A reminder

Lately I have been feeling a little bored / fed-up / frustrated with my job here as an ALT. I have days where I am used as a human tape-recorder, days when I am not even put to that use, and just wander round the class as the teacher gives back and explains exam papers, or just days where I long to have the chance to be more creative and dynamic in my teaching scope. I know that other 2nd years have been feeling the same at times, and so don't feel odd or worried about my frustrations. Indeed, Im sure some first years have already encountered a few of these situations too! Yesterday, however, was a reminder to me, as to why (on the whole) I love teaching...it's all about the kids!

My classes yesterday weren't amazingly original, and they certainly were not any more exciting than a normal OC1 lesson...but yesterday, I had the kind of interaction with certain students that reminded me why I enjoy teaching...the feeling of actually making progress with a student, the feeling that a student is enthusiastic about your class, simply because you are enthusiastic, and the satisfaction in seeing the quietest of students break a smile as you tell them their work is excellent. Yesterday I made it my aim to try and get round to all of the students who normally don't volunteer, and who are too shy to say anything to me. The work of a lot of these students is outstanding, they are simply to scared to share it with the class. That's ok...I can sympathize with that (god knows I used to hate talking in seminars at uni!)...but I just wanted to make sure they were still doing the work, and not slipping through the net, as a result of not raising their hand in class. I feel like one girl in particular really appreciated the couple of minutes I spent looking at her 'my hometown' speech. I only had to point to where a mistake was, and she could correct herself ; realising where she needed a plural, or where she had used the wrong tense. Her shy smile as she made these corrections showed me how chuffed she felt, as she proved to 'Lauren-sensei' just how smart she was!!

Later on, some of my noisy boys, who seem to make their lesson aim to mimic my voice as often as possible, realised that I could read some Japanese, and decided to try and teach me some kanji! They chose the 'I don't feel well' section of the textbook, and started teaching me words that I already knew (and could read), such as 'cold' and 'influenza'. They thought it would be hilarious if Lauren-sensei said 'diarrhea' and 'constipation' in Japanese, forgetting that the English was also written there, and so I knew just what they meant! I refused to say them, which they seemed to find even more hilarious! I found with these boys, that by using a little Japanese, and showing that I was studying a language too, they were more willing to try and think of some English. Although they also refused to say the above 2 ..'problems'...!

There were lots of other 'moment's yesterday in my 3 classes that reminded me of why I do what I do ; moments of understanding (as all students understood my explanation of a complicated task, without any Japanese needed), moments of pride (as students realised they were actually pretty damn good at English) ; moments of enjoyment (as students laughed and joked with me, but used English to do so!) ; and moments of satisfaction (both for me and the students, as we were both happy with the work we were doing in that class)

I apologise if this post is a little sentimental and soppy. I know that teaching is not for everyone, and for some people here on JET, it is an ok job and a way to live in Japan, travel, and meet some cool people. It is not what they want to do when they leave Japan. But for me, teaching, is where I see myself for the next 5/10/who knows years, and I need days like yesterday, moments like yesterday, to remind me of why the hell I want to be a teacher!

N.B I have never taught in Britain. Maybe I should blog again about my 'love of teaching' in 5 years, and see if the British kids have knocked all of this out of me!