First 2 Weeks of Teaching

On Friday, Kris and I completed our second week of teaching (though it was only the first full week).  So far, we both really enjoy our students and teaching at MeySen.  I will tell you about my class and teaching experience first and then Kris will tell about his.

Let me just start by saying that I think I may have to retire after teaching at MeySen: this is pretty much a teacher's paradise.  My day starts at 1pm and ends around 7pm (Monday-Friday) and 8am-3pm on Saturdays.  I get 3 hours of planning time each day, so I never have to take work home!  The curriculum is provided and written out, so I don't have to reinvent the wheel, but I do get to be creative with how I teach it. 

Common area on the first floor of our building.  It has a real fire place for warm, cozy fires on winter nights.

Check out the sweet massive origami cranes made out of metal!  This is the common area on the second floor of our building, which is where our classrooms are.    My classroom is the one on the right in the back.

There are 3 aquariums at the entrance of the first floor; two of them are for fish and the middle one is for turtles.  The kids keep their inside and outside shoes in these shoe boxes (since in Japan you can't wear the same shoes inside that you wear outside).

But the best part is definitely my students.  I have 13 students in my class and they are so much fun.  They come 4-6 times per week after a whole day of regular Japanese school.  These kiddos make me laugh with some of the things they say and do, and they impress me with how hard they work and how well they speak English.  They've got tons of energy and like to be silly, but they are good kids and can work really hard. Also they are very interested in the fact that Kris and I are married, since his classroom is across the hall from mine.  We don't do anything to display that we are married, but I talked about it when we were discussing a story about a man who lost his wedding ring.  Now every time they see Kris, they make hearts with their hands and say "Ohhhh!  Mrs. Lauren! Love love!" or something like that.  It's so funny!  

I like that my classroom is expected to be fun and full of talking -- they point is to get the kids to speak English to each other and to me; so I don't have to keep telling them to "stop talking and be quiet".  When they are doing projects or seat work, they can talk and help each other.  I really like having that kind of classroom environment.

Each class at MeySen has the name of an animal.  My class is the 3rd grade Tigers. Here are some  pictures of my classroom (I share it with a teacher who teaches English to the students who go to the Japanese kindergarten, so most of the decorations in the room aren't mine.  But I do have 2 bulletin boards).



This is my classroom!

 

Class Rules



Bulletin board for our theme, which is South America this trimester.  Students are learning about 5 regions of South America, and this week we made South American Rainsticks.

I'm not gonna lie, I'm pretty proud of this tiger I made out of construction paper.  The secret? I printed the tiger from clipart onto a transparency and put it up on a wall and traced it.  I will keep him all year but change the background and other parts to match the season. 

The first two weeks of teaching have been a fun experience for me too. I was pretty nervous at first since I've never taught before. It's been a little bit stressful, but I'm also really enjoying myself. I teach four classes, three times a week each. I have a first, second, fourth, and sixth grade class, which means I had to memorize four different levels of curriculum. I also have over 85 names to remember, with a name test from my supervisor at the end of this coming week. You would not believe how much first graders look alike. I also think that girls shouldn't be allowed to change their hair style for the first three weeks of class. I also still have a lot to learn about teaching in general and my extracurricular responsibilities.


Despite all that, I love my kids and my job. Each grade has it's own quirks and differences. I love playing on the playground with my first and second graders. I love singing with them too; they get really into the music. My favorite class so far is the fourth grade one. They are fun and really responsive to my questions in class. They love to talk in English and they're not too old to enjoy some singing. The sixth graders are my toughest challenge. They are just old enough to start worrying about what their friends think, so it's like pulling teeth to get them to say anything in class. I've noticed that Japanese sixth graders are much more shy and image-conscious than the sixth graders I worked with back in the States. The class seems to be getting more comfortable with me though. They participate more each time and sometimes I even get them to laugh and have fun for a couple minutes. I can't wait to start going on trips with them to get to know them better.

Kris shares his room with the Japanese kindergarten teacher.  This is his wall to decorate for friends club.

This is a point chart for the tables in Kris' class.  He came up with an excellent way to manage his class by awarding points to each table.  The winning table gets to line up first and the losing table has to stack the winning table's chairs.