Kate’s Quests

Since the English exams were nearing (they were this morning for many of my students) some company gave our school good luck presents for the kids. So the head of the school walked into our classroom about 10 minutes before the students arrived and handed the Japanese teacher and I each a bunch of bananas. He explained that they had many bananas left over this year and since the other teacher had already taken her bunch of bananas home, the bunch I held in my hands was mine and the one that she held was for the students. We finish the lesson and the kids start leaving and suddenly she realizes that she has forgotten to give the students their bananas. She picks up the bunch and streaks out of the room. About three minutes later she comes back, breathing very heavily and carrying one lone banana. “I got three of them,” she said. “Tomoko got away.”

Later two of my students were given their final prep. lesson since the test was the next morning. The Japanese teacher and I gave them a listening test by CD, so all I had to do was sit there, listen and give the correct answer. Here’s an example:

Woman: Excuse me. Where is the ketchup?
Man: I’m sorry, I don’t work here.
Woman: Oh, excuse me. I’m sorry.
Man: That’s ok!

Question: Where are they?
1. In the grocery store.
2. At home.
3. Driving a car.
4. At the circus.

You get the jist. This class has a boy and a girl and the boy is endlessly entertaining. He’s very concerned about how he’ll do and so after every question he looks at us to confirm if he’s right. If he’s wrong he’ll get up and pace or fall off his chair and make moaning noises. When he gets a question right he’ll strut around, crowing to himself. He’s the one who, when we were going over adjectives, kept pointing to the Japanese teacher and yelling, “old!” and “ugly!” and then pointing at me and yelling, “young!” and ” pretty!” It was all in good fun, although I’m not sure the Japanese teacher appreciated it all that much. He really is a sweetie though. And not just because he called me pretty. He always takes care to make sure that the shy girl in the class understands and is taken care of, too.