Ikeda branch
...written on 2000-10-24, @ 00:41:19
Mon October 24, 2000
I went to the Ikeda branch for the second time today. Last time I taught a Pec and Jec class there (youngsters). This time I was to teach a class of 7th graders.
There were 26 students. The two teachers on duty stood and watched as I went through everything. I had one of the teachers help me with a little trick that almost backfired on me. I was in middle of saying "Good Evening, my name is . . ." when I collapsed at the waist. My cohort in crime said that to wake up I needed to hear English, any English word would do. And just how talkative would you be if you were a 7th grader in the same situation?
Reminded me of the time when I myself was in the 7th grade and I liked a boy named Phillip. Only problem was he cussed a lot and it bothered me. So I told my girlfriend that the next time he said a bad word I would kiss him to make him be quiet. Well, she told him of course and the next time we were together, he said, "So what's it gonna take? Shit, damn, f***?" Hahaha. I had to reverse my strategy there.
Back to the 7th graders. They finally said enough English to "wake me up" and I proceeded with the class. The infamous "What's your name?" took at least 8 minutes to do between 25 students. The boys were the ones holding up the show this time. They sat on one side of the class and the girls sat on the other.
After saying their names we went over the "getting to know you" questions. Behind me on the blackboard I had written my name in a box with several lines of varying lengths coming out of it with words at the end of the lines. These were the answers to some of the questions we were going over as they pertained to me. As we went along I gave them some personal information that would help them later if they were really listening.
We finished with the questions and I explained the game to them. I divided the class in half (boys on one team, girls on the other) and proceeded to pick out answers and have them guess the questions that the answers went to ie; Georgia= "where are you from?" Purple ="what is your favorite color?" Tiger= "Do you have any pets?" Some of them weren't obvious and I was thrilled when they got those. It seemed like they really enjoyed that exercise.
After I did the box on me, I told them to choose 5 questions and do the same thing between themselves and a partner. Ai, Nobuo and I then went around and monitored their practice.
Then we practiced verbs, and played Simon Says. It was infernally hot in the classroom and I felt like I was melting. I quit 3 minutes early, hoping that it would be ok.
Later I discussed tomorrow's class (I'll be going to the same branch, but have a more advanced class) with the teachers. I will create harder "getting to know you" sentences which we will practice outside of the classroom before we go inside to pretend we are at a party. I am going to give the students a card with a description of a person (name, age, hobbies, etc) and have them be this person at the party. There will be pretend food and drink. I wonder if I can pull it off with such a big crowd? I will have a plan b just in case.
Always have a "plan b" and even a "plan c" if you can.
After the classes were over, Nobuo Ishida-san brought me home. We had a nice chat in the car. His English is very good and he was asking me about things he had heard in American movies, like what does it mean when a cabbie says "You got it" after the hero says, "Don't lose that car". Is that phrase ok to say to your boss?
Thursday of this week I go to Tarui. That's where Mega Mart is! I hope I can convince the teacher to stop there so I can get some floor covering for the bathroom.
Gotta go crash on the futon.
Oyasumi!