Preparing for Succession

I finally got my successor's information week before last. Been e-mailing him information and selling him my car, etc...it's really starting to hit home just how soon I'll be leaving. With less than a month to go, I've started packing up my extra (winter) clothes to send home, and just generally have shifted to more of a "the end is nigh" mindset. I met people this weekend, for instance, who could've been good friends in other circumstances, but in this case we simply part with a "farewell."

I'm particularly dreading saying goodbye to my students--with only a few weeks of class left I've only a couple classes at most with each grade left. This Friday will be my last time teaching at the elementaries, and the following week they'll have a "farewell" ceremony for me, which is probably going to make me cry. For whatever challenges I've had with adjusting to living and working here, one thing remains undeniable; I love these children. Seeing my middle school students now, I remark to myself on how they've grown and matured over the past year, about how the non-working troublemaker has at least tried to pay attention on occasion, or how my 9th graders from last year have moved on to high school--I ran into a few not long ago and had a great old-friends moment with them. This is why I love this job, and why leaving will be bittersweet.

新型インフルエンザ

That's "Shingata Influenza," or "New Type Influenza" in English--the latest buzzword sweeping the nation!  And not in a good way.  Just this past weekend Japan's number of cases balooned to over 120; schools in Kobe and Osaka were shut down in Hyogo-ken, which, for those of you who know your Japanese geography, is right next to Tottori.

Not to be a douchebag or make light of what's already happened, but I'm kind of hoping we get one or two cases here and some school closures, especially given how relatively non-lethal the virus is proving.  It's kind of like hoping for a snow day, only minus the fun of getting to go hang out with your friends in the snow.

Japan has been seemingly very paranoid about the virus though; I've heard reports of some other JETs having to wear masks at work (along with everyone else) and of travel plans being grounded, and I fear the craze will persist.  Hopefully there won't be any issues when the time comes for me to head back home in July!

Slow Times at Junior High

The new year started in April, and with the new year came a re-organization of curriculum.  Unfortunately, this has left me without classes much more frequently than I'd like.

In part this stems from new-year activities, orientation and the like leading to canceled classes, but part of it is also just an outright reduction in my classes taught at one of my schools--I went from teaching all three grades every week to only being guaranteed to teach the 9th graders.  It's especially distressing for me because this school is my favorite one, where I get along with the students really well; fortunately, I still get to eat with the students and hang out (watch and occasionally chat) during club activities after school, so all is not lost, but I'm hoping that as the year progresses I'll again have fuller days.  Right now many classes are still early enough in their textbooks that the "speaking" lessons haven't cropped up yet, which is another reason my teaching volume is down--some classes I have scheduled wind up not needing me.

.'がんばっています。

Swine Influenza Fever

I returned from China the first Tuesday in May, had Wednesday off, and went to work as usual on Thursday.  During the day, my supervisor (at the board of education) called a few times: once, to confirm whenI had gotten back; again, later, to tell me that for the sake of my elementary schools, I should take tomorrow off and not teach (my thought: you DO realize you're telling me not to go to school...while I'm at school, right? I assured him I was fine); and finally, he called to tell me that, well, since I said I was healthy, I could go to work after all.

Ridiculous.  The next day at the elementaries I got a round of questioning to the effect of:
"So you went to China, huh?" (yes, it was fun)
"Did you hear about the swine flu?" (some warnings on the flight over, and a lot on the way back, yep)
"...did they test or check you at all when you got back to Japan?" (yes yes, I had to fill out a form and... [at this point I exaggerated the trouble of the process so it sounded a little more rigorous])
[to the staff, visibly relieved:] "He was checked!"

Sigh.  The trouble with today's widespread information network is that it's very easy to get people into a panic.  At least my middle schools have some sense; no panic there.  Though I did mess with one of my students at lunch (this is the same one who thought I was Howie of BSB fame; when she asked about the flu ("pork influenza;" good vocabulary!) I feigned a few coughs and got a rise out of her before I assured her I was joking.

This is to say nothing of how much things have escalated in the 3-week interim; more on that in another post.

year ends, teachers transfer.

In contrast to graduation, a big, formal proceeding, the actual end of the school year was much more of a whimper than a bang--no formal dress, just students and teachers in the gym for a short speech from the principal.

The biggest deal about the year end is the teacher transfers. As I was in Taiwan the week before, I hadn't found out about any of my schools, but the one I went to the following week had 5 teachers leaving, most of whom I was acquainted with to some extent but nobody I had a terrible affection for (the one I liked most of them was actually transferring to my other school, which was convenient).

However, as I found out at the farewell banquet for my other school as spring break started, I was losing my favorite teacher! She was one of my co-teachers, and probably the most fun to work with--we taught the same graduates who I got to know and who wrote me messages, which were compiled in book form by her. Really enhanced my experience so far, but now she's transferring to the Other School in my town (where I don't work) and I'm definitely worse for it.

