First, "HI" it's been a while. I lost my internet connection for about a week or this MIGHT have gotten done sooner :)
I have officially past my one month mark working in a Japanese school and let me tell you, it has been eye opening. Let me preface this blog by saying that the school that I work at is considered one of the worst in the city. While some of the experiences I have had here are unique to this school, many of the experiences are not. Other English teachers, who have worked throughout Saitama, have said they have also seen similar situations at their schools.
In America we have this notion that Japanese people are all very intelligent, that the schools are very strict and that all of the kids are well behaved. Like most stereotypes, this couldn't be farther from the truth. The only thing that Japanese teachers are strict about are the students' uniforms and students obeying cultural rules. I saw a teacher yelling at a group of 1st year girls for over 30 minutes because they didn't say "OHAYO (good morning)" to their sempai (older classmate). He then sat there and had them line-up in the hallway and say good morning to each sempai that walked by. I've seen kids literally choking each other in the hallway and no one says a thing. I've seen girls literally grappling with each other and a teacher walks by and asks, "who's textbook is this?" Kids are constantly breaking stuff because they're so rowdy between class periods. During class, it's not much different. Half of the kids are reading books, doing other work, or sleeping. MAYBE 5% of the students are actually participating, while the other kids are turned around talking. I was in one class last week where the students were crudely having a sexual conversation with graphic hand gestures, in the middle of class. The teacher knew and didn't say anything! Totally stupefied.
The best students are probably the 1st years (7th graders), they're cute and still want to make the teacher happy. The worst thing they do is get too excited and start talking a lot. But as soon as the teacher says to quiet down, they do. Most of them participate and they all work very hard during class (it's cute watching them try so hard to write their alphabet). The 2nd years are THE WORST, god only knows what is going through their heads during class. I think something happens that causes them to become possessed by the spawn of satan during their 2nd year. Seriously, the look in their eyes is horrifying. The 3rd years only behave because they want to go to high school. Teachers can write comments that affect their admission into a good school. High school isn't mandatory, so some 3rd years just sit around all day. I saw one girl taking off her fake eyelashes in front of a large cosmetic mirror during class....I hope she looks good, because someday she's going to have to marry a rich man.
But gosh, who can blame these kids. Education here sucks! The teachers are at school for 10-11 hours a day (from 7 or 8 until 6pm) and I never see them planning. Lessons consist of teachers standing up front, talking all hour, students...taking notes? Then students do worksheets. The teachers only state directions once, they DON'T ever clarify, and then they give students a ridiculously short amount of time to do it (I saw a teacher give the students 15 seconds to fill out a Bingo sheet). While the student's work, the teacher stands up front and then when time is up (and no one is finished) the teacher gives the answers. ALWAYS...seriously what's the point in having them do it, just give them the answers. Most of the students are too confused to know what they're supposed to do, so they just sit there and wait for the answers. Then the teacher calls on students for answers, and before students can answer, they teacher says," That's right, the answer is ....." WHAT!? That's right? They didn't even get the chance to answer. No wonder a majority of the kids go to juku after school (juku is a second school where I'm guessing they actually learn something).
I don't know why, but the teachers feel that talking the whole hour is the best way to "focus on teaching". I teach my own class (3rd year elective English) and one of the teachers said, "You spend A LOT of time planning." I told her, of course I want to make sure that the lesson is engaging, that it teaches the point, and that it gets the student's involved. She responds with, "Japanese teachers prefer to focus on actually teaching." WHAT!? You honestly think the students learn by listening all damn day and repeating after you? I'm surprised the students don't riot (but that's probably because they don't know any better).
Needless to say, the only thing really going on in a Japanese school seems to be teaching kids how to be Japanese. Every morning we have a faculty meeting where a teacher stands up and introduces the principal (really? is it necessary, I mean he's only like 5 feet away from us). The principal says something, it usually sounds like he's talking about a problem (and there are many at this school). Then first teacher stands back up and then introduces each teacher that has something to say that day. Then we break into "teams" and talk again about the day (this is probably because the schedule changes every day). Teachers then go to their classrooms where the EXACT same things happens for the first 20 minutes of school. At the start of every class, a students stands and introduces the teacher and then instructs the class to bow and say "onegaishimasu" which is "please"...I'm guessing it means please instruct us and the teacher says it meaning, please learn. At the end of the class the process is repeated with another phrase meaning something like, "thank you for working hard." Students HAVE to greet their sempai in the hallways. When students enter the faculty room, they have to say, "Shitsureishimasu" (please excuse me, I'm being rude), then state their grade, name and teacher they're looking for. I've seen grown adults come in and do the exact same thing. Another strict routine is the after school cleaning (although I'm not so sure much cleaning actually gets done). Students are responsible for cleaning all restrooms, floors, windows, and stairs. Of course leaving a bunch of 12, 13, and 14 year olds to cleaning a school...well you can imagine the results. Of course they start this process as soon as students enter school, all the way until they graduate. As adults, Japanese people are exceptionally anal about cleaning EVERY FREAKING DAY! But of course they're not taught how to really clean (a wet rag being run across the floor isn't going to get it clean. I once got so disgusted with how filthy the floor was, that I actually started rubbing the tiles clean. A teacher came up and said, "that is not the Japanese way." Yeah, I know, that's why the school looks 50 years older than it really is!
