Life As An English Teacher

So this week was officially my first week of school. Luckily though, it started on Thursday so really I just got to do two days and then get this weekend break! Anyways, I wanted to write about my first couple of days and the experiences I had so far.

I have always wanted to teach but never got around to it in the States (yet) so everything was new to me. The closest thing I got to it was volunteering to teach English in Bali in 2012. That was a really good experience but something really relaxed and unstructured compared to where I am now. Now in my life, this is my JOB, this is what PAYS the bills, there are others that are really effected by what I do or don't do, this is much more serious, but in the best way possible :)

So when taking a teaching job in Japan I did it for many reasons. One big reason is the structure and respect of a Japanese classroom. I'm incredibly lucky to be able to experience this first hand. This week I had two classes on Thursday and one on Friday. All of these schools are different but part of the same area.

My first day on Thursday I was very nervous! I had prepared two new lessons just the night before. Not because of procrastination but because I didn't fully understand the emailed lesson plan. It was a mixture of miscommunication and not clear coding for specific things. So Wednesday night I was stressed trying to fully go over 2 lesson plans I had just read, making sure everything was printed and laminated, and making sure I knew what I was doing (or at least a little) before getting up and doing this for a bunch of Japanese elementary students the next day. Also, like I've mentioned before, Japanese people are super strict on punctuality. If you are late, you are pretty much slapping everyone in the face. I'm honestly not the most punctual person but you know there was no way I was going to be late here! Being "on time" is truly being ten minutes BEFORE the said time. Being that I never visited the schools prior, I gave myself plenty of time before I had to be there. The area I am teaching in provided me with a bike that I would leave at the train station. That was great because some of the schools I teach at are more than a 40 minute walk away from the station. By the way, this year I will be teaching at 12 different schools: 2 junior high, 5 elementary and 5 kindergarden. I don't visit each school as often as you would think, but still its a lot to remember when it comes to other teachers names and how to get to each school. Thankfully I have an Iphone to help out with the directions part.

So on my first day, I gave myself plenty of time to get lost, catch a few trains if I had missed the early ones, and to have time to settle in once I got to the school. School starts at 8:30 a.m. so I made sure to get there by 8. On the first day I was expected to meet the vice principal and principal, as well as giving a self introductory speech....in Japanese. I had written out a simple speech prior and had memorized that thing cause I knew what was coming!

It was a bit funny on Thursday because when looking for the school I had to stop my bike and look on my phone multiple times. I wasn't sure if this was ok being that I am in a small town and being a "sensei" means that you can and cannot do many things...wasn't sure if biking and looking at your phone was on the naughty or nice list of conduct. But this one stop I had seen a man dressed as a cross guard. You know, the ones with a neon hat and neon track jacket. So I stopped to ask him where the school was and luckily it was just right down the road. I waited for him to single me to cross the street and in a couple minutes later, I was at the school.

When I got to the school, I parked my jintesha (bike) and found my way inside with some help of a woman that was parking her car. She showed me the take my outside shoes off and put on these slippers. In Japanese schools, you have to take off your "outside shoes" and put in "indoor shoes" just for the school. It's like a cleanliness thing I'm thinking. But yes, it's not just in the movies, it's for real. So after I put my slippers on (which I only did because I was nervous...but really I had bought indoor shoes already and had them) and was greeted by the kyoto-sensei (vice principal). He was a jolly man that smiled a lot and really tried to converse with me even though he only knew a little English. He sat me down in the principal's office and told me that the kocho sensei (principal) usually greets the children outside the school before coming in. Understandable. A few minutes after I waited, the cross guard man came in, took off his neon hat and neon jacket and to my surprise, it was the principal!!!! Shocked, but thankful I was proper with him and friendly!!!! It was so unexpected to me that the principal of the school would stand and help kids cross the street. That act really spoke to me about Japanese culture.

