Japanese School Life

Well I figure I’m still not exactly qualified to critique the Japanese Educational System but I figure it’s about time to make a few comments to help everyone back home understand my daily life here.

I’m teaching in a Junior High 3 days a week and an Elementary School 2 days a week. Again, remember I am in a tiny village of less than 2000. Unfortunately for my town, it is difficult to sustain many school with such a small population and being so isolated. Our Junior High has a whopping 34 students and our Elementary has 84. There is no High School in Neo so most students take the train an hour everyday to Ogaki or else have an apartment in Ogaki to stay at during the week. So….

Junior High
At the Junior High I usually teach about 3 or 4 classes a day. They are a whole different world from JHS back home!! Some of the differences you would notice right away:
1. Teachers move from class to class and students stay in one room.
2. Students wear (and love by the way!) their school uniforms. In any one day you will see them all in their gym clothes, formal school outfit and often winter school sweat suits too. And they will change in the middle of the classroom too! Just strip right down to their gym clothes and hang up their formal outfit in the clothes rack in their classroom. They will also wear them at random times on the street/at the mall on a Saturday—you name it—you may just see your students in their school clothes there.
3. Respect- Students bow to their teachers along with a standard greeting at the beginning on what they will learn today, closing comments about how they enjoyed learning about __insert review here__ today, Thank you- you are dismissed said by the student leader of the day, a check with the teacher regarding the class attitudes of the day, and a final bow before leaving the classroom. It is all very disciplined and sets the tone for the class. Bells, announcements and precise schedules ensure that everything is planned and carried out to a T.
4. Students are always tired—maybe this isn’t that different from home but I can’t get over how tired they always seem to be. Perhaps it is because of the morning study school some go to… or how early they are always at school… or how far they bike to school each morning… or the fact that they “study” until late at night. Oh and have I mentioned I’ve never seen so many kids with grey hairs who are only in Junior high?!?!
5. No goofing off or talking or eating/chewing gum/water during class.. like I said- discipline. When answering a question it is always: Raise hand “Yes- stand up behind chair, push in chair, answer, ask others “ok?” wait for response, sit.
6. In the Staff Room/Office- all the teachers have their home base (since teachers rotate between classes) Students also are always coming and going—but of course enter with an “Excuse me, bow, thank you, come up talk to the teacher, Excuse me for bothering you, thank you bow, leave”
7. Teachers live at school. Here before 8 absolutely everyday (usually 7:30ish I hear- but I am never around – or else am driving by to drop off my morning garbage and get a twinge of guilt when I see the principal outside waiting to greet students) even in summer, and stay until at least 5:30 without a doubt. They are dedicated there is no doubt, but not always necessarily the most efficient I have realized. Again this coming from a family of teachers who live at the school by choice preparing and everything but it’s still a totally different attitude here. One thing I have learned from team teaching is that sometimes simple activities are better than complex elaborate plans. I find students here especially like order and a routine structure. Also the tremendous disparity in language levels does make a case for independent study learning at their own pace from textbooks.
8. Students live at the school—club activities at 7:30 in the morning until 5pm, even on Saturday mornings students and teachers go. Oooh and don’t forget all throughout summer they are here studying or just hanging out.
9. School Lunch - No gum/drinks/food in school at all except for lunch. School lunch is prepared by the school dietician and planned out months in advance with a precise calorie count. Everyday it is a box of milk (3.5% fat), a big bowl of rice, miso soup of some type, a funky saladish thing, and a meat/tofu or most likely fish dish. The students do all of the serving and cleaning up and wear cute little masks and serving outfits to do it. Everyone waits to eat together at their assigned table and does not touch any food until the whole group says “Itadakimasu” (rough translation- let’s eat) Students eat every scrap of food and don’t leave the table until they are dismissed as well. Lunch is quick and accompanied by lots of announcements, a reading of what we are eating, and occasionally classical music.
10. Cleaning. Students (and teachers) clean the entire school everyday. There is a janitor type lady but she doesn’t do any cleaning—just every other random thing. It’s funny cuz kids are completely responsible for that stuff here but still don’t know how to make their own beds or anything at their homes. Anyways they do everything from sweeping the floor to scrubbing it with rags (every single day) to emptying garbages, wiping down the chalkboards and every desk, cleaning the washrooms, and mopping the gym (after every time they do pushups, play sports etc)


