Yesterday when I was teaching, I called on each of my students to explain pictures of their families. As usual, I corrected major errors they made. As one of my students presented, she made a mistake. I corrected her as usual. She then started crying and left the room. She came back for the next class, but it sure made things awkward, both for me and the other students. It was hard to finish that lesson and keep everyone going. During the break I talked to Atsuko. She said that English is too hard and she will never learn it. It also came out that she has always had lessons one on one - never with a group. She said she hates being corrected, and doesn`t want to come to my class anymore. At the end of the day she seemed to be feeling a bit better, but it is hard to tell. After class, all of the other members of the class came to me as I was cleaning up. They all discussed what had happened, what each member of the class could do to help Atsuko, and let me know that it was not my fault and they still want me correct them in class. Thank goodness for the Japanese group mentality! Everyone thinks of the group as a whole, and no one has to make decisions or worry about things alone. If it weren`t for that calm class discussion, I think I probably would have tried to take all the blame, and it would have been hard to face the class today. As it was, I was able to discuss everything that happened, and we were all able to work together to discuss solutions.
Today Atsuko did not come to class. I don`t know whether it would be better for her to come back to class, or pay for a private teacher and learn English on her own. I just want her to do what will be best for her, and for the class. If she cannot deal with using English in front of other students, it makes things hard on everyone. I guess I will have to see what happens over the next week.
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