Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Almost Famous...

We can't all be superstars like Elliott and get written up in the daily newspapers and be threatened to be interviewed by the local radio stations. But please, allow me my 15 minutes of fame.

In December, I spent two days "teaching" at the local special needs school. Many of the children there are very, very disabled, and teaching involved singing songs (Jingle Bells, anyone?), talking a bit about myself, and generally being genki (happy-go-lucky). A few of the children are less disabled and thus have some English ability, but the majority of them do not.

So I got written up in the (weekly? monthly?) newsletter to the PTA:

The newsworthy ALT #1

Then I went back to the special needs school for another two days in January. While my sojourn was generally treated with the same level of excitement from the teachers and students (Hokey-Pokey, anyone?), my presence in the PTA newsletter was somewhat more muted, though still deemed newsworthy:

The newsworthy ALT #2

Sadly, as I have not been as studious as I ought to, I really can't tell you what either of the newsletters say. I know the second one has something to do with the fact that when the principal (who makes the newsletter) asked me for a quote, I said something about the students always being cheerful, and that the teachers seem to do a great job of trying to ensure the students are happy and involved to the best of their abilities. That got in there somehow.

And now, speaking of being less-than-studious, I must finish my Japanese Language Test which is due in two days. I have left all the listening test portions till the end - ack!

2 comments:

strasmark said...

That must be very odd, seeing your picture surrounded by indecipherable text of uncertain temperment: "We in the administration would like to apologize for the trauma caused by our visiting English teacher (pictured here). We had no idea she sang like that."

julie said...

LOL - and you didn't even get to hear my rendition of "Silent Night" (set about half an octave too high, I might add). With accompanying tuning fork played completely off-beat. :)