A Good Day

Tombana sensei was delayed for the start of third period today due to dealing with a student from her homeroom who hurt themselves. Another teacher came in to tell the class and watch them from the back. He said it was fine for me to wait or to start the class – whatever I wanted to do.
Having just taught the same lesson plan first and second periods, I felt I’d grasped enough (and noted enough changes of how I would do it) that I could start at least. Understandably, I use a lot more English in my class so started by asking the questions Tombana sensei and Tomo had started with, but in English and asking students to tell me what I was saying before answering my questions. It’s really interesting how much the students can understand if you just give them a chance…it’s especially interesting who understands. The two noisiest, most disruptive students (although almost angels by this schools standards!) were the two who could consistently tell the rest of the class what I was saying.
Tombana sensei came in when I was a couple of sentences into translating today’s text – by translating, I mean I was asking different students to tell me the meaning of each sentence and helping them with new phrases. I offered for her to take over – her Japanese being better than mine for checking the students’ answers – and the entire class protested and said that we were doing fine without her and they didn’t need her anymore. I told them we still need her because my Japanese is not good enough for explaining grammar and they all jumped on the ‘still’! Oops. She indicated for me to keep going so I did until we finished Step One (a third of the class). Class participation was high and when I complained that I couldn’t hear everyone repeating phrases, they all started to put their voices out. It was exhilarating and so satisfying: exhilarating because I rarely teach a class on my own, and starting without the JTE present gives me guaranteed butterflies as I never know exactly how the students will react; and satisfying because they were joining in and responding….and they wanted me to keep teaching them. *bounce*
Very interestingly, when Tombana sensei took over and we went back to our usual way of teaching, class participation dropped markedly. Most noticeably, one of the two students who’d been able to work out everything I had been saying, flat out told Tombana sensei that she couldn’t read or speak or understand English when she was asked for input.
I felt sorry for Tombana sensei – as a teacher I certainly wouldn’t want my class to tell me they preferred the visiting teacher (although there is always the possibility it is just because of the novelty), but seeing students answer another teachers questions then telling me they don’t understand anything would really hurt. I don’t blame them for getting bored….sometimes I could fall asleep in her classes, but I still feel sorry for her.

Still, I’m buzzed from class and it, plus yesterday’s classes, have gone a long way to restoring my confidence in my ability to teach and control a class.

In other news, Iwahashi sensei told me that the two bullies will be removed from 2-3 for our Friday class. She will be asking another teacher to look after them – maybe even the vice-principal or principal. This is excellent news, especially as I watched here running after bully #1 (definitely the worst of the two) down the hallway outside our class a few times in second period.

Halfway through my third week and things are looking up. Wish me luck for the next onslaught of second year classes.