routine + average lessons

i am usually scheduled for two or three lessons in the morning. a few minutes before class is supposed to start i will head to the classroom. often times i will walk with the JTE to class through the halls. the third graders are on the first and second floors, the second graders are on the third floor and the little first graders are way up on the fourth floor. i will sometimes have little conversations with students and i say hello, hi, how are you to many kids as i make my way through students. 

a usual lesson begins with saying "good morning everyone" they reply "good morning noelle and ms. ...". i ask, "how are you today?" they respond, "i'm fine, thank you, and you?". i always say everything but "fine" usually i am sleepy, hungry and/or hot. sometimes if i have prepared a game or activity, i will explain it with help of the teacher and then usually i would get about 20-30 minutes for my stuff. afterwards, pretty much no fail i will do some human tape recorder where i read from the textbook and they repeat. sometimes it's small paragraphs about the most random stuff like braille, e-pals, shamisen concerts (traditional japanese instruments) so it can be somewhat weird, in my opinion what they read and what vocabulary is chosen. but they do it! it is strange though, because sometimes the book gets fairly advanced with different tenses, vocabulary, etc. but when you ask a simple question, often times there is no answer. i guess this is mostly due to shyness though but still! 

if the teacher has prepared an activity or game i will assist and play if they need one more person. sometimes they pass out worksheets and the kids all put their heads down and furiously bust them out, many students work quite fast. very little goofing off happens. during worksheet time, it is often silent, or very near silent for the duration. it is kind of amazing, very different that my middle school experience, that's for sure! the students all seem to be very serious and good. i hardly ever have any goof offs and if there are, they are more like class clowns types cracking jokes or just talking a bit. there aren't really any little brats causing trouble. in fact,  i haven't really even seen anyone get in trouble yet but maybe it would be very hush, hush and i wouldn't know anyhow. when the kids do worksheets, i will walk around and try and help the best i can without being able to speak or explain in japanese. sometimes i just point if an answer is wrong and let the kid figure it out. i will give a simple hint if i can. 9.5 times out of 10, the kid will correct it on the first try. they are all very smart! if there are extra minutes at the end of a lesson, sometimes i will do hangman or simple games. the kids usually like that and it's really fun for me too. 

fourth period ends at 12:40 pm, i am ravenous and it's lunch time. to be continued...