So, wow, it's almost February. Where does all the time go??? Oh, yeah that's right, on my daily commute. Sigh...well in all honesty, it's not the train...it's the 15 minute ride in on my bike in 30 degree weather leaving me to spend the whole train ride wiping snot off my jacket. Then there's the feeling of sweat dripping down my shirt, but not being able to get to it through my 5 layers of clothing. Or freezing my butt off until I get on the packed train and find myself, once again, dripping with sweat but totally unable to remove any of my layers. Then back to freezing my butt off while, with sweat dripping down my shirt, waiting 10 minutes for the next train. Then trying to bury my head like a turtle in my scarf while dodging Japanese salarymen on my 10 minute walk to the school. Yep, so much to look forward to in the morning...It's no wonder it's getting harder and harder to get myself motivated.
School has been rather uneventful...it's like the kids are actually studying and trying to behave themselves. 1st year students have returned to being their quiet timid selves. The 2nd year students have taken up reading or sleeping instead of being overly obnoxious and borderline psychotic. But nothing tops the tension drifting about on the 2nd floor.
High school entrance exams are coming up for the 3rd year students, leading to huge amounts of pent up stress. The second I walked into my sentaku English class I was bombarded with "JONES!" said with such urgency and demanding that I immediately covered my face and walked back out of class. Returning a few minutes later to the same, "JONES! JONES! JONES! JONES!" "Yes, Yes, YES?" Then 4 boys circled me, with the most serious expressions on their faces.
Without giving them a chance to even open their mouths, I handed the boy next to me a stack of papers and said, "Here, pass these out please."
At which point, he handed them back and said, "Jones, we won't." To which I responded, "I didn't ask. Here, pass these out."
With nervous laughter the other 3 boys poked their spokesman and whispered in his ear. "Jones, tomorrow, eeetoooo" looks around to the other boys for grammatical support. "Tomorrow, test. Very important. Must study today. Won't do English."
My response, "haha, please pass out these papers." "BUT JONES!" Looking around seriously, I asked each boy where they were going to test tomorrow. "How about we compromise."
Of course, I had to look up the word before I could expect them to understand. We agreed to first do my paper and then after we were done they could study, but only if the other teacher agreed.
When she came in, I asked. She just shrugged her shoulders and said, "Eh." Taking that to mean she didn't care. I told the students that as long as they were working they could study, but too much talking and I had a very fun worksheet for them to do. Because they were distracted to begin with, it took most of the students all but 15 minutes of class to finish the worksheet. After which I followed most of them around with my "really fun worksheet" threatening to slap it on their desk if anyone of them so much as opened their mouths. Needless to say most of the kids studied. And I have to say....WHAT THE HELL ARE THESE HIGH SCHOOLS THINKING.
I can't believe some of the math and physics problems I saw on these practice tests that the kids were taking. Even the questions on the English test were almost non-nonsensical. One test had a bunch of squares to make a missing word in the sentence, some squares were doubled which seem to have some significance, but the answers were all numbers....huh.... It leaves one to ask what exactly will they be learning in high school? When did they learn ANY of this in school? I've never seen any of this stuff in their English class...It's no wonder Asian countries are so far ahead...the expectations for these kids are sky high. It's also no wonder most of the students spend countless hours at juku (kind of like night school, to get additional help on school subjects) and probably many sleepless nights at home pouring through practice tests and study guides. Wow, whatever happened to being a kid?
Starting in elementary school kids are sent off to study and prepare to get into a good junior high school. Then continue studying and preparing for a good high school, where many of them may continue studying and preparing for a good college (which sometimes take 1-2 additional years of studying after high school). College seems to be the only time that many students relax, after which they enter the ever exciting Japanese workforce where they spend the rest of their lives trying to crawl their way to the top, all the while being meticulously beaten down and discouraged...all in the name of building...ah who knows what they're trying to build.
As I walked the classroom, gawking of what was being expected of a 15 year old, the smartest kind in class came up to me and goes, "Mrs. Jones I want the fun worksheet." Uh...what!? "Huh?" "It's no good, can't study. Please give me the fun worksheet." Wow, you've gotta be kidding me. What a somber mood...only 2 months left of school.
School has been rather uneventful...it's like the kids are actually studying and trying to behave themselves. 1st year students have returned to being their quiet timid selves. The 2nd year students have taken up reading or sleeping instead of being overly obnoxious and borderline psychotic. But nothing tops the tension drifting about on the 2nd floor.
High school entrance exams are coming up for the 3rd year students, leading to huge amounts of pent up stress. The second I walked into my sentaku English class I was bombarded with "JONES!" said with such urgency and demanding that I immediately covered my face and walked back out of class. Returning a few minutes later to the same, "JONES! JONES! JONES! JONES!" "Yes, Yes, YES?" Then 4 boys circled me, with the most serious expressions on their faces.
Without giving them a chance to even open their mouths, I handed the boy next to me a stack of papers and said, "Here, pass these out please."
At which point, he handed them back and said, "Jones, we won't." To which I responded, "I didn't ask. Here, pass these out."
With nervous laughter the other 3 boys poked their spokesman and whispered in his ear. "Jones, tomorrow, eeetoooo" looks around to the other boys for grammatical support. "Tomorrow, test. Very important. Must study today. Won't do English."
My response, "haha, please pass out these papers." "BUT JONES!" Looking around seriously, I asked each boy where they were going to test tomorrow. "How about we compromise."
Of course, I had to look up the word before I could expect them to understand. We agreed to first do my paper and then after we were done they could study, but only if the other teacher agreed.
When she came in, I asked. She just shrugged her shoulders and said, "Eh." Taking that to mean she didn't care. I told the students that as long as they were working they could study, but too much talking and I had a very fun worksheet for them to do. Because they were distracted to begin with, it took most of the students all but 15 minutes of class to finish the worksheet. After which I followed most of them around with my "really fun worksheet" threatening to slap it on their desk if anyone of them so much as opened their mouths. Needless to say most of the kids studied. And I have to say....WHAT THE HELL ARE THESE HIGH SCHOOLS THINKING.
I can't believe some of the math and physics problems I saw on these practice tests that the kids were taking. Even the questions on the English test were almost non-nonsensical. One test had a bunch of squares to make a missing word in the sentence, some squares were doubled which seem to have some significance, but the answers were all numbers....huh.... It leaves one to ask what exactly will they be learning in high school? When did they learn ANY of this in school? I've never seen any of this stuff in their English class...It's no wonder Asian countries are so far ahead...the expectations for these kids are sky high. It's also no wonder most of the students spend countless hours at juku (kind of like night school, to get additional help on school subjects) and probably many sleepless nights at home pouring through practice tests and study guides. Wow, whatever happened to being a kid?
Starting in elementary school kids are sent off to study and prepare to get into a good junior high school. Then continue studying and preparing for a good high school, where many of them may continue studying and preparing for a good college (which sometimes take 1-2 additional years of studying after high school). College seems to be the only time that many students relax, after which they enter the ever exciting Japanese workforce where they spend the rest of their lives trying to crawl their way to the top, all the while being meticulously beaten down and discouraged...all in the name of building...ah who knows what they're trying to build.
As I walked the classroom, gawking of what was being expected of a 15 year old, the smartest kind in class came up to me and goes, "Mrs. Jones I want the fun worksheet." Uh...what!? "Huh?" "It's no good, can't study. Please give me the fun worksheet." Wow, you've gotta be kidding me. What a somber mood...only 2 months left of school.
