Living a Meaning of Life chapter

Lots of "pants off, move to lower peg unless you are going on the upper school excursion to the pool, in which case put your other pair in a plastic bag with your name on it on the table. Replace bag on lower peg with empty shoe bag. Put your towel on the table unless you have an allergy, in which case leave towel in your first bag but don't change your pants. If you already changed your pants and didn't tell the teacher, put your old pants back on and leave your towel where it is. Don't forget to put your hat on, which is in your swimming bag in your locker. Put that bag on the back of your chair. Take your sandals out of your shoe bag and put them in the basket. Make sure your name is on your shoe bag in black pen and that you fold it neatly and put it in your pants bag on the lower hook. You shouldn't be wearing any socks! Why aren't they in your other shoes in the shoe box outside?

Body painting mayhem, blue knees & purple kids. Shower detail for me.

Lunch inspector.

Colours song x2 with Dragon.

What can a Hippopotamus be

Cycled to work in the light drizzle, and then practiced drop kicking plums across the yard as there was no one to play with!

My 1st time with tiddlers in the red class, who are super small easily underfoot! Allan's brand of  classroom spontaneity, mostly asides & internal dialogue broadcast sotto voce. She always strikes me as cranky & too quick to blurt. Bit crap on piano (always clock-watching or forgetting the next line) & doesn't engage with the kids very warmly.

Jim time about 10 mins: 

jumping killed the CD player doing Everybody Up! 

Hello song, one little finger, & see you later. 

Lots of smiles & joining in. 

One girl though immediately uses me as a groin-level punchbag. 

Deputy Dog lookalike in the class?

Roped into painting hands and the risk of getting to my next class red/blue/green, but grabbed by Dragon to read a book (What can a Hippopotamus be?)  bilingually - two separate books they have on their library shelf, with them responding 3rd time through with resounding "NO!" Bit of improv & reading from the back of the room :)

Back to lunch with tiddlers - fried tuna & crisps/daikon salad (must be a broccoli & cucumber shortage?)

Bloated, cranky and not very positive

Feeling fat, bloated & tired, barely able to chase a ball this am

Yellow class doing scissor skills (quite well) cutting circles, squares & triangles; my job to lean in & 'help', using English? That's hard for everyone concerned (and least useful for the least co-oordinated?). Introduced posing TPR which was nice & drew out energy!

Babies & mums in hall; scared a few including iLeader's niece - oops!

Sleepy & not in the mood today, and really gone off a lad Tigger who is sneaky...another lad Tatty, who had an obviously painful & worrying eye operation (for months had to wear goggles taped on to his face), now a daily ball-stabbing pain.

Black Cat a bit flat with Dragon lurking. Achieved little; did scribble down a shopping list of stuff I'd like to invest their money in. Scroll on to see if anything becomes of my recommendations.

Show me your Aura

At least it's only half a day & I know about it; yesterday's early finish caught me out, upstairs fiddling with video edits & trying to make Aurasma work (hard w/out wifi!)

Nervous about this am as missing props for song; I puked twice (yes, I still get stage fright!). Least likely to notice under par performance = Fski, who has been blue for a week. Her birthday today shared with Dragon. Filled time taking portrait shots for Teacher Assistant app.

Boss's teeth nearly fell out when he saw the magic Auras I'd created in Madge's & Choriso's rooms. Heh heh! Will he actually do anything with? Doubt it.

Fski misses stuff; boys getting aggro, enormous bee, bad table manners...I don't enjoy the room. Feel flat anyway, with diarhorrea.

iLeader swoops in & magics the place with charm; all sit down & start singing along with the smile & behave - she simultaneously names & praises performers. V good job.

Introduces a story asking about bums; just as I'm admiring her posterior!

Winter winds, red cheeks & snot noses

So cold this morning that the gates were closed early and everyone confined to the inner courtyard; down jackets de rigur and tissues/handkerchiefs somewhat optional extras!

