My Middle Schools and Teachers: a Vague Discription

Getting used to my life in Japan was more than just finding where to shop, where to go for fun, and how to organize my apartment. I also had to keep all of my schools sorted. All six of them. I alternate and go to a different school every day. There is a pattern, but sometime the pattern changes due to testing or what the BOE desires. Each school is at least 20 minutes from my home, so if I go to the wrong school on the wrong day, I'd have to make a mad dash to the correct one before first period! And each grade in each school has a unique personality, expectations, requirements, and skill level. The same goes for the teachers and staff.

To save anyone from too much embarrassment (and protect the innocent), I will refer to the schools and personel by nicknames. This should also help for those readers who would be lost with all the Japanese.

Western School

My western school is a little odd. The students aren't too interested in studying it seems. The third graders don't know as much as the second graders seem to and the first grade could care less about lessons or class. As soon as they set foot in school, all life seems to drain from them. There are some lively kids, but usually I only see them in their full spirits after school during club activities or running around during lunch time.

At this school, I'm allowed to use Japanese outside of the school building, but not inside. However, the students know that I speak Japanese, so they can express themselves that way, but receive an English answer. The first years seem to be the only ones who realize I speak Japanese there. The second and third years haven't figured it out so much, and I'm in no rush to tell them. But that is for another blog.

I have a few teacher friends at that school. My main English teacher is a very soft spoken, grandmotherly, kind lady who can not seem to get control of the kids whatsoever. She came from a smaller school where all the students were perfectly behaved and so far she can't seem to realize that her old tactiques won't work here. The Japanese language teacher speaks fairly good English too and is always smiling and showing me new things. The vice-principal may be the hardest working person at the school! He (and all the other vice-principals) seem to be in charge of everything and he definitely has the respect of the students. One look from him and they all snap to attention! He gives us cream puffs, taiyaki, tea, and other treats quite frequently! There will be mochi or cookies from him sitting in the staff break room, and I'm always invited to help myself. Thank you, Mr. VP! My principal there is very sweet and calm. He enjoys walking and is always checking on me to make sure I'm okay and not too overwhelmed. He doesn't do much. Like, ever. But I'm sure that he has work.

Southern School

My southern school is my smallest, with only 49 students in all three grades. They are my smartest school, however, and my best behaved on top of that! I love this school, but only go once a week.

The students there have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA that I speak Japanese. They don't know I can read it, write it, understand it, nor speak it. To that effect, they must speak and communicate with me only in English and pantomime. Usually the second graders give me personality quizzes and one of the third year girls has taken to writing me notes and speaking with me during lunch time. I make sure to watch their club practices, but since they only have 4 clubs, that isn't too hard.

My English teacher there is on top of his game! He knows all the ins and outs of English and not only teaches them to his students, but makes sure they they know what they are saying, why they are saying it, and how to say it. These kids have a major boon in having him as a teacher. The nurse and one of the school cleaning ladies sit next to me, so we talk quite a bit. They tell me about  their power stones, take me to see the inari shrine nearby, give me candies, and even helped me find my air conditioning unit. If I have any question about daily life or Japanese words, they are sure to help me. My principal is a very Piglet (from Winnie the Pooh) grandpa. My little sister would understand this perfectly, but I may have to expand on this explanation for everyone else. He is quite small in size and stature, quiet, smiles and nods, but rarely speaks, and when he does speak he "ne"s everything. He is very old and speaks like an old man, which means he slurs much of what he says together and speaks softly with a lots of grunts and "eeeehhh"s as well. All in all, super adorable! I don't really associate with the other teachers there (the other 11 of them). However, if you have seen my facebook statuses about the teacher-who-talkes-to-themselves-out-loud, he is a teacher at this school. My own special friend. So very special...

Eastern School

My easter school is my largest middle school. These kids are the typical Japanese student: shy, studious, polite, and focused. There are a few troublemakers/emotional kids, but they are all sweet and are just trying to play with me, not harass me. Except the third grade B class. I still haven't figured out their game entirely.

They know I speak Japanese, but seem to forget sometimes. That is fine by me and allows me to use it somewhat in class time. Mostly I speak to them after school. I try to watch all the club practices, but there are so many to see that I still haven't been to all of them yet.

