During class this morning they'd all drawn pictures, then passed them to each other and roared with laughter. I asked them to be quiet and pay attention, so when it happened again, I collected their drawings (to their dismay) and told them to wait after class. When I dismissed the other students, these four boys (who definitely aren't angels usually, but their seriousness today surprised me) walked to the front, their heads down, their eyes taking quick glances at me to see how I'd react. I scolded them for disrupting class and accepted their numerous apologies. The Japanese teacher I team-teach with also scolded them and told them they needed to write an apology. I turned to talk to a few girls about winter vacation. But, the boys came back wanting their pictures. I looked at them and didn't see what was so funny about the drawings (probably the joke is on me-oh well) and the boys had (stupidly) used the backs of assignments. I returned the papers to the boys but warned that if it happened again, I'd keep them. They said "sorry" again and again and went on their way.
Later, they trooped into the teachers' room and handed me this "Statement of regret." After they left, I smiled really big and almost chuckled at how serious they were taking it. I mean, many other days they've frustrated me with way more than passing notes and laughing. But their English note is endearing to me, even though every sentence has many errors, I know they spent a long time trying to use the words and phrases and verb tenses correctly.
Based on past experience, I doubt their behavior will be perfect just because of a lecture and a mandatory apology letter. So I plan on keeping this note to remind the boys that "Future English classes is very serious." (while laughing to myself) :D
2 comments:
that is awesome!!!! aww, I absolutely love those letters full of incorrect sentences - don't they just warm your heart to the core? :-)
I ran with my ichinensei girls this morning in their PE class, to get ready for the school marathon, and one of them - Saki - came up and told me (in english!) that she had met you at the rock climbing gym in Shiz the other day! Such a small world!
Have a great weekend!
God bless those who take on the task of teaching a foreign language to people. I feel so bad for my teacher. He stands up there, sees that he is in a room full of fully functional adults and hears child-like mumbling coming out of us and saying silly things like "I straddle the bus" That was one of my classic mistakes in norsk. oops. The letter was great though. They were really serious. Looks like you've mastered the evil eye that every teacher has...
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