mission.japan

Other classes are going well, however. Surprisingly the E-space classes have had a good start to the year. “Surprisingly” because I took a very pessimistic view of how all of my (ongoing) work for the kids’ classes would turn out. But the baseball game I developed was enough of a hit (pun somewhat intended) during the first week that the students came back the next week asking if we would play it again.

Keeping the students at their desks has benefited class control, as well as putting more focus on writing. The writing worksheets are great because it keeps kids quiet and there are fewer requests for teacher evaluation. Without a worksheet to accompany a set of flash cards or a book, practically every student would need the teacher’s attention for reciting or reading. But if most activities have an accompanying worksheet, students can actually work by themselves for a longer time (some longer than others, depending on how much of a perfectionist each student is when it comes to handwriting). Thus the teacher can handle a larger group of students.

Previously we only had alphabet worksheets, but this week I printed up some worksheets for the first 12 Bob Books (I know, legally we can’t do that) and a box of flash cards (those are probably illegal too). The end result was a quiet, manageable class. If it continues like that I feel better about any new students we might pick up from the current advertising campaign.