慌ただしい日々が続いてる。やりがいを感じながらも、いくつかイライラすることもある。しかし、生徒たちはよく頑張っていると思う。こんなところで愚痴をこぼしても仕方がない。

　来年から自分も担当することになるであろう新カリの授業への準備を始めてもう今年で３年目。走り出したばかりの頃に買って授業に使ってきた本を何となく読み返してみると、線だけ引いてあってお蔵入りしてしまっていたいくつかのアイディアを見つけた。生徒が自分でやりがいを持って英語を意欲的に学ぶ支えとなる新しいスタイルの授業をまた一歩進めるヒントを得ることができた。

     It's been so busy these two weeks.   What I have been working on is worthy, but there are some irritating things as well.  But my students are making efforts.   There is no use complaining here.  

     Two years have passed since I started preparing for the new style of English lessons, which I will be probably in charge of next year.  I read again one of the books I bought when I began preparing, and found some good ideas for my English lessons, which I had only underlined.  I have gotten a nice clue to conduct a lesson which can help my students study English themselves with actual feeling of improvement.

　新学期が始まった。生徒たちと一緒に学年も持ち上がり、ついに３年生になった。私は以前に３回３学年に配属されているが、１年生から持ち上がるのは初めてである。良くも悪くも自分の教育の成果がかなり反映されている学年と言えるだろうから、この子たちの伸びた点と伸び悩んだ点を今後よく分析していく必要がある。

　この子たちは今年大学入試に挑戦する。おそらく私が受け持つ生徒たちで最後の旧課程の入試となるだろう。文法は３年生になってこの子たちが焦って求めたときに体系的に入れる方がよいと思い、文法の解説を入れることを極力避けてきた。予想通り、今になってやはり文法が弱点だと出ているが、今は文法の講義を受ける意気込みに満ちている。さて、予想通り１年で最後の１年で仕上げることができるか。

　何度も述べることになるのだが、やはりクラス替えとは寂しいものである。つい３週間前までは自分の子供のように目をかけていた４２人が今では他の担任がついている。自分にも今は新しい４４人がいる。今の子たちに全力を注ごうと頑張るのだが、今年の自分には来年度以降のことを考える役割もある。去年の生徒、今の生徒、来年以降の顔も知らぬ生徒と、今全てが始まったこの時期に寂しさなど感じている暇はないのかもしれない。

     The new semester has started.  I am in charge of the 12th graders.  This is the third time for me to teach this grade, but this is the first time to teach from the 9th graders until the 12th.  In every sense they reflect my educational work.  I am responsible for scrutinize what was good and bad for my students about my work.

     These students will take university entrance exams.  They are probably the last students of mine to take the exams before the course of study is changed.  When teaching, I have been expecting that they should study grammar when they are eager to learn it.   Therefore I have avoided teaching grammar systematically.  Now as I have expected, their weak point is grammar.  But I am certain that they are not just grammar studiers.  They know how to read, how to pronounce, and how to write in order not to score but to communicate.  As I have expected again, they are now highly motivated in learning grammar.   I consider now it is my job to get them to overcome their weakest point within one year.

     As I mentioned many times, changing members of homeroom class makes me a little sad.  Just a few weeks ago, 42 students, who I thought were my own children, were in my class, but now they have a different homeroom teacher.  I do have new 44 students in my class, some of whom were in my class last year.  I tell myself to concentrate on my current homeroom, but I am also in charge of some new project for the next school year.  I need to work for my current students and new students.  Perhaps I do not have time to feel sad in busy weeks like this.     

　春休みが今日で終る。明日になれば教員の座席が移動し、次々と会議が連続し、個人的な新年度準備どころではない。

　この春休みは新３年生向けに講習を４回した後で、それなりの時間を新年度の準備に費やすことができた。教科の準備は教科書のデータがまだきていないので、教科書を読み込み、どのレッスンを扱ってどんな活動を入れながら、受験も視野に入れた英語を発信するような授業に仕上げるか、それなりに時間を割くことができた。発信は大学個別学力検査をみればいかに必要かがすぐにわかる。新カリを目前にして、多くの大学は書く力を求めている。

　春休みにゆっくりする教員も多いこの職場だが、私はいつも新年度の準備に充てている。私もそろそろ中堅とも言うべき年齢に近づいており、年を経るごとに仕事の量は増える。責任も増える。そうすると普段から授業準備ばかりしていては、「あいつは好きな仕事ばかりしている」と陰で言われかねない。それでもいい授業をしようと思うなら、休みの日に授業準備するしかない。

     Spring break is about to end.  Tomorrow we are going to change the positions of our seats in the teachers' room, and then will have to attend meetings one after another; I will have no time to prepare for personal jobs like English lessons nor homeroom class.  

     I had extra English sessions four times during this spring break.  Then I could afford to spend a fairly good amount of time to prepare for the coming school year starting soon.  Because I haven't gotten the CD-ROM for the new textbook, I have read through the textbooks, planned some lessons and checked the syllabus for this year.  The key factor is that making a variety of activities and also having my students ready for the exams: convincing them that this lesson helps them to improve their English and to pass the exams.  If we check the examinations made by each university, it is apparent that they are requiring students' writing ability on top of reading ability.  

     Many teachers are taking it easy during spring break in this school, but I usually spend spring break to prepare myself for the next school year.   Little by little, as I am becoming the backbone of this school (in terms of age), the amount of work is increasing.  So is my responsibility.  If I keep focusing on preparing the lesson plans, I may be spoken ill of by coworkers.   If I am to give good English lessons in such a condition, I have no choice but to use my holidays.