Live from Japan!

Last friday and this monday two different groups of members of the “interact club” took me on a tour of the school and gifu station. I didn’t have the heart, when I was asked, to tell them that I had already been on a tour of both. In the end, the tour wasn’t really the point anyway. I was just trying to get introduced to some of the students and to start working on forming some conversation. They wanted to meet me, the new foreigner in town.

This club seemed like the perfect way to start up some conversations. They are called the “Interact Club”, in english, because they are the english speaking club. They plan events and get together to practice and have fun together while speaking english.

Up until I went out with this club most of my interactions with students had been in the form of students in the hall giving me a nervous smile and a quick “Herro!” before covering their mouths and giggling. I needed to have an extended conversation with some students, because I really have no idea of their abilities.

Friday the group was made up entirely of second years. This group was in charge of taking me on a tour of the school. I was a boring prospect, and the three seemed to be a little unenthusiastic about the tour. But I was trying to make the best of it. It was a little odd walking around with the group. I could never just speak to one of them, whenever I asked them a question,  no matter who it was, they would briefly consult one another in japanese before answering. Usually, they just were checking and translating what I had said, but sometimes I admit I have no idea what they were saying. The discussions would last quite a while, and then result in a one or two word answer.

I did get to have some meaningful conversations though. For example I asked them what their favorite class was. I was told pretty promptly, after only a brief conference, that they did’t really like any of their classes. I pushed them a bit, because this is an answer you expect, right? They assured me that they didn’t like any of their classes. I asked them if they didn’t even like english, I mean this is the english speaking club. I was told in broken sentences, that they used to like english, but now it was too hard, and not very fun. How sad.

As I said these were second years. As a result, I would not be teaching any of these students classes. My school is a very academic school and, as such, my position as an ALT is looked at as being good and fun for the students, but not practical. I will not be a big enough help on their college entrance exams, which are a written test focus, as I understand, on vocabulary and grammar, not communication ability. I am here to motivate them to learn english but older students can’t spare the time, because in order to get into the schools they want, they need to be able to pass a written english language test. How depressing.

Also it turns out that the club only meets maybe once a week. Most of the students spend much of their time studying and I get the feeling that they are not very serious about the club.

Still I had fun, it was difficult to motivate them to talk, but when I did they seemed to enjoy it. I was able to talk to them about their hobbies, their favorite movies, and other miscellaneous topics. We had a quick discussion of books, as one of the girls was an avid reader. (I was not so surprised to hear that they had all read harry potter. When I told them I was reading the last book now they were a bit surprised. Apparently it won’t be released here for another year. I offered to lend them my copy in english, to which their eyes all bugged out and they assured me it was too long, but maybe they would just read the last chapter.)

Monday I got a tour of the station with two first years, both of whom I would be teaching. This trip was a bit more fun, the two girls did the same japanese mini discussions, but they were much shorter and they were quick to answer. They showed me how to use the local bus, and we talked about one of the students recent trip to australia.

In the station, (and I should mention that here the station is more like a combination of a community center and a mall, as well as the train stop) they showed me the book store, and the library, (mostly because they both had books to return I expect) and the manga and english language sections in each. (They pointed out eagerly the Harry Potter books as well. To all the naysayers of this book as a piece of landmark english literature, I assure you it is worming its way all over the world. Like it or not this is how the world is looking at english literature.)

My favorite however, was our trip to the cd store. I talked with them about their favorite bands, and music. Both of them were fans of what is apparently the hip band all the japanese kids are listening to these days. Pornograffiti. They also showed me other cd’s by bands they liked and it was pretty fun.

The conversation flowed a bit easier with these two. Partly because as first years, english is still fun and partly because in the station we had more interesting things to talk about. Overall I was impressed in their ability to speak, even their broken english. The trip for me was a success as I was able to learn a bit about where they stand.

A quick anecdote that is unrelated We finished with a trip to Mister Doughnut. Where I ordered a doughnut and a lemon ice tea. When I got the Ice tea, it came with a second little capsule, which at first I ignored. I took a sip of the tea, it tasted like ice tea but without the lemon flavor. That is when I realize that I had to break open the capsule and add the lemon flavor myself. Weird.