My first month of school in Japan, as a teacher

Hello again from the Land of the Rising Sun.

I shall begin with a recap of the events of the past six weeks.

August was spent mostly in the office. I played on the Internet and studied some Japanese. I felt sorry for my co-workers here at the Kagoshima City Board of Education. When I show up at 8:30 they are already hard at work. When I leave at noon for lunch, they are eating at their desks. When I return from lunch at a little before two, they are working again. When I head home at 4:15, they are still hours away from doing the same. And, when I am actually at my desk, they look a lot busier than I do. I cruise the Internet and they push papers.

My fellow office mates all have a locker in the corner of the office. Whenever there is an important meeting, they go over there and put on their ties. Twice a day the OL (office lady) brings us our tea and snack. Now, several weeks later, I miss the office days, but back in August they got to be a bit tedious.

Our office had a welcome party for the six new ALTs (assistant language teachers). We met at a nice restaurant, poured drinks for each other, said a few speeches and ate good food.

For a few days in August, we had a prefectural orientation. Mostly, it was just more boring speeches and some teacher training. My favorite lesson was taught by a Romanian man. He came into the room and spoke to us in Romanian for an hour. He tried to teach us some of the language and we all got to feel like our students feel like in class, when they have no idea what the teacher is saying. We had another Elementary School English Teachers seminar, but it was all in Japanese so I do not know what was said that day.

For four days at the end of August, we taught at an elementary school summer camp. We played some games with the kids and taught them a little bit of English. At that level, they can read the letters and say a few sentences. We taught them the days of the week and the months of the year.

On Monday, the 2nd of September, my real job began. I visit three Junior High Schools. The students range in age from 12 to 15 years old. They are divided into three grades, called first, second and third. Wada-chu JHS has about 1200 students and I spend two weeks per month there. Kamoike JHS has about 400 students and I spend about a week per month there. I also spend about one week per month with the 500 students of Taniyama-Kita JHS.

On the 2nd, I went to Kamoike JHS. I showed up, took off my street shoes, put them in a cubbyhole, and put on my school sandals. Then I was entertained in the Principal's office until it was time for a brief self-introduction. I went into the teacher's meeting and told them that "My name is America" and "I come from Avram". This Japanese stuff can be a bit difficult for me at times.

From there, it was off to the general assembly. School actually starts in April, but since August is a month off, they all have to be reacquainted to school life. The assembly was in the gym, and the students sat on the floor. Everyone left their shoes at the door. I made my first speech ever for 500 people, and I did not even have to wear shoes to do it. I introduced myself briefly in English, gave my extremely short Japanese introduction and listened to a student read a much longer welcome speech to me in Japanese. After a few more speeches, the school day was over and I went home.

For the next two days, I went back to Kamoike and introduced myself to the students. Every student in the schools must take English. So, between three schools, I have 59 classes of 40 students each to visit every month. Lesson planning is nice. I can use the same lesson for a month at a time. At Kamoike, I met my first class of surly third grades. As the oldest students in the school, they have had the most life sucked out of them and are pretty non-responsive and uninterested. My first class bombed, but luckily I had a free period next and I improved it greatly.

Here is what my self-introduction lesson has evolved into. I walk in to either applause or snores. Then they all stand up and say "Good Morning", "How are you?" and "I am fine, thank you." After they sit down, I tell them my name and write it on the board. They can call me Mr. Fox if they want, but we all seem to prefer Avram or Avram-sensei. Next, I hang up a big map and point out Japan, Florida, and many of the countries I have visited. At the end of my five minutes of talking they get to guess the number of countries I have visited (about 40) and my age (30).

Then I hand out a list of picture descriptions and we practice saying them and define the difficult words like 'camel', 'wedding party', and 'mummies'. Next comes the part they all love. I hand out about 25 pictures of me from my travels and they have to match the pictures to the descriptions. They get to laugh at me with long hair and wonder why I was wearing a turban. After we check the answers, if there is more time, they can either ask me more questions or we play Bingo using the words from my handout. And that is that, another 50 minute lesson finished.

In each class, the regular JTE (Japanese Teacher of English) is there to assist me by translating what I say or what the students say. They have also made many suggestions to me which has improved my presentation over the weeks.

For the most part, except for some of the third graders, the students are excited to see me. If properly prepared, I get a nice round of applause when I walk in and some even wave American flags. Also, I am a welcome break from the normal textbook work. Between classes there is a ten minute break. I head to the teacher's room and usually talk to which ever students wander in and feel like talking. In the halls lots of boys will exchange a few words with me. In the teacher's room it is usually girls. They like to tell me I have nice eyebrows, nice eyes, and a big nose (apparently a compliment here). They giggle a lot and I encourage them to keep learning English. It is a lot of fun to walk around school and say hello to every one. When I walk by a class in session, I feel sorry for the teacher, because all of the students lean out the windows to shout 'hello' at me.

The JTEs and other teachers I work with are generally pretty interesting. Many of them can say a few words in English and we can exchange a few pleasantries. Most of the JTEs speak English well enough to have a basic conversation. Some of the JTEs do not speak English very well at all.
The schools do not have any air-conditioning or heat. In early September, the classrooms were very hot. The teachers all raced back to the teacher's room between classes to enjoy the air-conditioning. Many students followed us back. There are always students coming and going from the room. They announce their name and class, state their business, and apologize. Some teacher gives them permission to enter, and then they just mill about for a while, before apologizing again and leaving. In the middle of September, the air-conditioners were turned off for the winter. It has not really cooled off too much, but the air-conditioners and the winter heaters are regulated by an official schedule and not the actual weather conditions.

