Rat Racing in Japan

I think it was my dad that told me once long ago that in order to get used to a new job, it will probably take about 6 weeks to get to the point where you feel like you actually know what you’re doing. It will take another six months before everything becomes routine. I can’t remember if he was the one that told me this – or if anyone ever said this at all. I remember this anecdote from when I was quite young and I can’t imagine a context in which this conversation would come up.

In any event, I am about three weeks into my new “job” – if you could call it that and it’s starting to feel more natural. I hesitate to call it a ‘job’ because it seems to go beyond any other occupation that I’ve had before. My first week of work involved being shipped off to foreign cities, making friends, eating strange foods, being orientated, setting up an apartment, and learning a language. It wasn’t until my second week of work that I was able to explore my school and meet some of the teachers – although this week was a holiday week for most teachers and so I actually spent most of this time alone in my office. I would look through textbooks, previous ALT lesson plans, study Japanese, or walk around the school grounds. Interesting enough, during summer break, club activities still happen, and are still run by teachers. There are also study classes held and many students will come to school, in uniform, and spend their day studying in an empty classroom. During this holiday week, there were still a handful of students in classrooms studying away.

In Japan, teachers don’t get the same vacations as the students and their situation is very different from North America. Teachers don’t get summers off and during Christmas/New years, there is only about a week where they don’t have to work. In general, national holidays are the only days where teachers don’t have to come to school. My first week when most teachers were away is called “Obon” week where many Japanese people go home to visit their families. Most teachers use vacation time during this week because taking time off during the school year is frowned upon – maybe even not allowed. Many teachers don’t even use all of their vacation time and many don’t ever take sick days.

Also, teachers in Japan usually work from about 7-8 in the morning and are at the school until about 7-8 in the evening. They will also quite often come in to teach classes on Saturdays.

I should clarify that my school is a senior high school as opposed to a junior high or elementary school. The difference being that the elementary and junior levels are mandatory and are public institutions. It is my understanding that senior high schools fall into the realm of private education and that it is optional. However, I think something like over 96% of Japanese students attend senior high school.

Anyway, in this last week, school is starting for its second term (the school year started back in April with the symbolic blossoming of the cherry trees). Teachers are back to work and I’ve had a chance to meet several of them informally in the halls or in the teachers office and also more formally at a teachers meeting where I gave a short speech – partially read from a piece of paper (the Japanese portion) and the other part in English (very slowly). The students’ first day was on Thursday where they had a large assembly of all 1100 or so students – where I also got up on stage and gave my introductory speech.

Thursday and Friday were again much different than the first days of school that I am used to. Before any official business happens in the school, the whole school, teachers and students, get together and clean the building/grounds. Every class has a certain portion or job that they are responsible for. I think that throughout the year, a certain amount of time each week is allotted for cleaning as well.

After cleaning the school and holding their first assembly meeting, students go straight into writing two days worth of solid exams. I haven’t asked yet what the rational is behind this; usually in Canada, we teach first and then assess. I assume that these exams are more about review and encouraging students to continue studying throughout the summer, but can’t be sure.

My days have still been fairly relaxed, but they are starting to pick up. I’ve had a few meetings with the teachers that I will be working with about lesson planning and such. I also spent about four hours on Friday marking exams from the previous day. I also help out with various English related consultations around the school. Several students from the school are entered into an English-speaking speech contest and so I’ve looked over several speeches and helped with the editing a bit. This editing has been a bit too heavy handed in my opinion, but it seems to be what everyone wants. I’ve also helped to choreograph an English skit that some students were performing in a contest this past week. Alas, they did not finish in the top three as they had hoped, but I think they did a pretty good job. I also help some of the English teachers with interpretations and inflections.

Overall, I think that the school and I are starting to warm up to each other. The teachers that I am working with are very friendly and I share an office with another English teacher who is extremely helpful. I’ve also had several students come by my office to say ‘hello’ and ‘how are you’ and ‘nice to meet you’ and several other phrases in very broken English. I have yet to see my other two schools, nor do I know how to get to them, but their school year does not begin until the end of the month.

I’ve included some photos from my office at Iwaki High school. The place is great as I get my own desk and I share couches, coffee table, fridge, microwave, sink – that kind of stuff. I’ve also got a computer set up at my desk now. It is a laptop that I found beside the couch, but the screen doesn’t work so I had a tech guy lend me a monitor to hook up to it. The keyboard also doesn’t work so I have a keyboard plugged in as well. There is also a mouse plugged into it because the computer uses an old-school knobby-mouse, which just doesn’t make much sense. The flag is the only decorating that I’ve done so far.

And yes, I have read every single one of those books behind my desk.