Like most Sundays at NOVA, today was a very busy day, but I got to finish in the afternoon instead of the evening. I am now spending way too much time at the internet cafe, catching up on the internet time I missed when my family was here.
Today I had a man to man lesson with a 6 year old returnee student. Kids students who have lived in English speaking countries are usually taught separately from the rest of the NOVA Kids so they can have more challenging material.
Today’s lesson material was animals. Regular NOVA Kids would get a lesson with “It’s a bird, what is it?” to which they would respond “It’s a bird!”. They would learn about 5 or 6 other animals and then the rest of the class would be spent playing games to reinforce the new vocabulary. For this returnee student, I brought in a whole pile of different animal flashcards. She knew all of the names already, so I tried to come up with a new challenge for her. I set up the flashcards around the room, gave her a paper ball, and asked her to throw the ball at various animals; animals that ate meat, animals that could fly, animals that live in Japan, etc. The lesson turned out well and we both had fun. I feel bad for this kid if any teacher goes into the classroom and tries to stick to the lesson plan.
Drinking in Japan 