Hard Work Pays Off

The CSHS-Yamaguchi Prefecture high schools mini-conference, held this afternoon, with my student SH speaking at the podium.

My two students, SH and SJ -- the ones with whom I worked for an unexpectedly long time last Friday -- presented their research in front of their peers, teachers, and a cohort of visiting Japanese high school students and faculty today! All in English, for which I am very, very proud of them.

Two other presentations were given by the Japanese students, whose English sounds strangely robotic. It was like a recording, really. I know that this is mostly due to my unfamiliarity with Japanese-accented English, but I'll be honest: one girl in particular sounded so much like an android that I had to stifle a laugh from way in the back. Their brief words of introduction in Korean were better than anything I could manage, though.

In any case, I think that the only people who really understood everything that was said for the duration of the hour-long mini-conference were myself and the two other English teachers at my school, unfortunately. Many students were nodding off, and our science teachers would prod and slap them to keep them awake. Hopefully they still learned a thing or two. Hooray for cultural and educational exchange!

In other news, I stayed at school until 8pm again today. I hope this isn't the start of a trend... but I know that for at least this week and next, I'll be grading hundreds of essays written by my first-years, which range from terrible to woah-did-he-really-write-this good. Wish me luck!