I have two English teachers here. The older one was so hard for me to understand at first (not in terms of language, but in how to adjust what I was doing to her style of teaching), but now we work very well together and I actually enjoy being paired with her. She is very thorough in her explanations and has all of her chalkboard notes color coded for the kids to better understand. She does each class almost the exact same way, which I thought was really dull at first, but is reassuring to the kids because they know what to expect and can focus on the material and content rather than the presentation. The younger English teacher is very kind, but seems nervous, stressed, and busy all the time. Even the other Japanese teachers said that she was far too busy. She gives me free reign of her classes, but then steps in to help translate and control the class, which I appreciate. The vice-principal at that school is quite lively and is always scuttling about helping and informing the other teachers and me. I can never seem to go a week without having a problem with the school computer and printer, and he is right there to save me. The principal at that school is also adorable! He is running around so much they they have a spinner "Where is the principal?" that shows where you can find him. He loves making wooden crafts, caring for plants, and fixing things in the school. He makes many obvious fake advances on me (a style of joke that many old men here do) but because he has a daughter about my age, he goes out of his way to help me with any projects I'm doing. He tries to complete my worksheets to practice his English and his catch-phrases are "I am carpenter" and "You are beautiful, yes." Always laughing and active, I really enjoy chatting with him. The other teachers at that school take turns talking to me, it seems. I have made friends with most of them but it would be hard to describe them all here. Maybe another time.


I'll tell you more about my elementary schools another day. Til then!

Preparations for New Students and Opening Week

*Due to Interac policy, I am not at liberty to mention the names of schools, teachers, or students at my work locations on social network sites or blogs. Instead, I will try to think of a nickname system, but I have 3 middle and 3 elementary schools, so things might get a little confusing. To keep things sorted, I'll try to also keep the stories well sorted, but please bear with me.*

Interac gave us a week to situate our basic needs and gather items for our apartments. We were also taken to all of our middle schools and met with the principals and English teachers the Friday before school started. This was helpful in feeling more comfortable with the lunch plans for the first week and also ensured that we had been to the school at least once (don't want to get lost and be late on the first day). During my first working week here, I was not actually "working". No classes, no lesson plans, and no worksheets. Instead, I spoke with the teachers, organized my desk, and.....well, was pretty bored! I wanted to explore the school more, so I made a point of asking for a map, but the vice principal or another teacher usually offered to escort me around and explain the kanji written above each classroom. Besides that, though, I was left to sit in the teachers' room and help myself to the all-you-can-drink-coffee/tea corner. Soooooo bored!!

Why couldn't I teach or go into the classes? Because there were no classes. The older students at the middle schools were getting prepared for the new students! The 6th graders had just graduated elementary school and were coming for the entrance ceremony soon (now as big and important 1st years). There were halls and rooms to clean, boards to decorate, signs to paint, and the gym to ready for the ceremony. Students were busy getting ready for their new friends.

Most schools had planters full of flowers in the entrance area to protect them from the stormy winds that were coming that week. There were also special flower arrangements brought in to decorate the gym (later we used those flowers in the school entrance and teachers' room). Helping with some of the decorating was a good way for me to get out from behind the desk, but the teachers insisted that I sit back and relax and have more tea. So much tea (>.<)

Opening Ceremony!!

For the actual opening ceremony, I was scheduled to be at my largest and most serious middle school. Pomp and circumstance might bore some people, but I love the organization and precision of it all. When it comes to kids in ceremonies, few people understand how difficult that sort of event is to pull off. The Japanese are even more strict about proper decorum at these sort of functions, so I was excited to see how the students would do. I was told before going to Japan not to wear black because it was too formal and serious, but I brought a few black things just in case. Lucky thing that I did because this school asked that I wear ALL black to the ceremony. They also asked that I prepare a brief self introduction in English and Japanese as all the teachers would be introducing themselves to the first years and their parents at that time. It all went over well, and people were relieved when I got to the Japanese portion of my intro. Most of the students think that I had just memorized it for that day, but some started to think that maybe I knew more than I was letting on. I think that the first years were so preoccupied with knowing when to stand, when to bow, how to walk, and when to respond that they weren't paying much attention to us. They were so nervous that it was adorable! Some of them had to make special speeches at the microphone, and you could see them talking themselves through the steps on how to properly walk up to the microphone and whom to bow to before beginning. One of the boys received a present on behalf of his class from the PTA president, but he was so nervous about leaving that he forgot it under his chair! One of the other boys grabbed it for him, though. Nice teamwork, first years!

