Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Tanoshii

This blog entry is being dedicated to Steve Irwin. I am truly sad to hear of his death. I loved this man because I love Australia and everything it has to offer. I guess I am really lucky to have seen him while I was there...

Monday I was back into the elementary school - this one is called Kanomata Elementary.
Of course there is a welcoming ceremony for me and I have to speak again. I hate going into new schools. I am so sick of my self introduction. I never know what is going on around me in the new schools. Everyone was pretty friendly and lacking of English as usual. I prepared a lesson plan for today and didn't really need to use it. My first class was a second grade class. I played a game called Karuta with the kids. It teaches, colors, numbers and body parts. Here's the deal:
Group kids into 4 - put random amounts of color paper onto their desk. Tell them to shuffle. I say, put your hand on your . The color is ....Then the first kid to smack the color paper on their desk gets to keep it. There is always at least one color with enough kids so every kid at least gets one. If it's a tie - it becomes Janken aka rock, paper, scissors. After all the kids are done smacking the papers, we count how many each kid has. Then i say, "if you have one, stand up!" and then we all clap for the kids. We count up to 10. I did this until time ran out. It was really successful, I only had one kid cry over it. Not bad!

I did this for all the lower level classes. At lunch I ate with a different second grade class. The one boy I sat next to was super obnoxious, I was really annoyed with him...and the other boy I sat next to was frightened of me. After we finished lunch, all the girls were entranced by me. They were rattling off Japanese to me so I hate not being able to communicate with them. I taught the group of girls (probably 6 or 7) about high five's. By the time we were finished, they could say "High 5, up high, down low". It was great seeing them. I put my hands way up and they had to jump up and they loved it. (I wouldn't be able to do that for most grades hehe). Then they started trying to teach me Japanese. It's always cute when the 2nd graders are trying to teach me to read and speak and understand. Actually, some of the characters on the board I could read and I was so happy. I have a special ed kid in the class - he's so adorable.

I had some random questions today like "what is your favorite planet?" Planet? I don't know! Goodness I probably can't even name all of them anymore. I said Jupiter. Then they asked me to describe it. Does Jupiter have rings? I think so. Anyways, I said it did. "Who is the most famous person in New York State?" I don't know? What would you have said? I tried saying Hideki Matsui but it came out wrong.. oops, i'm an idiot. At the end of one class I had a kid bring me some yummy Japanese beatles. Oh my goodness those things are big and NASTY. I screamed, I screamed like a little girl. The teacher made him take it away from me. I didn't realize it was real until it's nasty little legs started moving. Kids are funny - since being in elementary schools, boys have run into my classroom naked and then giggle and run out. They change into their swimsuits for gym class right in their own classroom. Nakedness is not anything shameful here. Which is bazaar because women don't show shoulders, low cut shirts or short shorts. Yet, onsens you are completely naked and their kids run around naked until like 4th grade. I sometimes don't understand this culture at all...

The last of my day was for a fifth grade class. I was extremely upset with this teacher. She brought me to her class five minutes late and then made me leave five minutes before my time was up. It was clear that she did not want me there. Secondly, her kids had horrible English skills. All the first and second graders didn't even need to review their colors. I brought in my poster of colors I made Sunday night and her kids didn't even know their colors. Fifth graders didn't know their colors! Ridiculous! Well, I wanted to do this game called Fruit Basket. I showed it to her in Japanese on how to play it. So, she clearly knew how to play. I got the kids into a circle and the object is to get the kids running around. You take one chair out, so there is one less chair per kid. Then all the kids are given a color and the kid standing in the middle calls out the the color. For example, if the color is blue, all kids with a blue card have to run to another chair, never their old one - and the kid in the middle has to try to get a chair too. That way the last kid without a chair has to call the next color. The teacher knew perfectly well how to play - and she watched me struggle trying to tell the kids through examples, broken Japanese and slow speaking English. They finally caught on and then after five minutes she stopped the game and told me my time was up and rushed me out. I was pissed. It's obvious she doesn't care and it definitely reflects back with her kids attitudes and really low level abilities. Pathetic.

