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 | Coverage Days: Friday, October 23rd and Monday, October 26th
Schools Visited: JHS
Oh, xeno, you handsome, talented, comedic jackass... stop using dramatic entry titles making us think you've gotten yourself into some dire situation in hopes of luring in a more sympathetic and concerned audience. Ever heard of the boy who cried wolf?
Is that what most of you are thinking as you begin this entry? heehee... well, fortunately, I'm typing this from home and not from the slammer, so yes, the title of this entry is only relative to my day in the more joking sense. You'll have to read on to see what weirdness and nonsense was the basis for today's entry. But first... let's discuss some other events that came before it.
On Friday, it was originally supposed to be our Culture Festival (bunkasai) Dress Rehearsal, but because so many kids at the JHS have been sick with the H1N1 flu over the last week, the admins decided to postpone the event until later in the month*. I wasn't informed of this until I arrived at school. Well, it didn't impact MY schedule much, because even though the class schedule was resumed as normal, they didn't insert any of the English classes. So basically, I had a day of nothingness.
* actually, it will be held on a Wednesday, which sucks for me since I have to go to ES3 that day. Oh wait, I had an "errand day" scheduled for the week before. The school admins and INTERAC were kind enough to let me switch the two weeks, which will allow me to attend the festival afterall!
I was provided with entertainment throughout the first three periods as the 9th-graders had their musical performance rehearsal at the start of the day, and the 8th-graders had their rehearsal for the following two periods. I could have stayed for the 7th-graders' rehearsal, but by that time, I was sick of sitting in a chair and just watching. Well, not to say I didn't get up and mingle with the crowd. During their breaktimes, I went up to the stage and talked to various students, mostly about the instruments they were playing. Alice-chan is a piano genius, and Tenisu-chan and StinkyBug-san both play drums. The rest of the girls play the xylophone and the boys play keyboards and these weird wind-powered mini-keyboards they have to blow into (AJ thinks they're melodicas, which is highly possible... I'd google it... but... meh).
During the 8th-graders' practice, the boys in the front row playing those strange keyboards were all swaying from side-to-side. I earned a few laughs by swaying in rythem with them. Only two boys noticed at first as their classmates were staring at their music sheets, but they tapped the others on the shoulders and pointed at me while waving. Soon we were all swaying to the beat. For the girls, I went over to a small group who were playing a xylophone, trying to figure out a certain bar of "A World New World" (from Aladdin). They kept messing up the last two notes, so as a joke, I sang "I can show you the WHUUURLLddd!!" while completing flubbing the final notes to mimic their messed-up rendition. 'cause I'm funny like that, haha.
As I was walking back to the school with the kouchou-sensei and the class, I joined up with some of the boys. One of them had an elastic that had broken from its loop, so it was essentially just a long rubber string. What he would do was pull it long, then put one end up against the back of the head of the boy in front of him, then let the other hand go to have the elastic snap his victim in the head. He did this two or three times, each time earning him a punch in the arm. On a further attack, he hit a new target, only this time, even after a fierce sting, the boy didn't flinch or show any signs of acknowledgement. Both the boy with the elastic and I looked at eachother and at the same exact time, we both said "no reaction!" lol... I wasn't even sure if he knew what that meant, but since he said it with me, he must have.
In the 4th-period there was nothing. In the 5th-period, I played soccer with the 8th-grade boys during their PE class. Nothing worth mentioning. In the 6th-period, since the festival was postponed, the students had to bring back all the music equipment from the community center. I thought it was something the whole school would be doing, but I only ever saw 8th-graders, so I guess this just means that for the whole day pretty much, I was an honorary 8th-grader.
The move was fun since I got to talk to a lot of students. Those "stinky bugs" (kamemushi) are back, which has all the kids in a panic. I still don't understand the issue... they don't smell all that bad to me. Or maybe I just haven't encountered a full-impact from one. Oh well, as we were waiting outside on the front steps for the trucks to come back to take more instruments, I got to talk to Sticker-chan1 and Sticker-chan2 about drums and other instruments. I was surprised since they were the ones to start the conversation by walking up to me and asking "how are you?" I don't know why it was something so strange since it's not like it's the first time, though maybe it has to do with the fact that this is the first time they haven't approached me just to say "sticker, please!!"
