Half-Week in the life of an Erabu ALT

So, it's official! Sent in the papers that I will not be recontracting.

I think this is the right decision, but I don't think I'll ever know for sure.

I definitely enjoy Erabu's weather and being near the ocean, but I'm happy to know I'll be home soon with familiar things around me.

I am beginning to think that making this decision has improved my attitude in Erabu. Isn't that crazy? But, I feel like the past few days have been really fun and great!

Monday I went to one of my favorite Elementary schools to teach. One of the teachers there lived in the U.S. for a while so her English is near fluent! When I teach at an elementary school it's a full day of classes. From 8:30 until 4 I am teaching, playing, eating, or cleaning with the kids. But, I enjoy the elementary schools so much! The students are always super excited to learn new English words. And we play A TON of games.

Their favorite game is a tie between Fruits Basket and the Number game. Fruit Basket is a game where you assign each student to be something. For example, the category will be fruits and you have 20 students. 4 students are oranges, three are bananas, two are strawberries... and so on. Then you make the kids stand in a circle (with you in the middle) and you call out a fruit. There is one less space than the number of people, so it's a race to get a space. If you are left out, you call out a fruit. And, if you say fruits basket EVERYONE has to run and find a spot. It's MADNESS. But, sooo fun!

The Number Game is also very fun! I divide the class up according to the number of teachers. Usually just in half then because there is usually the homeroom teacher and me. The kids sit in a lin facing the blackboard. The teacher and I secretly decide on a number. Then we write that number on the back of the student closest to us in our line. Then the students have to write the number they think it is on the back of the student in front of them. 3's become 8's, 1's become 4's, and once we had a 3 become a 10. Always tons of fun.

Tuesday I started back up at my main middle school. I was with the teacher who teaches the lower level students, which is actually more fun than the higher level students (at least in class). With the higher level, the class is very structured and my role is mininal to non-existent. But, with the lower level I really am a co-teacher. The difficulty is keeping the students on task, which can be fun. Yesterday, some of my third graders (so, American 9th graders) kept taking our teacher's electronic dictionary, changing the language to spanish, and trying to learn spanish words. WELLL, I decided we could learn both English and Spanish. And started to make a list of some easy phrases on the board, but with the translation in English. And they had to figure out the Japanese. Tons of fun!

Tuesday, I also had my Eikaiwa. Eikaiwa stands for english conversation (class). I have it with two ladies on the island. One has travelled around the world, speaks close to fluent English, and woks at the hospital pharmacy. The other is an English teacher for the English Cram School, ECC, but her English isnt that good. We get together, drink some hot cocoa (THEY LOVE SWISS MISS) and chat. While we chat, I correct their grammar or pronounciation and teach different idioms. I wish I had this class everyday. We always end up leaving laughing!! Last night I said that something "stinks" as in it's "bad" and one of the ladies, C, asked what smalled. Well H knew what I meant so we both giggled a bit and I struggled to explain "stinks". Then, I explained the idiom "being hit over the head with.... (English)". Very fun!

Now, I'm at my main school again, but it's testing today, so I'm free to do anything. Got to keep myself busy!

Love you all!

Steph