Tuesday I was back at Monou Junior High School for the day. I really only had two classes but I went in and volunteered for a third one. I got to teach with Mitsue twice. There wasn't much control over the first class I was in. I have noticed that discipline isn't practiced here. These kids were just talking over her and cheating. I was trying to start my self - introduction and this kid in the back just wouldn't shut up. I put up my map of the United States and started my intro and he kept talking. I decided to make an example of him. I made him go up to the board and tell me where New York State was. He had no clue - I made him stay up there for three minutes before I started helping him. I finished and then Mitsue and I started our lesson. Technically, as an ALT I am not supposed to discipline or cross that boundary. I view Mitsue more as a friend than my co-worker so I crossed the boundary. I stopped kids from cheating, I made them turn around, I made them stop talking. It was a really hard class to control - and apparently, my predecessor refused to go into that class anymore. These schools don't have an "office" that you can send kids to. There isn't detention, there are no repercussions for acting up in class. Absolutely ridiculous. After that class, we went straight into another one. This class was chatty too, but not so bad.
The last class I went to was just by choice - I went into one of Hiromi's class. That was fine - her class was really well behaved so I actually enjoyed it. They are at nineth grade level and they had more English abilities than Mitsue's lower level classes. I have one kid in that class that just kept staring at me throughout the entire class. After class he said to me, "Do sex". Now, I don't know if he was asking if I have sex or if I want to have sex. I pretended like I didn't understand his English. Glad I'm not in high school level. After that class all the teachers and students left to go to a Japanese Speech Contest. They initially wanted me to go but i sleezed my way out of it because what good was sitting through a speech in all Japanese for 3 hours going to do for me? Instead, I created materials for Elementary schools. I made posters of fruits and vegetables and made little cut outs so I could play the switching chair games with fruits and vegetables and not just colors. I cut out the clip art, taped to cardboard and then used a hole puncher to make two holes. I then used this yarn like stuff so that the kids can wear the fruits around their necks. I spent the rest of my day starting that project and then used half of today to finish it.
After school, Saijo San came to pick me up and help me practice manual. I don't feel like I'm too horrible. Granted, my shift into first isn't too smooth - but it will come in time with practice. I suck at reverse. Anyways, I wanted to give it a shot on the road and try to drive to my English Conversation Class Tuesday night. One of my teachers called me after practicing manual, asked me something or other and I explained that I couldn't do something because I was going to that class in the evening. She asked how I was getting there and I told her driving. Anyways, Saijo-san found out, stopped at my house and told me I couldn't drive to English Conversation Class. I was pretty upset because the last thing I wanted to do was ask Brian for another ride. I called him up and told him I couldn't make it to the class. He asked why and I explained, thankfully, he offered a ride, and I don't think he minded too much.
Learning manual from someone who speaks no English is kind of funny. We verified we both knew both languages of numbers. Saijo - san memorized how to say neutral, clutch and "axle" or gas. We used hand gestures to explain how feet move. It was actually kind of humorous. Tuesday was the first day I've seen Saijo - san break out an English/Japanese dictionary in the month I've been here. He's really starting to warm up to me. Like I've mentioned, I am really starting to act like myself around everyone - and I think it's much better than the reserved, polite Sara I was trying to be. Monday after Elementary School - I just went to town speaking to Saijo...he was just laughing and laughing at me. I'm really demonstrating how hard I am trying to learn Japanese and how hard I am trying to understand him. When he doesn't understand me or I don't understand him I just make one of the many Japanese noises that notifies the other person how you are feeling. So, he knows when i'm confused or that I don't understand.

Our Conversational English class went well. We had about 16 people show up. The first thing we did was our self - introductions. Then, we had them fill out a questionnaire about why they want to learn English and about their abilities. Afterwards, we did the "Who am I?" game. Yosco helped me develop a list of popular Japanese names that most people would know. We attached these names to the backs of the students and they had to go around in English and ask questions to figure out who they were. For example, "Am I male or female?" "Am I on TV?" etc, etc...then they need to figure out who they are. The whole evening went over well. One woman hooked me up with Karate times and classes. Unfortunately 2/3 of the classes fall on a Saturday and Friday night in which I don't want to commit to because I'd rather be out drinking. The other night is on Tuesday where I will be taking a Japanese class. I will see if maybe the Karate class ends before Japanese class begins. The one man I sat next to at the party last week brought me the registration form for my race in October. I'm excited. I'll have one of my base school teachers translate it for me next week. I woke up at 6am this morning and ran. How car? I don't know....but farther than I have been in the past. Once I can drive, I'll measure out a route.

