teaching kids, training, Holidaytown
Yesterday was supposed to be kids open house, but it got changed to next week officially. However, it was still in the computers so it got printed on our schedule, so we were all confused…. lol We were all like “oh no parents, that’s odd…” But anyway, I taught three kids classes (not in a row, yay!) It’s when they’re back to back that I get totally wiped out.
I had fun with my two afternoon groups. In one, with two 10 year olds, we studied introductions. (EB1 U1L1) “Hi, my name is so-and-so. Nice to meet you. I like blahblah, what do you like?” But they already could say what they liked, so it was kind of boring, so I had them choose character flash cards and make up stuff. Japanese kids sometimes have trouble being creative, believe it or not. I hate to generalize that, but I do notice it. :/ So I was afraid it wouldn’t work. BUT after a while, they got the drift. And it helped the flash cards were goofy.
boy: “Hi, my name is ALIEN! XD What’s your name?
girl: “My name is Pirate-boy. Nice to meet you.”
boy: “Nice to meet you, too. I like, uh, bananas! What do you like?”
girl: “I like blue.”
Hah But they got that pretty fast. I still had twenty minutes left. O_O!! So I taught them “I like, he likeS.” That’s actually harder than it seems. Everyone ALWAYS forgets. So I had them put down item cards face down, and put down character cards face down over top of them. Then they had to draw a pair and first, identify boy or girl, and say “He likes soccer.” or “She likes apples.” Etc. THEY GOT IT! XD And it can’t be boring, or they don’t try, so I had to add some weird or unknown element. I totally pulled that out of my hat on the spot. Go me.
And then in the second group, they were a year older and one level advanced. (EB1 U6L1) They did rules of the road. Like, stop, go, slow down, be careful, stop and look. The text book had a picture of a school, and then the text: “You see a school.” and then “I have to ______.” And you had to choose one of those phrases and fill it in. After we did that, which was pretty easy, I still had 20 mintues left!!! I got other flash cards, like “Crosswalk, dog, snow, a kid on a scooter, a school, a traffic light.” And held each one up. THe kids had to RACE to say “I have to slow down!” or whatever. Whoever could say it the fastest got to keep the card! 😀
It worked out great!
Then I got two unenthusiastic teenagers who probably were forced to go by their parents, but oh well.
I then hurried to Ground Slam for BJ-san’s evening class. (pic taken before, during the day)
It was the first time I went there for a night class, other than morning pro sparring, so I was kind of nervous. I really enjoyed it. I felt really motivated. Actually, it was my first time ‘back’ after hurting my neck/shoulders and feeling kind of sick, so it’d been about a week and a half.
We did striking in the beginning. Like, getting in a line, and the left side attacks the right side. The right side has to only block and clinch/take down. Then, after 5 minutes of rotating and switching, the attacking side can clinch/take-down, too. Then we did MMA sparring. After everyone was good and tired, BJ had us do wrestling situational drills. Like starting in a single leg position, and then one person has to finish it, the other has to defend. It was GREAT. Except ….. my muscles gave out on me half way through. (i.e. I got tired ^^;;) I tried to do one more past my limit and kind of tweeked my neck. (I woke up this morning and it feels fine, thank goodness).
We trained from 7 to 9. Well, 8:50 because nobody could move at the end. lol It was awesome. I’m happy because I got to get to bed at 10:30.
Unfortunately, I woke up at 3:45. *sigh* I harvested my poinsettias in my Holidaytown iPhone ap game, and did laundry.
Watched 15 minutes of Harry Potter. Now it’s time to work!
I feel good. ^^
Oh, this was part of my lunch yesterday, in addition to chicken and veggies. A crab rice ball with barley added to white rice. Actual crab! It cost 230 yen…I didn’t realize I was getting real crab. ^^;; It just looked good. But it WAS.
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