Once a month I teach students who aren’t mine so that they don’t get confused.

That’s the theory anyway.

On Sundays I teach students who are preparing to study at universities in the USA, Canada or the UK (with special appearances by Australia). My regular class meets, well, regularly three times a month. I teach the higher level class.

However, once a month, I swap classes with the teacher who teachers the lower level students.

These students are interested in studying outside of Japan, but live outside of the Tokyo area, which makes it harder for them to study in a classroom. Instead they study prepared videos and texts and trek down to Tokyo once a month.

The other teacher and I decided to swap because it gets confusing (for us and the students) trying to keep track of who’s studying what and which speech can be used for each class. (Note: all of my regular students have to attend, but a few others are added.

Unfortunately, many of today’s students asked their regular teacher last week about my class this week. His response was the appropriate “How the hell should I know?”\

I was worried; however, all but one student came through. They did their speeches and managed to stay awake for all six hours of the course (not including lunch).

I won’t see them again for another month. However, there will be new students present next time I see them. That gets confusing.