Friday ended with my trying to allign students into pairs for the upcoming Takahashi City JHS English Speech Contest. Alice-chan, DollDream-chan, and StinkyBug-san had spent the week thinking about whether or not they wanted to enter, and today I finally got straight "yes" responses from them. And better yet... a new challenger has arisen to make an attempt...
Many of you may be pleased to know that Blue-chan is officially entered to represent her school in this year's competition. I know for A-sensei, it's a nightmare since he wants to have only the top students compete, but I couldn't be prouder of this girl for making an attempt at something that others feel is beyond her level.
And actually, this runs over into today, Monday the 26th. I spent the whole weekend trying to decide how to arrange my layout. I had 5 spots to fill, but only 4 students. I was awaiting an answer from Idol-san, so assuming she would join in the contest, I was planning on having her be on her own... but she didn't like the idea of working by herself. The other three, despite being the experienced students from last year, plus the smartest girls in their class, didn't want to work with any of the 9th-graders. One of them would have had to work with Blue-chan, and I figured since DollDream-chan was in the Soft-Tennis Club, then she'd be the best choice. In the end, it didn't matter since Idol-san apologized to me this afternoon and gracefully declined the offer, and surprisingly enough, Blue-chan says she prefers to work alone.
But now I only had 4 students. I could make do, but the three 8th-grade girls wanted even pairs, and since they didn't want to work with one of their senpai or kouhei, we had to find another 8th-grade classmate. Even though she hates English, she's become one of my best allies, and considering further that she was in the contest last year, too, it was only natural that Tenisu-san be asked to take the last spot. Actually, I give her a trillion points for being the only one this year to make a quick-decision. The others were kinda "uhhhhh... ummmmmmmm... it depends on a few things.... gimme a few days to think about it," but Tenisu-chan needed only 3 minutes to think it over. I was so happy as we cleaned the 2-A classroom together and she looks up at me and out of nowhere says "deru", which apparently means "I'll do it." Sweeeeeet!!
In discussing the rest of Monday, the day was off to an incredibly slow start. Luckily the second-half was incredibly eventful, and I'll tell you how so. A-sensei was out on family business today, so there wasn't anything for me to do in terms of planning. In fact, our class with the 8th-graders was cancelled today, though I still had class with the 9th-graders with T-sensei. For the first four periods of the day, I just worked on tweaking some resources, getting some company-work done, and making small chit-chat with the faculty in the room with me. The only student I had any interaction with all morning was the one 8th-grade boy who is actually in the 2-B class that I only work with occassionally. I feel bad because he's very quiet and very unconfident about his abilities, and it's rare when he comes up for conversation with me... but on Friday, he wanted to talk to me at the exact moment I was already in a serious discussion with some other people. I guess he didn't notice I was having a conversation, so I felt bad that I couldn't focus on what he was saying to me. I thought he was going to be mad, but today he came into the teachers' room, and when he saw me, he gave me a happy and excited "hello!!"
So yay... my only interaction of the first-half of the day was very positive. The first interaction of the second-half of the day was with Blue-chan... and interactions with Blue-chan are almost ALWAYS positive, haha. She came into the 3-B classroom as I was in there for the English Club. She was the only member who showed up today, which was about as much turn-out as I figured since the kids are using every second of free-time to prepare for the bunkasai. This was fine since it gave me a chance to sit down with her and explain to her some things about the Speech Contest. Her topic will be about her love for singing and dancing. She wrote a speech for her Japanese class, and so now all she'll have to do is translate it, then go from there.
