back home i was a low-key closet weeb and history dweeb but here i’m cool sensei because i played 1 historical otome in my life
I have a student in one of my classes who absolutely refuses to speak English. She’s so completely and totally convinced she’s awful at English, she would rather shut down completely and be unresponsive in class read or answer a single thing. The thing is, I know she knows English! She understands me when I talk to her, she writes English well, and she does well on her actual assignments as long as she never has to speak. I feel like she’s in that “perfectionist” stage of learning a new language and just doesn’t want to embarrass herself by getting something wrong even though I feel like my school is really good about the whole, “You don’t have to speak perfect English but you have to try thing.” But I’ll try to give her a chance and call on her when I’ve seen her with her (correct) homework and she’d rather erase everything than say a word.
So I tried to talk to her during class while everyone was working on their speeches and it was really basic. “Did you do your homework? I thought you did because I saw it… Was it wrong? Hmm, I think it was okay. Next time, if you aren’t sure, let me read it for you, okay?” And she clearly understood me because she was answering my questions easily enough?
Anyway, a couple of days ago, I noticed she had a strap on her pencil case with a character I knew so I tapped it and smiled and she just looked up really confused. Normally, kids will come up to talk to me after I do that but she never did so I wrote a short note on sticky paper and left it on her notebook during class. It was basically, “Oh, do you like HAKUOKI? I like HAKUOKI too! Who is your favorite character? Tell me, please!”
And sure enough after class she comes up to me with the note and she doesn’t say anything but she’s like, “Eh?” And I’m like, “Do you understand?” And she nods. And I ask her who her favorite character is and she shows me her keychain. I ask her who it is and she, very quietly, whispers, “Hajime-kun.” And I’m really surprised because most people call him Saitou but I’m like, “Why?” And she whispers, “Hajime-kun… is very… very… sugoi.”
“Mmm… he… his past… and he’s… [holds up her left hand].”
“Left handed? [holds up left hand].”
And she nods and is like, “But… very cool.”
So I finally show her the strap on my pencil case with my favorite character and she just squeals and is like, “Toudou.” And I’m like, “Yes, he’s my boyfriend.” And she just giggles and it’s so obvious she’s happy? I tell her I like him because he’s very cute and I ask her if Saitou is cute and she’s like…
So I gotta ask, “Why do you call him Hajime-kun?”
And she just sighs and starts to motion with her hands, “He says to you… call me Hajime.”
And I totally get what she means because in the last chapter of the game, if you do his route, he tells the protagonist to call him Hajime. And I’m like, “Oooh, at the end?” And she just dies and leaves.
Anyway, I mention this because today was a combined class so I had a class I don’t normally teach on Fridays. From nearby I hear, “Toudou Toudou Toudou Toudoutoudoutoudoutoudou…” And I see the girl cut through the class with her friend and she’s making her way to my pencil case and hovering over it because she doesn’t want to touch it and they’re trying to make out the pink shape that is the back of my charm. I go over to meet them and ask what they want and she just whispers, “Toudou.” So I flip it she and her friend are like KIYAAAAAAH KAWAIIIIIII and her friend whips out her own charm and whispers, “Saitou.” And I’m like oh my god these girls are trying to talk to me about their Hakudokidoki boyfriends and it’s the cutest thing ever.
BTW, ever since that week I connected with the first girl, she’s been very awkwardly and shyly asking me for help in class on the down low. She literally only raises her hand when I’m walking in the area so the teacher won’t come instead. And it isn’t much just her pointing at what she wants me to check and I’ve managed to get her to explain what her problem is a couple of times. Before presentation day, I asked her if she was ready and she just shook her head. I asked her if she wanted me to read her speech one last time and she nodded yes and it was PERFECTLY FINE and I told her and she managed to present to the class, even though she was really quiet… but its progress.
I’ve also had the JTE tell me that this particular student looks happy whenever I work with her in class and would like for me to keep working with her since I seem to understand her a bit. IT JUST WARMS MY HEART because I feel like I’m doing something good. And I just have to laugh at my life because I never thought my middle school dweeb days and history nerd weeb life would help me.
snowghoul
titsay
yousharknotpass
