I'm a Teacher?!

The training I received in Vancouver did little to prepare me for my first week of teaching. On the first day I shadowed Jorge, the substitute teacher who I was replacing. I was amazed at how quickly and effectively he prepared for his classes, it only took him a matter of minutes. For my job interview in L.A. I spent at least 6 hours preparing a teaching demonstration for just 1 class, and in Vancouver I spent 3 hours doing the same. How was I going to prepare for the 6 classes I was going to teach every Tuesday and Wednesday? I felt completely lost.

In addition to feeling overwhelmed by my demanding work schedule I had the added pressure of memorizing 50 faces and names while simultaneously being unbelievably jet lagged.


On my second day Jorge saw I was falling asleep. His solution: an "energy drink". I sensed that there was something shady about this "energy drink". It came in a tiny glass bottle, but it was the sparkle in Jorge's eyes more than anything else that made me apprehensive. Against my better judgment I agreed to try it. He gave me a thumbs up, how could I refuse?

The "energy drink" tasted EXACTLY like Flintstones vitamins. Immediately my tongue started to tingle and then went numb. I asked him what was in it. It was only then that he told me that there was and excessive amount of caffeine as well as nicotine. Sweet! Japan doesn't dick around when it comes to energy drinks.

Although the drug water worked well, I have since decided to go with a "safer" beverage option. This orange Fanta drink is delicious. Please note the two oranges shaking vigorously. The reason being the fact that this drink has little orange jellies inside which add an extra element of excitement. I'm pretty sure this is only meant for little kids, but I drink it regardless.

On my third day Jorge observed and watched me teach all of my classes. I was incredibly stressed, but I survived. The following day when he left for Tokyo I was terrified. During one of my classes I was asked, "What is the difference between a modal verb and an auxiliary verb?". I froze and tried to come up with some sort of creative bullshit, but the best thing I could think of was, "They are both helping verbs...they work together...with the verb...to help it...yeah...?".

My second week went much smoother, but I was heading into work about an hour early and usually staying an hour late. The average prep time was between 30-40 minutes per class. By the third week I was arriving at work only half and hour early and staying only half an hour late. I had reduced prep time per class to about 20-30 minutes. This week I have spent about 10-20 minutes prepping each class. The job is getting much easier day by day.

I am starting to feel confident about my ability to teach the only language I am somewhat fluent in. Although the job is very demanding, I enjoy it (most of the time) and find it very rewarding.