Nursery school classes went ok, but 2 kids cried. I have no idea why. On the brighter side, I was forced to make up a new game on the spot — I had thought to play ‘fruits basket’* with shapes, only to realize that they don’t have any seats, duh — and it was wildly popular.
I divided the kids into 3 groups, circle heart and star (and there were kids with hearts and stars on their shirts, which was extra fun), then we practiced, me calling a shape and the kids raising their arms. I could see this was lacking in excitement (though they thought it was ok) so I had them walk around, and when I called their shape, all members of that group had to pose. They really enjoyed it, happily for me :)
*I played Fruits Basket for the first time yesterday, when the 6th-grade teacher had the class do Animal Basket and we joined in. :) Fruits Basket is like musical chairs, kind of. Everyone is assigned an animal (er, fruit), more than one kid per fruit, and everyone is sitting but the person in the middle. The middle person calls out ‘elephant’ (er, apple?) and all the ‘elephants’ have to switch seats. The last one left becomes the new person in the middle. Multiple fruits can be called, and the middle person can also call ‘fruits basket’ where everybody has to change seats.
I had my first set of ‘second’ elementary school classes today. They went fine, but I need to get the teachers involved more, because I don’t want to do it all myself. It gives me freedom, but I really need the teachers to participate, and they’re probably more likely to participate if they know what’s going on.
Then I had the private class at the temple. The class went pretty good, considering the kids much rather wanted to play with the ball than practice English, but I got them doing stuff and speaking English so I consider it a success. Afterward, the mother invited me again to have some tea, so I chatted with them for about an hour.
I barely made it back in time for my dictation role in the evening class, then I worked out lesson plans until Casey’s class was finished, and a few of us went out for dinner. I ate this:
It is a ‘mochi cheese hamburger’. I got it because I couldn’t imagine what mochi-cheese might be, and now I know. It’s like mochi, only with the texture of cheese.
Thursdays are definitely a ‘long day’ for me — even if I didn’t get up at 6:30 for tkd lessons.
Ciao.
Not knowing what mochi is, it looks yummy. Is there no bun on this? My kind of food if so.
ReplyDeleteWhat a day, and great you came up with a new game- very creative and fun for the kids.
At the temple, did you chat in English the whole hour, or some in Japanese, too?
Nice that you're going out with folks, even on one of your longest days. Tough rising at 6:30 am!
No bun. They're big on hamburger here - just as meat. To get 'a hamburger', you have to go to some place like Moss Burger or McDonald's. Mochi is made from rice.
ReplyDeleteRegarding chatting, the mother speaks a little bit of English, but not a lot, so we went back and forth talking in mostly Japanese but part English. It's really good practice for me, since I can't revert to using English. I feel awkward though.