Better

The next 2 days of teaching went Soooo much better than my first day. Yesterday I had 3 lessons and today I had 2, all 5 of them being my self-introduction. I guess I just needed that first day to figure out timing, sentences and order. I had a ton of fun and the kids enjoyed it too. My self presentation was more of a lecture style than future classes will be, but that's the way I wanted it because this is their chance to learn (or at least hear) the things that make up me, Luther Flagstad. We practiced and practiced saying my name. Mostly just the "th." Even with demonstration, most students were very hesitant to stick their tongues out beyond their teeth! This to me seems a very simple thing to do. I don't know if they didn't want to stick out their tongues (being polite?), or if it was physically difficult to do because they've never had to do it speaking Japanese. Anyway, several of them did very well and I encouraged them to come say my name to me in the hallways to practice. The kids really liked me using Google Maps to zoom in on the US, Minnesota, Roseville and finally, my house! (Ah, Sugoi! Oh, Cool!) You can even see one of our cars on the driveway quite clearly. Then I panned over to Japan talking about my flight and my arrival in Shizuoka. I got the idea from another ALT named Michael who lives in Florida.

I had my first "teaching moment" during today's second lesson. There have been warnings of a typhoon headed our way into Shizuoka, Japan. Typhoons are fairly common on this part of the east coast. There was one about 6 weeks ago, and now another one is underway. Typhoons are similar to hurricanes with thunderstorms, high winds and huge waves. Last night I walked out along the sea wall to watch the waves. They were crashing against the cement and sending 6-7 meter plumes of water into the air. It was quite scary and fantastic. My kyoto-sensei showed me today a map of the typhoon's predicted path. It should hit us full force tonight at about 11pm- the center of it is supposed to pass pretty much directly over Kambara at 3 am, and it will have moved on by 9 am tomorrow morning. Because of this many shops and restaurants and events have been cancelled. With about 5 min. left in my second lesson, Kyotosensei came over the loudspeaker and announced that class for the rest of the day was cancelled as well. There were loud cheers and all the kids started talking at once (this was about 10:30am!). I was given a couple of more min. to wrap up my lesson so I taught the kids the phrase "Good News!" They liked it and I could hear a few of them saying it as they were leaving the class.

Even though the kids went home, we teachers need to stay. Like I said before, a teacher's job never ends here in Japan. A few of the teachers took nenkyu (paid leave or paid vacation) this afternoon to pick up their children, secure their houses, etc. I packed my rain gear today, so I'm going to tough it out and bick back to the station. I can hear the winds picking up outside now. Let's hope the trains are still running when I get there- otherwise it's going to be an interesting bike all the way back to my house...