Once I had visited all the schools I had received my first lesson plan for every class during the first week. There were only two words written down in every block
Self-Introduction
I had a week before classes actually began . . . how was a self-introduction supposed to take up forty-five minutes? The least interesting thing to me was myself, hell I didn’t even like myself. Not knowing what to do, I went for a walk to let the idea bounce around in my mind as I focused on other things. The impending reality of having to stand in front of a whole room of people and talk about myself made me want to vomit.
I sat down at my desk and started making small drawings in my sketchbook. Drawing was one of the ways I could express myself. Even if the I wasn’t that skilled when I illustrated I disappeared from the world. . . that was good enough. After I had finished I gazed at the small chibi character I had drawn of myself. The small animated version of me clutched his knee in pain crying. The instant I tore my ACL I felt my whole life break. . . I’d be lying if I told you it wasn’t one of the reasons I became so cynical.
One day I wanted to draw out the story of my life for anyone who might be interested. . . but mainly to process how I even ended up where I was. I realized that I could do most of my communication before I entered the classroom if I made more of these.
I had 12 Drawings In My Bag
I was hoping I had a good enough narrative to tie them together. . . the narrative would have to be in simple enough English for Japnese third graders to understand. When I arrived on campus it was like being the new kid in a school. Kids looked at me from around the corner, were startled when the saw me in the hallway and ran, or just awkwardly stared at me. I didn’t mind as I found it kinda cute and entertaining, with a smile on my face I made my way to my office and waited for the time to tick down. The signature Japnese school bell rang. . . it was showtime.
Showtime
I made my way through the sliding door and heard a bunch of oohs and ahhs, it was as if something impressive had just occurred.
“外国語の先生だ(Gaikokugo no sensei da)”
“皆さん新しALTさん来ました、新しい先生の自己紹介を聞いてくれてをしましょう。ああそうお願いします . .”
I heard みんなさん新しALT(Hey everyone there’s a new alt) and お願いします(please). . . the whole part in the middle was indistinguishable Japanese noises. My nerves were shaking as the whole class and teacher had their eyeballs on me. I locked up and just looked at the Japanese teacher with an eyebrow raised.
She came over next to me and whispered “セルフイントロダクション(Self Introduction”
Smiling I walked out confidently and started to speak, my nervousness made me speak quicker than usual.
“Hello, Nice to meet you. . . ”
“Hallo” a rambunxious little boy in the front shouted. Like popcorn, the rest of the class erupted into Hallos.
I was reminded I was teaching elementary schoolers . . . instead of just simply telling them about me. . . it was about showing them and letting them guess for themselves. The enthusiasm of the small grade-schoolers brought a warm smile to my soul.
“Hello” I responded with a big animated wave bringing laughter to the entire class.
“My name is . . .”
I revealed the image of the small anime character with the funny bowl cut and red and yellow clothes.
“Chibi Maruko Chan” The same energetic boy shouted and pointed straight at my face.
“Yes I’m Marco I’m from. . .”
The Bold Eagle with the Red and White Stripes quickly revealed my home country.
My home city is . . .
“Starbucks??” The kids said half of them tilting their heads in confusion. I made the gesture of Ichiro Suzuki. . . and some of the kids realized he had gone to Seattle. Before I knew it I had been sucked into making this a fun game. . . I found myself singing, dancing and acting out parts of the introduction, it was more fun than I had realized.
At the end of my introduction, there were still about 10 minutes for questions.
What is your favorite food?
Do you have a girlfriend?
What’s your favorite animal?
What’s your favorite T.V. Show?
Why did you come to Japan?
What fruit do you like?
Who is your favorite musician?
The Japanese teacher helped to provide translations of some of my answers.
I looked forward to the next two weeks of school where I had the same lesson for all my classes and grade levels. . . I didn’t think I could be that interesting.
