I didn't go to E's last parent-teacher conference this year, what's the point really? I won't understand anything that's being said, and how important could it really be? It's pre-preschool for goodness sake!
So imagine my surprise when E brought home a 3-page HAND WRITTEN letter (6 pages actually, 3 in Japanese, 3 of the English translation) from his sensei! She went into lots of detail telling me about E's progress, blah, blah, blah, it was super nice, and apparently he falls just short of sainthood and is nearly a genius, which is actually Japanese code for: he doesn't bite his classmates or pinch the heads off lizards, and hasn't yet eaten his jar of paste. She told me he's speaking quite a bit of Japanese, loves to sing and knows all his classmates names (and can hand out their notebooks to the right kid, so he's memorized all their stickers too!). She also mentioned his girlfriend: "For some reason, he calls Mitsuki-chan his girlfriend." No idea how he came up with Nani-chan a few weeks ago, unless this is another girlfriend?
Although the school year is over, E's school offers daycare during the break, so E will still go to school on the days I teach, but they only have a few kids, and they're all in one big class together. I took him for the first time today, and he was not a happy camper! He's such a creature of habit, he wants everything exactly the same, all the time. He doesn't like change at all. He was very upset that he couldn't go into HIS class, with HIS sensei and HIS friends, even though he knew all the kids and teachers there today. He was crying as I was leaving so one of the teachers brought over a little girl and said "Look Ethan, here's your girlfriend! Here's Mitsuki-chan!" M-chan patted his back, then took his hand and led him to the sandbox, she was speaking to him in Japanese the whole time, but he didn't say anything back(!) It was so freakin' adorable, I nearly puked! I guess he talks about her enough that everyone at the school knows she's his "girlfriend". She was so cute and sweet, I can see why he likes her!
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3 comments:
Aw, that's so touching! She has a way with him, eh? Does he speak Japanese at home?
He won't speak much Japanese at home, which is why I'm always wondering whether or not he's picking it up at school. He says a few things here and there, and sings songs, but that's it! It drives me crazy, he's so stubborn! Everytime I ask him to say something he says "That's only for school!"
It's really funny how young know who can speak a language and who doesn't! He knows he can get away without speaking Japanese to you because he doesn't HAVE to!!!! Katie (who used to work at Kodomo Gakuen)
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