oh, right...teaching...yeah

it’s probably a good thing classes started. i’d almost forgotten that i came here to work. so the first terrifying moment was the speech i had to give in front of the whole school at an assembly in the gymnasium…entirely in Japanese. i practiced my paragraph intensely and bumbled through it well enough. i also gave the same intro to the night school kids, who are a much tougher crowd. they are all the bad boys and trendy girls who are way to cool to pay attention. apparently minamishiro koko [my base school] is fairly low-level academically. some of the students didn’t even finish junior high school and far fewer plan to go on to any sort of higher education. i’ve been told attendance is the most important criteria when it comes to passing these students. while this sounds ludicrous, it also means that we are not confined by the government-issued criteria for university entrance examinations. some teachers don’t even use a book and i’m free to come up with all sorts of activities.
in my first class there were five students. four were completely disinterested, three played on keitais [cell phones] the entire time. i’ve been told we don’t confiscate their keitais because some of the students are ‘mentally imbalanced.’ it is terribly frustrating when you kneel down and look them in the eye and ask them to read a sentence and the only reply you get is a blank stare. most of these insubordinate kids are kinda funny though and there is a rapport between the teachers and students that ensures the interpersonal, if not the academic, relationships are good ones.
i teach two shakaijin [adult] classes by myself. i can tell these are going to be the toughest and most rewarding. there is a basic and intermediate class, each of which meets for 90 minutes per week. they are all enthusiastic and totally interested in learning so i won’t be able to b.s. my way through these classes. in the advanced class i can speak only English and they’ll be able to explore many complex themes. in the basic class they need more help deciphering vocabulary and making sentences, which isn’t all bad because i get to practice my translation skills and Japanese.
every tuesday i visit yoshikawa koko out in the countryside. i wake at 6 am to catch the 7:10 train, after a long haul i transfer to a bus which traces rice paddies and farms for miles before dropping us off at a slightly dilapidated school. yoshikawa is much more traditional. they offer a sake making course of study [i was given the grand tour, amazing, and was able to dip my fingers in and taste sake at every step from sediment to liquid] and they also require that i remove all my piercings which is a huge pain. i have three classes there which are also more conventional. the students wear uniforms and answer questions when called on and segregate themselves in every class from the opposite sex. on the whole, their English is much better than the kids at minamishiro. it’s a welcome reward to have them listen to you and repeat what you say in a convincing fashion.
i can already see the varied ways in which the job will challenge me. oh sweet patience… i also see many opportunities for enriching my own life; honing intercultural social skills, improving my Japanese language ability, challenging my notions about the education system and human nature. i think it will be great. after all, that is why i came here…to teach and be taught.