Wednesday Night

Whoa? Where did the day go? Today went by so fast. Four classes: Grades three and up. I can't pick a favorite; all of them went great. You may find some people that disdain students having too much fun; laughing too much; playing to much rock-paper-scissors. But we have so much fun! Because often in a class of thirty-five or forty we will have as many as many as six teachers, we do lots of small group work that just can't be accomplished in other school systems. I think this is where Shikaoi students' accelerated learning begins. Sometimes the groups can be very hard for me to control. The students are bundles of energy and a disconnect can develop in regards to the amount of authority I wield. Not that the students are consciously thinking about undermining me; but it can become a distraction. The disconnect can also be a lack of communication. I have learned some very strong words for "stop" and "listen" recently that students react to straight away, allowing for tighter control of students when I don't have other English teachers to rely upon. My learning process can be so gradual even I don't even notice. Today with six groups of grade fours my group was very focused; all the students huddled around me on the floor and the lesson at hand. But it wasn't because I had my authority to bare upon nor because I knew strong words for "listen". It was because through a slow process trust had been established. I worked hard for it too. The students wanted to impress me and were hanging on my every word because of it; it was very natural. I think we were able to accomplish a lot of English conversation practice in a very short amount of time. But the relationship was only built up upon an amazingly long period of time.

Perhaps readers question why I do not offer more insights into Japanese culture; why do I go on and on about my classes? I admit now I don't always think about my students in reality, I have lots of things to worry about, no teacher would claim otherwise. But I do put a huge amount of my daily energy into my students. This is an important reality and my blog reflects it. Most of my other random thoughts concerning other random things are no doubt boring to anyone but myself.

As if to clarify the fact that I still relate to other subjects, I have recently rediscovered my love of dance music. With the latest iTunes update I have discovered a new radio station option. It's quite possible this could have been a feature overlooked by me in the past. Lately, I have been tuned into all sorts of crazy French electronica stations and been loving it. All sorts of crazy, dirty beats and fuzzy basslines. I have always felt there is something very primal about dance music. Listening to internet radio while stretching before going for a run or out for the night is just perfect. Although oddly I much prefer any sort of spoken-word when actually running. If anyone in France is reading this: I must get there soon! Going to the Louvre all day and the disco all night sounds like a great time. What would Nietzsche of Rousseau say about what our modern culture has become eh?

Oh, and my baseball game with the other teachers at Shikaoi Sho Gakkou was cancelled because it has became all wet and cold again dang it!