Meet the little ones

This was my year 1and 2 intro lesson,
the numbers are them guessing my age

So yeah it has been a while- sorry.

Anyway enough of the apologies (imagine me bowing really low, like I'm going into flat back (insanity joke) )  Hmm can you put brackets in brackets when it's not math?  Well , I can


Anyway for the second time a couple of weeks ago on the 6th I had to teach the 1st and 2nd graders at my elementary school. Most times I teach the 5th grades and they are energetic enough BUT the 1st graders and 2nd graders are like little Ninja duracell bunnies and they don't understand more than a couple words of English but they are the most enthusiastic classes I have taught.

The way they got excited when I turned up you would have though I was a power ranger or something they went crazy and I went crazy and it was just a crazy day. Like working with kids puts a lot of people off having kids but this was the opposite. I gave out high fives and the kids literally mobbed me at one point. They see me as a  high five giving BFG climbing frame from a mysterious land. I remember having kids n my legs climbing them like trees and a couple kids swinging from my bicep and this was before I even stepped into the class.

And  playtime I'll go into that in another post but  I really enjoyed that day and yeah I got paid for it. :D Good times  Shame is I don''t have the 1st and 2nd years in my regular schedule so who knows when the next time will be.

What is funny is that the little kids who you think would be scared and apprehensive when meeting a giant foreigner are the most welcoming and friendly and then it's the adults who are the fraidy cats. I think it's great to get foreign people into Japan so these kids will understand and grow up knowing foreigners and not having some of the fears that their elders have.  I'm just glad that for the students I have had the pleasure of teaching, I'm glad that I can dispel many of the negative stereotypes they may have otherwise received about my demographic and to realise that personality has no real relation with race or background.

BOB SAPP,I AM NOT

I'll say Thank God it's Friday not because I hate work because the opposite is true and more because I am tired. I've greeted more people than the pope walked like an hour each day as my commute and climbed that hill that my school is on top off which will get me fit. Plan is to get the quiet cheap drink in with a few friends and just relax.I say the as it is going to be one lol. I'm looking forward to some Umeshu plum wine which I'll eventually learn to make.

Like it's Friday end of the working week and, I had a busy day, there were only 5 school periods in the day and I was  only meant to work 3 but I ended up doing all 5. So extra work but this is more of me putting my hand up saying I'm free let me take part in these lessons.


I think I'll benefit from writing little and often as everyday there is something to say. I wish I could have videoed my introduction lesson because I think its cool. I confronted  the Bob Sapp comparatives I knew I would definitely receive head on by pulling out a Bob Sapp flashcard to introduce the concept of name.. A few kids try call me Bob Sapp but since I brought it up first it is more like a laugh together than at me and they can't take credit aye.

SO I attend a Japanese class once a week on Thursday and it's in a community centre so I showed a few members the basics of Salsa and a bit of Kizomba on the Thursday , I mean being a teacher helps now as showing and demonstrating becomes part of your life which is always fun so I look forward to working on that part of my life (the dancing)here. Also I received a generous amount of rice from one of the teachers who happens to come from an area where rice is in abundance and this came about from me complaining that the price of rice is too damn high. I think i have enough to last me the year and It was necessary as times are hard, month in lieu pa and all that means pay  arrives end of May now considering I moved here end of March and I travelled 6000 miles and rent a modern apartment it is a hard life. Top it off I met somebody else who has invited me to a vibrant international church in the closest big city Mito so everything is falling into place. Earthquake count for me now is 3 now so I'm getting used to it.

PEACE

Day 1 x 2

So, I came to Japan for many reasons but my vehicle here was and is teaching the English and it's something I had thought about since I was 19 when I read the blog Gaijin Smash you can find here http://gaijinchronicles.com/ . I actually just got sidetracked reading it for like half an hour.


Anyway I'm here now and I had my first day at my Junior High School yesterday and my first day at my Elementary School today. I've never taught a real class of school kids, only fake ones with  my peers pretending to be Japanese kids. There is a big difference, sometimes you get that kind of silence that comedians get when their joke doesn't fly or the silence you get when you ask a girl her name and she blanks you ( Neither of these have happened to me by the way).  Doing the same class a few times allowed me to fine tune my class and it went done quite well, it was aimed as an introduction and they got to know my name with thanks to Super Mario as a lot of times I introduce myself as Mario without an M. It helps trust me.

The Elementary school now was like the best fun I've had in a long time, and it helps that I understand a fair bit of Japanese because although I only teach one year in the school, everybody is running up to me and asking questions and they don't even think about talking to me in English, I'll just have a kid asking me if they can jump on my shoulders or, how tall i am?where I am from`? Can I dunk? How strong am I? what's my favourite song? my favourite animal? The only thing everyone can say in English is 'HELLO'

Like I could go into detail but I mean being able to laugh and smile and make people do the same at work is amazing. I mean there are man things I could do better but it is just the start I think I'll learn a little each day and eventually I'll be that guy.

Oh and the teachers act like I'm some wonder child and they love that I brought Earl Grey Tea in a little souvenir box.