I <3 Matsuonishi

For two years I visited a small elementary school called Matsuo-nishi. There were only 55 kids in the whole school and when I left they gave me a wonderful goodbye ceremony. During my time there mum and dad would send gifts for me to give the students such as stickers and pencils. I thought it would be a nice idea to take them to meet the kids they were sending things to. My supervisor organized it and I’m so grateful they did.

After talking to the principal for a little while we had our fist class with the youngest kids. We weren’t studying anything hard just basic introductions but for some kids it was their first time meeting an older foreigner.

After the first class the whole school had a welcome ceremony just for us. It was so great – we had a spectacular entrance, they sang, played the recorder and danced for us before posing for pictures. I love these kids.

After the ceremony we had one more class, then lunch, cleaning and finally our last class. The kids even came out to wave us goodbye and I think mum and dad had a great time.

\Now that I’ve been in Japan for three years I can see just how my students have progressed. There is one boy who I taught in his final year at junior high and now he is in his final year at my high school. I will watch him graduate twice! That makes me feel old but also gives me more pride in my work. Today I got the chance to meet Jun again. He is such a gorgeous little boy but for two years I couldn’t get him to participate in any classes. He was so withdrawn and would often sit in the corner while the others played. In my year long absence from Matsuo-nishi he has transformed. Today he was so eager to take part in everything, be at the front, lead the games and shake our hands. I could’ve cried when I saw him and I nearly did.
This is why I love teaching. You have a lot of bad days when the kids don’t want to know, an idea doesn’t work out or you get classes added and dropped at the last minute but all that means nothing when you see a student has progressed or got the result they needed. I’m so soppy but I don’t care!