June 17, 2008
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Bad Day!
The title is self-explanatory. I got up today. I have a cold. It’s bloody hot here. I knew today wasn’t gonna be smiles and sunshine…
Points of contention, the first: I was told last week I’d be teaching alone today. This is not entirely kosher, by and large. I ran it by my office and they told me that no, it shouldn’t happen… but it was up to me. Up for the challenge I said I was good with it. I know Robin does it regularly and figured, well, if I ever wanted to become the 3rd generation teacher I sometimes seemed tipped for I could do with the experience. My subjects were 6th grade elementary, so about 11-12 years old. Basically I asked them to form groups. They did. OK. But…. the groups weren’t evenly matched (6 kids in 1, 4 in another, etc.) The reason for this imbalance; they had opted for gender apartheid. it’s not that unusual, I know, at that age. I admit I lose patience with this kinda immaturity. These kids have been together for the past 5 years. They know each other. They no doubt used to play together and hell and they will soon, in a year or 2, want to “play” together, if ya smell what The Rock is cookin’? But they wasted over half the class ignoring and/or whining about my instructions. I even explained the rules and why they had to form even groups, that it would not be fair if they all didn’t do it. I then tried to organise them by number (since Japanese school kids all have a class number.) Still, no dice! 1 or 2 kids lectured the others about wasting time and to hurry up but by and large we got about 3 minutes of 1 activity in. Remarkably I myself remained quite calm through all this, just reminding them they were wasting time. But, irritating immaturities aside, I was peeved because this has happened before but, with the homeroom teacher there, they have solved their “boys/girls have cooties” issue within 2 minutes! (Whatever ‘cooties’ are, I’ve never known….?) It was this that reminded me I have basically no power to discipline, am always supposed to stay nice and friendly, etc, etc. This is why the ALT is not supposed to teach alone. Sure, if you have a remarkably good class and/or actually have the power to be a hard-ass, fine. But technically we don’t. Therefore the HRT is necessary to get them in order. This leads me to…
Point of contention, the second: The HRT did talk to me later, thanked me, but when I explained the situation that had gone down she, well, she said they “couldn’t” form mixed gender groups. She said dekinai. Now, to me, dekinai means “can’t do.” It is not possible. It is possible. The issue is not that they couldn’t but they wouldn’t. This is a pretty serious leap now but today was the proverbial straw proverbially breaking the proverbial camel’s proverbial back. I get so fucking pissed about the discipline (or lack thereof) in Japanese schools!!! Now immature elementary kids whining that they have to sit with the boys/girls is a far, far cry from Jeremy’s experiences. I am not comparing the 2 in terms of gravitas. But this stuff happens in other classes too, even with teachers around. Kids whine and make a fuss and they are accommodated. At the light, fluffy end of the spectrum you have this. At the heavy, spiky end it’s kids riding scooters through schools, bringing in knives and air-guns, assaulting teachers and falling through roofs, as recounted by Jeremy! Most teachers just don’t do anything serious about kids being brats in elementary and then juvenile offenders in JHS. What. The. Fuck?
Point of contention, the third: I suck at Japanese. OK, that is not up to other people. The problem I have is two-fold. One is that the majority of teachers who don’t speak English will assume I am fluent and speak to me at a speed and complexity level that, if I visited the equivalent level of speed and complexity on my JHS JTEs, they would understand about as much as, well, I understand after these encounters. My JTEs at junior high have been studying English longer than I have been alive! My JHS kocho-sensei is pretty much a fluent speaker of English and very eloquent with it, but he admitted that, when Paul visited (Paul, having little experience speaking to non-native English speakers and possessing a mild Lancashire accent,) he caught only 50% or so of what Paul said. I am not fluent. I would like to be but I’m not. I have 4 years of uni, a few repeated years of basic grammar courses and a total about 20 months in Japan under my belt. It’s reasonable and I should definitely be way better than I am but my belonging in the Japanese special class is besides the point. The point is non-native speakers generally need an amount of consideration. I always try to give it and it has been gratefully noted by many of the Japanese I speak to. Some of the non-English speaking Japanese at my schools afford me this and guess what, they are the one’s I communicate best with and get on best with! Another thing; I’m sick of studying useless vocab! Why is it that the stuff I learn for nikyu and ikkyu is totally useless?