My one class of the day was in the 5th-period. The 9th-graders were a little rowdy since they don't seem to show much concern for T-sensei. Haha, that poor woman... she's so meek and mild that she has trouble commanding control of the students. My friend who is an ALT at the other school she works at says the kids there don't treat her any better. That poor poor woman, haha. Oh well, at least whenever I spoke, the kids listened. They seem to like me, which I guess is all I need to care about. And good thing since I had something interesting for them today. The target grammar was "this is the X that Y." My example was "this is the cellphone that I use in Japan. And this is the cellphone that I used in America." I had both phones to show the students, which amazed them since my Japanese keitai is about 33% bigger than my tiny American clam-shell phone. One of the boys wanted to know why it was so small, to which I explained that that's how Americans like their phones... which is a pain since it just makes them easier to lose.
I really can't remember anything else interesting to discuss about this class period, though as we were ending, I could hear the words "Imagine Breaker" coming from a conversation two of the boys were having. I recognized this phrase from the anime I'm currently watching, To Aru Majutsu no Index. They were very surprised to hear that I knew this anime, which is great since one of the boys is one who I've been having the most trouble connecting with. Now that I know he likes the same anime as me (including Bakemonogatari, which I discovered during the class), I have an excellent ice-breaker with him. I have to catch up to him and the other boy, as I'm only one episode 16 of Index while they're already deep into its spin-off series, To Aru Kagaku no Railgun.
I was kinda glad to have the 6th-period free today since the PE classes are held after lunch. In the last period today was the 7th-graders. First they had to do a marathon lap around the whole village. I made myself useful by standing on the driveway and checking traffic as the kids crossed the street there. After that, we all played soccer!!! This was great because I played soccer with these kids nearly everyday last year, and they're really good at it. Haha, even one of the girls who's a total nerd scored a goal, albeit it was a lucky shot, haha. She was very happy after she tapped it in. The kids on my team were pissed, but since I'm a teacher, I have to be happy for all my students' achievements... even if they're done AGAINST me, haha.
I played decently today... better than my other days, at least. I had a few nice stops, as well as a handful of impressive close-up duels. I like playing defense, though I'm better when I can get close to the player with the ball, since it's easier for me to just kick the ball away from them. I get them nearly everytime. My only flub of the day was when three of us (one being on my team) went for a pop-fly kick. As it landed, I went for the high-punt while the kid on my team went for the header. If you can imagine this situation, then you can imagine my foot just about grazing past his nose. Luckily I anticipated this, so I kinda held back on my power, but it was still enough to scare the absolute poop outta him, heh heh heh.
I got to play hero to the 8th-grade boys today, haha. As we starting souji (cleaning time), I wanted to talk to the girls in the speech contest to make sure everyone was okay with the new plan (this is when I would ask Tenisu-chan if she wanted to join us). As I was coming up the stairs, I could hear a group of boys making a horrendous amount of noise. When I turned the corner, there were 6 or 7 of them standing around a bug on the ground. It was another one of those stinky beetle things. I guess they didn't know that I was aware of their natural defenses, which was good for my gag as I told them that it was "kawaiii" while bending down to pretend to pet it. Hahaha, they all shouted "noooo!!!" as I reached my hand out. Then I saved the day by taking out a bank receipt from my pocket, scooping that bad-boy up, then tossing it out the window. After the window was shut, I was given a round of applause. Seriously.... what's the big deal with these bugs???
You already know how my conversations with the girls in the speech contest went, so let's skip ahead to after-school time. Though the atheletic clubs were meeting, a lot of the various members were pooled together to form the Track Club... which only meets right before certain running events. I went outside (in the gloomy weather, but still kinda warm) to see what was happening, which is when I saw that Blue-chan was also participating. I was going to ask her what the running course was, but she was too involved in a conversation to pay any attention to me. She even turned her back on me at one point, which was fine since it was because of this that I noticed the newest Xeno Ranger sitting by the window inside the 3-A classroom, 5-0-san. I needed to talk to her, and since I knew she was sitting down with nothing to do right then and there, I used this chance to go see her.
