Kindy! =)

I love kindy!

As a private school teacher I don’t get to teach at regular Japanese schools too often. As a matter of fact I only teach at a kindergarten once a month. There are approximately 30 children ages 5 and 6, and I teach them for an hour. I teach them the colours, how are you?, I’m from Japan!, animals, the weather, fruits and vegetables, and play and dance and sing with them!

Every monday night before kindy however I feel physically sick. I get so nervous that on the morning of kindy I can’t have breakfast because I feel like throwing up. 5 year old children scare me… the expectation of having their little faces staring at me and expecting me to do something is terrifying!

This morning I had kindy and I sat in the car for 5 minutes before the class just going over my lesson plan and trying to calm my nerves down. Then I walked in and all those fears were gone right away. I couldn’t believe that although they only see me once a month, they remember my name (this is the first time I teach them on my own, the last 2 times I was training). I walked in and they were all saying “Hello, Liz-Sensei!”

I had a great time with them! I have A LOT to learn about kindy but they seemed to enjoy themselves too and that’s what matters. Every time I shook my crazy hair and opened my eyes really big they would laugh hysterically. The most important thing that I have learned from kindy is not to take life too seriously. It is more than okay to act stupid and silly and to have fun… funny how a child can teach you that.

Now I’m starving…

Keeping you posted!

Mishima Kindy

I can’t believe that I have already been living in Japan for 3 weeks.

Time surely flies by! I moved into my apartment 2 days ago and will be posting pictures as soon as I clean up my mess from unpacking =)

Last Thursday I accompanied a co-worker of mine to Mishima to do a day of training. On Thursdays she goes to a local kindergarten school and teaches 4 classes of 3-4 years old children.

At first I was shocked! (this is a natural reaction according to all my co-workers) as 60 children ran into the gym for their English class. However, they were the most adorable children I have ever seen! As a teacher you need to keep up with them because they have SO much energy, but is also a good chance to remember not to take life so seriously, as they love it when you are silly.

At the end of each class, they all came up to us for hugs and high fives. I have heard many times about the rewarding moments of teaching in Japan, and I know it sounds cliche, but this was definitely one such moment.

The children have a beautiful pagoda in the middle of the playground and I just couldn’t help taking some pictures.

Keeping you posted!

First Class…

Yesterday I taught my first class on my own!

I had to drive to Mishima a town about an hour away from Niihama. To get to Mishima, however, one needs to drive through the mountains. I was a little nervous at first, not having much experience mountain driving since Ontario is just so flat, but I think I managed even if I drove a little slower than I normally would.

My first class yesterday was a class for adults and I was so nervous, but I think overall it went great! They knew it was my first class because I kept looking back at my lesson plan, but they were all very patient and told me that I would improve with time. I’m a little disappointed because they seemed like a very nice group of people but I was just covering for someone else, so they will not be one of my classes.

Today I had my first children’s class and that was a little more difficult. With children one needs to be much more creative, and sometime I lack a bit on that department but I’m getting familiar with my “itsy, bitsy spider” and all the other children’s songs that I knew at some point in my life but have forgotten by now. It was a bigger challenge, but with some practice I’m sure I’ll get the hang of it. For now the most important thing is to get them familiarized with my presence and then move forward. So I’ve been playing a lot of games lately, which is always fun and I’m becoming a pretty good UNO player! =)

Keeping you posted!