Roller Coaster Day

This has been a really up and down day. I was almost in tears this morning after a completely horrific lesson with the first years, who are not usually that bad. There is one boy in class 1B who is incredibly disruptive. He won't sit still or be quiet, and while not quite on a level with R in 2B, he's quite a handful, and he really disrupts the class. I don't mind students being high spirited, as long as the energy is focused towards the work at hand. The third years can get energetic too, but they're doing their work and not being disruptive. 

After class the English teacher told me that this boy, T, comes from a family that "doesn't care about him," in her words. Maybe this is a little lost in translation, but basically there are a lot of kids in the family, and he's not taken care of properly; his clothes don't get washed, he doesn't always brush his teeth; things like that. The acting up makes sense if there are a lot of kids at home, though. He wants attention. But today he and two or three other boys were throwing paper airplanes throughout the entire class, and talking across the room at each other and generally making a nuisance of themselves. I just stood there helplessly and fought the mental battle between wanting to slam my clipboard on the table and take some disciplinary action, and simply forcing myself to remain immune to it and remember that it's not my job to keep order in the class. Despite this, however, I can't help but be frustrated when there is complete anarchy in the classroom; especially because I can't do anything about it. The kids don't even listen to the Japanese teachers, let alone me, who they can't even understand. 

So that was first period, and I was really depressed after. I had to go to the third years 3rd and 4th period to do a Christmas lesson (singing songs, word search, making Christmas cards, that sort of thing), and I really wasn't in the mood. But it turned out to be a lot of fun. We listened to the Chipmunk Christmas Song (I had to sing it a cappella in the chipmunk voice at one point) and Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas. Hearing the kids sing along was really fun, because of course their accents are hilarious. 

I think because it's gotten so cold lately, I've been feeling kind of down. Maybe having a break will be good for me. We have about 2 weeks off over New Years, and I want to take a few extra days off, though I haven't yet and I'm not sure if it's too late. I'm planning on traveling a little around Japan, maybe to Tokyo and a few other places. Not really sure yet. Either way, it will be nice to have some time to myself.