Nihongo no kyoushi naritai hodo suki yo!

Well, that wasn't much fun--my Japanese Education teacher test. It was about what I expected, though. I guess I'm just under-educated in certain areas that, unfortunately, are important on the test but might not be pertinent knowledge to a classroom teacher. Perhaps. At least, that's how I feel. But maybe I'm just bitter. ^^;

So, more specifically what I'm talking about is, for example, the question that asked me to point out and describe with specifics three differences between the English and Japanese sound systems. ...sigh... So, well, I've never officially studied anything quite like that, so I just had to kinda figure it out/make stuff up. And I'm sure this is all stuff I know, like, subconsciously, right? But not having the words to say this stuff is really frustrating. At least, thank God, I could write answers in English. That, hopefully, helps me sound like I know what I'm talking about.

And then, some of the multiple choice questions really got me. Like one asking, what would be the best benefit for a new Japanese teacher joining a national organization of Japanese teachers?
A) Being able to get inexpensive-good quality teaching materials'
B) Learning about professional development opportunities in the area
C) Being connected to a group of professionals who could act as a mentors
D) Being able to stay up-to-date with current research in secondary language acquisition theories, etc.... BLAH!
Aren't they ALL great reasons?? What the heck? And, personally, wouldn't, like, individual people get different stuff out of it? RARGH. I'm not the only one who thinks a question like that is rotten, right? There were a few others a bit like it.

Well, whatever. :P It was tiring and frustrating but it's over. And if I have to take it again, at least I have a better idea of what I'm up against. u_u

PS: Oh, the title today is part of a tanka poem I wrote for Japanese class. (A tanka is like a haiku... actually, it starts with a haiku, then has two extra 7-syllable lines.) It means:
I like it so much I want to be a Japanese teacher
(..."it" meaning, Japanese itself.... but you knew that... right?)
So the real thing went:

日本語の　Nihongo no
教師なりたいほど好きよ　Kyoushi naritai hodo suki yo
どうぞよろしく　Douzo yoroshiku
おねがいします　Onegai shimasu

(When sensei corrected it for me, she put the second and third lines together, as one. I guess I figured she did it for a reason, so that's why it's only 4 lines, instead of 5 like you may have been expecting.)