At this tender point in my tenure with my school, I have only a few regular shifts. Every once in a while, when, I suppose, there is a surplus of substitute teachers, I have been called in to do something out of the norm. Today was one of those days. I received a call from […]
“Teaching” English
Weird Al
At my school, the staff encourages the students to keep journals in English. Between classes, the English teachers are asked to check out and proofread said journals. This is a request that appeals strongly to me – not only do I get to brandish my editing skills from my former life but my love of Engrish will […]
things i am being called lately
ribu-sensei* da ‘ittle one* shouku-chan* blissfully naive weirdo *personal favorites
Ribu-sensei
… how staff members refer to me when telling parents that I will be taking over such-and-such other teacher’s class. Yesterday, in one of my children’s classes, my lesson plan focused on the vocabulary for “moon,” “star,” “planet,” etc and the staff suggested I do this arts and crafts project to make it more fun: […]
summatto
Yesterday, I taught a student who couldn’t hear the difference between “straight” and “street.” Since our lesson focused on Western hospitality – “how do you take your coffee?” “street!” – this issue came up several times. First, I attempted to correct his pronunciation to no avail. Then, on a piece of scrap paper, I drew […]
things Japanese people can’t say
refrigerator* *this word sent two of my students today into an eye-bugging tizzy as they tried to wrap their tongues around the word. It was even worse because the word was tucked into the phrase: "the garbage can is between the refrigerator and the door." Madness.
twinkle toes
You take off your shoes when you enter a home or a carpeted room, and this goes for classrooms as well; I teach children in my stocking feet. Today, after one of my kids’ classes, Lloyd (one of the academy’s Native staff members) said to me, “It was interesting watching you teach. I even noticed […]