The new school year started in Japan this month which for me meant Spring Schools and new kids groups. I’ve talked about these schools before but for the benefit of the new reader(s) they are an extra two hour lesson (10am-12noon) for kids before our regular shift. Parents may regard this as a chance for their children to be educated further in English whereas others think its a good chance to get rid of them for a couple of hours!!

These ‘special’ schools weren’t as well-attended as last year so I only had two of them during the recent term break; the first was with Higher Elementary students and the second was with a Kindergarten group and that one was probably my smoothest one yet. Despite the earlier start to my day I was actually close to enjoying myself!

Two regular fun groups departed at the end of March with one of them being a mixed group of gigglers who always found things far more funnier than they actually were but thats kids for you. The one that really got to me though was a six year old called Rika who I have taught for the whole two years with this conversation school. Seeing her progress during that time was a pleasure for me to observe and i have to say I did feel a touch emotional when she said goodbye for the final time, said thankyou and presented me with a farewell box of biscuits.