It's been a while! A decade already?

 Although I have not posted since 2015 (when I stopped sitting in with kindy classes for whole days at a time), I have continued teaching & creating activities/content for & with kindergarten/preprimary children.

The Secret Kindy Kid - outed!

And I haven't died! Probably not grown up much either ;)

The children I originally shared kindergarten classroom with when this blog was conceived are already at university! Do I feel old?! Parents are friends, little brothers & sisters are already taller than me. Encho-sensei retired, and our contract with one school was lost to - an app, for crying out loud. Apps don't share moments, give hugs or take up the slack when the teacher is overloaded...I could whinge for a long time on this topic.

Resurrecting the blog will be a slightly different focus - more on the how classes are taught, materials delivered, and the methodolgy underpinning the successful outcomes from the front of the classroom...as a teacher, no longer the ghost in the room (but still not the expert!)

I want to highlight the 2026-7 English class journies I will have with about 100 students, in three age groups. 

The youngest groups (two classes) have never had any English classes before, and each class is a stand alone event (no text book), though there is an underlying current of joined up themes week to week, varied activities from week to week. It's an exciting adventure to make 30 minutes with very young learners fun, memorable, creative and rewarding.

The older two age groups have adopted texts, and my task (self-imposed!) is to try to cover the content in the 30 or so 40-minute lessons I have over the year. It's not comprehensive, nor is it flawless - in fact, loads of "oops" & learning opportunities along the way. I hope you'll follow the bread crumbs, not be too critical, and join me & the "chibbies" (little kids in Japanese) as we grow this year.

Fifty - not out. Too old for this?

Choriso brought a little choir to sing at me & iLeader interviewed me. Nice!

Barn Owl booted a football up a mum's bum...hilarious, but then bizarrely then tried to rub it better!
I'd have been arrested for that!

Jim Time = "How's the Weather" building a roller. Stealing coffee & soft drink cans from the bins. Not as planned but process a success. I think.

Tick Tock, Tick Tock

Early departure for the clock museum. Strikingly attractive waif there as guide, excuse me, spoke some English too. Must go back & say hello properly.

Introduced my student (owns the restaurant next door) to Minnie. Too much bowing & high pitched platitudes.

High speed lunch, prepped Jim Time for next Tuesday which Sarong warned me about - otherwise would have been a disaster!

Corridor conflict with Yuki as usual, including another punch to the nuts. Blindsided and arms restrained by dangling others, I lost big time. This has got to stop.

To Luna where the Chinese torture continued....

At the back of the room

Tanjobi -Kai (birthday day) & some hot mums. Naughty me?

Decided I don't like the fake that is Barn Owl. Given her the benefit of the doubt (I got Choriso very wrong) but the jury is in. Nope.

Boss wearing really inappropriate shirt "The Front of Armament". What the hell? He'd get lynched for that elsewhere, especially US  & their tidal wave of school massacres. Really think very poor leadership being demonstrated (and for now we are only talking about clothing).

Disengaged all day really - rooms too full/teachers with a game plan. Lunch = got "How's the weather ?" finished. But crap I think.

The afternoon - Barn Owl athletics in the hall, avoided by helping super-slow girl in green class finish her lunch (was left on her own in the room - wouldn't like that myself).

Cranky, cheeky, boy in yellow class occupied the rest of my time in between The Fink Yuki biting me in the fucking groin. Jesus. Never, ever, ever, have I experienced that before. Even in New York. How the hell do you react to that?!

So much for the lesson plan - no furniture

Lesson plan all messed up :(

Planned to use chairs & tables for Jim Time, but lo there are none. Fuck! Sitting here getting pointed at trying to adjust on the hoof. Fuckitty fuck!

Roaring success! 

Bingo to "I see something blue/pink"

 colouring shapes asking 

'Jim Sensei, Jim Sensei, What colour?' 

Lots of review/production

Boss again impressed to bits (as with Brown Bear last week) in passing. But that is all he does. Has no concept of the lesson/objective/outcome - a snap look at the theatre only. Would feature in any actual feedback, hat tip in a blog posting or like etc to our FB page. Think not.

Funky mum announced herself an FB fan, by way of passing at home time. If only I could put kanji to kids' first names to inanimate profile pics...connecting the 'friends of' trail rather hard.

Mobile success

Open day for older kids' mums, and realised all the talent in blue class!

Minnie did a sterling job making simple, dangly mobiles with buddy pictures & stuff. Mums joined in, many babes in arms. Hikari's mum & twins' mum stood out.

Child assesses my infractions!

Water-bucket relay, getting pissed off with usual suspects (Yuki, Hikaru, smug face, bad little one, Manato). Tie stamping a new diversion. (Re-reading my notes, I am not sure what I mean either!)

Chikuwa & carrots for lunch, escaped green class to make something from Hungry Caterpillar. Days & numbers/fruit? Needed the time to sit & think about it, formulate a lesson plan as I was making the bits & pieces. This will work; that's stupid; that will take too long I should do it myself; the size is wrong; the font is wrong; there aren't enough components (need to divide by 32) etc.

Excursion to the fire brigade, same lot as above being shits. Guess the brigade will be busy tomorrow with typhoon damage? Fresh & breezy this afternoon. Job again to make sure nobody runs into a moving big red truck, gets their head stuck in a fireman's wellie or finds too much fascinating gravel.

Yuki bounced off me three times in succession in the corridor....
Strike One: a full on head charge saw him bounce into the shoe boxes.
Strike Two: a ramming assault = stood on the front of his shoe, landed on his bum a bit too hard.
Strike Three: punched me in the legs until he hurt his hand.
Funny thing was, he did an actual recount (like a referee justifying a yellow card) in the corridor pointing out where my offences had taken place. Wandered off to consider other options (such as behaving?).

A pair of twin engine passenger jets flying towards Nagoya this morning, line astern but relatively low. Very strange and something I have never seen before. Did not show up on FlightRadar24...