Mr. Dashiell…kun

I recently taught a group of first graders for the first time, and as you might imagine they were quite excited to see me. As I introduced myself I taught them about calling me Mr. Dashiell instead of Dashiell sensei, which they were very receptive to as they thought it was hilarious. Then out of no-where this one student pops up and just yells out: “Hello Mr. Dashiell…KUN!” and everyone starts giggling, naturally. “kun” is a word you stick onto boys names familiarily. For girls it’s “chan.”

The students loved this so much I don’t think I’ll ever be able to truly rid them of the habit. Which to be perfectly honest I’m OK with because I think it’s adorable. The teachers may not love it too much though, so we’ll see what comes of that.

Anyway, really what I wanted to share is that I finally have gotten my hands on some pictures of me teaching. I know many of you think I just sit around an office doing nothing, but I do actually teach! These following photos are from three “evaluation days” which schools have intermittently not necessarily to judge me but to see English class in action and to learn how it works. These pictures are from June 2010, September 2010 and June 2011. Though I feel weird just posting a bunch of pictures of myself here, I figure some of you would very much like to see them. Also, there are some great series of pictures in here AND they’ve gotten me to realize that I pretty much have the same pose in every class since I started. Which is something I intend to work on!

Enjoy me!

-Dash

"This is how you drive a car in America!"

Noyori sensei is tiny. Or I am huge. Probably both...

"I don't like..." yeah I'm not sure what I'm doing here!

"Hmmmmm..."

Durrrrr

"This is anpanman."

"I like anpanman. He's delicious!"

"Hey Mr. Takenaga, do you like anpanman?"

"No way!!"

"Do YOU like anpanman?" (The answer is yes, by the way. Even though he's a character for 2 year olds.)

"Mr. Takenaga LOVES beer."