I had solo classes today. I think all that teacher does (when she manages to make it to school) is yack with the kids in Japanese, which is really a waste. The classes have four or three students each, and with the right instruction they would totally excel. They are bright and want to learn; we did about five pages in each class today, with all English instruction, and they soaked it up. It took them a few minutes to latch on and get into the flow of listening, but they were doing great by the end. I decided that the textbook isn’t that bad as a starting point for the lesson. I just change everything around to make them use their brains. So yeah, with a month left to go I feel like I’m getting into the swing of things. If I were to stay another year I’d want my own classes. I heard a rumor that Michael M.’s English classes get the best scores in the prefecture, because he doesn’t have a Japanese person constantly spoon-feeding his students.

I also got to do Folkdance Fun with all of the elementary kids. During the 感想 (when students share their impression of the activity) they all said they want to do it every week during recess. I’ll have them contra dancing in no time! Cute video clips to come.