My first day of school

I arrived @ 8 a.m. on Mon morning. My first class doesn't start until 8.40 a.m. But being the first day, I needed to be there early to calm my nerves n familiarise with the things in my classroom. I was terribly nervous....absolutely petrified. True, i did receive some training after having just completed the TESOL course. But it didn't prepare me with the knowledge of teaching young children who have no fear of their teacher. Young children who don't listen when you talk, who run about fighting with each other, who keep talking when you are talking, who don't cooperate n only stare at you, n don't understand English.

I had no choice but to speak a lot of Japanese on my first day...otherwise i would have no way of handling the children. They were surprised that i speak Japanese. Very amused when i gave them my English name in katakana....even more amused when i wrote the katakana characters on the board. They have no qualms about talking freely about me in class, even though they know i understand them. It's probably a habit that formed from being taught by English teachers who don't understand Japanese. It's incredulous to hear what they say about you. They don't only say nice things, but also complain to each other when you scold them....all in front of you! I never would have imagined students daring to say the things they said. N i have students as young as 8 correcting my Japanese!

On the first day, I had all the students telling me where they live by pointing on the huge map of Japan. I also got them up individually to draw their favourite fruit, hobby n subject. I had them spell the things they drew n that took up some time cos apparently, not many can spell. I felt a sense of doom when some of my Pri 4s couldn't even write their names in romanji. Even some Pri 6s don't know their alphabet letters well. N i'm supposed to teach them from an English textbook. I thought to myself......."what trouble have i gotten myself into?". If this is already the case here, what would teaching in Japan be like? By the end of my third class, I was physically n mentally drained n i thought i was losing my voice after raising it for 3 hours. I was doubting my career choice. Am i cut out to be an EFL teacher?