Day 1 – tentative hopefulness!
24 Nov 2011 Leave a Comment
This morning I had my first class with the new JTE. Let’s call him Mr. K. Mr K is about 22, and really nervous. He just got his degree in March, and started teaching in April. So, he is a super newbie!
I was a bit apprehensive about our first class, as when we met Monday he seemed like he didn’t speak much English and was afraid of it a bit. He told me he liked to read and write English – but didn’t speak a lot.
The biggest problem I have in JHS is that the teacher hasn’t been using English in class and instead has been using only Japanese. So, shockingly the kids level is super super low, reflected by their scores on the 2nd semester test. In my grade 8 class, 5 of the 14 kids scored less than 10%! The highest grade was 75%. This is a serious problem.
Anyway, today in class – OMG! He USED ENGLISH. Not just for the grammar we were using, but asked students questions and used english for regular class stuff. ”What was the sentence I used?” “What did I say next?” Sounds super simplistic, but this is my grade 7 class – which we have been using about 5 mins of english per class for the last year. Woot! We only got half the class material completed but WHATEVER! I dont care! This was the best class so far! 
When kids werent repeating the words or trying – he made them do it again, no slacking. The kid that never picks up his pencil? He went and showed him the individual cards to get him to respond.
I think I am in ALT love… Let’s hope he doesn’t get discouraged by their low level and revert to the “teach English in Japanese” method!
What did you say??