The rest of the day was spent getting to know the other members of their class and their homeroom teachers. We all had special bento lunch boxes, too! They were delicious, but contained some particularly Japanese food. The other teachers kept watching to see if I could use chopsticks (but I had brought my own, so that put them at ease) and if I could eat all the different foods (I polished off everything except the pickled plum seed). Surprising as it may seem, finishing one's lunch is actually a point of concern in elementary schools. During parent-teacher conferences, teachers will report on whether a student was able to eat everything. Elementary children take pride in saying things like 「好きじゃないものがない」 or "There isn't anything that I don't like."

One of the teachers made three different cakes for us. I loved the
chocolate one the most. It was almost like American cake!

Double negative. Take a minute to think if you need to, but try not to hurt yourself.

So after I finished my lunch, the teachers spent about 40 minutes praising my ability to finish it in enough time and to eat so many types of food. A little much? Maybe, but they were trying to make conversation and make me feel special, so I happily but modestly accepted their compliments.

For the rest of the week after the entrance ceremony, there were many announcements and assemblies so that everyone could learn or be reminded of school policy and club activities, and have meet-and-greets. My smallest middle school assembled all 49 of their students in the gym so that the sport teams could introduce themselves to the 10 new students. There were 4 clubs at that school (as compared to the nearly 10 clubs at my largest school) and the table tennis club only had 2 members. So cute :) But even though there were so few people, they were still nervous to speak in front of the crowd. Afterwords, they organized a dodgeball match to welcome the new kids. The entire school split into two teams, with different grades on both teams. They reviewed the rules, set up boundaries  and then commenced the most organized and polite game of dodgeball that I have ever witnessed. It was quite the spectacle, but they seemed to love it, so mission accomplished. The only time the rules were broken was when the first year special ed boy was hit. To keep him from getting upset and let him still throw the ball (his favorite thing), the third year boys told him to stay in the game and they went out instead. AAAWWWWW!!! So sweet!!

Sorry, but I don't use my camera much outside of the teacher's room, so I don't have photos of the school or students. Just use your imagination! Or come visit me :)

How Do You KNOW THAT?!?!

I had a huge shock the other day and figured enough of my friends and family know about my martial art to share this with you all.

Going to Shima are four interac agents: myself, a Canadian girl named Jennifer, Travis from Washington state, and another girl named Bridgette from Jamaica (or the Bahamas - she was not at orientation with us, so we have not met yet). Jennifer heard a rumor that all the Shima girls were going to have to share one apartment which, I didn't like too much (three Western girls squeezed into a small Japanese apartment?? One bathroom?? That doesn't sound like a party), but I was willing to deal with for short term or for the sake of the contract. So, our branch leader here in Nagoya, Richard, called us in to explain the situation (in a wonderfully strong British accent, which did make things sound more optimistic) and at the end he mentions what "A lovely area Shima is for surfing, if you like surfing that is, but its dreadfully far away it is from Noda, yeah? *turns to look at me* So no Bujinkan unless you're willing for a long train ride, in't it?" 

And me "How do you know about the Bujinkan?!" 

"Well, I read all the resumes don't I? I know all about your hobbies and such." 

"But how do you know about the BUJINKAN?!" 

"Well, why shouldn't I know about it? Lovely martial art that is." 

"But HOW do you know?! We are pretty small, no one cares about us. NO ONE knows us." 

"Well, Hatsumi is a wonderful sort in't he? And for all you know, I could be a 10th don." 

"HOW DO YOU KNOW HIM AND HOW DO YOU KNOW WE HAVE 10TH DONS?!?!?!?" 

Jennifer is really confused about all these names and terms we are throwing about and I'm freaking out at this point. You expect some people to talk about some things and some people to mention others. I fully expect that during a visit to the dentist that he will spout off tooth jargon and drop a hint or two about flossing. The hot dog vendor on the street corner in Cleveland will talk to me about ketchup and horseradish. But if I ever hired a plumber and he started mentioning Orthodox theology, I wouldn't know what was happening!

