Friday 10th November

A bit of a slow week, with students REALLY getting on my nerves. I managed to tie down some teachers though to discuss the situation in my classes and we have decided to put some small changes into place next week at my visit school. Instead of teaching 41 incredibly rude and misbehaving students, I will now only teach 20. My sensei has decided to split the class in half so that I can concentrate on teaching them instead of telling them all to shut up! At base camp however, the changes were a little less strategic. I decided to take the classes as seriously as the students do i.e. not at all, and was pleasantly surprised at my own ability to laugh at myself. When I relaxed a little and stopped stressing about getting through all of my activities, I realised that I could get two lessons out of my one lesson plan (which will also mean less work the following week) and the students had more fun and became less disruptive!

I also realised that I am not responsible for them passing their exams because I am NOT A REAL TEACHER... something I fail to remember when I am panicking about how and what to teach them next.