Yesterday during soji, the 10-15 minute cleaning time where all students and teachers clean the school, I asked one of my students in Japanese, "Do you like soji?"

Her response was "I don't understand English" (also in Japanese). This is precisely why I get annoyed when the Japanese English teacher translates what I say into Japanese when I can say almost everything I say in class in Japanese by myself. The students don't even attempt to try to understand. They think "okay, Nancy is speaking. This is the part where I don't listen because in 5 seconds i will hear it from the Japanese teacher in a language that is easy for me. That way, I don't need to pay attention or even really think."

I answered back "Oh. You also can't understand Japanese, right? I was speaking Japanese you know!"

She didn't get it but all the other students around her thought it was hilarious.