After he had a good laugh, Richard told me that he had practiced in England with a guy whose name sounded really familiar to me. My dojo knows him, as it turns out, so small world! Also, quite a lot of our Chiba stationed ALTs do Ninjutsu and some even get asked to be stationed up there specifically so that they could go to training as much as possible. But when their schools find out that they train, they get fidgety because the ALTs have a bad habit of leaving early from work or missing out on school events to get another training class in. Hopefully I'll have someone to work with out in Mie, but one of our other trainers (a very nice Californian named Jeff) heard that I did Bujinkan, he made a list of martial arts related museums in Mie for me to check out! Once again, I was shocked! But he told me that in California he was in the Gembukan, so we joked that Richard had only told him about me recently because he didn't want our "ninja clan rivalry" to explode in the classroom. I'd like to visit some of the places he suggested, but I'll probably wait until the weather gets a little nicer and I know my way around Shima, let alone Mie.

Off to Health Checks now. I get to have a drug test, my chest x-rayed, and all sorts of measurements taken. Then, more practice for jr. high teaching!!

Interac: The Sharks to The JETs

Once upon a time, when I was just a senior in high school, I started to take Japanese at the Foreign Language Academy (FLA). The teachers there were engaging and diverse: Kurasawa-sensei was proper and refined, Yuki-chan was loud, active, and energetic, and Barns-sensei was quiet and a former JET.

JET? As in an airplane? No, not that. JET is the shorthand for the "Japan Exchange and Teaching" Programme, a British based company that helps to place native English speakers in classrooms all over Japan. These speakers help the children to learn pronunciation, explore culture from English-speaking regions, and get over some initial jitters and fears of interacting with foreigners. If memory serves, then in Barns-sensei's case, she had never studied or even been to Japan before applying to JET, but when she returned to the USA, she took a masters program at university to learn more about the language and teach it to American students. This is fairly typical. Companies like JET look for applicants with a clean record and a college degree. That's it! You don't need Japanese knowledge, you don't need teaching experience, you just need to want to come and try it out! Obviously, this doesn't always work out; people get in over their head, they experience severe homesickness or culture shock, but most of the Assistant Language Teachers (ALT's) who come to Japan do their best and stick it out.

For the longest time (say, until junior year of college), I thought that JET was the only way to go. There are private organizations which are set up more like a tutor school called "Eikaiwa", and there are also international schools that accept Japanese students, but teach everyone everything in English. While it is the largest of its kind, it is not the only company that places foreigners in Japanese classrooms. The one that I happen to belong to is the second largest company called "interac". How did I find this company? My friend Gina, actually.

Here is how the story unfolded:

Unless you want to go with a specific company from the start, most people that I've talked to start with JET. Not necessarily for the prestige, but for the odds: JET is the largest so they have the most spots to fill. But their selection process is really strange. In the past, they hired some of my university's best students and some of the....eh, not-so-best. In the past, they have totally ignored some of my school's star students without even giving them an interview. I don't know how the JET system works or if there even is a system, but that is where you start. Gina and I were eventually cut from the hiring process at JET, and while I started to look into the AtoZ Corp. (I thought it was funny due to my name), she started asking around as to what other people had found. The list that she eventually created was playfully called the Shark's List. Interac was number 2 or 3 on that list, but I decided to give them a try and here I am! I'll be doing the same thing as a JET, but just in schools that have an interac affiliation.

Sharks and JETs? In reference to West Side Story? Exactly! We thought that it was rather fitting, don't you? Now, are the JETs and Sharks at war? No, but our companies are sort of fighting for contracts with the local Japanese schools, and depending on who wins, that becomes their turf. Last year, my company won the Shima contract, so now they need people there (cue me, stage left). *snap, snap*

Are there pros and cons to working at both? Of course. Are there some people who do well in one and not the other? Sure, sure. Will I ever try to be a JET again? Who knows. For now I'm pretty happy sticking it out and seeing where these next few years will take me.



**Author"s Note: Unlike the characters in West Side Story, the members of any aforementioned or alluded companies are in no way bitter or resentful of the others. I would just like to stress that the teaching companies in Japan ARE NOT hostile to each other in anyway NOR do the teachers of any company hold any animosity towards teachers from other companies. I would, however, be more than open to group dance-offs with members of other companies, and think that it might actually be a good ice breaker of sorts.