“Thank You So Far”

As my time in Japan draws to an end at frightening speed, I’m naturally finding myself doing many things I’ve become used to over the past couple of years for the very last time. No longer will I drop in on the kids at Kii Cosmos special needs school, nor teach classes at Kinokawa High ever again.

There are also the classes themselves of course, though in the case of Wakayama High, I’ve only known the 16-18 year olds I teach for several of months, seeing as the academic year out here runs from April to the following March. In spite of this, the students from two of my classes have been very kind in handing me collections of small thank you notes (though the mean-spirited, cynical side of me suspects that this has more to do with my teaching colleagues needing some activity to fill up their end-of-semester lessons on the days I’m not around).

Either way, receiving these testimonials is a very lovely thing, though I can’t help thinking that the phrasing and choice of words in some of them speaks volumes about the general standard of my teaching. I don’t know, take a look below and see what you think…