It really was nice to only have to prepare for and teach one course today. I was supposed to have 14 students, but only eleven showed up. Nine of the students are Japanese-native speakers, and two are English-native speakers. Both of the students from the US are very kind and anxious to interact with the Japanese-speaking students. They are careful to not dominate even in the small group discussions. The students were all very shy, but expressed sincere interest in the course. I think it is going to be a great group, and honestly I am very excited to be teaching a course with mostly Japanese students.
One of the students from the US, Daniel, has been in Japan for about three years. He volunteered to take me to the SILS library to get reserves figured out. He is studying human rights law in Asia. That was a big relief for me and the students!
All this time, when people talked to me about the library, I thought they meant the huge, main library, but they meant the SILS library. The SILS library has the book I will be using first, and has ordered the other two to put on reserve! Can you imagine that! I don’t have to give them my copy of the text for reserve.
It was a very pleasant class, and I am looking forward to an exciting semester! David had some good experiences today, too. He’ll have to write about them, however, not me. 🙂
I’m glad to hear things got off to such a good start! Do all the students there know English well enough to be taking college level courses taught in English? (Maybe that’s why 3 backed out! :-))
SILS, School of International Liberal Studies, at Wasedan offeres most of its courses in English, so my course is not unusual because it is offered in English. Many of my studnets are first year students even though my course is listed as an intermediate level course recommended for sophomore status or above. They are not first-term, first-year students, however, because the academic year begins in April. We are in our second semester at Waseda University. My students are unsure of their spoken English, but they have all chosen to study in SILS and are expecting the challenge of courses in English.