Last day at Ube Shougyou (Commercial High School)

Today was my last day teaching at Ube Commercial High School (Ube Shougyou). There are still 3 weeks of classes left, but next Friday I will be teaching at Ube General Support School since Shougyou has exams. The Friday after that, I have to go to Kenchou in Yamaguchi City for the Prefectural JET's farewell ceremony. Then the Friday after that, it's the farewell ceremony at my base school (Ube Nishi) and I will go to my base school that day because I have to give a farewell speech in front of the school. I really enjoyed teaching at Ube Shougyou over the past year. The students are all very friendly. Almost everyone at the school really warmed up to me over the course of the year. I remember when I first got there, the English Club was really just feeling me out and so were the teachers and students. I'm not gonna lie, it is somewhat disappointing to leave once everyone has finally warmed up to me, but I know I made the right decision. Also, it's really nice to leave on a high note. One student in particular at this school is my absolute favorite student that I've worked with. She is a member of the English Club. When I met her last August, she was a very sweet, shy, and quiet first year. She has since grown into an outgoing, bubbly girl and she is now a second year student. She really came a long way over the year - socially and her English has really improved thanks to a little self confidence. Her pronunciation was really good when I got here, but now it's even better and she has enough confidence to be heard. Anyway, she makes my time here in Japan complete. I really wanted to have an impact on at least 1 student and from what I gather from a letter she wrote me, I'm pretty sure I've had an impact on her and it feels really great. Lately, I've been wondering if I actually made a difference while I was here in Japan this year... and I realized that I have and that makes me really happy :)

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.