Today I was back into Kanan Junior High School. The teachers were shocked about my hair. I had the first 2. 5 hours to do NOTHING. I finished all my fruit cardboard print outs. Then, I started going through more material that I could possibly work on. Finally, I got to go to a class. I went to Takahashi Sensei's class. Today was the first day that I met him - at first, I was wary of him because he never really paid any attention to me. But, I realize his English is kind of poor and he's probably just embarrassed to be an English teacher and not be fluent. We went into class where he spent like 30 minutes or more on my self introduction - forcing questions out of the students. Then, we made nametags. I requested this last week - pretty psyched my suggestion was taken into consideration. However, I wanted more than just a nametag - I wanted them to also include their hobbies (shumi). That message didn't get through - but hey better than nothing. I went into two classes with Takahashi Sensei and then went into one of Yuko Sensei's class. She is the woman I taught with last week. She let me teach the whole class -- I was so psyched!!!! I think she'll be pretty cool with letting me implement ideas.

After that class - 2 more hours of nothing to do (I can't believe I get paid for this). I decided to make bingo cards for elementary school upper classes this Friday. I then helped the girls in this JHS with their speech. These girls are a lot more advanced than the girls at my base school. Makes me a bit sad. Saijo san showed up 15 minutes early and the English teacher was not happy because then I couldn't help the students.

Day Two of Manual Driving : Task: learning the half clutch

Ok, so, here we are trying to learn the half clutch so I can drive up and down hills effectively. Saijo - san is a perfectionist. I get the idea, I get the concept....I just need to practice. Let me tell, you, practicing in a flat parking lot isn't going to get me anywhere. If anything, I can shift into first better. He was not having any of it. Today, was the only day I felt totally frustrated and wanted to cry. Of course, you can't "lose face" in front of anyone. Crying is not acceptable. It's not the fact that I was struggling so much - it's just that I know I can get it if he'd just let me go out on the road. I'm not going to learn anything on a parking lot - I understand! Wakarimashte! the concepts. I know he means well - he always does - let's just call it a cultural difference. It's just frustrating because I really do need my car - it is soooooooo limiting to not have it. I am missing out on so many opportunities to meet with my friends and take Japanese classes and what not. That is why I was so aggravated. I just want to get out there. I am thinking of writing a journal entry about learning how to drive manual from somone who doesn't speak English. I'll submit it to see if I can get it published. It might be my first travel publication!

After that, I came home and ate leftovers and some of the vegetables Saijo san gave me. Saijo san gave me like $50 worth of vegetables. I was so happy - I got to eat CORN!!! yuuummmyyy. He also gave me tons of eggplant, edamame (soy beans), potatoes, green and red peppers, onions. Many vegetables. mmmmm. Then, Saijo - san came back at 7:30 to pick me up so I can learn the dance for this weekend. God gave me two left feet. Okay! So, I got the footwork down, but I am really slow at it. But in addition to the footwork, there is hand gestures with two fans. I am doubting my abilities here. Two girls that are 16 were teaching me and then Saijo-san's son was watching me and making them stop whenever I made a mistake. Learning to dance with no English too - another huge challenge. I never ever, not once took any dance class growing up. I wish I had - I have no count. The girls were great though - the one was very great. Saijo -san even showed me a few steps - he's got it down for an old guy!!!!!! Of course with his perfectionism - he was not very happy with my leg not being high enough or what not. Everyone was getting a kick out of the Geijan learning to dance.

On the drive back home, Saijo told me I was tanoshii which I looked up into my dictionary. He was telling me that I am pleasant and cheerful. I was so happy. I think our relationship is becoming less supervisor/english teacher and more like Japanese/American learning from eachother. The fact that I am trying so hard to learn his language and culture must mean a lot to him. Today, even though I am frustrated that I can't still drive and that I suck at dancing...I realize how amazing these experiences are for me. I mean, I'm learning to drive with no language abilities, i'm learning to dance by watching...i am being laughed at constantly and I love it. I am laughing with them. This is great - I freaking love this. I love my life, I love this job, it's these moments that makes it all worth it. Who knows what tomorrow will bring me; but I'm sure I can handle it!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

i wish i was there to watch you learn that dance... and drive a car, it would have been hilarious! i'm glad you're having so much fun and i still miss you a lot!

ollie said...

glad you're such a source of entertainment.
keep trying to learn that dance, you can show us all how to do it at Lisas wedding :)
i promise i won't step on you foot.
take care & love as always. AA