In which Sarah adores her students

Today marked another great day! My first class was with my fourth years and it was my first time with them so I brought my intro lesson which is so much fun for me! I begin with telling them what I like with actions and they all get a giggle and then I compare Japan to Canada with some silly flashcards I drew. I have flags for each a sumo wrestler, a hockey player, Mt Fuji (which it really just a triangle with some zigzags for snow but bless them, every time I pull it out the shout out 'Fuji san!') the Rockies and a sakura and maple tree. Then I show them a magazine about British Columbia and they are all amazed by totem polls. Man I love how easily I can impress them. Next is my family photo, a photo with me and the girls at the Grand Canyon and then of course Charlotte who they think is just the cutest! Me too! Then I get them to draw their family or things they like and we go around and talk about them. Finally we play the Jungle Quest game where they have to find the hidden items in the picture and colour it with the colour I tell them too! By the end of it they are all shouting 'what colour?' when I say to find something. They are so clever! I had a blast and I think they did too.

I got to eat lunch with them too so we had lots of time together and they all asked me question like what was my favourite food, TV show, character, flower, Japanese food, word, Japanese word, animal, sport, baseball team, and children's book. You name it and they wanted to know if it was my favourite even if I didn't know what my favourite was or didn't think they'd know what I was talking about XD. They asked my age and birth date and if I was married. Pretty much no privacy but I answered every question the best I could. They are extra adorable when they speak Japenglish. And I'm getting to the point where I could understand most of their Japanese questions. After lunch I asked if I could clean with them and they all thought that was the coolest.

So, apparently I had some fans because after the first class a couple of girls came and gave me an origami flower and then after cleaning time they each gave me a picture they drew of me!

After school the teacher's invited me to have tea with them. This just means that when they go together at the end of the day in the corner with their coffee they asked me to join which is a big step! I understood bits and pieces until the conversation turned to me and they asked about Canada and if I drove a car. I said I did and told them how I'd found it difficult to drive on the left side of the road and told them that sometimes when I wanted to flick the turn signal I ended up turning on the window wipers instead. They laughed and said 'mistako' I nodded and added 'Saru mo ki kara ochiru...' Even monkeys fall from trees sometimes. They laughed and asked me how long I'd been in Japan when I said five weeks they couldn't believe how good my Japanese was. Hahaha as long as they don't venture the conversation out of familiar territory! All and all it was a great day!

A couple of my older grades have been working on an introduction lesson. Where they have to make little cards with their names in English and a picture of what they like and exchange it by say 'Hello. My name is~ What's your name? Here's my card. Thank you! See you!' It's harder than it sounds when they speak very little English. Anyways for each of my classes I made a few of my own with a little cat on them. I didn't realize how popular this would be but in my first class I ran out because everyone wanted one and then in my next class they had heard about my cat cards but I'd rushed out a couple of lame cards with my name and some stars. They all lined up for my card and were, I think, a little disappointed to discover they just received one with a star. So after class I went around and drew a cat on everyone of my cards. XD. It was worth it though as I ended up with a small collection of their cards which are now also posted on my wall!