Teaching English has been so much fun thus far. I know I'm only a week into school, but I'm loving it. In my school there are three grades about 30 students in each, all together there are 85 students. For each grade there is only one class, so I teach three different classes. The first graders are really cute and learning basic english. They are not as confident in their speaking skills and seem a bit shy when I comes to talking to me, but during class they are roudy and seem like a bunch of fun. The second graders know a little bit more, but it doesn't seem like they know how to use it. Their writing skills are better, but they are still very shy when it comes to talking. This is basically the awkward year, though they are all so cute. Today was the first day I taught the third year students and they were so much fun. They not only used better grammar and had a larger vocabulary, but they were also not as shy to speak with me and seemed like they were having a great time learning English. Almost all the students seem like they want to learn English!
I never realized how difficult of a language English is until I started teaching in. I'm try to brush up on my grammar during my free time. Basically, I want to learn the difference between what is right and wrong. I know the difference because it sounds correct to me, but I can't explain why. So I am learning. Tonight I'm going to study Articles, Determiners and Quantifiers. I want to try and memorized the difference between a possessive noun, possessive pronoun, numbers indefinate pronoun, and demonstrative pronoun. Bah... I wish I paid more attention in 8th grade English with Mr. Smith. Every grade has their own classroom. The students stay in the same classroom for everyclass and the teachers move around. This makes a lot of sense actually. Not as many people need to be shuffling around between classes. All the teachers have their desks in one big office. (Picture) I think it's a lot easier this way when compaired to my middleschool/highschool experiences. This way the teachers are able to interact with each other more easily and discuss how classes are going. Everyone works together more to make things run smoothly.
Physically, the school is split up into several different buildings with coverd walk ways connecting them. (I fear this will be bitter in the winter.) There are two long buildings that run parallel to eachother (2 stories) and two walkways connecting each end. This creates a court yard (where I've been weeding the flower/vegetable beds the past couple of days). On one walkway, on the outside, is a building where all the food is cooked. In one of the long buildings is all the classrooms (homerooms) and it also has a fine arts studio, meeting room, home ec. room and computer lab. The second long building has the main entrance (where you change your shoes when coming/going), the staff/teachers office and kitchen. It also has a nurses office, wood shop, Language Lab, and upstair is the Library, another meeting room, and the music room. Attatched to this building is the gym. And outside the gym, on the far side, is the outdoor fields. Hopefully I painted a picture for you. I think the school is very pretty and well kept.
Outside of the classroom, school is busy. Whether I'm preparing for my next class or brushing up on my Japanese and English, or weeding the school grounds, every day is busy and interesting. Lunch time in particular is very interesting. Seinan doesn't have a cafeteria, all the students each in their classrooms. Everyone is served the same meal by the students. They are in charge of going to the kitchen and carry the pots of food to their homerooms where they serve up the deliciousness on dishes which they place on each desk which are grouped together. The food is so good! This month I am eating with the first year students. I try and make small conversation in both English and Japanese, but they are a little bit scared to talk with me. I guess I understand... I do bite. (^_^) After everyone finished everything on their plates everything is stacked up and taken away. It is very efficient and a lot of fun! After lunch, for about twenty minutes, the entire school cleans. The students change out of their uniforms into matching sports wear. At Seinan it is tradition that the boys all take of their shirts (even in the winter) and wear a band around their head. The girls wear towels/rags on their heads to cover their hair. They have some chant that they say together every once and a while during cleaning sessions to help lift spirits. The teachers and even the principals clean too. Group effort. I love it!
These past couple of days at school have been a little hard. This past saturday I was in a car accident and I'm pretty sore... I'm so unlucky. My friend (a third year JET) and I were driving back from a weekend activity on the highway. We saw that their was a car with its emergency lights on in the distance. Erika, my friend, started to slow down. I thought that because it was raining the car was going slowly, but in retrospect it doesn't make much sense because the car was in the fast lane. Once we realized the car was stopped it was too late. There was a mac truck in the other lane with several other cars behind it. She wasn't able to change lanes and slammed on the brakes. They locked up and we hit the stopped car going probably 15-20 mph. We were both wearing our seatbelts so besides really sore necks and a couple of bruises we are okay. The man whose car we hit was also okay, thank god. He actually wasn't in the car, but standing inbetween the car and the gaurd rail... why? I have no freaking idea. I am soo grateful that he is okay. Definitly could have easily squashed him. The front of his car was banged up, he got into an accident 15 minutes before hand. The front of the car we were in was smooshed, crunched, gone-zo. An ambluance and three cop cars came. We were moved off the highway as quickly as possible. Three hours later everything was worked out. There was lots of deep bowing and apologizing. In Japan, being apologetic can get you really far in terms of tickets and penalties. We aren't sure who is going to get most of the blame. In Japan during accidents, it's never 100% one persons fault. We are the ones who hit his car, but he should not have stopped in the fast lane on the highway, when on the other side there was a huge shoulder and 100 yards away an emergency pull off. To make matters even more difficult, the car Erika was driving wasn't hers, but another JETs. Bah... so is life.
I went to the doctor yesterday and xrays were taken. "Your spinal okay" Ha... thats great to know. I am going to try and see a chiropractor as soon as possible. My neck and back are really sore and stiff. I can feel myself starting to get sick already, sneezing and coughing commences. Bah! Just happy to be alive. I hate car accidents.
