Allen's Adventures Abroad

It’s been quite easy to stay busy here, and time seems to slip past faster than ever.  So, here’s a quick update.

Every year, about this time, all Japanese schools host a weekend sports day. The concept is basically the same as field day, except the schools are split into two competing teams, there are a number of amusing  games in addition to a large amount of sprinting competitions, and students spend weeks practicing and preparing. Every afternoon for the past few weeks students practiced for dance routines, ceremonies, and events ranging from three-legged relays to folk dancing. I participated in sports day events at my largest school. I joined in the folk dance, threw beanbags into a basked held that toped off a twenty-foot bamboo pole, and sprinted as a member of the teachers’ team in the final relay (we were 3rd out of 5 teams.)

The day was quite fun. My personal favorite event was a club relay, in which students representing sports teams (swimmers, runners, baseball players,)  traditional sports (Kendo, Judo,) and other activities, such as art, ran a relay in full gear using various themed props as batons. Barefoot swimmers swim caps and swim trunks traded off a kick board while Judo kids ran carrying a floor mat and artists used a large canvas. I think that race would go over well in the States. Sports day is definitely quite an experience, and it was hard not to notice the sense of community among the whole school.

All Japanese students are highly involved in their schools on a daily basis. Schools don’t hire janitorial staff or cafeteria workers (although they do have groundskeepers) so every day students clean the school building together and set up and clean up their lunch. It’s quite fun to watch the students don what look like surgical scrubs and masks to serve up lunch. Students also stay at school much later than their American counterparts, with school days beginning at around 8:00 and ending at five, although some students stay later for clubs or move on to after hours cram schools. Japanese culture is also much more community based. Calling on students individually results in quick flashes of something akin to terror across some students faces, as they much prefer the opportunity to consult with their neighbor about everything, so often splitting students into groups or pairs or teams (for example, in sports day) is necessary to encourage students to excel. The commonly quoted saying that represents a key difference in Japanese and Western culture is as follows:

“The squeaky wheel gets the grease.”
vs.
“The nail that stands up gets hammered.”

It’s quite an adjustment getting used to a culture that operates in a completely different manner than Western society, but as I come to grow a bit more used to it I find it fascinating. As is often the case, I feel I’m learning about myself as a product of Western culture more than I am coming to understand Japanese culture, but so far I’m still enjoying the culture clashes for the most part. I suppose it’s likely to wear on me over time.

Well, that’s a blurb about school life, I suppose I ought to mention what I’ve been doing. I’m still trying to keep myself as busy as possible. Mostly, I try to stay in the habit of running and doing yoga during the week, and on the weekends I head out of Miyanojo to visit friends I’ve made around the prefecture. My Japanese is coming along quite slowly, but I feel like I’ve gained the confidence to just speak, regardless of how well I can say something, which is one of the larger hurdles in language learning. I think that’s the result of seeing 30-odd faces stare blankly ahead when I speak in English and light up a little when I translate. Motivation is a good thing. That being said, I need to study more, since usually by the time I get home and take care of any other plans the last thing I feel like doing is pulling out a Japanese textbook to work through.

This weekend (starting tomorrow!) is Silver Week in Japan, which is a five day weekend created by three consecutive holidays. I’m off to Amamioshima, an island in the Kagoshima prefecture for a few days of soaking up sun, sand, and surf. We also plan to go Kayaking through a mangrove stand. In other words, life is good. I’ll try to make sure I get plenty of pictures to post.

In other news, I’m buying a bike today. Many of my schools are close enough that I can ride to them on a bike, and I figure it’s a great way to get/stay fit.

Hope all is well state-side.

Peace,
Allen

So, here I am sitting at my desk at (山﨑中学校）Yamasaki Junior High School, literally minutes after completing my first team teaching experience. So, I’m going to fire away with first impressions.

First of all, this school is tiny. Basically, there is a Japanese law that dictates the distance young Japanese students are allowed to travel from their place of residence to get to compulsory Education. Because of this, small schools spring up in order to meet the proximity requirements. The school I’m at at the moment is a Junior high school, and thus covers a bit of a broader area, but it still only has a little over 50 students. The other Junior High school I’ll be in is about 10 times that size, as it is located right in the center of Miyanojo, so it will be interesting to compare my experiences at the two schools.

Second: My main coworker here is a really fun, relaxed woman named Horiguchi-sensei. So far I feel quite comfortable working with her and think that classes at this school are going to be quite fun. At Miyanojo where I’ll be spending the majority of my time, there are 4 JTE (Japanese English Teachers) so I’ve yet to see what working with them will be like. In general, though, I get the impression that the whole of Kagoshima prefecture is very laid back, so I’m not terribly worried about it. More on that once the time comes!

Third: It seems a bit petty, but after several weeks at the regional board of education, it’s hard not to be aware of the fact that it’s humid and there is no air-conditioning. I think I can deal with it pretty well, especially since visible sweat glistening on ones arm and face are normal parts of life in Kagoshima, so noone blinks twice at it. In fact, it’s rather common for everyone to have a hand towel on hand (draped across the neck in casual settings) to use as, essentially, a sweat rag. I’ve got one myself, so I’m sure I’ll be just fine. I think the lack of climate control will be the topic of another blog come winter, but for now it’s really not that bad. I actually feel like it’s kind of nice, and certainly more environmentally friendly. Although, I wonder if it affects students’ attention spans.

Fourth: The kids are so timid. The class I was just in was 1st year middle school students (the equivalent of a US seventh grade student.) Middle school is when compulsory English classes begin, so these students are very afraid to speak and open up the possibility of making mistakes. Because of this, one of the explicit goals of ALTs in classrooms is to encourage students to use “communicative English.” In other words, if they get their point across, it’s best to be encouraging and get them used to English as a means of communication than shut them down for fear of English gaffs. So, I get to suck up the majority of the r-l mixups and “katakana” English. That is not to say that I can’t work on pronunciation by repeating back student’s questions etc., just that it’s preferable that I be easy on the errors. However, I am in small town Japan, so it’s likely that over time they will get used to me and open up a bit more. They are all quite curious about “Allen-sensei,” so I hope that gets them motivated to do their English homework.

Finally, what I’ve realized is that I probably am going to really enjoy this job. It is totally different from anything I ever thought I would do or plan to do long term, but I think it’s going to be a great experience. Anyway, I’m going to use the rest of my downtime between classes to try to work on a little Japanese study.  There is always more to tell so stop by often. Thanks for checking in on me.