….. but, I have to admit, it was not all bad. Generally the pain-in-the-ass kids aren’t so bad, really. Just immature or stroppy or both. And there are plenty of kids who make the days fun! I definitely think I’m better suited for junior high but the elementary kids are good fun, usually. OK. I just wanted to vent today. That is all.
“Before I close my eyes I’m gonna give it up…”
Comments (12)
(this is matt. just realized dani is still signed in)
sorry, debido. i’ve never had to teach a class without the JTE there, but i might as well have on a few occasions. anyway, i feel your pain. i think you have the sympathy of all us ALT kids. discipline in japanese classrooms is definitely the biggest issue for most of us. after that is communication with coworkers.
reading this and thinking about some stuff from both today (melissa had a bad day) and yesterday (i had a bad day), it seems that the lesson as of late is that we all just need to vent sometimes. hope you’re feeling better now. sleeping did me a lot of good. that and slaying thousands of foot soldiers.
Hey there Dave, long time no comment. Anywho, you are lucky in some respects. I often wish the kids I teach had an actual ‘school’ environment in my classrooms at GEOS (I have my classroom and a separate kids’ room). They don’t come in uniform of course, they don’t feel the atmosphere of learning that is necessary for them to get their heads in a textbook, and most of all it is very difficult for me to impress on these kids that I’m a teacher and not a playmate.
Today I’m gonna be having my regular Wednesday 50-minute class with four terrors from Hell. Three are six, one is seven, and I’ll be lucky if I can get them to answer, ‘How are you?’. But it seems that this is pretty normal for younger kids at GEOS, however much the manager is amazed at just how out of control these kids are. (One of them comes in with his mother every week and the first thing he says to me is, ‘AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!’… every time)
Really, I shouldn’t have to be a disciplinarian either, but I did have to really scold a couple of students a few months ago in Japanese (nerve-wracking since you know they’ll laugh it off if you make a mistake). Now they’re generally on their best behaviour. I wish I could do it with the larger class.
I have seriously considered buying a whistle and doing a Kindergarten Cop in this school.
I want to say, ‘Don’t let it get you down.’ but I couldn’t actually manage that, I have been genuinely angry with these kids before. I guess if I could give an idea or two it would be these; kids respond to visual things and time limits. If I had been in your position above I would have put their classroom numbers in circles on the board (symbolising groups) and then started counting loudly backwards from ten. It works surprisingly well. The other thing, I guess, is competition, but I think you know that judging by that wizard-duelling lesson idea you laid out for me and Jeremy after the new year.
If all else fails… summon a Clannfear and run away?
Just a quick comment….
Cooties = U.S. slang word for “Germs”… as i am told by my other half…
like getting the lurgie…. or having to sit next to Donna “nits” in middle school… if you ever had the misfortune….
Yay! Summon Dierdr.. I mean.. Daedroth and run?
But I fell for you, Dave, because I myself think I would have been better suited for Middle School. The major problem I have is not with the kids (I play with them during recess, so most of them like me), though some can be hard to deal with. I also do the countdown thing, and it works mostly, but if they really dont listen you should just keep your cool and tell them that they have a choice. They can make groups and play fun games, OR they can waste time and have a boring/useless class. You can always get personal and call them by name and tell them to join team X.
But yeah.. last semester I had to prepare and teach a whole class by myself, and it was a flop. I overestimated their knowledge, did quizzes that required reflection, etc…
But the biggest problem is the teachers.. They all assumed I was super fluent with Japanese, when all I am fluent with is Japanese use in Nomi-kais (Thank you, Kendo Club!
). So I always recieve heaps of papers in japanese on my desk of school news, invitations to seminars or presentations in japanese for japanese teachers, etc. and get invited (read forced to attend) meetings, conferences, etc. When 99% has nothing to do with me, I dont understand what is being said and nothing is being made to facilitate my understanding. When I started I attended, telling myself at least I’ll be training my ears.. but in the end, it just made me lose confidence in my Japanese, and I kinda… ODed. Where a kanji had been this interesting sign to decypher and learn, now I just kinda give up instinctively when I see them… And I have the impression that even my spoken Japanese has gotten worse.