I've been at this school for a year, and even though I've had at least one decent conversation with nearly every student here, she is one of the elusive few who I have rarely spoken to. I've asked her a question or two during her Kendo Club meetings, but nothing of significance. Today would change all that. I always remembered from last year's "what do you want to be in the future?" chapter that she wanted to be a police officer (hence the nickname). Since I'm doing that chapter again with the 8th-graders, I've learned that other students want to be police officers, too, which prompted me to make a list of English words and phrases relating to police work. I never had an opportunity to give her the list... until now.
When I walked into the room, I was a little surprised to see that she wasn't alone. Gulp... okay, wasn't counting on a group being there, though in the end, this totally worked out for the best. Her, ahem, partners in crime this afternoon were Omiyage-san and Yochien-san. Omiyage-san has always been kind to me, despite being totally quiet and reserved, while Yochien-san is usually back-and-forth with her feelings about me, which is typical of most teenage girls. Anyway, as I approached, they all stopped talking and immediately focused on me, wondering what I possibly could have wanted from them. I asked 5-0-san if she still wanted to be a police officer, and when she did, I showed her the list I made.
My intention was only to drop the list off, then run off, expecting her to just be like "ah, cool, thanks, see you," but I was happy when she and the others started going down the list and practicing all the phrases. They were really getting into it, especially Yochien-san whose acting as the bad-guy was a lot of fun to her... and she was quite good at it... almost as if... she weren't acting at all.... hmmmmmmm.... makes me wonder. Haha, she formed a gun with her finger and started to hold us hostage, but then when 5-0-san and myself held up our own finger-guns, she realized she was in for a fight. Luckily, and surprisingly, Yuki Naga... I mean, Omiyage-san held up her own gun to Yochien-san's head to get the shoot-out started.
The phrases on the list included things like "don't move!!' and "put your hands up!!'... cute when shouted by a 15 year-old girl... though, probably not the effect an officer-of-the-law trying to control a suspect would like. Well, with a bit of practice, she'll get it down. What I found most interesting was that even after just hearing the translation once, the girls seemed to understand it. Omiyage-san got up to get a bag on the other side of the room, and as she came back, I yelled at her "stop where you are!!!" "Drop your weapon!!" "Put your weapon down!!!" "Put your hands in the air!!!" She's incredibly smart, so it was no surprise that she was able to obey without needing much time to think, but I'm lot more impressed with Yochien-san, who I feel isn't as interested in English as the others. Yet, whenever I gave her a command in my "cop voice*", she was able to follow quite easily. It's amazing how quickly kids can learn English when you scream it into their faces.
* Boston Police Department, Area B, District 3 - UMass internship Winter 2003
I don't know how many times I got shot or stabbed, but we ended up talking... and shooting eachother... for about 30 minutes. It was fun, and I think they really enjoyed it. In fact, I KNOW they enjoyed it since even after they were walking out of the building, they were still talking in English about what we were doing. Poor Blue-chan, though... I think she regrets blowing me off since I saw her watching us from outside with a look on her face that just billboarded "awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww... I wanna be part of that group, rather than doing stupid running around a stupid field!!!!" Oh well, I feel sorry for her, but for me, now it'll be interesting next time I go back to school and see which students try to "shoot" me.
It be bed time... see you next time!!!
Notice
As a way of adding extra protection for my students (and my job), new entries will come out on time-delay so that my assistant editors, AJtheFourth and JackGrover, can help me edit out anything that might be taken the wrong way. We don't want people to think ill of certain situations, especially considering that I'm a 28 year-old male working with girls aged 5-15. Sometimes when I word things a certain way, it reads online as something different from how it sounded in my head. Hopefully my editors will catch these quips before the guys at Dateline: To Catch a Predator catch them, heehee. |
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| #1 | 
bluemage |
I haven't actually seen any episodes from To Aru Majutsu no Index, but am finding To Aru Kagaku no Railgun to be a really good series. I guess it's because the two series are not direct continuations to each other, so knowledge from the first series is not needed to follow along in the new one.
But I will be watching Index soon. =D
2009-10-27 16:22:21 |
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