A view of my school from a distance. It is completely surrounded by cherry trees!
It was definitely an adjustment getting used to working in the school. There are still good days and bad days but for the most part I really enjoy it and the days fly by! The hardest part for me is simply the language barrier. I was surprised at how little the students knew. It is a requirement to start taking English once students reach elementary school but (Brad can testify to this), most of the elementary school teachers don't know English. But even so, the students at my school still don't know how to respond to "How are you?" or "What is your name?" After some gestures and practice I can usually ask the students "how are you?", "what is your name?" and "what club activity are you in?" But that is how the majority of most conversations go with students at my school. Like many people who learn a foreign language they are more comfortable with reading and writing in English than they are with speaking. (Interestingly they don't even start learning to read and write in English until 7th grade...)
Here is an email that I wrote to my family after my 1st day of school:
The first day of my school was a bit intimidating. But they tell you to be as “geinke” (energetic) as possible. The day before I was to report to school I rode my bike there to make sure I knew the way. Somehow on my first day of school, I missed a turn and was almost late. That is a big no-no in Japan, especially on your first day! Good thing I left with time to spare.
Then we had a staff meeting and I introduced myself to all the teachers in Japanese (my company helped me to prepare a speech). After that all the teachers scattered and I was left alone in the staff room with no instructions. I know the teachers were getting ready for opening ceremony (it’s a graduation type ceremony, except that it welcomes the new incoming class instead of the outgoing class). It’s a big deal with parents taking off work and decorations, and practiced songs to sing etc. Anyway, I ended up finding one of the English teachers (I’ll work with 3 of them) and he directed me to the gym where I heard the 2nd and 3rd graders practicing a song (they call 7th graders→1st graders, 8th graders→2nd graders, 9th graders→3rd graders). Once they saw me there was a lot of whispering, pointing and giggling. I’m sure they weren’t saying anything rude (I hope!) but it’s still a weird feeling and sometimes hard to keep a smile on your face.
Then we had a staff meeting and I introduced myself to all the teachers in Japanese (my company helped me to prepare a speech). After that all the teachers scattered and I was left alone in the staff room with no instructions. I know the teachers were getting ready for opening ceremony (it’s a graduation type ceremony, except that it welcomes the new incoming class instead of the outgoing class). It’s a big deal with parents taking off work and decorations, and practiced songs to sing etc. Anyway, I ended up finding one of the English teachers (I’ll work with 3 of them) and he directed me to the gym where I heard the 2nd and 3rd graders practicing a song (they call 7th graders→1st graders, 8th graders→2nd graders, 9th graders→3rd graders). Once they saw me there was a lot of whispering, pointing and giggling. I’m sure they weren’t saying anything rude (I hope!) but it’s still a weird feeling and sometimes hard to keep a smile on your face.
Then the parents started coming in and taking their seats so I was ushered to sit behind the principal and the vice principal. The ceremony was very rigid and different than one would be in the United States. They clapped when the students first walked in otherwise there was no clapping after speeches, songs, performances etc. Also it was dead silent with no whispering or fidgeting. The ceremony lasted for over an hour so it was so hard for me to sit still especially when it’s considered rude to cross your legs. I don’t know if I’ve ever had to sit so still for so long before! Also it’s hard not to yawn when you can’t understand a word that’s being said. And I know at least one pair of eyes is on me at all times.
was also a lot of bowing. If someone makes a speech they first have to bow to the VIP people (not sure who they are but everyone made sure to bow to them), then to the flag, then to the other teachers, make the speech then do it all over again before sitting down. I thought it was hilarious when the principal did that, sat back down then the announcer called him up again to bow to all the students and he had to go through the whole process again before getting on the stage. Then each teacher called each new student’s name and the principal and the student bowed to each other. Another thing that I thought was kind of…different was that the announcer would wait to announce the next thing until the previous person sat down. So there might just be a minute of dead silence before the next thing started.
But everyone looks forward to it and it is considered a big celebration. At the very end of the assembly all the teachers started going up on stage and nobody mentioned anything to me so I made the gesture for “I don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing” and luckily the music teacher put me in line. Luckily I didn’t have to make a speech like some ALTs but it still seemed like something out of a bad dream. Have you ever had a dream where you end up in front of a crowd naked? Well luckily that didn’t happen but again, as soon as all the students saw me (this is the first time everyone saw me, only some students saw me before) the gym instantly got loud. They were all pointing, laughing, whispering etc. They talk about it in training, but you truly are put on a pedestal as an ALT and it’s kind of unnerving sometimes. You really do have to watch every move you make because there is always someone watching.
was also a lot of bowing. If someone makes a speech they first have to bow to the VIP people (not sure who they are but everyone made sure to bow to them), then to the flag, then to the other teachers, make the speech then do it all over again before sitting down. I thought it was hilarious when the principal did that, sat back down then the announcer called him up again to bow to all the students and he had to go through the whole process again before getting on the stage. Then each teacher called each new student’s name and the principal and the student bowed to each other. Another thing that I thought was kind of…different was that the announcer would wait to announce the next thing until the previous person sat down. So there might just be a minute of dead silence before the next thing started.
But everyone looks forward to it and it is considered a big celebration. At the very end of the assembly all the teachers started going up on stage and nobody mentioned anything to me so I made the gesture for “I don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing” and luckily the music teacher put me in line. Luckily I didn’t have to make a speech like some ALTs but it still seemed like something out of a bad dream. Have you ever had a dream where you end up in front of a crowd naked? Well luckily that didn’t happen but again, as soon as all the students saw me (this is the first time everyone saw me, only some students saw me before) the gym instantly got loud. They were all pointing, laughing, whispering etc. They talk about it in training, but you truly are put on a pedestal as an ALT and it’s kind of unnerving sometimes. You really do have to watch every move you make because there is always someone watching.
Now things are definitely more comfortable. I still can't understand what's being said about the days activities at the morning staff meeting so I still have to ask a lot about things. Luckily all 3 of the English teachers are comfortable enough with English that I can have a good conversation with them. One of my teachers, Sekiguchi-sensei has been especially helpful and I think he speaks faster English than I do! I've definitely gotten into more of a schedule, am starting to figure out what the teachers expect of me, and am starting to get to know the students more which helps. Brad and I are also studying Japanese everyday which will also help to communicate with everyone more readily! It has been a fun experience so far!
No comments:
Post a Comment