It's starting to get good

Oh, it's been a while since I have had anything that I wanted to talk about on here and for that I am sorry! I am sorry because I have probably lost some avid readers by not posting nearly everyday, and also because I haven't been opening my eyes to some of the really great "normal" things going on in my life! But, I'm back and I hope to pick up the pace again.

So I have decided that one of my favorite parts of the day now is to check over the worksheet I have all of my students do in class. As I have said before I made a PowerPoint presentation all about watashi (that means me) and I have a bit of a comprehension worksheet for all the students to complete. After they have answered all the questions I ask all the students to write a short self-intro about themselves so that I can read them and get to know them too. I always ask the basics (n/a/s/l). No seriously, name, age, hobbies, and then I ask them to write me a short message. In my more advanced schools I don't tell them that I can read hiragana and katakana because I know they can express themselves in written English. In my lower level schools I let them in on the little secret that I speak some Japanese and tell them that they can write Japanese if they have to. I am always surprised and often very happy by how much I learn reading these little biographies.

After each class I take loads of time first checking all of the answers on the front of the sheet - the boring stuff about me - haha. Often students will misspell my name or not write it at all, but when it comes to the question about how many people are in my family, (this answer only requires a simple number) I often get the full names and ages of all my other family members, go figure! PS, Ariana and Dustin, if you are reading this all the kids think you both are awesome and soooooo cute, fyi!

When I get to the back of the sheet I never know what I will find. Sometimes the front of the sheet will be completely blank, but the back is FULL of information and questions and drawings - so exciting! I get excited about this, but sadly it does solidify the presence of some big issues in the Japanese education system. All of these kids can spell and write (for the most part), but when it comes to speaking in class, crickets is the only way to describe it.

Anyway, a few of my favorite comments and questions that I have gotten from students so far:

"Why did you move to Japan? Why do you like Japan?"

"Please speak English with me, I love English!"

"I like to read books. I like to study English and I want to go to America one day. By the way, what do you think about the new Prime Minister in Japan?"

"You beautiful"

"I love you"

"Do you have a boyfriend?"

"I had fun today."

Many of the students tell me about their hobbies and always tell me, "Nice to me to." (i.e. meet you). I make it a point to respond to what is written on the back of every sheet. If they like music, I ask about their favorite singer or band. If they like video games, I tell them I play a Nintendo DS. I always answer all their questions and ask some of my own. Sometimes I sneak some Japanese in there and in my head I like to think they are at least a little impressed by me.

One of my classes I have not done this formal presentation, instead the teacher just asked me to bring in some photos of my life and talk about them. When the students understand more English, I think I prefer this way of introducing myself. I had a small class today, about 9 students and showed them a ton of pictures of Pep Rallies, Prom, my house covered in Snow, my family. For every picture it seemed I had a new story or anecdote I could tell. All of the students were so excited and engaged and would respond with their own story or comment.

Nearly all things in life begin awkwardly and Patience is required - that's something I am still working on. I'm in a great frame of mind now and this teaching thing is tough, but I can totally do it. Thanks for your patience while I got my head together. :)