Winter's last stand?

Tonight's rice field, blanketed in snow


I hope this is the last cold blitz of the season. Winter is harsh when you're bicycling to and from work everyday. This past three-day weekend, the snow came and left and came again with a vengence. It snowed almost sideways, nearly blinding my field of vision and chilling all of us at school to the bone even when we were inside.


But the spring is another breath away. I've signed on for another year of work in Kurashiki and things are looking promising. My third year students at the Junior High (equivalent to 9th graders in America) are preparing for their graduation as they anxiously anticipate high school entrance exam results. Though I've only known them for just a year, I feel that they're grown tremendously, not only in mind but also in character. I hope I could have made some impact on ther lives, even as I only could see them in class once a week and at other times randomly. Their futures are guaranteed to be bright and adventurous, just as mine had been at their age. The world is renewed again with a force of new awareness about how we affect our enviroments and ourselves in this planet and I believe that this newer generation can make a difference if only it applies itself still.


We take in what we dish out and the Kurashiki NET program has provided me with ample opportunity to shine even more. I continue to invest myself in further informal classroom research and lesson fine-tuning. To be a better teacher, I have to keep my mind open and learn when to shut up and listen to my students and fellow teachers. Further professionalism comes from more concentration on the little points like greetings, flow of the lesson, remembering and/or reading students' names, FAIRNESS to all and ever-evolving patience. I have to keep trying!