Somen-y Noodles
...written on 06.09.02, @ 10:21 p.m.
Sun June 9, 2002
# 1 of 2 entries posted Sun June 9
Last weekend I went to the house of a fellow teacher. I have made friends with his wife and I teach their oldest son in my Friday class.
We had a lunch of thin somen noodles that were kept swirling in a battery-powered pink plastic Hello Kitty container that looked like a race track, filled with cold water and ice cubes, in which the 4 year old had been playfully splashing his hands a few minutes before.
After you fish out the noodles with your chopsticks, you dump them in a bowl of soy sauce, ginger, radish, and green onion and slurp them up. The husband also wanted to make tako-yaki (dough balls stuffed with octopus) and they asked me if that was ok. I said "Of course", silently gulping. Aw heck, octopus ain't that bad these days really, so I didn't care, but they were astonished, as they remembered me to not be so inclined towards fish and the more traditional Japanese food. It turned out that hubby had his fill of noodles and didn't make any octo-balls after all. (Whew)
Having a little brother around has had quite the effect on little Takuma. Last year he was a screaming "me-me", but with the new arrival and his attendance at pre-school, his disposition has improved greatly.
I really got to observe this on Saturday when he came to make up the Friday class missed this week. In my regular Saturday class, I have two girls and one boy. I was concerned about what would happen to the dynamics by adding a new kid, but the effect was a positive one.
In fact, it was a delight watching Takuma interact with the two little girls. They were quite taken with him and shared personal information and politely took turns in our game playing. When it was time to leave, it looked like one of the girls was asking him when he'd be back or perhaps if they could meet up again when they were in high school. Yep, all 4of my Saturday classes went very well. I
Every week I still struggle with this job of teaching 3-6 year olds. It is a whole new ballgame. Friday's first class was absolute hell. Two girls decided to hysterically scream in stereo. I had 4 other kids running around and when I tried to attend to the ones in distress, I was slapped away. Gotta read up on that kid psychology. To top it off, they send a photographer in to take pictures, just as I am opening the door letting all the little monsters out to go home with their Dr. Frankensteins, my nerves burnt to their last frazzle, and I am told to keep the class going for some "Kodak moments". Grrrrrr.
Anyway, hopefully this summer's training in Hiroshima will help. I'll be going there for a week's training in how to teach English to children. I have a feeling however, that it won't have any pre-school tips, but I'll try and get some pointers on that from others.
Tomorrow, John and I are going to a local elementary school to participate in "Friendly Time". The kids are doing presentations on festivals. They usually put a lot of effort into making nametags and other mementos for us. They are so cute! Because of our visits, some of them have signed up for our classes at our juku. Public Relations in action.