My First Last

Today was my final class with my third graders at TJHS. As such, it was the first of what will be many "lasts"; my last class with the third graders, the last day of this school year, and potentially my last day at each of my schools.

Since the third graders have already passed their high school entrance exams, there wasn't really any need to continue with studying. Y-sensei asked me to prepare some fun activities for our final day of class. I prepared a few songs and games. For the songs, I typed up the lyrics and took out a few words, leaving blanks for the students to fill in. I also wrote some Mad Libs-style games to do. All in all, I figured it would just about fill up a class period. If not, I had a few extra things I could throw in.

However, when I described the activities to Y-sensei, she seemed skeptical that it would keep us occupied for the whole time. I probably didn't explain each thing well enough. When we got up to the classroom, she ended up giving the students the first 20 minutes of class to add more decorations to some yearbook-type things we made for them. I was a little annoyed because this meant I had to cut two of the activities I had prepared. When we got around to my activities, I decided to just do the songs.

For the song activities, I had chosen "Walking After Midnight" by Patsy Cline and "Break Your Heart" by Taio Cruz. Part of the problem with choosing songs to use in class is that they have to be clear and easy to understand, shouldn't use too many unfamiliar words, and can't have any swearing or references to inappropriate things. I've found that country music often meets these criteria, though the accent is sometimes confusing for the students. We started with "Walking After Midnight" because it was the slower of the two songs, and I wanted to ease the students into the listening activities. Most of them did really well; one student filled in all the blanks just from listening to the song once, and everyone else (except one student, who probably should actually be in the special education class) got it on the second try. I passed out the full lyrics and explained a few words that they might not be familiar with, then asked them to tell me what the song was about. I added a few comments of my own, basically summarizing the story that the song tells.

After that, we tried "Break Your Heart". I picked this one because it seemed like it might appeal to the students; it's got a dance beat and small sections of rap. However, it is rather fast, especially the spoken parts. I didn't put in too many word blanks and tried to pick ones that they could also figure out logically even if they couldn't hear it well. This one was definitely harder for the students, but they seemed to enjoy it. On the second time around, I noticed the girls mouthing the words in time to the music. Again, I handed out the complete lyrics and talked about what the song meant. As with the previous song, the students agreed that this was a love song, but of a fairly different kind. Since we didn't have a lot of time we couldn't go through line by line and talk about the meaning, but I think they got the main points.

Y-sensei let me know when there were only three minutes left in class, and at that point I gave some final comments. I basically told the students that while I hadn't been at their school very long, I really enjoyed working with them. I said that I thought they were very smart and interesting people, and I would miss them. At that point I handed out some little Idaho pins; some showed mountains, others the capitol building, and so on. They're the same pins that I used as omiyage for the teachers. I'm not sure that's entirely kosher, but whatever.

With no time left to spare, class ended. It had been fun but a little less celebratory than I expected. It felt more or less like an ordinary day. The classroom seemed a little strange because they had taken down most of the decorations and other things that covered the walls, so it was rather bare. Next week I'll see the students again for graduation rehearsals, but on graduation day I'm assigned to be at my other school.

Somehow, rather than feeling sad, I just felt exhausted. I don't think the fatigue is from having a busy week, because things haven't been all that crazy. I'm guessing the tiredness is an emotional reaction. I was a little worried that I'd end up getting teary-eyed in class today, but that wasn't an issue at all. I don't know how I would react to graduation itself, though. Perhaps it's a good thing I'll be going to the school where I have very little attachment to the students (awful as that sounds).

Today marked the beginning of the end of the school year. I can't believe how quickly it came. I suppose it seems that way partly because the school year ends several months earlier here than in the U.S., but I'm also finding that the past seven months have gone by very quickly. Part of the reason I recontracted is that I don't think I'd be ready to leave by July. The time is just going by so fast that I wouldn't have gotten enough of Japan by then.