Last week of school!

My last week at school was one of the best I've had!It was such a nice way to the year, and my first stint of being an Assistant Language Teacher. 

Monday: A day at my junior high school. Four classes, as usual, all nice ones. I spoke about my Christmas in Australia, trying my hardest to include as many gestures as possible. And a Japanese translation if I knew it! Makes me miss home, and Christmas, having to talk about it for literally  the 15th time in class. Surprisingly, the Year 7's were able to comprehend what I was saying significantly more than the Year 9's. It helps that the Year 7's are super energetic, and that some of the Year 9's look like they're going to slip into a comatose. 

Tuesday: Wonderful day at one of my elementary schools. Got to teach Year one! In fact, 2 classes at once! (Year 1 is the biggest grade). The focus was numbers 1-10. The kids were SO good- they had obviously been practicing previously because their number recognition was really good. They were all SO gorgeous- the teachers taught them that when they, or myself said "READY?" they would respond by shouting "OK!" and flinging their hand up in a thumbs up or a tick. Year 2's were equally cute, and my usual 5's and 6's were happy as usual! All like the Christmas stickers, was so nice to spread the Christmas cheer! 

Wednesday: Played Jeopardy! for all four classes. It went OFF! The kids were so motivated- I've never seen them like that! Mainly a lot of Japanese trivia- such as "How many members are there in the band Exile (Answer: 14, I mean, DUH, doesn't every band have an excessive number of members??....). My teacher asked me to make a Jeopardy game, was so "in the zone" I made it that day. Can't wait to play it with the kids, and watch them squirm as they answer questions like "What year was the spoon invented?". Mwahaha. 

Thursday: Took some initiative and played with the Year 2's at lunch. Even though they had no idea really who I was. Skipping! Then, red light green light. I also asked to go to their class during a free period I had. It made me so happy to be around the younger kids. Their energy is contagious!

Friday: Last day of school! Wooooo! Only two classes- same Christmas lessons, except this time we made Christmas cards! I asked to do this with all my classes if we had time, as it's a good break from heavy grammar lessons the kids are used to, and it combines a teaching of Western culture with writing practice (Literally: To..., Merry Christmas and Happy New Year/Season's Greetings, From...). This time I brought the leftover Christmas stickers to give out to winners of games. Note to self: Everyone loves stickers.Then an hour-long "Closing Cermony". For reasons unknown, it has to be ceremoniously recognised that yes, this is the end of term. Absolutely freezed my hands, feet and ass off sitting on the floor. Can't believe I took sitting on a chair when I was in high school assembly for granted...!