After a small, limited chat, he walked me outside to the teachers room to show me my desk. Here, the teacher's room is where all the teachers have a desk. The regular senseis' (teachers) desks are put next to each other and then there are two desks at the head of the room for the kocho sensei and kyoto sensei. Already, I was seeing the concept of unity in the Japanese schools. Since I would only be at this school once or twice a month, my desk would be shared with the other ALT. After the school bell rung, I was introduced and then gave my speech. My first school's teacher's room consisted of maybe ten other teachers. Not too many so it wasn't too scary but I was still sweatin' cause my Japanese isn't too good. Everyone was really nice though, and bowed and smiled at me as I stammered with my newly memorized Japanese.

For this particular school I had to teach two classes that morning, one 5th grade and one 6th grade. Here, elementary goes to 6th grade. When it got time for me to teach class, I was nervous but as I got into it, it became like acting. I just played this role and crossed me fingers I came out alive. The two classes went by rather quickly (each class is only about 40 minutes) and I found myself having to cut lessons short. Better plan too long of a lesson than too short though! After the first two classes ended, I got a hand drawn map from a sensei there as to how to get to my second school. Remember, in the town that I teach, there is a smaller population, the roads are narrower, fields are bigger, and everyone knows you're the new comer. So with my hand drawn map in hand, I got my jintesha and hope I didn't get too lost to be late to the second school.

Thankfully, the hand drawn map was perfect for getting me to the second school. Like the first, I met the kyoto sensei first and then the kocho sensei. I got introduced to them by name, but honestly, Japanese names are the hardest things to memorize! Even if I wrote it down, I think I would have a hard time. The teachers at this school were also very nice, and humored me as I gave me speech. I taught the same two lessons here. That was great because I had already done them once that day! What was different at this school was I would be eating kyushoku (school lunch) here. Kyushoku is made by the school and costs 250 yen. The teachers and students eat the same thing. In Japanese custom, you MUST finish ALL of your food. This would be a challenge for me being that I stop eating when I'm full. But by the time lunch came around, I was starving!! It is common to eat lunch with the students, if invited, but at this school it seemed like all the teachers ate together in the teacher's room. For lunch I was served a bowl of rice with salmon and tofu mixed in it, a fried chicken type thing, a bowl of soup and a small jar of milk. Before eating though, you say "itadakimasu" which means "I receive" as a way of being grateful and invited your friends or coworkers to eat too. Everything about lunch was great. The food was yummy and thankfully Japanese rice is a bit stickier than the rice I'm use to, so it made using chopsticks much easier. There was one down side about kyushoku, the milk. I know what milk taste like (or so I think) and this....this was difficult. I'm not sure if it was because it came straight out of a cow or what but it had such a strong taste and tasted of eggs. Blah. I nearly threw up. But being how that would be incredibly rude, I prayed to God to keep my food down and downed every last bit of it. So remember how I said you have to finish every last thing in your bowl? Well you do. I was SO full but struggled to eat everything. When you are done, you stack you bowls and milk jar up to be taken to be cleaned and when I brought my stuff over to be stacked, EVERYONE's dishes were wiped clean of food or soup or anything! How do these little people fit all this food in?? Anyways, I was thankful for the food and even the gross milk. It was all part of the experience I was lucky to be in.

I had my last class end around 3 that day but I know my company told me that work didn't end until 5pm and the students had already left by 4 pm. What was I suppose to do? I soon found out, by observation, that the teachers all stay after until at least 5 to do work and prepare for the next day. Even though I didn't have much to prepare, I had to stay too and just reworked my lesson plan according to how it went that day. After 5 pm hit, my eyes were dying to find a bed as the late night on Wednesday preparing was catching up to me. I had made it home and was SO glad I made it through my first day!

Today was my second day of teaching, also at an elementary school but different from where I was Thursday. Today was a little different in that I would be teaching FIVE classes, all 6th graders. Again, I was nervous but I heard with many classes the day goes by faster so I was hopeful in that. Again, the same process when I got to this school, exchanging of the shoes, meeting the kyoto sensei with kocho sensei, being shown my desk and giving my speech to the whole teacher body. This school was bigger though so the teacher's room was much more filled. Nervous but after my speech the kocho sensei asked how long I had been in Japan. With my response of three weeks, he was shocked at how well I spoke Japanese. Go me!

