I’ve been accepted to the Liberty
University graduate school to study for a Master of Arts in Teaching with a
specialty in middle school English. My plan is to take one course from January
until March, and then two courses from March to May. The first week of the
two-course load will be my last full week of work in Japan, so the timing is
pretty good. I’m still working on getting a few documents sorted before I fully
commit to the program. And there’s a lot to think about, moving back to the US.
I’ve complained about my junior high school
a lot, but last week one of the teachers came to me and told me that they want
me to stay another year at that school. I really appreciated that, and I also
told her that I was grateful for the opportunity to observe and participate in
class (as calling my duties there “teaching” seems like an arrogant
exaggeration). Of course I told her that I was going home next year, but
anyway, the exchange did make me feel better.
Usually the socially challenged class is my
least favorite to teach, but recently I had kind of a special experience. There
is a girl in that class who has ADHD and sometime does no work at all during
class. This day I was asked to work with her, which rarely happens. The last
time I did so, back in the first term, she quickly got frustrated that I
wouldn’t speak Japanese with her. This time though, she was much more willing
to make an effort to understand. I think one thing that helped me was that, first
thing I asked her how she was, and tried to respond appropriately to her answer
with another question or sympathetic nods or whatever. Afterward, she easily
made it through her assigned worksheet and then we talked. First we talked
about ways to write the number seven, which she obviously enjoyed. Then I asked
her about zero, and she didn’t understand but was so interested in my question
that she called my co-teacher over to translate. So I was happy that a student
would try so hard to understand me
I went to a men’s drinking party with
teachers from one of my elementary schools and we had a great evening. The meat
was fantastic--it was high-grade beef which we dipped in raw egg. The seafood
was good too, especially the squid sashimi, although some of the sashimi was a
bit too fishy for my taste. After the restaurant, we went to a "snack
bar". Its closest American equivalent would probably be a karaoke bar, but
I've never been to one so I'm not sure about that. Snack bars have a seedy
reputation, but the one we went to was pretty classy. I sang some songs, two in
Japanese and two in English, but I didn’t do a good job. Regardless, it was one
of the best, most comfortable parties I have ever attended.
Yesterday I took the big Japanese test that
I failed last year. Overall I feel that I did better, which was my goal. I
managed to read and try to understand all but a few questions from the reading
section compared to about half last year. I’ll get the results online in late
January. And with this test finished, I have a presentation for my co-workers on
Wednesday and a Christmas party for students on Sunday. After that there won’t
be any particularly stressful events until the end of my time in Japan, possibly
excepting graduate school assignments.
