There are many days when I feel my job is very tiring, but I still enjoy teaching every day. Sometimes I will have an insanely difficult class where none of the kids listen and they just scream and fight and behave very badly. Then, I have the total opposite, where the kids love English and will work their hardest to listen and understand every word I say.
The most rewarding though is when I know I can make an impact on a child.
Today I had a class with a bunch of 2nd graders in elementary school. These are usually very fun because we can play simple games and just have as much fun with English as we can. At the beginning of this one class, I was with my supervisor and she asked (in Japanese) "Ok so last week you learned 10 animals. Was it difficult?" and this one girl yelled out "It was too difficult! I hate English!"
That was when I turned to her, made a big sad face and said in English "Awwww! I am sad!!" then in Japanese "Do your best!!" Then all the kids laughed because I spoke in Japanese. I find that with the much younger kids, it is best to let them know I understand Japanese so I don't seem as scary and different. I become closer to them and they actually want to get to know me.
Afterward we played a game, where the kids come up and say with the class what animal they like. I could tell that the little girl who hated English wanted to participate so I had her come up with a friend, I knew she wouldn't come alone so it was a good way to get more kids involved.
Once we played a few games, and everyone was having fun, the girl who hated English came up to me and said "My name is ___!" and then she said in Japanese "I like English now!" I almost wanted to cry from happiness. She asked me many questions in Japanese and so I talked with her and her friends and I think it made her really happy. After class she folded me an acorn in origami and then during her recess she would come up to the teacher's window and wave at me and then run away.
What an adorable kid! It makes me so happy to think that I completely changed a child's view on English, that I made her enjoy the class and want to participate, I can only hope and wish that she will keep that love forever.
I think this really shows me what kind of impact being a teacher really has on a child, how you can be such a large influence on their opinions and ideas just by saying a few kind words. This is one reason why I truly love my job, I can meet many students of all ages, spend time with them and let them actually enjoy English. Hopefully, if I can just make a couple kids really love English then I think I have done my job right.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Finally some Fall
(Side note: Hopefully I will post some pictures later. I still need to put them onto my computer.)
So it's been a long time! I know it has, I get so distracted with so many things, I forget that I have a blog to update! I think I wanted to have this blog full of pictures of everything I am doing, so I didn't want to update until those were posted. Probably a bad idea.
Anyways, the leaves are finally changing! The weather has cooled down a lot, but it's still not too cold. This week is in the 50s during the day, at night it goes down to about the 40s or 30s. It has not even gone below freezing yet. But I keep warm with good ol fashioned Japanese baths and my nice heater that I bought on amazon.co.jp. I love it because it is a oil heater, which just radiates heat instead of blowing hot air. The oil stays in, you never even see it, so it's probably one of the safest heaters you can buy, and the warmest.
The one thing that is so crazy is that even with the leaves chaning, you can still see flowers everywhere! There are roses and sunflowers and so many others. It feels so odd to think that the flowers haven't died yet from the cold. I am so used to Michigan where it will be super cold mid-October and you dont see flowers again until April or May.
With the cold I've been trying out a whole bunch of new recipies. I have attempted to make tomato soup, it turned out great! I am really happy with it, and I have some frozen leftovers still. Good for those days when I dont want to cook! I also tried to make Chicken lemon rice soup. That turned out okay... it tasted pretty good, sort of strong though, and the egg in the soup didn't cook right, but it was still yummy!! I will have to give it a try again. Nothing is better than a hot bowl of soup on a cold day.
A couple of weeks ago I went on a trip to Mt. Kouya (or also known as Kouyasan) it was a lovely adventure. A friend and I stayed the night in a temple, where we got to eat vegitarian monk food, and meditate with the monks. We also got a couple of tours of the famous places on the mountian, like Okunoin, which is a famous grave yard that has people from all over Japanese history either buried there or have a memorial there. Also we saw the famous temple and lecture hall that the mountian is known for. It was a great trip, I loved going and I want to go again when it is a bit warmer.
This past weekend I showed a friend around all of Nara park. We saw Todaiji temple, Nigatsu dou hall, and then we also got to see Kofukuji temple. We were really lucky because at Kofukuji temple they were having a special exibition of the 5 story pagoda, the east lecture hall, and the octagon hall, which only happens for one month once a year. We got there on the last day, and we were able to see some really beautiful things, but no pictures were allowed for anything inside. It was a great trip, I got to see a lot of Nara that I don't normally take the time to see.
Well, that is what I have been up to lately. I will be having a couple of Thanksgiving parties with my friends, that way we can cure our homesickness a bit during the holidays by eating tons of yummy food and being with friends. It will be a lot of fun, but I will sure miss not being able to be at home!
So it's been a long time! I know it has, I get so distracted with so many things, I forget that I have a blog to update! I think I wanted to have this blog full of pictures of everything I am doing, so I didn't want to update until those were posted. Probably a bad idea.
Anyways, the leaves are finally changing! The weather has cooled down a lot, but it's still not too cold. This week is in the 50s during the day, at night it goes down to about the 40s or 30s. It has not even gone below freezing yet. But I keep warm with good ol fashioned Japanese baths and my nice heater that I bought on amazon.co.jp. I love it because it is a oil heater, which just radiates heat instead of blowing hot air. The oil stays in, you never even see it, so it's probably one of the safest heaters you can buy, and the warmest.
The one thing that is so crazy is that even with the leaves chaning, you can still see flowers everywhere! There are roses and sunflowers and so many others. It feels so odd to think that the flowers haven't died yet from the cold. I am so used to Michigan where it will be super cold mid-October and you dont see flowers again until April or May.
With the cold I've been trying out a whole bunch of new recipies. I have attempted to make tomato soup, it turned out great! I am really happy with it, and I have some frozen leftovers still. Good for those days when I dont want to cook! I also tried to make Chicken lemon rice soup. That turned out okay... it tasted pretty good, sort of strong though, and the egg in the soup didn't cook right, but it was still yummy!! I will have to give it a try again. Nothing is better than a hot bowl of soup on a cold day.
A couple of weeks ago I went on a trip to Mt. Kouya (or also known as Kouyasan) it was a lovely adventure. A friend and I stayed the night in a temple, where we got to eat vegitarian monk food, and meditate with the monks. We also got a couple of tours of the famous places on the mountian, like Okunoin, which is a famous grave yard that has people from all over Japanese history either buried there or have a memorial there. Also we saw the famous temple and lecture hall that the mountian is known for. It was a great trip, I loved going and I want to go again when it is a bit warmer.
This past weekend I showed a friend around all of Nara park. We saw Todaiji temple, Nigatsu dou hall, and then we also got to see Kofukuji temple. We were really lucky because at Kofukuji temple they were having a special exibition of the 5 story pagoda, the east lecture hall, and the octagon hall, which only happens for one month once a year. We got there on the last day, and we were able to see some really beautiful things, but no pictures were allowed for anything inside. It was a great trip, I got to see a lot of Nara that I don't normally take the time to see.
Well, that is what I have been up to lately. I will be having a couple of Thanksgiving parties with my friends, that way we can cure our homesickness a bit during the holidays by eating tons of yummy food and being with friends. It will be a lot of fun, but I will sure miss not being able to be at home!
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