July 22, 2008
Today is the start of summer vacation for the kids in Japan. Unfortunately, the teachers still have to come in. If I were a normal teacher, I would be involved in the meetings, planning, and other things regarding the direction of the school. However, I’m not. Instead, I get to spend eight hours every day doing absolutely nothing but sit at my desk reading Google news and Wiki.
I think I’ll use this time to update what’s been happening since the school year started in April. Since the new teachers came in, I work with a new JTE at my Kita – Uonome junior high school. Ever since then, my time there is actually used and valued, unlike my base school where I function like a tape recorder. The new JTE, Iwata-sensei, talked with me about my previous role at the school. After telling him of stories of not being taken to class and missing English class entirely, he was shocked that the school wasted my time. We then discussed how class would run. Initially, I thought that he would just dump all the work on me while I was there, however, this wouldn’t be the case. Since then, my classes have been taught the way I wanted, and the kids responded positively. On some days, they would almost be too positive. Some teachers approach me time and again to tell me: “Your class is very fine, isn’t it.” I’ve lived here long enough to get the Japanese way of handling complaints, so I took that as a “Your class is too loud”.
I work so well with Mr. Iwata that all the kids look forward to English class. I’m happy that they like class, but it also has its downsides. The kids have days where they can choose which class they want to take, which nowadays happens to be English. So some days I have a 6 period schedule (out of 6 periods), teaching the same grade more than once a day. The principal notices this, and now participates with my first year class learning English.
About a month into the new school year, they decided to give me a class, the 1st years. I am now a homeroom teacher as well as the English teacher. On days I’m not there, the student teacher and a random are assigned. Although I have to attend PTA meetings, proctor national tests, and conduct cleaning time of the classroom, I enjoy the freedom of handling a class. It’s like having slaves of my own.
Around the first week of July, the town of Kita Uonome had a spring cleaning day. When I mean the town cleaning, I mean everyone is out doing yard work. I remember the day I came in a taxi and saw old people working everywhere. When I got to the school, all the students, their parents, and local residents gathered to clean the school grounds. Everything requires a ceremony, so we all stood around in the 100+ degree heat talking about how cleaning day is important and how it builds character, and blah blah blah. Meanwhile, I was standing there thinking how to avoid heat stroke. After about twenty minutes they all scurried off to their assigned places. All the male teachers had the weed wackers while the female teachers had sickles and worked on the hills. PTA members did various things, like driving trucks to transport the yard waste and administering the water.
They gave me a weed wacker with no real area specified other than “Please use this” and pointed to the field in general. Also, I had about 6-7 kids who were assigned to me. Their job was to rake and bag all the grass I cut. Again, my slaves. So I had fun cutting one section of the grass, then walking to the other end of the field just to watch my slaves follow me around. It was very amusing. One kid asked me why I moved so much to which I replied “We have to help everyone here.” They nodded in agreement as I continued to make them follow me around.
We cleaned all morning until lunch time. I ate with the second years. The PTA brought curry and rice. I never ate so much of it in my life; I think I had 2 or 3 full plate servings. I talked with the kids and asked them what they were doing for the summer or how their club activities were. Most of them were just talking about practicing for the Ekiden and perron race coming up in August. Some were talking about practicing club all summer. When they asked me, I told them that maybe I’ll go to Fukuoka to check out Space World. I got the attention of several kids from the other table as they all started talking about which rides to go on first and what food is good there. After an hour of good eating, we played kickball. I was part of the teacher/PTA team and we crushed those 12-15 year olds. It was a little too hot that day. I found myself going to the water faucets and dunking my head under them. I went home exhausted, passing out on the bed in my air conditioned room.
That’s all for now, I’m busy reading Google news and Wiki.
