Saying Goodbye

On Saturday afternoons, I teach a wonderful group in Mitaka. I met them through my company originally: I taught them at an extension college course for seniors. The original class was pretty popular, so it was extended, and they even added a second course. But when the college did not renew the class, they found a community center nearby and I’ve been teaching them there ever since.

On Saturday, as I came out of the ticket gate, two of the students were waiting for me. It turns out that they were quitting the course. I don’t know why, but I think one of them is having a lot of trouble with her vision, and the other doesn’t have time anymore.

I remember when I started teaching this class, I had to use a Japanese book. The book was not set up for group conversation class. It was actually a self-study book, that jumped all over the place, in terms of material and difficulty level. But the title of the book was something like, “English Conversation for People over 60,” so that is what we used. Generally speaking, I am not supposed to use Japanese in class. In fact, many places, like my high school, require me to pretend that I can’t speak Japanese. It is pretty retarded that I can’t use Japanese outside of class, but that is part of the job sometimes. But I remember when I started teaching this group, there was actually a complaint that I didn’t use enough Japanese! So I always tried to teach and explain everything in both English and in Japanese. And eventually, they got used to English and I used less Japanese whenever possible.

This group is so wonderful. I really enjoy teaching them, so it will be a shame to say goodbye to two of the students. But they gave me a card and a present. They also left me presents for my sister, and they left food for the class! Obviously, they didn’t leave with bad feelings. At the station, they were very close to tears. It was a shock to me, so I didn’t know what to say. So we thanked each other and bowed.