I never expected to have so much fun teaching children. I have just returned home from my lesson with three of Amiko’s classmates. These three girls are called Ayumi, Mayu and Chisuka. They’re all really sweet and very cute!
The three of them are pure Japanese and their English is not as good as Amiko’s. Thus I have to pitch my level slightly lower. But it’s a lot of fun with three compared to just one. Very often, the three of them will chatter amongst themselves in Japanese ‘cos they are trying to work out what I’ve said among themselves. As Ayumi is a little better in English than Mayu and Chisuka, I can see that she sometimes helps to translate for the other two.
I don’t mind them speaking Japanese amongst themselves and I think language teachers shouldn’t be too strict on the not using of the native language rule. Well, it really depends on the circumstances I guess. In this case, the three girls are still focusing on the task at hand, and they’re trying to help each other out in achieving what I’m asking of them.
We read a book together and as we read, I asked them questions and elicited responses from them. Thankfully, all three were very responsive and I found myself really enjoying getting responses from them and getting them to talk about themselves.
One hour went by all too fast and now I’m eagerly looking forward to my next lesson with them!