zoo. There are no elephants, tigers, bears, or anything of that sort. There are raccoons, rabbits, guinea pigs, goats, peacocks, squirrels, a swan, and some other birds. Still it's exciting and we walk around with kids from all the schools and look at there interesting animals. Afterwards we eat lunches that we packed on a tarp under the shade of some trees. We take our shoes off before stepping on the tarp and face them away from us so we can make a quick getaway if needed. All the kids have bento boxes, I'm mildly jealous.
After arriving back to the school from the zoo we have a couple afternoon classes and today I get to leave at 5 again. T.G.I.F.

This week I am going to Kasugaoka. It is right down the street from where we leave, about a 5 minute walk. Again, I'm nervous to see how this week goes because I'm sure each of the teachers have different ways in which they teach. Also, Nami speaks the best English of all the teachers. The other two can hardly hold a conversation with me so I'm curious to see what they have me do. It's also possible that they are just shy about speaking with me. Also, it's frightening how much Japanese is used to teach English. Obviously it has to be done as most of the students don't understand any English and often have to ask what I'm saying or how to say something. I just don't know how I'm going to handle that when I'm the lead teacher, which I'm assuming is going to happen but really don't know. Last week it seemed like I was mostly there to be an assistant and to be the native English speaker. I don't know how it is going to differ though when it's not my first week at a school.