Plans

Now that I have decided that I am going home come August, I have decided to become the best ALT I can. Granted I have improved, (I never leave to eat out, I come on time and stay till 5:15 at least 3 times a week, I clean with the students EVERYDAY) there are so many areas I could do better!

My work load has decreased at an insane rate! From the high of 19 classes a week (making 4 distinct lesson plans!) I have dropped down to the abysmal 9 classes a week. As it was, I was semi-content to be bored for two days a week, but now I am making grand plans for next semester. Can you say, semester long project! Oh yeah!

Granted the kids make me sad... a lot. I feel in some ways these kids are better. For example these kids generally understand difference between the words green and greener, and words like far and close, last years did not. Unfortunately, since I use more Japanese this year and some JTE's actually translate A LOT for me, the kids listening skills are WAY down, along with my patience.

Last year I would sit there and slowly talk the kids through EVERY activity, and if they asked me a questions I'd stand there gesturing anything to get them to understand. Now days, I often fall back to the Japanese. Granted I use no grammar and only basic Japanese, but I think I can use even less.

Than again, in other ways this batch of kids have MUCH WORSE English. I am amazed that kids do not know the word, "do". I often get things like, play clean, play study, the generic verb of English is do, not play!

I often see sentences without keys things, like subject, or is. Questions without the key question.

Still we are going to do this semester long project, and if I get sentences like that, then so be it! Regardless I just want them to do something creative. I hope they can have fun while studying about other places, especially when their dreams involve becoming lunch ladies for grade schools.

Another thing I AM going to do, is make my own special classes for Eiken after school. As it is, I usually help about 5 students, but really I am telling them the exact same thing, 3 kids do not have to wait around for an hour just so I can tell him the same thing I told the previous 2.

Hopefully, along with cleaning with the kids, I can eventually get to the point where I will eat with them. Sadly, I hate FIGHTING the other kids for the last kara-age bowl, and waiting in the BIZARRO long line at the cafeteria, thus I have been avoiding it. Maybe I can just segway myself into eating in their classrooms on a rotating basis. My number one fear is, I will be sitting there by myself as the kids are in their own worlds.

I liked Japanese when I was in High School, but I'd be as willing to stick a bottle up my bum as to force all my friends who sat with me at lunch to talk to my Japanese teacher in Japanese for the 45 minutes of peace we had.

And last, I am going to make a pen friends available to all student who wish to obtain one. I have already got one girl signed up, and I am going to ask all my students next week.

Hopefully if the Eiken lessons go well, I will expand this to a full once a week English circle. I;ve attempted this twice, but without a solid base it fails after about 2 go's. Sadly the most convenient time for this in Wednesday, this means I may have to quit Japanese classes.

A lot of people back home may think "Oh, you've been in Japan for 2 years you must be fluent! But, I am not here to learn Japanese, I am here to teach English. I hate that when ever people ask what JET's are here for 90% of the time I get answers like "Grass roots internationalizing", "Letting kids get to see foreigners" "Let kids have fun for an hour a week" We are English Teachers damn it, I am going to teach these kids some English even if it kills me AND them. If we aren't doing things that other Japanese teacher can just do themselves aren't we truly just wastes of money?

The fact that 7 girls from my HORROR class has now switched from saying "See you" to "later" fills me with a sense of accomplishment. The fact that kids now feel comfortable enough to come into the teachers room just to talk to me, makes me feel like I am doing things. Hell, one girl who is just about the worst student in the grade stops me just to chat about how she got caught using her cell phone in school 3 times thus got it taken away, about how she is so cold (I want to tell her stop using the damn thing in class, and if she just stopped rolling up her skirt maybe she'd be less cold). Even if I have to suck it up through lessons where screaming at kids to be quiet take up as much time as activity explanation, and I have students laughing at me more than actually writing something on their papers.

Some people think, I'm going home who cares if I come in late, who cares if I roll out at 10:45, what are they going to do fire me, not re-contract me!? Well I decided I am going to go home, and in the time I have left I want to prove to myself and to the teachers of this school that I was here for a reason, and I did not just waste my time.

I honestly did not come to Japan to teach kids, I came to Japan to improve myself as a person, become fluent in Japanese, and travel. But, now I can only think about helping these kids. Freezing cold, lack of running water and heat be damned, I am going to make the most of these last months the way I think I ought to.