KONNICHIWHAT!?: 'Bout that time

Here we are, a week and some change into January already. Wow...time flies no? Well, I've officially been back at work since last Thursday, the 5th. As all of you readers know, I went back to work and straight into parent observations and you also know that I teach at three different schools. Since I was going back to work on a Thursday, I only had to work two days (Thursday and Friday), then started at a different school with parent observations this past Tuesday. What that means is that I won't finish my parent observations at the first school, in which I started on Thursday, until the next time I go to teach at that school in it's proper rotation...so basically, three weeks later. Strange, I know. I'm one day away from finishing parent observations at one of my schools this week and I have to say, it hasn't been as bad as I expected. I certainly didn't have to be as nervous this time around as I was thrust into parent observations for my very first week of teaching back in September. If I can handle it then, fresh off the plane, then I can handle it with a bit of experience. That way of thinking turned out to be true for the most part. The only nerve-wracking thing this time around has been the fact that it was the first time I had parent observations at this particular school. The JT for this school has pretty high expectations and I definitely have to be on my toes around her.

I'll give you a quick rundown of how a parent observation class goes. The students come in as they usually do and I check their homework and go over their picture cards with them. Once I've done that with each of the kids in the class, I give them a writing assignment to work on, usually writing something out of their textbook and for the really young kids, they write the alphabet. While the students are writing, I sit with my JT while she addresses the parents in the room about the class, the plans we have for it and what the students and parents both should be focusing on in regards to the material. This lasts about five minutes. After that, I introduce myself to all of the parents and tell them a bit about myself and my JT helps to translate anything that isn't understood. I've been doing this about three times a day for each day of the week and I'm sure I'll be doing it at the other schools. Next, my JT tells the parents about a quiz that I've come up with (which is true) and the subject matter is things related to Los Angeles and California. I made a short, six question quiz that the students could take with their parents in order to learn a bit more about the place I flew in from. This part I enjoy because I play the role of a TV game show host, reading questions and answers aloud and making a big fuss when kids and parents get answers right. So far, no one has been six for six. Following the quiz, I teach the lesson as usual for the kids while my JT talks with the parents individually, this time around speaking to them about their students English tests scores. I have to cram a lot of the lesson into a considerably shortened time frame, due to the earlier speech and quiz, and when the lesson is over we give a small speech to the parents and thank them for coming. That's a P.O. class in a nutshell and I guess it's giving me a lot more experience in terms of presenting in front of large groups and being in front of people. I always feel like this type of thing is good for me, another reason why I took acting classes in the first place, because public speaking has never been something I've felt comfortable with.

After tomorrow I only have about a week left of P.O. classes at a different school and I'll be done with it for the rest of my contract period. As I've been telling the parents in class, all of this has been a good experience for me in which I'm learning a lot about myself and I feel like I'm growing as a person by being exposed to a life that was completely opposite from what I knew. We're almost halfway through January now and September honestly doesn't seem that far away. I'll let you know how I feel about that as soon as I know.