#tefl

직업 - occupations

가수 - singer

간호사 - nurse

경찰 - police officer

공무원 - government employee

과학자 - scientist

교수 - professor

군인 - military personnel

기술자 - technician

기자 - reporter, newspaperman

농부 - farmer

님 - sir, ma’am (honorific form)

배우 - actor, actress

변호사 - lawyer

비서 - secretary

승무원 - flight attendant, crew

우체부 - mail carrier, postman

은행원 - bank employee

의사 - doctor

주부 - housewife

직업 - job, occupation

A kid asks me “Sensei what’s this” and then just. pokes me in the boob.

Ask a kid to draw his favourite fruit. He draws a dinosaur.

Learning to say “how old are you” / “I’m X years old”. One kid comments (in Japanese) “my mum is 1 year old”.

Reading a dictation about children’s day. The kids are delighted when I repeatedly fail to pronounce koinobori and take it upon themselves to teach me

Get mobbed by five-year-olds screaming “ANKOORU! ANKOORU!” until I fall over (I later learn this means “encore” and they basically wanted to play the game again)

Teaching a particularly rowdy class and it is hard. fucking. work. At the end, one kid turns to me and says “sensei, otsukaresama deshita” (which translates to something like “thank you for your hard work”)

Proudly show the kids my kanji practice. They gasp in horror. “Sensei! they’re terrible!” Says one.

“Okay everyone, touch something BLACK!” I shout. One five-year-old touches my black jeans in the form of slapping my ass.

One kid can’t write his name. I hold his crayon with him and we write it together. He spends the rest of the lesson not doing the colouring or the fun workbook activity, but just tracing his fingers over the letters and saying his name slowly and grinning.

It’s parent observation week. All the kids have a parent in the room and understandably choose to sit with Mum/Dad. Apart from one kid, who chooses my lap over Dad’s, even though every single week he cries and wants his Pappa for the first 10 minutes of class.

Kids are talking about Pokemon. I chime in. They’re noticeably shocked that I understand. I tell them I like Charizard. “Eeh Charizard’s weak! I like Pikachu!” One kid says. Charizard is objectively stronger than Pikachu on many levels, but I don't argue.

At the start of the class kids are doing a phonics activity. They have to choose whether word starts with C or G. One of the words is “gum”. despite the word being more or less the same in Japanese, an alarming number of kids write “cum”.

Kids are counting points at the end of class. Because they’re 11-year-old boys, they find it hilarious when I get to the number six. “Sex. Sex. Sensei, sex,” they say repeatedly.

I ask the kids how old they think I am. "72" says one of them. I’m in my early thirties.

If you ever want to see absolute chaos in a classroom, do a basic (sun signs only) astrology lesson. Then, ask your students to guess what you are at the very end.

I teach senior high school/pre-university, and it was a very needed break! My students had an excuse to talk about personal topics ahead of a busy exam season.

In my EFL (English) and FLE (français) classes, astrology was their most memorable lesson this school year. No one remembered the signs in a foreign language, though!! It might take some time as this was more of a fun lesson.

When I asked my students and colleagues to guess my sign, they said:

Aries student: "You're the lion, your hair is like one."

Pisces student: "You're the water pot. All the other teachers are!!" (Half of the teachers in my department are Aquarius folks)

Virgo language teacher: "Definitely a Scorpio." (His Venus and Mars are conjunct in Scorpio)

Several Aquarius language teachers in unison over donuts: "Libra?"

Scorpio language teacher after the Aquarius language teachers: "Beer? Wine? Snacks? Those are signs, right?"

Oldest Aquarius language teacher: "Psychic? Psycho? Crazy? Isn't there something that starts with C?"

Capricorn colleague: "The wife sign? My future wife?"

Taurus history teacher: "A dictator? What is that dude's sign? You know, the violent one? Are you vodka or soju?"

Cancer PE teacher: "Pretty? The big fish? Pie? You are pretty pie?"

Out of a few hundred students and several dozen colleagues, no one got my sign right!! 😢 However, they got my Venus, Mercury, Mars, and other aspects. Perhaps it's because I'm at the other end of the world from my birthplace.

Soon, I'll post more about my EFL/FLE classes and experiences. I teach in a country that doesn't use English often and is at a significant crossroads with AI and language education.