Start of School

The above is a picture of my main base school, Kitako.

It's been a while! Sorry for being so quiet lately. Things have certainly changed a bit since the lazy, drifting days of summer when I first got here.


School is in full swing now, and I have officially introduced myself to my 15 classes at the 3 different schools. It was kind of interesting to give the same lesson again and again and see how all the classes react. Some listened intently, eagerly answered questions, and whizzed through the quiz at the end. Others slept or stared in boredom and seemed utterly bewildered by the half-page of English on the quiz. Then there were those classes that thought it perfectly acceptable to talk and walk around the room during the presentation. As assistant teachers, we are not supposed to attempt 'discipline', so in those cases I just raised my voice and plowed through them until the end of the 50 minutes. Thankfully enough, those one are spread out enough that my voice will have time to recover.

Students and classes aren't the only variable factor in the lessons. The success also depends a lot on the JTE, or main teachers. Some of them have been very helpful in giving advice and helping with the preparations, and others seem to see the Team Teaching classes as a chance to sit back quietly and let someone else do all the planning/presenting. As time goes on, I'm sure I'll learn how to work with them, but for now I'm just trying to keep up with which teacher matches which class, and what's going on in them.

All of this is new territory for me. 15 years of school taught me how to sit through endless hours of classes like a pro, and how to economize my studying to get a satisfactory amount of effectiveness out of the least amount of time. Sure, lack of sleep as a result of procrastination left me tired, but the work really wasn't so bad. Now, though, I've jumped clear to the front of the classroom. Things look a lot different from up there! You wouldn't realize how much time it takes to plan new lessons, prepare handouts, and teach the material. It's draining. Three lessons a day is my usual fare, and that's been plenty. Already, though, I've noticed myself building up callous to the new type of work. Rowdy classes are not as disappointing, and I've discovered that you can do just about anything with the class and they will believe it was intended to be that way.

Well, that's all for now. In the next post I'll have to detail some of my activities outside of school, because there have been/will be a lot lately!