Made very welcome this morning in the pink classroom, and invited to start the morning off with our "hello" song, cheerfully followed by about eight tunes with her plonking away merrily on the piano, mega-smile encouraging everyone along & infecting with happiness. Result of I-sensei being super chirpy is that the whole class is well-behaved - even covering mouths when coughing; 8 classmates absent with wheezes today nevertheless.

The younger teachers again making sure I know where the bonenkai will be (thank you!) and I'm looking forward to seeing how this lot look off-duty. I really do not want to have to give a speech though...please don't make me do that?

Horror moment in the main hall, as I could not leap fast enough. Everyone running around like mad, and one girl trips over a leg sticking out of one of the screens they have around - dangerous - and lands cheek-first onto the next one. I could see this in slow-mo and was very annoyed with myself for not reacting quicker. An accident waiting to happen; assistant K summoned into action (didn't believe me immediately but pretty bloody obvious - minus blood - this child had taken a major hit) with the Dragon also swooping into consoling action. Accident report filled in as they waited for mummy or granny to appear & head to hospital - very smoothly managed, I must say. All the meanwhile I-sensei continues to manage the class on her own, seamlessly. Nobody even noticed the pant-wetter & puddle-maker! All dealt with in her stride.

Back in the classroom, The Very Hungry Caterpillar got a run out (app for that?) with what looks like a follow up plan? During the siesta though, I again was subjected to cling-ons & headbangers which made post-lunch a long drawn out affair. Even longer once the aerobics DVD was deployed again in the main hall - hid at the back this time unwilling to look like a hip-hop dork. Exile my behind!

Rolls-Royce teachers & professional concern

Blue Sky thinking!

I am very impressed with the tag-team-teaching going on in A & M class with the littler ones. These two are very good together, a complimentary blend of skills & styles, and run a class like a Rolls-Royce motor; super-smooth. Can't see the joins. Only problem is neither of them have any English between them - which rather undermines my 'not being able to speak/understand Japanese' role!

However, they do give me warning about topics they are going to do, and do ask if I can help with a song ahead of time; they do acknowledge me in the room. They also join in with my TPR, and cannot stop smiling...

Nevertheless, even this class suffers from the after-lunch free-for-all & hands off. Dominant kids bossing others (and me!) about. If even slightly directed - theme for the day or even background music I am sure would work a treat. I do not understand why there is a hole in the children's day.

As this class had a nap, I went walkabout. A quiet chair in a bigger classroom was not quiet for long; the dangle-crowd would not let me be & quickly wound me up. As A-sensei was off today, The Dragon was pinch-hitting...she knows my role is to join in as a kid (fair enough) but if she thinks I can sit "seiza" (traditional knees folded under) she is tragically over-estimating the limits of my ligaments. Calling me out for not complying earned her a mouthful...for a start I am not supposed to understand Japanese, nor have we interacted before, and I cannot physically comply - what are your sanctions?

While we pondered that, I returned to the sleepy-heads after their nap, there given the job of tucking shirts & t-shirts into trousers. I needed a chair to do that from (see previous paragraph about knees!) and enjoyed the few moments one on one to connect - an important moment I realised for teacher to not just tuck in undies & return their charges in a decent state etc but to give feedback to each child individually, quietly, warmly on their day...Can teachers still do any of this at home? I mean, tucking in? Would some kind of "perv alert" go off? God knows, some freak-shows would be busting a nut just reading this...have I been vetted by the police? Is anybody really checking if this is giving me jollies? Is this a suitable task for the new guy?

Connect Pink Floyd & Nancy Sinatra?

I think I will answer these issues elsewhere - I am trying to be unobtrusive here from the back of the class, not the front. I did become very aware of how exposed I was in my professional position this afternoon; that there are no background checks in this country whatsoever for anyone involved in this line of work, and I am supremely unmonitored/trusted...