Blessings
My students, or kids as I affectionately call them, are great. I'm not worthy to be blessed with such great students to teach everyday, especially since my first thought every morning last week when I woke up to my alarm was "I don't want to go to school today." But that was last week and God has once again showed me how blessed I am with my job, everything that He has given me here, and His Awesome Love. So this week has been a lot better. Here's why.
Almost every time I open the sliding door of an Elementary school classroom, I am greeted with huge smiles, an air of excitement, and sometimes exclamations of excitement like "Jessica sensei da!" (Yeah, it's Jessica teacher!) Of course, my kindergarteners and first graders are the happiest to see me, and the older the students are, the less excited they are to learn English (naturally). So I never get the reaction from my Junior High classes, but even my fifth and six graders mostly are excited that I've come to teach them English for a whole hour. Several of the fifth grade classes actually cheer when I come (can you guess why they are my favorite classes?).
For some reason, some of my elementary school students, when they see me all the way at the other end of the hall, yell "Jessica sensei!" and actually run all the way down the hall just to breathlessly say "Hello!" to me. This phenomenon still amazes me, but it makes me feel loved. And for that, I am very thankful for those precious, crazy students.
The more Japanese I'm learning, the more I can understand of what my students are saying (duh!). It's kind of like a whole new world opening up to me. Here is a conversation that two of my second graders had together and then with me while we were eating lunch together.
Natsumi to Daigo: Miss Jessica speaks really good English.
Daigo: Yes, she does.
Natsumi to me with Daigo slurping his ramen while watching the exchange: Miss Jessica, you speak really good English.
Me, said in simple Japanese with a hint of "No duh!" in my voice while I set my ramen bowl and chopsticks down: Of course I do. I'm from the U.S. and we speak English there.
Natsumi and Daigo in one accord with serious looks on their faces and in the tones of their voices: So de o ne. (This phrase could be translated as "I guess your right." or "That's right." or "Oh, I see.")
As I broke into a fit of laughter, Daigo and Natsumi looked at each in utter confusion as to why I was laughing so hard.
Maybe this simple exchange between me and two of my students isn't funny to those of you who have never been to Japan, but for those of us who live and teach here and are constantly getting complemented on how great our English is, it's pretty funny. Or it could just be funny to me.
Here is another conversation I had with one of my students last week. This student is a sixth grade boy. He can say to me all the time "I want you to be my girl." but when I ask him any review questions of the English he supposed to know like "What's your name?", "How old are you?", or "How are you?", he looks at his friends and says in Japanese "What'd she just say?" So this little sixth grader whose name is Satoshi was obviously excited that I got to sit in his lunch group and right next to him for a whole lunch period. Here is our conversation in the middle of lunchtime, in Japanese of course:
Satoshi to me kind of out of the blue: Let's get married.
Me, finishing the bite of rice I was in the middle of eating and calmly replying: Okay. When?
Satoshi with a bit of excitement in his voice: Tomorrow.
Me, about to take another bite of rice: I can't, I'm busy.
Satoshi, not in the least bit phased: The day after tomorrow?
Me, after finishing the bite of rice I just took: Nope. Busy.
Satoshi: How about Saturday?
Me: Busy.
Satoshi: Sunday?
Me: Busy.
Satoshi, starting to catch on: Anytime next week?
Me: Busy, busy, busy.
Satoshi, obviously shattered: Oh.
And so went the first marriage proposal I have ever received. Sure I initially led him on, but he deserved it considering the only English he ever speaks/yells to me is "I want you to be my girl." Satoshi didn't seem too shattered (deterred?) because later when I saw him after school he once again yelled to me his token phrase.
These great things are just the tip of the iceberg. My kids make this job worth it. Nothing else could. They are great and everyday they teach me something new. And they never, never cease to amaze me.
Here is something else that blessed me, and I want to pass it on to you. Before Christmas time, we took a break at the Elementary schools from the regular teaching and gave the students a blank stocking to draw a Christmas image on. As many of you may or may not know, Christmas is a very secular holiday here in Japan. So you could imagine my surprise when I saw this picture:
I must've seen at least 1000 of these drawings from this Christmas and last, and this is the first one I have ever seen like this. Of course I gave her drawing first place.
