During my first year in college, I was assigned the book My First Year as a Teacher for my entry level teaching class. In the book, there were several different teachers sharing their stories, from teaching at risk students, to being live in teachers at boarding schools. I remember wondering what my first year as a teacher would be like. 6 years and several thousand miles later I never expected this...
Its hard to believe that a year as a 3rd grade Immersion English teacher has passed already. Its amazing to look back at everything and see how differently this year could have been. Its hard to believe that last April I was home after the huge earthquake and contemplating not coming back at all. The biggest thing pushing me to come back was this feeling that I had 14 third graders that expected me to be their teacher.
This group of kids would grow to almost feel like my own kids here. I spend 6 days a week with them and have probably explored more of Japan with my students than I have without them. We've been to youth hostels, hiked mountains, water parks, museums, caroling, and more on top of trying to teach them English. I feel like I could write a novel about the personalities of each of my kids; What they like dislike, struggles etc.
I have so many great memories with each of the students that its next to impossible to break it down to each of them. I could tell my students favorite memory of me (at least to tell to me!) though, which I'm slightly embarrassed to share. The 3rd grade students created this booklet "Day at MeySen" which they got a chance to write about their teacher and I had to stop half of them from writing this story. Here's the abridged embarrassment:
Everyday we have playtime with the kids for about 25 minutes. No matter what I dress in, I always try to run around with the kids and play with them. That day, I believe we were all playing soccer. My clothes were a little dressy for soccer but I thought nothing of it... Well I came back inside and we go to the corner where the kids are sitting on the floor and I'm on a stool about to dive into English. Then, I notice the kids laughing and pointing. My students are usually pretty controlled so I was wondering what the deal was. One student blurts out "uh, Mr. Greg your pants are ripped" I had ripped my pants right down the middle. All the kids were cracking up. As I tried to cross my legs for the rest of the corner time, the only thing I could do was laugh with them and try to explain how its inappropriate to laugh at other people when something goes wrong (ya I shouldn't have laughed either haha). For the rest of the year, it was kind of a rolling joke with the class about me splitting my pants at the end of the day.
As some of you may know, Japanese school year starts in April and ends in March. That leaves very little time between one grade and the next. I basically started getting rid of things for last year as I'm preparing for the new students. Next Tuesday, its going to be crazy to start up a class with look at 13 less familiar faces in front of me and restart the whole process of what I'm expecting. I don't know how you veteran teachers do this every year. Though looking back on my memories of this past year, I can start to see why.
PS please check out another teachers blog here: She is working to help students in her home country of Ghana.
http://kasemoart.blogspot.jp/
Its hard to believe that a year as a 3rd grade Immersion English teacher has passed already. Its amazing to look back at everything and see how differently this year could have been. Its hard to believe that last April I was home after the huge earthquake and contemplating not coming back at all. The biggest thing pushing me to come back was this feeling that I had 14 third graders that expected me to be their teacher.
This group of kids would grow to almost feel like my own kids here. I spend 6 days a week with them and have probably explored more of Japan with my students than I have without them. We've been to youth hostels, hiked mountains, water parks, museums, caroling, and more on top of trying to teach them English. I feel like I could write a novel about the personalities of each of my kids; What they like dislike, struggles etc.
I have so many great memories with each of the students that its next to impossible to break it down to each of them. I could tell my students favorite memory of me (at least to tell to me!) though, which I'm slightly embarrassed to share. The 3rd grade students created this booklet "Day at MeySen" which they got a chance to write about their teacher and I had to stop half of them from writing this story. Here's the abridged embarrassment:
Everyday we have playtime with the kids for about 25 minutes. No matter what I dress in, I always try to run around with the kids and play with them. That day, I believe we were all playing soccer. My clothes were a little dressy for soccer but I thought nothing of it... Well I came back inside and we go to the corner where the kids are sitting on the floor and I'm on a stool about to dive into English. Then, I notice the kids laughing and pointing. My students are usually pretty controlled so I was wondering what the deal was. One student blurts out "uh, Mr. Greg your pants are ripped" I had ripped my pants right down the middle. All the kids were cracking up. As I tried to cross my legs for the rest of the corner time, the only thing I could do was laugh with them and try to explain how its inappropriate to laugh at other people when something goes wrong (ya I shouldn't have laughed either haha). For the rest of the year, it was kind of a rolling joke with the class about me splitting my pants at the end of the day.
As some of you may know, Japanese school year starts in April and ends in March. That leaves very little time between one grade and the next. I basically started getting rid of things for last year as I'm preparing for the new students. Next Tuesday, its going to be crazy to start up a class with look at 13 less familiar faces in front of me and restart the whole process of what I'm expecting. I don't know how you veteran teachers do this every year. Though looking back on my memories of this past year, I can start to see why.
PS please check out another teachers blog here: She is working to help students in her home country of Ghana.
http://kasemoart.blogspot.jp/
Hey Mr. Zietlow, it's Greg Liggett. Hey dude, saw your link on Facebook and just had to read it. I'm a huge fan of Japan and Japanese culture so I've been very envious of your exploits! I've been thinking about trying it once I get a BS if I do get a BS (you don't have to get a degree to get into Pharmacy School) you just do the four extra years and boom, Doctor of Pharmacy. :) But besides the point, it sounds extraordinarily fun being in Japan. When I went to Europe, it made me appreciate America but it also made me want to immerse myself in other cultures! I really am envious of you man and am glad you are having such an excellent time!!! How long do you plan on staying, do you know yet? Or are you just playing it by ear?!! Hit me back up on FB if you can!!! Peace broseph!
ReplyDeleteI am very proud of you!
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