| Current mood: |  sleepy |
| Current music: | The humming of the machines in the computer room. |
Atlantica
Mellow greetings, everyone! 'Tis the season to be sleepy. And spooky? Yes, sure.
Before I forget any more than I have, let me talk a little about my school life. I go to my junior high (Yutaka-machi Chuugakkou) thrice a week, and my wonderful elementary school twice a week. ES is every Tuesday and Friday, and I'm across the way at the JHS on Monday, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Up until recently, I really didn't care all that much for my JHS. Why, you ask? Well, because my English powers are not really being utilized. I like (most of) the kids, though. ^^ Never been around so many boys in my life, let me tell you.
At my middle school/junior high/whatever you deem it, I've got ten kids in seventh grade, thirteen in eighth, and sixteen in ninth. Ninth grade also has the most staggering amount of boys. I am often overwhelmed by their Y chromosomes and tendency to sleep in class. I like my first years (seventh graders) the most. They're cute, not too "cool" to smile at me when I greet them, and most are shorter than me. I love that. That's probably what makes me feel off-kilter when it comes to the third years: they're too darn tall! I can't really reach up and put them in headlocks like I can with the first years and elementary kids. That has to be the problem.
Mmm...the eighth graders/second years. The girls are cool. The four boys...well, one out of the four really is a tool, and a couple of the others go along with him. His name is Tetsushi, and he is selfish and not a hard worker. He has a twin sister, Takumi, who is also not so good at English. But at least she's a girl.
Speaking of girls, there's really only one girl who I think just sucks completely. Her name is Rika Tanaka, and she is in the third year. She really needs to go back to the first year of English learning if she ever wants to progress in the subject (which she totally doesn't want to do). Can't read, can't speak, can't listen/understand...All she does is laugh this high pitched, derisive, psychotic (?) laugh. It's not just English. She has a bad attitude in most of the classes I've seen her in. She can't understand katakana English, let alone a native speaker's voice. We're supposed to call on people every day in class and ask them questions about their lives/their day. I have yet to get around to her. It's because I know that she won't be able to answer, and I refuse to translate every question I ask/sentence I say, unlike my Japanese Teacher of English (JTE).
Speaking of Mrs. Sakimori...yes, she is a terrible teacher. But at least she's not a terrible person. She doesn't know how to team-teach. (Perhaps this is because she didn't show up to the team-teaching orientation the year that Brandon came. Perhaps it's because she doesn't want to team teach, and therefore refuses to learn.) I don't even know how to team teach. I only know the theory, since I've never done it before. Classes with Mrs. Sakimori are more often than not dull and boring. I am more of a writer of workbook answers on the board than a helper of our little angels. I've spoken with my supervisor about this each time I've come into Kure for our once-a-month meetings (so, just twice really), and he has yet to do anything about it. At least now he knows that she's not using the book she's supposed to for the eighth and ninth graders. This could harm them during test time when they try for the high schools of their dreams. Yes, it could. Maybe Mr. Sakata will do something about her teaching methods now. I'm supposed to send him a list of a typical class with her. She hasn't even been at the school two years yet.
I can only assume that she didn't work with a JET at her previous school, wherever that was. They move teachers around every five or six years around here. That's quite sad. And she has two little kids. She's about forty minutes away from our island by speed boat/ferry, and she leaves every morning around six for the boat. She gets back around seven, then she cooks dinner, helps her kids with their homework and baths, and puts them to bed. Wow. Just wow.
Alternately, I feel both sympathy and consternation with Mrs. Sakimori. I feel that she doesn't make class interesting enough for the students (or let me make class interesting enough for the students). They're not retaining anything. I deliberately use words that they studied the chapter before in example sentences and they're all, "Eh? What do XXX mean?" That makes me want to grrr sometimes, it really does.
Mmm...So, I don't really get a chance to help the kids practice speaking (or hear them speak very much at all--they're too busy with their stupid sentence translations that she assigns). It's a struggle to see how I'm making a difference in their lives. Especially that of the third years. I feel as if I'm letting their futue slip between my fingers. I know that many of them could improve if they just had the opportunity to review and actively practice what their learning. Arrrrgh.
And that's my life for now. I'll sign off here. I've gotten off track, I think. ^^;
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