I taught my five lessons in the English Room. Some schools have this where it is just a large room with floor space. I figured it would give the kids more freedom and feel less restricted. My five classes actually went pretty well. With my revisions and mental preparation from the day prior and that morning (cause I have first period free), I felt that with each class my lessons became smoother. What I noticed the most from 6th grade students are that the boys have lots of energy and are most active while the girls are more shy and slow to speak or be heard. The teachers were all nice but it was easy to tell how the classes were going to be based on how the teacher was. Like if a teacher seemed really uptight and strict, their class was really restrictive and serious. If the teacher was more goofy and silly, the class was much more relaxed (which is preferred).

I also had kyushoku at this school, unexpectedly so. It wasn't on my schedule to have lunch there but when it was lunch hour and I saw them preparing it in the teacher's room, I wondered if I was getting one. I had brought my lunch because I thought I wasn't but wouldn't say no to kyushoku....that milk though. As I saw them put the milk on my desk, my stomach cringed a little and I said a prayer to help me down it once more. I was asked if I wanted to eat lunch with the students. Of course I said yes! I hear that it is really rewarding and a great experience. Plus anything beats sitting in the teacher's room not understanding much and practically eating alone.

I think kyushoku on Friday was my favorite part so far. When I got my lunch and was walked up to the class room in which I would be having lunch, it turned out it was the 6th grade class that was most vibrant and relaxed. They also had the most care free teacher and it just showed in his energy. So I was really happy! They cleared a desk for me (students eat in their class room, there is no such thing as cafeteria) and I spent the next thirty minutes observing and eating my lunch of meat and veggies soup, a little sausage with ketchup and cabbage, half a peach, and a thing of bread....o yeah, and milk. The milk today was surprisingly not as strong. Thank God! What was more interesting was just watching the kids. From my observation, the children (dressed in the cutest outfits) go take a large pot and crates down to the kitchen area to fill up and bring up to their specific classrooms. Then they serve out a serving for their fellow classmates. So each class room has a designated window to fill up their pots and bring it back to serve eachother. The unity and team work was amazing! And all done by students too. During my lunch, I tried to converse with the students around me. Some were really responsive and some just spoke Japanese. One girl came and introduced herself to me, Kana. She was very sweet and seemed like she wanted to talk but was shy. The girl next to me, Riko, was very smart and knew a handful of English. Also teaching me that bread is "pan" and milk is "miruku."

As I finished my day there, I spent the last couple hours till five practicing katakana (Japanese) and writing down some observations I wanted to share....

(Sorry I know the post is long without pictures....cause I'm not allowed to take any..but stick with me!)

• Kyushoku (school lunch): is served by the children for the children, must be finished completely, you cannot start until everyone has their food and everyone says "Itadakimasu"...all of this just teaches the children of the importance of food, where it comes from, how it is served, how it is received and the importance of equality.

• Cleanliness: you must wear different shoes for outside and inside the school (even when you go to the bathroom you must put bathroom slippers on), when you go into some class rooms you must take your shoes off all together, there is a period in the day that is meant for cleaning where all the students get a rag, bucket, mop, broom or something to help clean the school...all of this just really reinforced the importance of cleanliness at school and to teach the children that in their every lives.

• Equality: all the students wear uniforms, down to the shoes they wear in the school and to the field, they all look the same. At my Friday school, all the kids' indoor shoes looked like while canvas mary-janes with a red rubber sole..even the boys, so cute! Also the "special education" children are in the same class rooms with the other students. They sometimes have an aid that is always with them but for the most part, the are integrated into a normal class and is received with love by fellow students and teachers. I just put an emphasis on this because based on when I went to school, the special needs kids were also separated from everyone else. So a notable difference.

• Respect: every time a student entered or exited the teacher's room, they would enter with a proper greeting as well as farewell...this is actually true about the teachers too.

• Extras: Japanese kids look super cute in their uniforms and back packs and yellow bucket hats (kids as in like 7 and under haha), flowers seem to be important as they had them planted in pots with labels (as for students) and around the school, the unity of the students and teachers seemed at ease :)

So fun stuff the first two days at the elementary schools! Next week I've got five days at a junior high! AHHHH I'm nervous about that just because the kids are older...I'm not sure how this will go but hopefully amazing!!

Thanks for reading till the end! I really do appreciate it!!


xxx