School #5 - Takenouchi

Today was Takenouchi my last school - pronounced ta-ke-no-uchi.

At Takenouchi, I sit with the Yr. 6 teachers, and they are easily the most outgoing bunch of teacher's I've met so far. They all have above average English, and were friendly and keen to talk, English and/or Japanese. However, Yr. 6 went on a school trip today, so I didn't get to see how they were to work with.

I taught 3 classes today, all Yr. 5. By now, the lesson plan is down almost on auto-pilot, although next week, I'll be into new territory again.

One teacher was clearly terrified of the English, and would have disappeared from the classroom altogether if she could have. As it was, working with her was a bit of a challenge, I'm sure I praised her attempts at English as much as I praised the children. Hopefully, I can bring her out of her shell a little, with time. Another teacher had very limited English also, but at least he was prepared to get out there and give it a go, with a little more enthusiasm, and that enthusiasm translated across to his class. The last teacher was somewhere in between. She had slightly better English than the others, and was nervous, but not hiding. In all the classes, the kids were shyer than I'm used to, but I was able to work them up pretty well.

In the last class, I had a kid whose English seemed very good. He could name pretty much anything I threw at the class, although one word at a time, I didn't cotton on. Then he said a sentence. Perfect British accent from an 11 year old Japanese-looking kid. He lives in London, and gets sent back to Japan to come to school here during his holidays. Fortunately, he was very good natured and helpful, rather than resentful and bored. I'm not sure how many more classes he will be around for.

After one class, I had one gorgeous little girl grab my arm, cling on tightly, and just walk off, without saying a word. I followed her, and she took me to the back of the classroom, where there were some pictures of strawberries that the children had painted. She pointed hers out. It was certainly much better than I could have done! Then she dragged me back to the front of the classroom, and let me go. The kids at this school, on the whole, seem very sweet.