A Rude Awakening

Well, the first term here at the Lutheran School in Japan has come to an end. The tests are all finished, and the marks are turned in. Everything finished up last Wednesday (yesterday). Yet, today is Thursday and I'm still here.

I woke up this morning to a phone call at 8:15. It was one of the head teachers (there are many head teachers), asking why I wasn't at school. I think I just mumbled something incoherent. At any rate, I was told that I had to come ASAP. I arrived about about quarter after 10. I made sure to have a nice warn shower and breakfast before leaving, as I was not in the best of moods. The left over spaghetti and beer ;) warmed up my spirits a bit. From there, I threw on a pair of jeans (my slacks were in the wash) and a shirt, and hopped on the train; arriving at school dripping sweat from the humidity. Nobody noticed or questioned my late arrival.

There are parent-teacher meetings today, Friday and on Tuesday and Wednesday (the 19th) (Monday is a random national holiday). Yet, my only scheduled meeting is for one hour on Tuesday afternoon. When I asked what I should be doing, I was told 'do whatever you want' (which means: look pretty, but don't leave the school). Of course, I can make some unit plans for the second term, as well as update my much neglected blog. All is not lost.

As for tomorrow, I told the head teacher of my department that I wouldn't be here. I still need to pick up my plane tickets for Canada in August, deposit some money in the bank, and I'll buy some books and souvenirs as well. Since Monday is a holiday, some places are closed (ie. banks). Fortunately, the head of the department understood the situation and gave me permission to miss tomorrow. I was a little worried I'd have to go AWOL, just to pick up a plane ticket.

Overall, it's been very busy at work since the term began in April. I'm not an assistant teacher, I'm a full co-teacher with the Japanese teacher of the corresponding class. As such, I am preparing all of the term plans, class plans, and do much of the marking (I mark on speaking and listening, the J-teacher marks on reading and writing, and we both give marks for attitudes). Because I'm teaching grades 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 10 and 11, I have been very busy (in the 8th grade, I'm an ALT; meaning that I just help out in class. I'm not responsible for any planning or marking for that grade. The J-teacher isn't responsible for any planning in the other grades). The other foreign teacher is teaching the grades that I don't, aside from grade 10 and 11; which we split. In each grade, there are two classes of 30 students (give or take a few). That makes around 60 students to teach and mark in teach grade in elementary school. Since high school is split, I teach two classes of around 15 students. Grade 12 does not have a foreign English teacher. Their focus is on studying for their university enterance exams.

The Japanese put way too much focus on these things. Basically, their entire pre-university schooling funnels down to this test. The pressure can be devastating for some students. Every year, there are stories of students committing suicide because they fear these tests so much, or because they had a low score. While in Japan (this is true in Korea as well), I've noticed that too much emphesis is put on how one does on tests, and not enough on life experiences. The grade 12s here, in addition to recieving no English instruction from a foreign teacher, are not allowed to participate in any school events (aside from graduation). On the sports day that we had a couple of months ago, the grade twelves were not present. Soon, our students will either go on a summer trip to America, or take part in a summer study at a mountain school (a classroon-equipped resort a couple hours from here) that the school owns. Again, the grade twelve students cannot participate. I find this to be an absolutely horrible situation. It's saddening that society here places more emphesis on a number on a piece of paper, than on experiences.

During this term, there have been many events which have kept me very busy. The first major thing was a visit from a couple of professors from Concordia College in California. I was the main contact between them and Japan. I was also responsible for putting together their schedule (English version). That kept me on my toes. Following that, we had some students (5) and a couple of chaperones visit us from Phoenix (which Phoenix). They homestayed (yes, I made a verb out of homestay) with the families of some students here, on their 10 day visit. They'll be returning the favour with some of our students (including myself and the other two leaders) in Phoenix this summer (we'll be staying at a hotel when we visit the Grand Canyon for a couple of days).

Speaking of this summer trip to America; I am one of three chaperones for this. Myself, along with Carl and a J-teacher, will be spending about four weeks with 21 students (from grade 9, 10 and 11) in the American southwest. We'll be staying at the dormitories at Concordia college near Anaheim, California (in the LA area) for a couple of weeks, and then doing homestays with some church members in Phoeniz, Arizona. The main purpose is to expose these students to Christianity, and also to American culture (including English). We'll be doing plenty of touristy things, like spending a couple days at Disneyland (Magic Kingdom and California Adventure), going to Universal Studios, spending a couple of days at the beach, checking out the Grand Canyon, etc. Following that, I'll be flying, along with the students, back to Japan. A couple of days later, I'll be flying to Canada for a week and a half. Then back to Japan, in time for the second term to begin. I'm sure I'll have a serious hate-on for airplanes after this.

So far, I am handling it, but I am fairly tired and stressed some days. My pay, housing and benefits are better (significantly) than they were in Korea, and I am making a lot of connections that could help me in the future, but somedays (today is one of them) I wonder if it's worth the stress. Having to be here and DO NOTHING on the 19th of July, when I am getting on a plane to America for four weeks the very next day, does not help the situation. Of course, some days are great and I forget the stresses. In October, I'll be having a meeting to decide what I'll be doing after the school year is finished in March. So far, I indend on continuing here for a few more years. Overall, things are very good here. It's mostly the politics of school (sadly, they do exist) and the lack of freedom that annoy me.

(You'll have to excuse the tone of the last paragraph, as I wasn't very happy about being woken up by the phone this morning. It isn't all bad here! I do have plenty of WELL EARNED holidays).

At least the principal and school chairmen like me. :)

This should prove to be both an interesting and busy summer. I'm hoping that the second term will be more easy going than the first.