Winter in Tottori

I have the great pleasure of living in one of the handful of regions of Japan that actually get snow.

This means that, while I get some GORGEOUS scenery on a daily basis (I'll take and send some pictures next time we get a good snow), ...I also have to deal with the winter.

This means getting ready to go 10-15 minutes early so I have time to scrape my car off, turn on the defroster, heat it up, etc.

This means, on days when there are lots of snow (and at least a few days following), getting ready to go another 10-15 minutes earlier because Japanese roadway management pales in comparison to the quick responses of a New York or New England (but more on efficiency later).

This means, when my first full day back in the country has followed a major snowstorm and happens to be in the midst of another, I show up to work 30 minutes late. Fortunately, I wasn't the only one.

Apparently the amount of snow we've gotten here in Tottori is an unseasonably large amount--I'd heard the first snowstorms were the largest in some five years. One day my students even got the day off, because the trains here weren't running with all the snow (and if you know how good Japan Railways is, you'll know that means there was a LOT of snow)...teachers still had to show up though. Talk about a slow day.

It hasn't all been unfortunate and inconveniencing, though. Like I said, the snow is beautiful, espcially on the mountainsides of the valley I live and work in--more evidence that I need to live somewhere with scenery and four seasons--and of course, snow means skiing! I'll be taking my first trip to Mt. Hyounosen (you'll recall that I hiked up Daisen, "Big Mountain," in the fall (which also has skiing). Hyounosen translates as "Ice Mountain") on Saturday, and couldn't be more excited.

My Students

(Tell Me Why) Ain't Nothin' but a Mistake...

We did a class week before last with my elective English course where we learned the lyrics to "I Want it that Way," that singular hit by that stellar quintet, the Backstreet Boys. The whole class stemmed from a previous class where, during introductions, one of my students told me she likes "Listening to music."
"What groups do you like?"
"Oh...Backstreet Boys--"
"Oh! Me too!"

My co-teacher, overhearing the conversation, suggested that since we were both such big fans (my student, by the way, is 13. She was 4 or 5 when the song first hit the charts, and even younger when BSB first stepped on the scene) that we should learn a song for class.

Right. So, as an introduction I played the music video for the class on my laptop. Which was all well and good until partway through. One of my students gasps and points at the screen--"Ah, Matt-sensei!"

Who was she pointing at?

Howie.

"Were you a backstreet boy?"
"No."
"Did you quit so you could teach?"
"No."
"And cut your hair after, too?"
"No. Well, I did cut my hair, but. No."
Of course, my stunning rendition of the song, rehearsed through many years of ultimate time-out songs with Dartmouth's Pain Train, did little to convince them otherwise.

Last week in (regular) class, we were doing a phone conversation (students come up with their own skits to act out, with two people making plans to meet somewhere). One of the transcripts looked something like this:

"Hello?"
"Hello. This is ____. Can I speak to ____?"
"Sure, just one moment."
...
"Hi! I'd love to"
"Tell me why"
"I want it that way"
"OK, see you there"
"OK, bye"

If it weren't so patently ridiculous, it would've been great. Or maybe it's great BECAUSE it's patently ridiculous?

The Elementary Schools, or: I Dominate 1st Graders in Dodge Ball

I visit 3 elementaries on Friday each week (this is why I need a car for work--there's no bus or train schedule flexible enough to accommodate me there). I <3 the elementary schools. My goodness, kids are just wonderfully full of energy (I'm well aware that they can wear on you, but hey, I only see each class once per week--energy stays high there). It's almost enough to make me reconsider pediatrics as a medical specialty. It's a lot more fun than the rest of my week--I'm super busy with all the school visits, but every class is basically a short lead-in (introducing new vocabulary, etc) to playing games in some form or another. Best part is, I get to play too!

When I was first starting, I had a free period at one of the schools and I was invited to join the first graders (yes, first graders) for gym. We played amoeba tag first (I was "it" to start--I'm not sure what was worse, not being able to catch any of them to start or being slowed down by them so much when I finally did get one and had to drag 'em around to get more), and then we played dodge ball.

I know what you're thinking--it must've been a slaughterfest--but I played left-handed so it was merely a massacre instead. Kids got a big kick out of it, though.
"Matt-sensei, sugoi!" (Matt, you're awesome!)

I've also been playing with the kids a fair bit at lunchtimes--I eat with one of the classes each Friday--which has left me rather sweaty for a few of my afternoon classes. Whoops.

Hair

So, some of you may not know this, but I was asked to cut my hair before I came to work here in Japan.

