Natsu

It's been a busy month! I've been too tired to do much blogging. Yosuke's summer classes have been placing more and more demands on my time, and now I'm tutoring him about 22-24 hours per week! Miki's tutoring sessions have been unofficially put on hold because her older sister, Natsu, is struggling with her English I online summer course. I've been working with Natsu 5-6 hours per week.

I enjoy teaching Yosuke, and the time flies by. But Natsu is so utterly different. She's prone to painfully long bouts of silence in which she is unable to speak a word. I don't know if this is due to painful shyness, fear of making mistakes, or adolescent sullenness (or perhaps some lethal combination of these factors).

My first impression was of sullenness, as she would just stare at the paper with what seems like an insolent look (although it's difficult to see through the long hair draped in front of her face). Later, I began to expect that a fear of mistakes was keeping her mute. The only sentences she speaks or writes are surprisingly well constructed. She clearly has a high level of standards.

In that sense, she reminds me of myself when I was learning Japanese. Until I studied abroad and was forced outside of my comfort level, I would only reply to questions in Japanese after carefully formulating a response in my head. As a result, I rarely spoke up in class, and the students more willing to take chances progressed faster.

I haven't decided what Natsu's problem is, and she has resisted my questions when I've asked her about it (just as she resists all other questions - I have to ask about five questions or more before I am able to get a response).

While I find myself dreading our sessions, I always manage to be positive and hopeful. After all, my initial sessions with Miki weren't enjoyable, but once she opened up and I got to know her, they became fun.