Go Fish!

9.17.07

Even though today was a national Japanese holiday, Hiroko asked Lauren and I to show up for work. We didn't really mind, but we were worried that many students wouldn't show. My first lesson was canceled because Ririka wasn't feeling well. I had an extra hour to plan out my lessons and also managed to get ready for tomorrow. For the months of September and October, Lauren and I are teaching adjectives and classroom vocabulary/expressions. This week I made a worksheet for my kids that covers cold/hot, small/big, and up/down.

Some of my classes have been a bit unruly and I have found it very difficult to be "the bad guy". I am in the process of implementing a class color change chart just like my first grade teacher, Mrs. Kehoe, to be used for classroom management. Basically the kids have three chances (warning, green changes to yellow, yellow changes to red). When the card turns to red they loose their class game at the end of the lesson. Hiroko helped me explain it to one of my classes today; I told them in English and she translated it into Japanese so they were to be sure to understand the rules. We had a productive lesson and I rewarded them with a game of alphabet 'Go Fish'. This is actually a really good game for learning English because they are forced to speak. Good stuff!

My last student, Sao, told me about her favorite website, neopets.com, where you can adopt a cyber creature to care for. I decided to check it out for myself. Lauren told me that I should adopt one but I am worried that I won't have time to care for it properly. I think my favorite is the Lutari. Which one do you like best?

Lauren and I wanted to stop at the 100 yen shop but it was closed. We'll have to go back tomorrow to pick up some odds and ends. Lauren wanted some ice cream so we stopped at "Rainbow Ice Cream" and got some mango ice cream. She even got a free complimentary taste of "pumpkin pudding". I didn't really want ice cream but I did notice one that was called "milk & milk". Typo maybe? I don't think so.

We headed back home and on our way Lauren and I agreed to take an alternative route. Rather than going over the bridge, we went along the river. The path was much more scenic and deposited us right by the park next to our apartment building. We were so proud of ourselves for finding it.

Lauren made dinner tonight because I had made spaghetti on Saturday. We had this nacho concoction complete with left over refried beans, cheese, spaghetti sauce, lettuce, and organic blue corn tortilla chips that Lauren bought at Cost-Co. Oh and Lauren forced me to eat some of the baguette that she had purchased the other day. It was pretty chewy.

Well I have a test on Hiragana words this Thursday and I need to study. Sayonara and ganbare (goodbye and good luck)!