Friday, June 13, 2008

Friday the 13th

This blog is just going to turn into the ongoing saga of Tomorogi Junior High School. Today 1-2 was asking for ghost stories. They mentioned it yesterday too, but I told them that I didn't believe in ghosts so it was hard for me to tell a ghost story. That isn't really the case. I like ghost stories but I couldn't really think of any. I also felt a little conflicted about telling one to kids who might actually believe in ghosts. Today I went in and they had the curtains drawn and the lights off. They reminded me that it was Friday the 13th. I relented and gave them the old one about giving the girl a ride home and finding out that she was dead. They screamed. It was really cute. Tanii Sensei went next and told one about riding his bike through a graveyard and being tormented in a dream that seemed really Japanese. Inoue Sensei told one about finding pants full of poop in the garbage. The whole scene was very sweet. I was happy to see them acting like 12 year-olds. 1-3 was going nuts as usual. They had been going nuts since the period before. This one girl was kicking desks and yelling at the teacher. We have been assigned a new 19 year-old college student that wants to be a teacher. Wrong school!!!!!!!!!! When we came into class it was a disaster. Nishiguchi and Makino have decided to imitate the 3rd years and be stupid, pointless dicks. I enjoy doing class with Inoue Sensei because we have very similar methods. We aren't put off by much and are firm and wait for them to calm down. When they calm down enough we usually say, now let's forget that part and do class. If they can't do that we address the situation. It took about 15 minutes to calm them down enough for the new 19 year-cold’s intro. They never made it into my lesson. Makino was dragged out of class. About 10 minutes later I threw Nishiguchi out of class. Things calmed down a lot except for the dumb girl who yelled that class was no fun without them. For who? Not for me. The rest of the lesson was about a 5 out of 10. Kubota, who I think must have some actual mental issues, was wandering around and punching things as usual. He tries to talk shit to me but always in a very low voice. If I speak to him in Japanese, he swears he can't understand, but he does it in this strange, honest way that is only the domain of actual crazy people. Class began going well. With about 15 minutes left, Kubota pulls out an exacto knife and starts making the blade longer and shorter and longer and shorter and staring at me and muttering something under his breath. It began to strike me, "This is a really serious situation." I really do think that Kubota has mental issues, and I don't think he has particular control over his actions. I actually started to think about which arm-lock would be most effective, or if I would do better to kick him real hard in the chest and hope he doesn't catch my leg. I got in range with my mind on the knife and stared at him. "That isn't a toy. Put it away right now." "It's not a toy. I am putting it away." He responded like a robot. "Now means now." "I have put it away." He whispered, staring at me and making the blade longer and shorter. "This isn't the class for that. It isn't a toy. You will put it away now." "Yes. Not a toy. Away." It got really weird for a bit. Then he switched it out for a pencil. That's right Mrs. Yoshida, I'm not a real teacher. Thank you for reminding me. That's right school board, I really need to speak more English in class.

2 comments:

The Morholt said...

Wes
Want to come work in Mexico in September? There is an opening at my school.

wwc said...

Hmmm.... very tempting.

attempting to silence the voices in my head.