Positive beginnings

Finally, my hellish 3 weeks of sitting around doing nothing has come to an end. I was very lazy and didn't do much besides read 3.5 novels, study very little Japanese, read the news and stalk people on the internet.

Now, the school year has really started coming around. I finally taught today and as bored as I have been, I wasn't looking forward to classes with my bad kids. My teacher changed and I have never worked with her and didn't know what to expect. Furthermore, rumor is around these parts that the older, meaner, and manlier of a teacher in the classroom with you, the more likely the students will behave. This teacher is also young and weighs in at 120 lbs when wet.

She is awesome. We taught two classes together. I have never seen these kids behave so well. She is stern and really gets them to listen. The warming up game we did today is one I have done in the past and it never worked well because the kids are never listening or anything. She also really allows me to run the classroom really well, including my ideas, it was so great. Even better, after class she apologized to me for their bad behavior. The best behavior I have seen them be on and she thinks it's still bad - meaning she will only whip them into even better shape. I am soooooo psyched. She even controlled this one kid that has some serious issues and has been the bain of my existence in his classrooms. He was taunting her quite badly and she had him under control in a way I've never seen him behave.

I think today was the first day these kids have seen me smile in probably 2 months. Today, we were teaching lessons that included numbers. Well, Japanese Junior High School students aren't any different than American Junior High School students. Once they learned the English word for sex - their maturity level dropped. They kept asking me how to pronounce the number words (like how we pronounce 1886 like eighteen-eighty-six, not one thousand 8 hundred and eighty -six). Well, everytime i said eighteen -eighty-SIX - a group of about 5 boys would start laughing hysterically because SIX is just oh, so close to, *gasp!* SEX!!!!!!!!! Then, they'd all go OH Thank you! Thank you! oshiete kudasai - pointing at the the number 46. Meaning please tell me this one, too. I say, forty- SIX - and the collective gasp and giggles of the possibility I might slip up my I and make it an E. ohhh, kids.

At my other school, I have a new teacher working with me, too. He's 23 and awesome. I'm so excited to have a friend at school. He came out with us this weekend. Additionally, the one teacher that wasn't my favorite to work with has really become one of my favorite teachers. We've finally gotten past our awkwardness of having to work together and now are really effective partners in the classroom. We integrate our lessons to include one another and finally, it's going good with him, too.

So, I hope I am not counting my chickens before they hatch - and that these positive beginnings remain this way all throughout the coming year. I see a lot of potential for growth as a teacher now. Alot of my co-workers are inquiring on my ideas and letting me implement stuff - giving me a lot of leeway. It's like I've finally graduated from that student-teacher status and they trust my opinion. please oh please let this turn into the job that I had hoped it would be when I first got here.