skool.

so, let me tell you about my first day of school.

i was not scheduled to teach.

that`s right. i went to school and i sat there for a good hour until they told me i wasn`t going to be teaching. i would have known that before...had my computer been working and i could check my email for a lesson plan. but noooooo. so...i sat in the teacher`s room. for my whole life. pretending i was busy. it sucked, man.

best part of my day = eating lunch with the kids. holy cow, i love these kids. but yeah...i sat around all day long and then went home. it was rad. ...not.

i can`t even remember what i did after school that day...wow.

but the next day, friday...i actually taught two classes that day! two whole classes. of seventh graders. haha. the lesson plan for both classes was for me to introduce myself and then we`d have a related activity after that. the way i introduced myself was through a matching game. i wrote a bunch of numbers on the board and would have the kids pick two numbers. the numbers corresponded to questions and answers that i had written down. for example, 2 was what is your favorite color? and 4 was i like green. so they had to match the correct question with the correct answer to get to know me. ...make sense? haha, it`s so much easier to demonstrate these things...

anyway, the first class i taught was super into it. they loved it. and that was nice for me. that class was very energetic and lots of fun, which is a nightmare for some teachers, but it sure was a delight for me!! they`re my favorite class i`ve interacted with so far.

the next class, however, was the exact opposite. i had to twist their arms to get them to pick a number. and when they got a match, i was the only one that rejoiced. my heavens, it is so intimidating to be in front of an unresponsive class!! it unsettled me a little. but no fear! i got through it! and i love them anyway.

the activity after i introduced myself was different for both classes, because the teachers were different. in the first class, after i introduced myself, i became a human tape recorder. that is, the japanese teacher of english (from here on out, the jte) began teaching, mostly in japanese, and had me read dialog when she needed. just so the students could hear proper pronunciation and voice inflection and stuff. i didn`t mind it! i bet the kids were super bored though.

the second class`s activity was a lot of fun. after i introduced myself, the teacher passed out a sheet of paper where the students would write questions they had for me. that was the best...i can`t even tell you how many kids asked whether or not i liked tennis. how funny is that? i also got some great engrish questions like, "do you flower?" and "what best season is there?" i just love it. i am so happy these kids are willing to step out on a limb and try speaking english, whether it`s right or not. those are the kids that will go far in learning english.

wow, the teacher in me is coming out. hee hee. i didn`t even know i had one in there!

anyways...i love teaching those kids. they are so much fun. they are just so cute and i was overwhelmed with love for them when i first met them! and it really helps that they like me too. really, really helps. well, i hope it`s a like that will last. it may be because i`m just a novelty. a novelty with blonde hair and blue eyes and a geeky smile. but i have good fashion! at least, that`s what one of the other teachers told me today. she pointed to my sweater and said, "you have good fashion", and it made me so happy. one of my students liked my sweater today too! she kept pointing at me and saying something in japanese and i would just stare blankly at her. then she did the woman sillhouette thing with her arms...you know, the one that means curves? hahaha...i had no clue what she was talking about. but her english proficient friend helped her out and said, "pretty shirt". communicating with them is like playing charades. and it is the best.

but anyways...on the second day of school, when the kids actually saw me emerge from the teacher`s room, i got quite the response. i`m used to people staring at me by now, which is lucky, cause they sure do it a lot at this school, haha. when i would walk past them in the hall, the girls would say, "kawaii sensei, kawaii sensei!!" which means...cute teacher. hee hee! and now i get that all the time when i pass a group of girls. they look at me and say, "kawaii! kawaii!" they think i don`t know what they`re saying -- which is all too true sometimes -- but i know what kawaii means! wahahaha. they must have been daring each other to come up and talk to me. one girl walked up to me, bowed low, and said, "you are very pretty", and ran away laughing. similar things happened a couple times. my favorite though was when a boy came up to me and said, "i love you!" and ran away, laughing hysterically. needless to say, my self-esteem has never been so high. haha! and now that the students are getting comfortable with me, they will come up and say those nice things without running away and laughing. it makes me happy. they`re also starting to say cute in english when they see me, but it is always two very distinct syllables: "cute-to, cute-to!" it is very cute-to and i love it. whenever they say, "you are cute-to!" to me now, i say, "thank you! so are you!" and then their faces fall and they get this super blank look on their faces cause they have no idea what i said. i love it. sometimes they do, and they giggle; other times the jte will intervene and tell them what i said, and they giggle. hahahaha. lots of giggling at the school.

...i really wish i could take a camera to school and just film them all to show you, but sadly, that is strictly prohibited. very strictly prohibited. haha. i`m also not allowed to touch the students, which is hard, because i`m always wanting to pat them on the arm or something when they overstep their apparent shyness just to talk to me. i want them to know how much i appreciate it! and where i would normally do that with an arm/shoulder pat, i have to try really hard to restrain myself. really hard. i have to admit...some pats escape. but i am working on it.

so i am not allowed to touch the students, but i have one student who is very affectionate. in a good way. when she sees me in the hall, she yells, "erizubesu!!" and runs at me to give me a giant hug. i never know what to do. so i just kind of pat her on the head, haha. then she`ll just sort of hang on my arm, talking to her friends. while i stand there. haha. and then she links arms with me and drags me down the hall, asking me questions like, "do you have a dog? does your mom speak english?" and every student`s favorite question, "do you have a boyfriend?" or, as they say it, "you have boy-hu-riend-o?" very slow, and separated into distinct syllables. as i tried to illustrate...haha. when they ask that question, and i say yes, the unfortunate follow-up question always is, "do you have kids?" makes me sad those go hand in hand these days...but oh well. the point is! i love that little girl, and i try to return her affection with as little contact as possible. she must not realize it though, cause she always comes back for more! which makes me really really happy. :)

anyway...that`s enough for one school post. that`s largely what my posts will be about from this moment on, so you`ll hear plenty more! whether you want to or not. ha. :P