Highlights/Frustrations/ Things that Blew My Mind
Team Effort—maybe this is more so in my school and has to do with the fact that we have almost 2:1 ratio for students: teachers—but everyone chips in—or at least tries to look like they are helping even when they are completely excessive. Even the principal is constantly walking around the classes, participating in Sports Festivals and can be found helping clean or water the flowers outside.
Sports Festivals- Wow wow wow. This is huge in Japan and you will not stop hearing the kids talk about it for the entire month of September. I will be sure to post pictures and have surely rambled on and on about this in my personal emails to you all but geez louize I can’t say enough. At every school in Japan there is a school Sports Festival day that takes place on a Saturday in September. The kids absolutely love it and practice their butts off for it the first 3 weeks of September. At my schools it was every single afternoon (classes all cancelled) from 1-5 (or later) and the team leaders had been working on the cheers since early spring. It was quite the sight to see—preparations and the hubaloo throughout the school is something I am now finding I really miss during my quiet afternoons in the office. It was really cool but also a little too serious for my liking. The teachers would be yelling at students and disciplining them during the pointless, monotonous, never ending drills. There would be marching drills, practice stand and sit together at the blows of different whistle patterns, marching into different formations as strict as an army, a whole 2 days of learning to pass a baton—I could go on….. Actual Sports Day was awesome at the Elementary school—they had a dance all the kids did, and lots of activities where the whole community came out and watched and got involved (like line dancing Japanese style and tug of rope), also the whole school played their marching band song they’ve been working relentlessly at—too cute! I really enjoyed my day. Junior High Sports Day got postponed cuz of the rain but the original day students and teachers and invited guests still came to school, practiced inside and then had an ocarina concert (have I mentioned every kid in the school plays) and lunch with the guests. The rest of the festivities got delayed until the next Wednesday but all went well. My favorite time was the cheering section, ball net toss game and funny relays where in one part kids had to put their faces in flour to find a candy. Also the eye of the hurricane relay race was cool too! Remind me to post pictures/videos if I don’t get a chance now.
My team at both schools won the competitions! Yeah Red JHS and White Elem! They each got a trophy with their names on a ribbon. We of course afterwards had a debriefing session where every student and every teacher gave comments. Also at the Junior High School a few days late we had another hour assembly where students volunteered to stand up and say what they learned from participating in Sports Festival. (teamwork, dedication etc). And bien sur we watched videos of their cheering for the entire next week during lunch time (most kids had lost their voices from practicing so hard anyways)!

3. My grade 9 students are writing essays about their trip to Canada (my home town) and reading their perspectives—plus the fact that they actually lived in my town of 5000 for a week is pretty cool. One student’s essay is about food and how Canadian food is all beef and potatoes and how he feels sorry for us because there is no variety in our diet and he thinks he is very happy to live in a country where there are so many very different types of food to enjoy. PS remind me to pass along some tips to the homestay families next year from a Japanese point of view to help portray certain impressions and clear up some wrong assumptions that kids are making. Another talked about freedom and how she thinks people in Canada have a lot of freedom but also that means that they may make mistakes and live on the street or become fat- she is undecided on whether freedom is good or not to that extent.

4. Although I am starting to learn more and more Japanese, it is still sooo frustrating going to meetings and getting piles of paperwork everyday that I cannot even begin to understand. I always ask my Japanese English Teacher afterwards but I think he is getting annoyed. Sometimes I make up things in my head about what people are saying when I don’t understand, but soon I think I’ll be able to pick up on enough words that I will at least be able to guess on the topic. Pretending to look busy all the time is also a new concept for me—but I am actually starting to master it by doing side projects--- ie this blog today.

5. Not having my own class/ classroom. I can’t wait to go back home and have complete control of my own class as well as be able to have my own classroom (eventually anyways) to store things/decorate! Now all of my teaching supplies have somehow managed to be crammed in/on/under my desk and I bring them back and forth from class daily. Although I think I am learning things from team teaching- I think that the position of an ALT is better for someone who doesn’t have an Education degree because I want so much more responsibility and chance to plan/mark etc. Especially for someone who just finished school and has all of these idealistic notions—it’s difficult not having much of a chance to implement your own ideas and style.

A FEW EXTRA FUN THINGS ABOUT ELEM SCHOOL
Highlights of my day: The chicken dance obviously!! Lol. No but seriously, singing with them can be fun. Their eyes light up and all come up to hug me and wave—how can you not love Japanese children?!? Lunch with them can be fun too! Playing Janken (Rock Paper Scissors) for hours and letting them pull on my “Segoy!!!” (Wonderful!!) hair and watch their “western eyes” imitations are pretty classic too! Teaching is always interesting to come up with as many games as possible using flashcards. Kids are absolutely in love with Karuta or Slapjack! I also love taking them to the bus and hanging out at the end of the day. Too fun! We also clean together—but if you can imagine a 6 year old with a broom—yah it’s not exactly productive—but I guess it trains them early. Not sure if I already mentioned or not but kids clean the school vigorously even up in high school but still don’t make their own beds or do any cleaning at home—interesting, no?
Listening to the school marching band and kids picking up random bugs are always other interesting points to my day too. Haha but at least I am not a boy who teaches Elem or pre-school because there is an interesting phenomenon sweeping the nation—the game of Kancho if you don’t know what it is feel free to Wikipedia search it—but think making a gun with your two index fingers and then trying to put your fingers up your friends (and apparently teachers) bum. Haha I have yet to experience it luckily!!
Elem kids always leave me smiling but ever so exhausted.

Well time to go do some teaching! I’m sure there are lots of things I missed but I have another 10 months to update you on the comings and goings at the Shogakko and Chugakko!