The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Wow, that's two days on the trot, check me out! If nobody else is going to big you up, don't be shy about bigging yourself up, that's my motto. Today was a spilt school day. I was at Ogata JHS until midday and then went to Kakizaki ES in the afternoon. Ogata was good. I'm new to the school and the kids only see me once a week, so they are quite shy, but they are coming around slowly. Two of my three classes are great and they really try, but the other class has a couple of bad apples in it, so that affects the other apples / students in the class. I'm working on it though. If I can find a bit of common ground with the rebels in the class then at least they might shut up when I tell them to, well that there's the theory...
Today's classes were about the "present progressive," or "...ing words," as I called them until last week. "What are you doing?" "I'm cooking / playing video games / listening to music," etc. Lots of miming and jumping about like an idiot a la elementary school, but it got the point across - even the bad apples learnt the grammar point, so maybe they aren't all that bad.
Lunch was udon noodles in a meat sauce, which I wolfed down. It was certainly one of the few Japanese meals that I've had where I could positively identify 100% of what I was putting in my mouth. A day to remember, I think you'll agree. Post lunch is always a bit of a circus, as ten minutes of manic teeth brushing ensues. Kids and teachers alike brush their teeth next to long trough-like sinks in the corridors. Watching people trying to talk to eachother during this is hilarious, as they resort to grunting and gesturing.
I have been replying to some letters that my JHS 2nd graders wrote to me last week. It's great practice for them as they can write about whatever they like and not just the grammar that we're trying to teach them. The letters are really sweet and the students seem to have taken a long time writing them, pictures and all.
On to Kakizaki for English Challenge Club. These kids are really good for their age. We read The Very Hungry Caterpillar today. Thanks to the Japanese katakana syllabary the kids can sound out English words, even if they can't understand what they are saying. The star of the class has to be little Moto. I was handing out the books at the start of the class and while the other students all said "thank you" as I handed them the book, Moto pipes up with "Japanese okaki!!" which is what they call the rice workers. He shouts that out at least ten times in each class. I'd love to know what happens to him as he gets older - there's no doubt he is switched on, but he's just completely mental.
Well, no rest for the wicked - I'm off to teach my adult conversation class.
Best,
Colin.