it's not life that matters but the journey...

 In case you're wondering, this is my cat, but he does look a little like "godzilla" doesn't he?  maybe a cross between a cat and an alligator ("wani") - look at the size of those fangs!!  My friend Naomi took this - caught Leo when he was yawning or talking or something!  Love it!!

it occurred to me that I haven't posted many pictures lately. so I shared one of my cat which is the only thing we take photos of these days! If I can, I'll try to get some photos of my classroom, but its hard to capture the essence.

Masahiko's father told him today that a married couple might be interested in studying English with me. I hope that they call! They said that they took a class somewhere else but the teacher used too much Japanese. It becomes natural after being here for awhile to use Japanese, but Masahiko told me I should use only English in the classroom. My language is my product, so I have to give them the best product I can.

I realized last night the two main reasons I am anxious to start my own school: first, of course, so that I don't have to travel 45 minutes each way just to teach for a couple hours (I will be able to teach in the comfort of my own home, and I don't even need to wear shoes!!); and second, I can plan my own lessons and use my own materials and curriculum. I don't mind the lessons or curriculum that they use for the adult classes in Shizuoka (I have created many of the recent supplementary lessons for adults these days anyway). But I don't like the curriculum that they use for the kids lessons. They use textbooks that are not very good, and they want us to teach only one major point for four weeks. The kids are bound to get bored after a couple weeks of the same phrases or vocabulary, and there is no way to make it interesting. Take for example this months' topic: Halloween. Its fun to teach kids the vocabulary for Halloween, and maybe make one or two lessons from it with crafts or games. But four weeks of it is too much, and I think there are more important things we need to be teaching them. Plus, the flashcards they have for Halloween vocab must have been designed by an idiot. they have some of the major words: vampire, witch, bat, ghost, and mummy; but then they have words that I usually don't associate with Halloween like wizard and wand (its Halloween not Harry Potter!). and they are missing words like black cat, haunted house and pumpkin. what's halloween without pumpkins?

and while I'm bitching and moaning (I just love to do that), I'll relate my latest teaching nightmare, which happened last night. I've been teaching lately on Wednesday evenings (only until 8 p.m. and only until she finds another teacher, or until I can get more students at home and quit Wednesday nights), and the first two classes are kids. I don't mind the second class, its just one 5th grade boy who is very smart and very nice. A pleasure to teach! But the class at 5 p.m is third grade, and it used to be 3 students, but this month one of the girls is not coming. So, its just one boy and one girl, about 8 years old. I've been dreading this class since I first started teaching it back in August - I just got a bad vibe from the start, and its been hard to keep their interest. At first, I was more worried about the boy, who seemed to be too much of a troublemaker. But now I see that he is just "genki" and he really tries hard and enjoys English. The girl resented me from the start because apparently she had a little crush on the guy who taught the class before me (the one who was working without a proper visa). She always showed a little disrespect towards me and has been bossy and stubborn and even a little rude, always speaking Japanese to the other students and never saying good bye or thank you at the end of the lesson. Nonetheless, she did participate in the games and showed that she could understand English quite well. This month, however, something has changed. The boy is very sweet and tries very hard, but the girl has become surly and won't participate anymore. she will do worksheets or writing activities, but she won't speak. and last night, after showing up 10 minutes late, she hardly spoke a word at first, wouldn't do any of the games, and by the end of the lesson she was blatantly ignoring me. It was an easy lesson and I know she could do it, but she just refused! And the biggest problem (what could be worse than being ignored when trying to teach?) was that the other student, the boy, was obviously bothered by her behavior, and he even mentioned it to Naoko's husband after the lesson. He was trying hard and participating, and I'm sure didn't understand why she was ignoring me and being quiet. When there are only two students, how do you manage when one doesn't want to participate? Its hard to ignore her, but I guess I'll have to in the future. Her parents are wasting their money, though! Maybe they are really strict and force her to come when she doesn't want to (that happens a lot in Japan with overly ambitious parents). But still it left me feeling very uncomfortable last night and wishing that I could just quit! I know that I'm far too impatient and overqualified to be teaching kids English and wish I could be teaching high school or college students!