Shannon here. And first off, nice one Japarkansas on that last post. I jest when I say "I will only blog at work because I'm getting paid," but really... I'm not joking and apparently can't find the time to blog at all. What Erin didn't mention in the last post was how she and I have been spending a majority of our time outside of work, which also happens to be a LIFE RESOLUTION that I haven't had the time, money, or determination to accomplish until now. And that, dear readers, is the resolution to be HEALTHY.
Since working two jobs through college, working the closing night shifts at a delicious Italian restaurant no less, and always skimming by with money/debt, I have never had the resources to eat fresh food, time to cook fresh food, and never had a regular schedule. Eating dinner meant at eating at the restaurant after close (midnight, or Jack in the Box at 3 am? Either or...) and if it was cheap or free, I definitely ate it. So therefore, I went from a Size 2 to a Size 6 between my sophomore and senior years of college. Everyone said, "Ohh, don't worry! You're moving to Japan! You'll lose SO MUCH WEIGHT in Japan!" But really, oh Western world, you need to be exposed to the reality behind Japanese food. Yeah, if you have a 90 year old obaachan or a Japanese mother cooking for you every day, you might be healthy. But school lunch and every thing else comes on a King sized bed of rice, everything is fried, and most likely coated in an unrecognizable layer of mayonnaise.
Long story short, Erin and I have been taking on the GYM. And I LOVE it. Not all of you know or care, but something I have coined The Iron Curtain has come down upon my life since August. This so-called Iron Curtain (which also has a handshake for friendship encouragement purposes) has turned me into an anti-social, money-saving, health enthusiast and honestly, I have never felt better. I wanted to be unswervingly determined in my personal goals, especially since I was pretty unsatisfied with my decision to stay in Japan for a 3rd year. With the help of Erin and Jess, I am really taking down my goals one by one. I have never felt so productive and clearheaded about what I want and how I am going to attain these things. Well, cheers to that.
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What I really meant to write about was a piece of paper I have been staring at on my desk ALL DAY. Every fall, the ALTs in our area must watch a demonstration lesson, write essays about various topics, and discuss (with other Japanese teachers of English) what can be improved as a whole or how ALTs can be utilized. This all sounds dreamy and wonderful, but what I have learned in the last two years is that nothing can be changed. I know I might sound pessimistic and/or hopeless, but I have come to realize a few truths about hierarchy in Japan and ALT effectiveness.
This year, we will watch an elementary school demonstration. Starting in April 2011, 5th and 6th grade elementary school homeroom teachers will be forced to teach English out of a textbook. Keep in mind that there are some highly motivated homeroom teachers, a majority who cannot speak English, and a slim percentage who hate English. Our essay topics this year are as follows: (there will be two separate groups, one for elementary school and one for junior high respectively)
1.) Theme: (elementary level) Effective examples of chants, games, and communication activities in order to help pupils become familiar with English and foster a positive attitude toward communication.
(junior high level) Examples of language activities in junior high school considering what was formed or learned through foreign language activities in elementary schools.
2.) How to use ALTs effectively in foreign language activities.
My frustration with these essay topics are two-pronged.
Prong 1: There is a massive disconnect between elementary English education and junior high school English education. I am talking MASSIVE disconnect. Elementary school activities rely on music, chanting, games, conversation, and very little written work or reading. In fact, I have tried to introduce fun written/reading work and have been shot down because the students "don't know how to read or write." That is elementary school. We have fun, we have English conversation, we play games and learn words. Junior high school takes what you learned in elementary school and retards it. Literally retards it. The elementary school students come into junior high with a moderately high conversation ability. Yet, the first 3 months of English class in junior high school takes them back to 3rd grade and they must learn the ABCs and "Hello, my name is ___. Nice to meet you" for months. It HAMMERS and HAMMERS and HAMMERS them until they gradually are reinforced with the idea that THAT IS ALL YOU KNOW. I can ask them a question I asked them for two years straight at elementary school, they will come into junior high and act like they've never heard that question before. Way to hammer out the knowledge. Repetition, boredom, they lose confidence in all their abilities because there is NO CONNECT.
Prong 2: (Regarding junior high schools) In order to use an ALT effectively, one must have an effective Japanese teacher of English. (*JTE) The A in ALT stands for assistant. That is something none of us forget. I have worked with a fair share of JTE teachers by now, ranging from spectacular to so horrible I wish to go back to America every day. But ALTs are forced by our Assistant position to only be as effective as the JTE will allow us. In junior high school, we generally have no control over the lesson plan, content, discipline of the class, basically we have no control except "Repeat after me," checking worksheets, and making funny faces during class. I could go on for hours on this, but my point remains: if you want effective ALTs in class, you must have effective JTEs in class. It's really as simple as that. Train the JTEs to incorporate ALTs into the lesson material, and your students will probably be 60% more attentive in class. Why does everybody focus on the ineffectiveness of the ALT when we are controlled literally 99% entirely by our junior high school JTEs. (generally speaking in Uki City) Everyone was commenting on Facebook on recent news articles about the JET Programme getting the ax from MEXT (Japanese Ministry of Education, Sports, etc etc) but really, let's look at this again. ASSISTANT language teacher. Japanese teachers of English who work as homeroom teachers, sports coaches, student advisors, ALT advisors, English teachers, the list goes on. Why don't you restructure the way JTEs work so that ALTs can be of more assistance and therein be more effective? This is one of the most handicapped and stunted work environments I have ever experienced. Yeah, I said it.
And there you have it. My obvious levels of job satisfaction make me nervous to post this, but these are all the frustrations that float through my mind as I try to write a positive essay. These are things I could NEVER EVER voice to my superiors, co workers, or peers. It's just not done in Japan. Feeding the cycle. The wisest words I ever heard about Japanese English edcuation was "For every 3 steps forward Japanese English education takes, it takes 10 steps back."
I hope you know that there are in fact many things about this job that I do enjoy- certain schools, elementary school as a whole, but there are just such looming problems that cannot be fixed on a large scale level and it makes everything feel worthless sometimes. Some days it feels like I am throwing rocks into the ocean, but somedays it feels like I floating on top of the ocean? I am sure other teachers have felt the same before, but getting through the bureaucratic aspects are so frustrating.
Anyway, that is that. In all open honesty.
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