First day of classes

T

oday was the first day of class and I had my Japanese Literature in Translation. It's a class that anyone can take, since it's in translation, and it fulfills a humanities requirement in the general curriculum. As a result I get a wide range of students. However, this year I have a particularly small class. The university, as it always seems to be doing, is under construction somewhere. This year, they are working on a particularly big building, forcing a closure of all its classrooms. As a result, there is a shortage of classrooms.

So what happens to me? Well, I got stuck in a new location for classrooms. It is in the basement of an office building on K Street. It sounds sorta cool to have a class on the street where all the Washington lawyers and lobbyists hang out, but it is a distance from my office. I also have to cross Pennsylvania Avenue, a rather large thoroughfare a few blocks up from the White House. So I can't jay walk as I often do when I'm late for class. And the basement rooms are new and clean and spacious, they have no windows and I am such a California boy that I get freaked out when I can't see the sky for a long period of time. I had just gotten used to not see the beach for years, but no sky? I can barely last an hour. And worse, my course is scheduled at two different hours on two different days: class starts at 2:20 on Monday and 3:55 on Wednesday. I've already had a number of students who have told me that they wanted to take the course, but one of the days there is a conflict and they can't take it...

Anyway, as I do every year, I play a practical joke on my students. I start out by speaking in Japanese to the few students who I know are taking Japanese--there are inevitably two or three. Suddenly, there is a buzz in the room, as students who don't know Japanese open their eyes wide in disbelief. Huh? They start shuffling through their schedule of classes trying to figure out if they are in the right class. On cue, I hold up the books we are using--Genji, Japanese Poetry, all in English translation--and talk in Japanese about how much they cost and where they are in the bookstore. A few whisper to each other, seemingly trying to confirm whether or not there is a language requirement for a Japanese Lit in Translation course. Are we translating English to Japanese?!? Hahahahah.

After about two or three minutes of enjoying their looks of confusion and anxiety, I speak in English to let them know that the course is indeed in English and that I was just making some of the Japanese language students practice their speaking. The Japanese students break out laughing as they had already figured out what was going on. The non-speakers smile, sheepishly, as they all let out a large sigh of relief...

I'm so mean, but it's so fun! Hehehehehehhe... I love being a teacher...