The End of My First Week Teaching

The front entrance of the newly built JHS.

Today was a bit exhausting as I taught three classes. They were all self introduction classes, so while I’m getting pretty confident in my lesson, it’s also getting a bit old.

The kids have had a range of reactions. The elementary students yesterday were most impressed and excited. But the third years today were overall unresponsive. I’m sure they have the ability, but hormones, I guess!

I was supposed to have a class first thing this morning, but my schedule was changed a bit, so I was able to relax and prepare until 3rd period. First I taught 3-1, so 9th graders. Right after that I taught 1-2, so 7th graders.

Next was lunch break, which was actually pretty edible today. It was fried rice, some kind of soup, some kind of seafood dumplings (shrimp I think), and vegetables with chicken cubes. And milk, of course. I was told it was a Chinese menu.

Today's kyuushoku (school lunch), minus the egg soup thing.

After lunch I had my last class, 2-2. They were possibly the best class I’ve had at JHS so far. One of the students is half British, so maybe they’re more interested because of that, I don’t know.

We’ve been having the students do self introductions as well, so their name and what they like. I got some great answers today:

One kid who introduced himself as me (‘Hello, I’m Anje’)...
One kid who said he lives in Canada...
One boy who said he liked aesthetic salons...

And one kid who said he loved me and later during Q&A time asked if I liked him too.

Something interesting that I’ve learned is that students are required to close their eyes for around 30 seconds before the start of each class. Also, they have to clean the teacher’s room. I knew about the cleaning of their own classrooms and such, but I didn’t realize that they did the teacher’s room as well. It makes me feel really awkward as I sit there and they are literally on the ground rubbing it with a cloth.

Another task I had today was to record myself doing two speeches. There are two students doing a speech competition in September, so I was making a recording for them to practice from. It was really hard! It took me three tries to have it slow enough and even then it was just barely inside the minimum allowed time. I didn't realize how difficult it is to talk that slowly. 

After work, I was walking home, and all of a sudden I heard "ANJE-SENSEI, SAYONARA!!!" from behind me. I guess one of the kids from elementary school had spotted me from inside a building!

Overall, I enjoyed my first week as a teacher. It seems like things will go well :)