it dosent help that my base school has this special english program (1 class per week per grade), but has a sucky curriculum that only teaches some vocab (And only once, meaning that this week they learn Colors, next week shapes, and the week after, feelings) and minor stuff without even teaching the meaning behind the words (OK.. lets all learn “I Like apples”, it means “ringo ga suki desu”).. If I try and teach the kids that I = “watashi ha”, and “like” = “suki”, Im told its dame. Bunpou is for middle school. WTF? Luckily this is changing bit by bit, especially since the new japanese assistant teacher came in (we are two assistants, if we combine, do we form a whole teacher?), but the curriculum still sucks.. The 5th graders have been doing English since 1 year, but they still cant communicate anything, and dont remember most of what theyve “learned”. Ive managed to slip some personal ideas in the “warm-up” section of class, so im planning on teaching them the question words (what, where, etc…) over the next few months (only 5 mins per class, but its better than nothing). Oh and I checked.. in the 6 years of english they have planned, the kids would only ever learn “what” and “where”, and not at the same time (so they get them mixed up all the time).
Hah, Im checking my comment, and I might as well have posted an update to my Xanga
On the bright side ive bought a killer mountain bike, so ive been doing riding through town, and ive started going to the gym.. the small, old dank, gym in Mikasa. Once a week. Better than nothing, I guess.
points 1 and 2 = LOL. Yeah. It happens. It sucks. It’s kinda funny too. Don’t let it get you down.
point 3 = you don’t suck!
That’s all
Yeah, some of this stuff I am studying for the nikyu seems rather pointless, but I know if I don’t study then it will come back to bite me in my butt. I have faith in you mr. mossmasterson! yes, that was lame, but I have the urge to be lame that I can’t resist…haha
love you man, keep the faith, I believe in you!
Could you guys all go Kindergarten Cop at your schools? Please? I’m too small and girlie, and my students will be high schoolers…
I guess you can at least be proud that you didn’t snap and try to paddle anybody!
woah, sounds like teaching kids sucks! As if they don’t discipline their kids (or at least let you guys do it). It makes no sense.
The only parallel to these experiences that I can draw is that I am running kids classes at my karate club twice a week. they range from the age of 5 up to 11. The curricullum is totally different from the adults classes, and they learn things like balance, hand-eye coordination, self defence and basic technique repetition through the use of interesting games and competitions (you ask a kid to do a punch 100 times and you’ve got a problem, but make it into a competitive game and they can’t get enough!). Anyway, it is easy within karate because of the strict discipline and hierarchy, and parents expect this (some send their beligerent kids specifically for the discipline!). It is strange that people don’t want this in a primary school, and especially in Japan…
Sensei and sempai are always the friends of the kids, letting them interact and choose games to play and promoting the fun, but they always observe strict rules like being quiet when sensei is speaking, putting up their hand before asking a question, always knowing that if they behave they will be rewarded by being allowed to play their favourite games. If rewards don’t work, their punishment is always exclusion (they have to sit out and either watch their friends play or stay in the naughty corner for a minute). It works perfectly. On the few odd occasions that a kid completely disobeys instructions and misbehaves, sensei uses his big-person voice and they learn their lesson. I think if teachers were allowed to (or, actually wanted to for that matter) discipline children, it would be far more beneficial for their learning. Dave, I think you should be allowed to use the arnie voice and yell “stop whining!” or “you lack discipline!” or “get to the chopper!”… on second thought, maybe not the last one.
i don’t envy you, teaching rambunctious youngsters. sure, i’ll play with them and get them good and wound up, but then it’s back to the responsible adults when it’s time to be quiet and follow directions. i generally try to be a patient person, but i guess when it comes to kids i just lack the knowledge and experience. i’m sure that comes with time, though. in all seriousness, i think children can smell fear or lack of confidence and they exploit any advantage you might give them. just do your best snape impression and command silence and attention with only your presence.
aren’t asian languages supposed to be the most difficult to learn (aside from english)? cut yourself a little slack. i know people who’ve lived in the u.s. for decades and they still struggle with the language. you can do it.
Yeah, I really don’t understand why discipline is so wrong in school? I mean Japanese people can be hard asses about everything else except children? They should try whooping some of those bad asses and see how quick they straighten up.
i’ll tell you what happened, but not in comments, i don’t want everyone seeing what i write.
e-mail me here
black.withered.roses@hotmail.com
Jed says cheer up, EmoDave, there are people in Australia who love you.