The students day starts at around 8:15 or so. In their nice school uniforms, they must go to Homeroom for a half an hour. The students stay in the same classroom all day and the teachers move around. At 8:50, first period starts. The classes usually last 50 minutes, but are often shortened so that the students can do some other activity in the afternoon. After the class, there is a 10 to 15 minute break.

After fourth period it is lunch time. Six students from each class put on a hair net and a smock. In one school they also wear a face mask. They head down to the kitchen and bring back buckets of food and a case of milk. They bring the food back to the classroom and portion it out into bowls. They distribute the food to each desk in the classroom and the students all ignore it. When the food distributors of the day are done, and the smocks are put away, they sit down. The teacher leads the "Itadakemasu" (time to eat) and the boys shovel the food in and the girls pick at it. Lunch is enjoyed with classical music from the loud speaker. I have the option of eating in the teacher's room or with the students. I usually eat with the students. Lunch is usually rice, but sometimes bread, a vegetable curry or some-other kind of stew, a small bowl of some sort of fish, and sometimes, a frozen dessert.

After lunch, we shovel the scraps into a bucket, being careful to put the cardboard desert spoon into a separate pile and the desert spoon plastic wrapper into a separate pile and any other container in yet another place. The students bring all the lunch stuff back to the kitchen and then it is free time. Many students play or run around in the school yard. They all wear shorts and a t-shirt under their uniform, so changing takes place in the back of the classroom. Some play cards or visit the teacher갽s room.

After the next bell, everyone goes to their cleaning place and to the sound of fast-paced classical music, cleans. They sweep, mop, scrub and clean the whole school. Of course, they are normal kids and most don't take it too seriously, despite the teacher who helps out in each group. But, as one principal told me, "They are cheap labor". So, the schools never do get a proper, professional cleaning, but the dirt is pushed around real well each day.

After cleaning time, there are one or two more classes. Then the students go to their club activities, usually sports or some activity. Finally, after five, they get to go home. Again, I feel sorry for my co-workers. At the earliest, I show up for first period, but not if I have first period free. The teachers must supervise the after-school activities, but I leave, if I want to, as soon as my last class is over. I can just say that I am going to the office and I can head out. Often, I actually do go to the office, to check my email. As I get to know my schools better, I may stay for some of the activities like archery or aikido.

I have a desk at the BOE. At each school I also have a desk. Actually, I have more than one. Each grade has a teacher's room and they each have a desk for me, except for one. Usually the desk is in the worst place, but it is still mine. So, with three schools of three grades each and one office desk, minus the third grade teacher's room at Taniyama-Kita JHS, I have nine desks. I am also welcome to the snacks and drinks near each one of my desks.

I am amazed by how well everything works at each school. The students are great at re-arranging the classroom to make groups. Also, they do all of the cleaning and food service and moving around the school without any need of supervision and without complaint.
Each school has one troubled girl. She often has her hair dyed, which is against school rules. Her skirt is too short and her eyebrows too plucked. She also wears those 80's push down baggy socks, instead of normal sports socks. She does not go to class, but sits in the teacher's room or an empty room all day. The teachers tell me that she has problems at home.

I do not know what three boys did to make their teacher angry one day, but I did see the teacher whacking them on the heads. He did not hit too hard and they did not try to avoid it.
Another student got an unacceptable hair cut. It was very short on the sides and in the back, but had three inch long hair in the front. Every time I came back to the teacher's room, he was there looking defiant. Teachers took turns yelling at him. I do not know if he went to class or not that day, but it must have been a rough day for him. The next day his bangs were only two inches long, but he was still getting lectured.

Yesterday was Sports Day at the Junior High Schools. I chose to attend the event at Taniyama-Kita JHS. A lot of family members showed up to watch. The students were divided into two teams and ran all sorts of races against each other. They had been rehearsing the ceremonies and events all week. Also, they had spent the previous week putting up the tents, marking the track, and hanging signs. The students ran the whole thing with very little supervision. They did the announcing, timing, event co-ordination, set-up, clean-up and every thing else.

Every Japanese event seems to start with an opening ceremony, and this was no exception.
There was music and marching and flag raising and speeches. After a few events, there was a crowd participation event. At noon, there was a one hour break and everyone had a picnic lunch. After filling up on rice and small Japanese food things, we returned for some more races and activities. The school clubs did a demonstration and I think that the aikido club members look like samurai warriors. The archery club also has cool dresses and big bows. I participated in one event. Each team had to take turns kicking a football (really a rugby ball) across the field, around a cone, and back to the start. Footballs do not bounce very predictably, so I chose to juggle the ball like a soccer ball as I ran. The principal was very impressed and came up to congratulate me after my team one.

After the closing ceremony, the students dismantled the tents, put the chairs and tables away, put all of the equipment away and cleaned up the grounds. Then they went to homeroom class and had a brief meeting before going home. To celebrate another successful Sports Day, the teachers had a party. We met at a hotel dining room and pigged out on yet another awesome Japanese food spread. Another one of my schools was having their party at the same hotel, and I went to visit them near the end of our dinner. By the time I got there, they were all very drunk, and I was well received. I was made to give my self-introduction and help lead the "Banzai" (closing cheer). Parties all end at a specific time and they are not at all shy about saying "Thank you for coming, the party is now over, please leave".

The teachers all have the day off today, to recover. Unfortunately, I am not a school employee. I had to come to my desk at the Board of Education and look busy all day. This is not so bad, but it will be worse when the schools all have longer vacations and I will have to spend them in the office. But, I do get my four weeks off each year and there is a three day weekend each month. Actually, I have had a week long seminar, two three day weekends, and four days of paid vacation, so I have really worked a lot less than my description of those nine days makes it sound. But, it is time to head home. I hope to add more eventually.