I went from this:



To this:



Today my supervisors' supervisors (IE, the Tottori Prefectural Board of Education folk--they're obviously above my local BOE, and definitely above my school's teachers) came to observe a class and chat with me a bit--afterwards, talking to one of my supervisors--a prefectural advisor for all of the JETs in Tottori, who, incidentally, was my primary liason before I came and forwarded the original request to cut--relayed to me comments from my Principal: glad he's getting involved, still seems a bit shy, ...man, am I glad he cut his hair!

Apparently my principal had been enraged at the prospect of me coming over with my dreads, and it was in part due to his vocal complaints to the placement service that I wound up hearing that I should cut my hair.

I'm glad my principal is happy with me, instead of really super pissed off.

Work Impressions, So Far.

This week has been pretty easy so far--outside of a bit of help for a couple students who are participating in speech contests, and giving a couple classes where I did a more in-depth self-introduction, with Sports Day being this weekend the kids have a reduced class load to begin with and many of these first classes back are actually tests, leaving me with little to do. Far different from the Trips/orientation experience at Dartmouth, no?

Sports Day, incidentally, is a day (Saturday for my middle schools; Sunday for my elementaries) where the various grades compete by homeroom in a variety of activities. Today I got to watch some of the practice--in addition to learning and performing a dance that seems suspiciously like contradancing, I saw them do a giant version of jump rope where the homeroom has to all jump in time to clear the rope (there are about 25 students to a homeroom) and a task that involved handing a ball down a line from one end of the field to the other, with students dashing to the end of the line as soon as they handed off to continue the flow. Pretty entertaining stuff, and actually rather fascinating as far as understanding Japanese culture goes. I'm not sure I can put it all into words just yet, but if I feel sufficiently capable I'll indulge my rambling urges with a long bit on that at a later point.


Some more general work impressions/factoids: the kids all have the same uniform, down to the shoes they wear in class and in the gym. Girls wear the sailor suit, which you might be familiar with; guys wear white collared shirts with long pants. The kids are wonderful by the by--really cute. They're all a little timid and a little intimidated, I think, but in a fascinated kind of way that will lead to some fun connections, I think. In contrast to America, where teachers have their own rooms and the students go to them, in Japan students stay in their homerooms the entire day (outside of going to the gym, or needing to use art supplies, ec) and the teachers come to them. We teachers all share a teacher's room, all the desks organized into a few groups. With few classes and little lesson prep to do at the moment, I've spent most of my time there idly sitting at my desk on my laptop (thank god for the internet!). I can speak a bit of Japanese, which is helping my entering a new community somewhat as the language barrier is not so high as to be insurmountable without the aid of one of the Japanese Teachers of English (JTE's, the teachers who I work with in the classroom)...but I'm still often left to my own devices and wind up bored with some frequency as the rest of the teachers seemingly have a far more vast workload than I. And somehow I get paid more than they do...go figure.

Oh, and so far none of my classes have recognized me with long hair when I show them a picture of me and my family at graduation. And Mom, you and Dad might be pleased to know that, in addition to being very impressed with how young you both are, one kid in my class today mistook Dad for an older brother. Yep.

Meeting the Staff

Today I started "work" proper, which meant going to a few schools to do introductions with the staff (more of the jiko-shoukai; I've repeated the phrases giving my name and where I'm from and "Nice to meet you" more often than i can remember). Josh, the other JET in my town, and I went with our supervisor to the various schools, hitting mostly elementary schools (Josh is teaching at 5 elementaries and 1 junior high; I've got 3 elems and 2 JH) along with one of my junior high schools. The kids are adorable. A lot of clubs practicing and whatnot happening these days before class starts--seems every school has a gym and/or a dirt patch which is apparently the Japanese idea of a practice field--so there were a fair number of the little kiddies running around, offering a "konnichi wa" or a "hello/good day" depending on how confident they were feeling. Apparently they're a lot more open when they're young than when they get to high school and become too cool for school, so they should be fun to work with.

Meeting the staff itself was kind of an awkwardly formal affair; we were universally interrupting some meeting or another for introductions, and after stealing somebody's thunder would proceed to stammer through basic introductions (we were applauded after our introductions by the group, which was kind of cool. I think they appreciate the fact that Josh and I can speak the language with some competency, as neither of us have the glaring foreigner accent). The best was when one of the schools' directors turned to her staff (seems the staff always feed off of however the kacho (principal) or whoever is the highest-ranked person available for initiative on what they should do) and told them to introduce themselves, in English! Usually we just introduce and bounce so as not to interfere too much with meetings, but this time it was fun to see the tables turned and watch THEM stammer through an introduction in a foreign language (most of them didn't know more than "my name is" and even that was with prompting from the head).

On the plus side, I'm getting really good at introducing myself!