Mixed review day

This morning went well with my 4th grade zebras. They did better with the calendar, got more recognizable with the English words for days of the week when we sang the song, and were overall well behaved. We acted out the verbs on the picture cards, and I told them to pay attention because we were going to use that in a game later. I split them into two groups and when I called out the English words (Turn around), they had to beat the other person to find that card, do the action, then return to their team. It was spirited but fun, and after that we played charades and Twister in groups.

Well, the 3rd grade Tigers did not want to be in English class this morning! There were 3 boys who refused to do what they were supposed to do, and the other girls in the class were so quiet that I couldn't hear what they were saying if they were participating! The counselors were working hard, but I just kept having to switch it up because I didn't have some of these kids (with little to no English) engaged. I finally decided to use one of the boys instead of disciplining him. I was showing a card, asking them to repeat after me in English, and do what the card said. He kept repeating everything I said. I would say, "Okay!" and I'd hear this little pip-squeak voice say, "Okay!" back. I'd say, "Repeat after me," and he did a great job of saying exactly as I said! So, I told him he was my little parrot, and I made little motions with my hands like they were beaks talking back and forth. He seemed a little embarrassed to be called out like that, so he hammed it up even more. I said, "Special helper!!" and amazingly, when he said things after me, the other kids repeated! But, of course that only lasted for about 3 minutes before he lost interest in being my special helper. Those same, rascally boys wanted to play Twister, but as soon as they were on the mat, they'd push and shove and knock each other over! Grr...by the time lunch time came around, I had a headache and was not looking forward to the afternoon!

After lunch, I checked email and went to hang out in the English Resource Center, hoping for inspiration. They seemed to like the story time in the afternoon, so I picked another book for that, and then decided to do a name introduction game that would get them talking to each other in English. Since they can't really write well and mostly copy from the board, I thought journal time would take up the rest of the day. They actually sat quietly while I read It's a Good Thing Animals Do NOT Do Things that People Do. It took them a few pages to understand what I was saying, but then they laughed at the pictures. After finding out that they didn't really know each other's names (nor mine), it was good we did the game I planned. We took the name tags we made on the first day, created an inside and outside circle, and then danced around the circle until the music stopped, then they had to introduce themselves to the person in front of them. After a couple of times doing that, they found their spots on the carpet with their journals and wrote with only a little bit of complaining! I made sure to write out the journal message slowly, demonstrating how spaces are used between words, and most of them kept up. They got to draw a couple of the action words they learned, so they were happy after that. Some finished with enough time to draw their group animal for the door decoration, so both groups worked quietly! Yay!!

It was rather cool today (70's!) with a slow drizzle for most of the day. But I still decided to walk home. It wasn't enough of a rain to warrant using an umbrella, and I was fairly wet when I got in, but not uncomfortably so. I got started on an FBI thriller yesterday and wanted to keep reading, so me being the nerd I am, I finished it when I got home. Some of the teachers are meeting up Thursday to go see the Harry Potter movie, but I don't know if I want to see it when it's the full price (1800 yen). Last year, the movies I went to were all 1000 yen. I might go see it tomorrow night with some of the female teachers since Wednesday night at that movie theater is ladies night!