Live from Japan!

As you have noticed from all the Engrish Tuesday posts, there is quite a bit of misuse of the English language here. Most Japanese people have a very general, basic grasp of English, but most don’t move beyond that in their language skills. Not that I blame them, learning a second language is tough! (If my efforts to learn Japanese are any indication)

Aside from the gross misuse of the language, there are a number of ways that they correctly use the language but it sounds very strange and unnatural to a native speaker. They tend to use sentence formats that are technically correct, but very uncommon in ordinary life. My favorite example of this is the Let’s Enjoy sentence structure.

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I have had very few problems with discipline in my classrooms here in Japan. In almost every class that I have been in the students are quiet (usually too quiet), they are well-behaved (in that scary, totally-brainwashed sort of way), and respectful. I can count on one-hand the number of times that I have had to reprimand a particular student for their actions during my class. Which is quite a change from my previous teaching positions, to say the least.

Today, I got the chance to experience one of my first, more severe, discipline issues in class. Keep in mind that this is severe given my current situation and placement. When I was teaching in Chicago I would never have imagined that one day I would happen upon this situation and actually label it as severe. After all, no one spat in my water bottle, there was no fighting or physical violence, and I wasn’t even cursed at. It’s all a matter of perspective, I suppose.

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A few weeks ago I did a lesson with all the first and second year students (17 classes total, over 800 students) about food. The focus of the lesson was getting the students talking with one another and describing various foods. In order to get them started, I told them about one of my favorites, brownies.

Most of my students, and cooperating teachers, had never heard of brownies and it was fun to tell them a little bit more about this food. Even with my vivid description and gestures, very few of them really understood what a brownie was, despite my best efforts.

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There are few times in life, as an ordinary person, where we have the joy and pleasure of being welcomed into a room by a round of applause (and a few cheers to boot). Today was my lucky day!

On Tuesday, I had a class with 2-second-delay sensei. He had forgotten that we were team teaching, and his students were expecting an English test. I arrived to the room about ten seconds after the bell had rung, much to the surprise of my JTE (Japanese teacher of English) and the students.

Although once the students saw me, they quickly realized that the would not be having a test. Instead, we would be having English fun time (as I have come to refer to it). And as that thought dawned upon them, smiles spread across their faces, they started clapping, and a few gave a cheer or two. Not a bad way to make an entrance!!

Once I got them quieted down again, I taught them the phrase, “It is your lucky day.” Because for them it was quite a lucky day, indeed.

Oh wait….I can understand how it may be a little confusing. Most of our posts on this blog are about daily life and frustrations, observations and travels. What we forget to talk about is our JOB!

That’s right, we are actually here to do a very important job. We are teachers. So, I thought I would take a little time to give you a job update. Now that I am actually working in the classroom regularly.

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On Friday I went on a school trip to Kyoto with the second year students at Gifu-kita high school. This meant that I had to wake up far earlier than I am accustomed to and, despite coffee, I was not entirely thrilled to be on a bus at 7am.

The students all piled onto the bus at 7am and off we went, headed towards Kyoto. About five minutes into the bus trip, just as I was considering a little snooze, the tour bus lady moved the television into place and brought out two microphones. For bus karaoke, of course!

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Last week I gave my first exam. Apparently, it was a difficult bugger and several of the students have told me this. The average is about 13/20 on my exam, and despite my desire to curve it slightly to bring the grades up I was talked out of it.

It seems my predecessor was always a bit of lenient grader. Flying under the banner that he wanted to be as encouraging as possible. Personally I would have liked to fly under this same banner, but I have been getting some encouragement to abandon this policy and try to grade more harshly. This will spread the kids out a bit in grades, and quite honestly they probably should be.

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On Friday, last week, I finished the last of my self introduction lessons. I made it through all 17 lessons and I am glad to be done, although equally glad to have started interacting with my students.

One part of my lesson involved them writing questions for me. Things that they were still interested in and wanted to know after I had introduced myself. As they worked in partners on this assignment, I was able to walk around the room and talk to the students. I would stop and answer one of the questions that they wrote for me, and take time to ask them a question back.

I am proud to say that in each class period I made the effort to engage each student in a brief conversation with me, at least once. I think this effort has made a huge impact upon the students, as many of them now come up to me and speak to me. I think I was able to make myself seem more approachable.

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So this week and last week I am assigning my first major bit of homework. An essay in which the students are supposed to describe their favorite japanese food, how it tastes, what the texture is, and how it is made. Most of the essays have been pretty good, however, this one is a complete mystery to me.

Here is a transcription.

Okonomiyaki
I mix the wich I ticked away the the cloth of the wheat flour and bake the manufacturing method of kansai wind okonomiyaki making kinki region main on an iron plate.
It cuts it by oneself to favorite size on a board and eats.
I become “a cuttlefish coin” if I ride a cuttlefish in substitution for pork.
A lobster, beef, the adductor muscle of the scallop have the ingredient materials besides, and the is the thing which mixed these.
In late years I cover the surface with mayonnaise depending on preference.

hmmm, guesses anyone?

Yesterday was a good day, it was a great day! It was the first day, after six weeks of being here, that I was in the classroom teaching. I cannot begin to express how good it feels to be in there, working with the students, and doing my job!

This week I am teaching my self-introduction lesson to each one of my classes. That means, I have to do this lesson 17 times over the course of 5 days. I am on day two, and I can tell you that three more days of this is going to require some stamina. It is amazing how boring I feel after six of the lessons. Fortunately, the students don’t seem to be bored by me, in fact, it is quite the opposite. They seem very interested, and they LOVE the big pictures that I show on the projector.

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