*Sigh* well, so much work to be done and sooo little time. Where to start....
I have officially past my one month mark working in a Japanese school and let me tell you, it has been eye opening. Let me preface this blog by saying that the school that I work at is considered one of the worst in the city. While some of the experiences I have had here are unique to this school, many of the experiences are not. Other English teachers, who have worked throughout Saitama, have said they have also seen similar situations at their schools.
In America we have this notion that Japanese people are all very intelligent, that the schools are very strict and that all of the kids are well behaved. Like most stereotypes, this couldn't be farther from the truth. The only thing that Japanese teachers are strict about are the students' uniforms and students obeying cultural rules. I saw a teacher yelling at a group of 1st year girls for over 30 minutes because they didn't say "OHAYO (good morning)" to their sempai (older classmate). He then sat there and had them line-up in the hallway and say good morning to each sempai that walked by. I've seen kids literally choking each other in the hallway and no one says a thing. I've seen girls literally grappling with each other and a teacher walks by and asks, "who's textbook is this?" Kids are constantly breaking stuff because they're so rowdy between class periods. During class, it's not much different. Half of the kids are reading books, doing other work, or sleeping. MAYBE 5% of the students are actually participating, while the other kids are turned around talking. I was in one class last week where the students were crudely having a sexual conversation with graphic hand gestures, in the middle of class. The teacher knew and didn't say anything! Totally stupefied.
The best students are probably the 1st years (7th graders), they're cute and still want to make the teacher happy. The worst thing they do is get too excited and start talking a lot. But as soon as the teacher says to quiet down, they do. Most of them participate and they all work very hard during class (it's cute watching them try so hard to write their alphabet). The 2nd years are THE WORST, god only knows what is going through their heads during class. I think something happens that causes them to become possessed by the spawn of satan during their 2nd year. Seriously, the look in their eyes is horrifying. The 3rd years only behave because they want to go to high school. Teachers can write comments that affect their admission into a good school. High school isn't mandatory, so some 3rd years just sit around all day. I saw one girl taking off her fake eyelashes in front of a large cosmetic mirror during class....I hope she looks good, because someday she's going to have to marry a rich man.
But gosh, who can blame these kids. Education here sucks! The teachers are at school for 10-11 hours a day (from 7 or 8 until 6pm) and I never see them planning. Lessons consist of teachers standing up front, talking all hour, students...taking notes? Then students do worksheets. The teachers only state directions once, they DON'T ever clarify, and then they give students a ridiculously short amount of time to do it (I saw a teacher give the students 15 seconds to fill out a Bingo sheet). While the student's work, the teacher stands up front and then when time is up (and no one is finished) the teacher gives the answers. ALWAYS...seriously what's the point in having them do it, just give them the answers. Most of the students are too confused to know what they're supposed to do, so they just sit there and wait for the answers. Then the teacher calls on students for answers, and before students can answer, they teacher says," That's right, the answer is ....." WHAT!? That's right? They didn't even get the chance to answer. No wonder a majority of the kids go to juku after school (juku is a second school where I'm guessing they actually learn something).
I don't know why, but the teachers feel that talking the whole hour is the best way to "focus on teaching". I teach my own class (3rd year elective English) and one of the teachers said, "You spend A LOT of time planning." I told her, of course I want to make sure that the lesson is engaging, that it teaches the point, and that it gets the student's involved. She responds with, "Japanese teachers prefer to focus on actually teaching." WHAT!? You honestly think the students learn by listening all damn day and repeating after you? I'm surprised the students don't riot (but that's probably because they don't know any better).
Needless to say, the only thing really going on in a Japanese school seems to be teaching kids how to be Japanese. Every morning we have a faculty meeting where a teacher stands up and introduces the principal (really? is it necessary, I mean he's only like 5 feet away from us). The principal says something, it usually sounds like he's talking about a problem (and there are many at this school). Then first teacher stands back up and then introduces each teacher that has something to say that day. Then we break into "teams" and talk again about the day (this is probably because the schedule changes every day). Teachers then go to their classrooms where the EXACT same things happens for the first 20 minutes of school. At the start of every class, a students stands and introduces the teacher and then instructs the class to bow and say "onegaishimasu" which is "please"...I'm guessing it means please instruct us and the teacher says it meaning, please learn. At the end of the class the process is repeated with another phrase meaning something like, "thank you for working hard." Students HAVE to greet their sempai in the hallways. When students enter the faculty room, they have to say, "Shitsureishimasu" (please excuse me, I'm being rude), then state their grade, name and teacher they're looking for. I've seen grown adults come in and do the exact same thing. Another strict routine is the after school cleaning (although I'm not so sure much cleaning actually gets done). Students are responsible for cleaning all restrooms, floors, windows, and stairs. Of course leaving a bunch of 12, 13, and 14 year olds to cleaning a school...well you can imagine the results. Of course they start this process as soon as students enter school, all the way until they graduate. As adults, Japanese people are exceptionally anal about cleaning EVERY FREAKING DAY! But of course they're not taught how to really clean (a wet rag being run across the floor isn't going to get it clean. I once got so disgusted with how filthy the floor was, that I actually started rubbing the tiles clean. A teacher came up and said, "that is not the Japanese way." Yeah, I know, that's why the school looks 50 years older than it really is!
*Sigh* well, so much work to be done and sooo little time. Where to start....
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