Last Classes at Komako

I finally taught my last 1年生 classes at Komako yesterday.

If you had asked me one year ago if I would miss my visit school when I leave, I would've said confidently, "Not at all." With the exception of a few excellent students, most of the 1年生students last year didn't respect me at all: they never listened, they talked to their neighbors all throughout class, they played games or texted in class, and didn't lift a finger for any of the activities. Worse yet, the classroom management for two of the classes was awful; my JTE didn't like to help out and rarely did anything other than yell at the kids. His English wasn't much better than theirs, so explaining activities was rather difficult at times. I dreaded each and every Tuesday I went to Komako. Poor Ryan often faced the brunt of my venting after classes, whether it be on Skype or Google chat. It was almost apparent by the final class that I wanted nothing to do with them anymore.

Thankfully, this year was completely different for two reasons:

1.  I ended up teaching all of my Komako classes with my caretaker, Oshima-sensei. She, unlike the other JTE I worked with, genuinely wants students to understand the activities. We often moved at a slower pace than last year because of this, but the students got so much more out of classes this year. She is also one of the few JTEs I've seen to have such great classroom management. If the class was in an uproar, we waited until everyone was paying attention...and even the loudest class would be silent when we needed their full attention. She woke sleeping students up and disciplined students who played games or texted during class. The students respect her as a teacher, and I benefited as an ALT so much because of this. Largely due to her experience, I was able to teach these kids to my best ability. Thanks to her wisdom and kindness, I learned so much! :]

2.  The 1年生 that I met this year were very welcoming of me from the beginning of my classes to the very end. That's not to say that they didn't have their faults... They were still as rowdy, as perverted, and as averse to studying as the students last year were, but I did my best to improve upon last years lessons. This year, I created lessons that studied particular grammar points, but were heavily game-based. This entire time, they thought they were playing games rather than actually studying English. Sneaking in English-speaking time like a ninja really worked out for me~ ;)

For the most part, they ended up being pretty bright and motivated students. Once they learned to express opinions and give advice, I found that they were more creative than most of the students at my base school, a supposedly higher-level school!

For example, I asked my students: "Which do you like better: money or friends?"

One student replied: "I like money better because I don't need friends!"

These kids surprise me all the time! In fact, yesterday, my JTE asked the class representative of each class to make a speech (without my knowledge of it). She told him that it could be in Japanese or English, but one class rep wrote it entirely in English and presented it at the end of class! It was very heartfelt, meaningful, and...perhaps even better than the one I wrote in 5 minutes for the students at Akaho. ^^; Even in the ones entirely in Japanese, I almost started tearing up, especially during the last class rep's speech when he said:

「クリスティン先生のおかげで毎週の月曜日に楽しみにしてた。」
("Thanks to Kristin-sensei, I looked forward to every Monday.")

I thought back to all the times I dragged myself to Tuesday classes at Komako. I thought back to all of the frustrating times during awful classes where the clock just wouldn't pass time fast enough. Somehow, without my knowing, the exact opposite had come true this year. Like the student above, I looked forward to the start of each week. I began looking forward to calling on a plethora of volunteers and watching students try their best to answer a question, even if their answers were riddled with mistakes. Everyone (who wasn't sleeping or not paying attention) smiled and had fun. There just didn't seem like there was ever enough time to fit all of the fun activities into one class.

I saw shy students start to offer answers. I saw students who never payed attention when I first met them become super invested in the games that we played. Even the few girl students were starting to warm up to me outside of class and offer answers in class!

These kids may never use English in their semi-rural lives...but I'm glad that I had the opportunity to touch their lives, even if only a little. I hope I left them with many good memories of English oral communication classes and a good impression of American culture.

Thanks for a wonderful half-year, Komako. I really am gonna miss you guys. ; ____ ;