makes Lea-sensei freak out!
The exams, they just never end. Now that I finished my own ridiculously difficult proficiency test, I am faced with the task of preparing a handful of my private students for various standardized English tests, which they will sit for in the near future.
In addition to kids who will take the eiken and the jido eiken, I am also preparing a twelve-year old girl for a junior high school entrance exam. The test requires the knowledge of many SAT level vocabulary words, material that often causes her to spout expletives such as: "I hate that word! Who invented it?" and "Why are there so many words in English with the same meaning? You only need one!"
As well, I have just completed a letter of recommendation for one of my students who wishes to enter a private international school. Or more accurately, her parents wish her to enter international school. She is currently two years old. The letter went something like: "x-chan is a pleasure to have in class. While her interests include bubbles and shiny objects, she excels most at play dough. . ."
In the course of writing this letter I found myself forgetting how absurd it all was, in order to make room for the stress that comes with preparing so many of my private students for various levels of scrutiny.
It makes me realize that a school system that revolves around rigorous entrance exams not only puts an immense amount of pressure on the students themselves, but on everyone who is involved in their upbringing and education as well.
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