My prayer is that you are continually seeing God's blessings as I have been.
Almost every time I open the sliding door of an Elementary school classroom, I am greeted with huge smiles, an air of excitement, and sometimes exclamations of excitement like "Jessica sensei da!" (Yeah, it's Jessica teacher!) Of course, my kindergarteners and first graders are the happiest to see me, and the older the students are, the less excited they are to learn English (naturally). So I never get the reaction from my Junior High classes, but even my fifth and six graders mostly are excited that I've come to teach them English for a whole hour. Several of the fifth grade classes actually cheer when I come (can you guess why they are my favorite classes?).
For some reason, some of my elementary school students, when they see me all the way at the other end of the hall, yell "Jessica sensei!" and actually run all the way down the hall just to breathlessly say "Hello!" to me. This phenomenon still amazes me, but it makes me feel loved. And for that, I am very thankful for those precious, crazy students.
The more Japanese I'm learning, the more I can understand of what my students are saying (duh!). It's kind of like a whole new world opening up to me. Here is a conversation that two of my second graders had together and then with me while we were eating lunch together.
Natsumi to Daigo: Miss Jessica speaks really good English.
Daigo: Yes, she does.
Natsumi to me with Daigo slurping his ramen while watching the exchange: Miss Jessica, you speak really good English.
Me, said in simple Japanese with a hint of "No duh!" in my voice while I set my ramen bowl and chopsticks down: Of course I do. I'm from the U.S. and we speak English there.
Natsumi and Daigo in one accord with serious looks on their faces and in the tones of their voices: So de o ne. (This phrase could be translated as "I guess your right." or "That's right." or "Oh, I see.")
As I broke into a fit of laughter, Daigo and Natsumi looked at each in utter confusion as to why I was laughing so hard.
Maybe this simple exchange between me and two of my students isn't funny to those of you who have never been to Japan, but for those of us who live and teach here and are constantly getting complemented on how great our English is, it's pretty funny. Or it could just be funny to me.
Here is another conversation I had with one of my students last week. This student is a sixth grade boy. He can say to me all the time "I want you to be my girl." but when I ask him any review questions of the English he supposed to know like "What's your name?", "How old are you?", or "How are you?", he looks at his friends and says in Japanese "What'd she just say?" So this little sixth grader whose name is Satoshi was obviously excited that I got to sit in his lunch group and right next to him for a whole lunch period. Here is our conversation in the middle of lunchtime, in Japanese of course:
Satoshi to me kind of out of the blue: Let's get married.
Me, finishing the bite of rice I was in the middle of eating and calmly replying: Okay. When?
Satoshi with a bit of excitement in his voice: Tomorrow.
Me, about to take another bite of rice: I can't, I'm busy.
Satoshi, not in the least bit phased: The day after tomorrow?
Me, after finishing the bite of rice I just took: Nope. Busy.
Satoshi: How about Saturday?
Me: Busy.
Satoshi: Sunday?
Me: Busy.
Satoshi, starting to catch on: Anytime next week?
Me: Busy, busy, busy.
Satoshi, obviously shattered: Oh.
And so went the first marriage proposal I have ever received. Sure I initially led him on, but he deserved it considering the only English he ever speaks/yells to me is "I want you to be my girl." Satoshi didn't seem too shattered (deterred?) because later when I saw him after school he once again yelled to me his token phrase.
These great things are just the tip of the iceberg. My kids make this job worth it. Nothing else could. They are great and everyday they teach me something new. And they never, never cease to amaze me.
Here is something else that blessed me, and I want to pass it on to you. Before Christmas time, we took a break at the Elementary schools from the regular teaching and gave the students a blank stocking to draw a Christmas image on. As many of you may or may not know, Christmas is a very secular holiday here in Japan. So you could imagine my surprise when I saw this picture:
I must've seen at least 1000 of these drawings from this Christmas and last, and this is the first one I have ever seen like this. Of course I gave her drawing first place.
My prayer is that you are continually seeing God's blessings as I have been.
posted by Jessica Graumann @ 8:30 PM
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