IrishOboe

This week I let work consume me, but it wasn’t all that exhausting. But fist I’ll talk about Monday Bible study. The Brown’s are very busy so for a time we’re meeting at Denver’s place, which is in my side of Kofu. I don’t know him well because when I started coming to church he was busy preparing for his wedding then they were away for a few months. He seems like an interesting guy and Bible study sure was interesting this time! We abandoned our script and got into a discussion of some deep theological issues. Of course that thrilled me and to my delight it excited most of the other people in the study. At least for the time the Brown’s are taking a break we’ve decided to make Bible study a really deep, tough search into God’s word. I’m very excited because there group is very diverse in their views and very knowledgeable as well. I pray that we will sharpen each other’s understanding and grow in love and grace as we struggle with hard issues. Prayers for the group would be most appreciated. I’m very excited!

As for school, wednesday was the final round of the school recitation contest so I stayed after school Monday and Tuesday helping students prepare. I enjoy any time spent with students. That doesn’t include standing in front of them in the classroom, but it does include talking with them during class. Tuesday I was so proud of how hard the 10 students (Ruka, Yuuki, Hitomi, Wataru, Eiki, Shun, Ray, Megumi, Hanaka and Saki – that’s for memory and I’m getting better at all the kids’ names) had worked for the recitation contest that I decided to make them oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. I ended up staying up two hours past my bedtime because my oven is so small I had to bake them six cookies at a time. . . Mom and Dad called during the time, so I have to say it was a good evening despite the lack of sleep. I wasn’t expecting the greatest reaction since the homemade gifts I’d brought at the beginning of the year were accepted with a bit of confusion, but to my surprise everyone (I gave some extras out) was very interested in homemade American cookies and many wanted the recipe. Step one: go to Tokyo to get oatmeal and chocolate chips from Costco . . . But I get ahead of myself. The recitation contest was Wednesday morning and I was so nervous! To my shame I had a favorite candidate so I prayed I would be objective and that the winner would be clear for all the judges (five English teachers and me). Praise the Lord that he answered my prayer. All the students did well and I was very impressed with the improvement of a few in particular. I should say that this contest was in front of all 200 first year students, their homeroom teachers and six judges. The Japanese don’t like to be singled out so it was a tough job for all of them. It did help us see who would do well under pressure. The judges didn’t agree on second and third place, but the number one spot was unanimous and that’s what matters because we only send one on to the competition. Yeay for my students!

However, because I was busy with recitation contest stuff I got a little behind on lesson plans and ended up staying until 7pm on Thursday as I discussed classes with the JTEs. I’m never satisfied with how class goes and I spend a lot of time trying to make better plans. I’m not so sure it’s the best use of time. I should be happy if they go reasonably well and spend my energy doing other things for staff and students, but I have a bit of an obsession.

I suppose I should explain what I’m doing this year. My main purpose is to give them the tools and the freedom to do a lot of speaking in class. I chucked out hanko points (a way of tracking class participation that I personally dislike) and replaced them with a little oral quiz for every class that reviews the material learned in the last class. The Japanese have great short term memories but they don’t do so well in retaining things if they don’t have to (of course many students who choose to remember quite a bit, but most can get by without it). Then we spend 20-25 minutes practicing the new dialogue and having conversations with different people. I did a listening activity with a few classes but I pull it if there isn’t time. It reveals that they aren’t used to listening to the main idea but just for key words. I’ve since doubted the usefulness of such an activity but the JTEs like how I make the tests so we’ll keep doing it. Anyway, with the oral quiz and the practice the students are speaking English to each other and with the teachers for most of the class. Of course, some work harder than others, but it’s been so great to have that time to talk with the students. Some had hidden English ability that I didn’t see before and they are getting much more comfortable with me in and outside of class. That’s what makes the lessons so great, but unfortunately, I’m not the worlds best handout designer and the last lesson was confusing even for good students. So hence the late day working on Thursday hoping to put together a clearer dialogue for next week. Yuko had worked late too and I wanted to talk with her about the plan so picked up something for dinner and we ate at my place and talked, which was quite nice, though we were both tired.

As a random tidbit I finally looked up online how to make Vermont curry (the curry box instructions are in Japanese) and I discovered that I was using one-sixth of the curry I was supposed to be using! No wonder it was watery and bland . . . Wednesday I made curry the right way and it was quite good!

Friday (Jan 20^th) was a good day at school because I managed to get a good bit of planning done and classes went well and I had a few chances to talk with other teachers. First I asked the tennis club coach if I could visit sometime and though we ended up getting help from Shimizu sensei for translation I said a bit of Japanese at least. The whole staff room stopped their work to listen and laugh at me. Oh well! The same thing happened with I went to the other staff room and asked a P.E. coach if I could visit his class. So, I’ll be playing volleyball with the ichinensei girls on Monday during 5^th period and hopefully I’ll be running with the boys tennis club next week. That evening I decided to prepare a little by going for a run as soon as I got home. I hadn’t run in a long time and the rest had done me good. My knee was fine I ran for 30 minutes easily. I even kicked it into overdrive at the end and it felt great. I’m excited to have a chance to run and chat with the boys. I see the particular cluster running (and walking) together and I get along great with them in class (they’re all from different classes) so I hope that by sharing the running experience we’ll have more time to let conversation happen. We’ll see! After running I stretched with some Yoga and I’m reminded why I love it so much. It felt so great to open up my chest and let my muscles release. Then I spent the evening reading Afluenza and had a nice chat with Mom and Dad. End of another good week! I am truly blessed beyond my imagining. In my phone chat with Heather on Thursday morning she gave me a simple, beautiful definition of grace that went something like this “a gift or blessing that isn’t earned for deserved.” That’s what my life is right now!