Whew! Well, I just finished 3 first-year classes in a row, with two new teachers. This is probably the first time I've been the veteran in the classroom. Usually, another older teacher is there to guide the new folks along the way, and serve as a kind of bridge between me and them. But today, I had to build all the bridges and direct all the traffic between me and the New Girl, me and the Other Girl, and between the girls themselves. Oh, and between English and our students.
Now, don't get me wrong. I like attention. I learned this in college. I like knowing someone is watching me and enjoying the work I do, but too much attention hurts me. Too many eyes. And I had 38 nervous pairs of eyes on me for three hours. The Girls were nervous because these are new students at a new school left in their charge. They are worried about guiding these kids down the wrong path, and possibly scarring them for life...ya know, meaning the kids will hate English for all eternity just because they had a bad teacher. The kids are nervous because...dude, it's English, and there's some 6'5" man-beast grunting in some strange tongue, making sounds that they didn't even know humans could make. On top of that, it's their first year in junior high school, which is a big deal in Japan. And me? I stand in that storm of anxiety every year, until I can calm things down and help them understand that I'm not there to hurt them. That...is a lot of attention, and a lot of anxiety, and that's what I faced today.
It went alright, though! The kids were shy, but we can fix that. The New Girl did pretty good, but she hands authority over to me a bit too readily. She's still playing the cute, weak, Japanese female, but I'm hoping I can make her stop that. Bothers me because it makes me feels like I'm being manipulated, and, even worse, it actually works if I'm not careful. The Other Girl did well, and still seems surprised that I even bother to talk to her, let alone smile at her. ...I hope I'm And the two girls barely spoke to each other. Man, I dunno if I'm seeing drama where it ain't, but these two girls are coooooold to each other. I'll keep an eye on things from here on out. Kiiiiiinda funny, though.
Basically, we just introduced ourselves, handed out the books, notebooks, penmanship books, file folders and workbooks. These kids have so many things to keep track of for English. Then we did some introductions, some classroom English, and basically a big ol' ice breaker lesson. The kids think I don't speak Japanese, so they don't know I can hear what they say about me. Really. They are scared when they first see me, even without the dreadlocks. Dah well.
Princi-Pal says I'm smiling more these days. I have no idea why, but I do feel lighter, and happier to come to work. Like I'm lucky to even have the chance. Maybe it's because my company offered me the chance to leave everything behind, and my heart has chosen to remain here for my friends and relationships, but...this place seems so much better now. Or maybe it's because it's not FREEZING. Spring thaw, rainy days, thunderstorms with powerful winds. That...is heaven to me. But we'll see if this continues when I get to my other school.
Next up is everyone's favorite part: school lunch! Today's menu was...
エビ入り塩ラーメン(ebi-iri shio raamen, salt-broth ramen with shrimp)，牛乳(gyuunyuu, milk)，揚げ餃子(agegyouza, deep fried gyouza/Chinese dumplings)，ポテトサラダ (poteto sarada, potato salad).
Take a look!!
Not bad. Heavy, though. Only ate 3/4 of the noodles. See the bag of noodles? They're called "soft men". "Men" means noodles. That'd be the "men" in "ramen". So, yeah, when college kids say "ramen noodles" they're pretty much saying "ra-noodle noodles". Kinda like "ATM machine". Anyway, that's a lot of noodles. You're supposed to put the noodles into the soup, mix it up, and eat. You need to do this because the noodles stick together like...a soft brick of cooked, oil-free pasta, and it's the soup that loosens them up for good eatin'. The thing is, they give you waaaay too many noodles for the amount of soup they give you. Some kids just dump the whole bag into the soup and go for it, but that's like...eating sticky spaghetti without enough sauce. The rest of us divide the noodles, maybe by cutting them in half with the lids from our chopstick sets. I cut mine into quarters and eat one section at a time. That's just how I roll. Learned it from elementary kids, and it continues to confuse everyone.
After lunch, New Girl proceeded to sing my praises to Gyro, who looked at me like it was all a bunch of crap. Which it was, but I think Gyro was looking at it from a different standpoint. I'm not the same teacher with him. Like...I kinda gave up on him last year. I'll see if I can make up for it this year... But, man...his class is rough. I'll try my best, though. Promise.
Ya know..writing these things in bursts over 12 hours really leads to a lack of continuity. I gotta work on that.
Later, people!
J
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