Takane-chan asked at the end of the class, in Japanese, if Russian was a difficult language.
Asami thought and said; 'It is considered to be one of the most difficult languages in the world along with Japanese and Chinese. But I'm not the one to tell. Why?
'I would like you to teach me Russian.'
Asami was glad. Shocked and happy. When she saw Takane-chan off she asked her mother if that was in earnest. And her mother said that it was. Asami asked Takane-chan to say the word that she taught her just before leaving - spasibo.
They parted there.
And the issue remained without any decision taken about it. How do they want her to teach Russian? She can't do it other way than through Unitas. And since when? She didn't inform her mother either about the possibility of studying it with Unitas. She provided no information at all. What did they think of her?
She didn't even explain why she taught her that very word of gratitude...
Well, there is a way to solve this mistake and turn it to be a lucky one.
She has got time now to try and find a textbook of Russian for children. Next time tey meet she won't have a lesson straight afterwards so she can discuss the ditailes without hurry with both Takane-chan and her mother, and she can also show books that she will have found.
She can also ask in the office about the possibility of a Russian course for Takane-chan.
And if they haven't changed their mind in week's time then it can really work out.
Next lesson followed.
'What's wrong?' Yuya asked.
Asami felt very awkward.
'It's just that when I'm speaking with students' parents my Japanese becomes very clumsy.' she explaned.
The class started fine. She asked him about his today's job, which was guarding a Chinese amassador. Then he made a report on Episode 7 of "Criminal Minds" and they discussed it. Asami warned that she was going to ask him in detales about each episode case as he said before that he can learn a lot from these series so why not to use it to the full? Yuya chuckled.
Then problems started. She checked vocabulary. Yuya didn't do quite well. And, apparently, her Japanese pronunciation was part of this outcome. After that she suggested two situations for him to provide his advice or opinion. One about a drunk man in the street trying to cross a busy road in a random place. Another about a man who had got into a fight with his buddies and comes up to him and confesses that it was himself who initiated the fight.
Asami's language was slow and... far from being a model of speaking. Why? Because she hadn't prepared! If only she had come earlier and done her homework!
They had 10 minutes left. It was the first time that she was looking at the clock and finding that she is not late but too early to finish the lesson. They did questions from an exercise at the end of the first unit which she hadn't looked through so she wasn't sure of how to use the expressions there or how to explain them.
Finally she explaned him about the 'bullet' pronunciation, compared it to 'buly' spelling it exactly like this with one L.
They finished.
Asami felt disappointed with herself. She had lost confidence. Still she decided to show Yuya the placard she had made. He found it funny.
Asami noticed that she couldn't control what language she was spreaking. That was a bad sign.
He suggested if it wouldn't work she inform the owner of the house and he take the matter to regional councel. Asami responded with yes, but I don't want to blow up a problem out of it or something to that effect. Yuya just nodded undersatandingly.
Then Asami casually took a plastic container with Belarusian sweets out of a bag and put it on the table before him. She didn't even remember what she told him at that time any more. Or in what language it was. But she remembered that he smiled and guessed and accepted greatefully without any hesitation or questions.
When they were going down the stairs they spoke about the weather and it becoming cooler.
They parted.
How shel she correct this now?
Well, first to ask for forgiveness for the poor quality of the lesson which was brought out by her being in shock after a student she taught right before that asked her to teach her her mother tongue.
Then she'd better tuch again upon the exercise they did but unsatisfactorily and explaine what she finds should be explained.
Finally she should prepare well to overlay the previous class's memory with a better one, best one.
First of all, she is a teacher. And her own interests com next.
For if she does badly in class she will feel bad and lose confidence, and her interests will matter little to her then.
There are a lot of butterflies around her house owing to the elderly man who has planted numerous flowers. It makes Asami feel really at home among her relatives - fragile creatures with light wings, vulnerable to wind but capable of staying in the air nonetheless.