phonemes and sight words and crafts, oh my!

Okay, so this blog will be dedicated to what I said it would be at the outset--my misadventures in English teaching in Japan.

TEACHING HIGHLIGHT
The Japanese school year ends in March so on Wednesday, my class had a graduation party. Teachers were presented with a flowers and a photo album of personalized scrap book pages from parents and children. I loved the album! It was AWESOME! Yes, I cried even though I've only been with these kids for three months.

POSITIVE
The company I work for has a great system and curriculum and they are growing rapidly. Each class has a Native English teacher and Japanese teacher. Everyone speaks English to the children but Japanese staff communicate with parents (most of whom do not speak English). Japanese staff are experienced, certified, ECE teachers. They are also bilingual (albeit their proficiency levels differ). This school is one of the top three as far as salary but an even bigger perks is all the paid vacation. I get weekends, national holidays, and school year breaks off. Work hours are Monday - Friday 9:30-6:00 (with one unpaid lunch hour). This affords me a normal life as opposed to most English conversation schools (eikaiwa) that keep some holiday, evening, weekend, and varying shift hours.

DRAMA
While I was processing visa paperwork in November, another Native English speaker was given the position I was offered and she basically was not up to par. She was frequently ill and thus unable to form a strong relationship with her Japanese partner or the parents. I returned and trained under them to eventually take over. Trying to learn from people with a strained relationship sucked. Things experienced included lying, manipulating, backbiting, pity parties. Unbelievable. I had to participate in owner-parent meetings, extra parent observation days, and was somehow supposed to win these angry mothers over with my non-Japanese communication. No one quit so I guess I won. To date, I have only worked 90 days and had one formal training session. Everything I have been doing has been based on watching other teachers (4 days worth) and personal trial and error. Needless to say, the hugs and giggles from the toddlers have kept me sane.

PROFESSIONAL
As I teach, I think a lot about language development, toddler development, child communication and my own Japanese study (or lack thereof), but most of all I think about my mom. Because Japan is still basically a proponent of language immersion, I wonder how much more could be accomplished with a completely bilingual approach. I also find myself being a little too skeptical. This is throwback from my library days. Nepotism, office politics, micromanagement, racial discrimination...I need to physically leave the building and regroup when I find myself obsessing over these incidents. I don't know why I am always shocked to discover that these things happen, even in Japan. It's all about cultural sensitivity and relaxing, but you know how hard that is for me!

ASSESSMENT
I won't make an assessment until I am closer to my one year mark. I will be teaching the same children as they move to the next level, but my Japanese partner is changing job positions. My new partner taught this level last year, but her Native partner was bilingual (they communicated only in Japanese at work) so I worry about the change for her. I am learning a lot about my communication style and what is really important to communicate in any given situation.

IMPROVEMENT AREAS
Crafting with rudimenatry tools: construction paper, a scissors, tape (scotch and packing width...oooOOooohhh!), glue stick, fabric, pens....oh, and my laminator (YAH!)
Crafting style: more layers and microscopic details
Crafting speed: three displays or games per day
Crafting safety: fighting the urge to stab my neck with blunt scissors whilst laminating my lips.

LANGUAGE BARRIER OR CULTURAL BRIDGE? Ask Tet.
What do you think about my job?
Your job is far...far....far....so far...far. Yah. For example, if I finish work early 630, I am home at 7, but you? You don't get home soon. Sorry, I don't know about your job, but I worry about you because you have a stress. So you can't speak Japanese. Your company companions speak only Japanese, so you are lonely, so you have a stress. So I worry about you. But you likes kids. And kids likes Margaret. So it's better. Right?
How do you know kids like me?
Because you are talking about (-imitating my imitations of the children - ) "Margaret, Margaret!" so you are exciting. And your job is big money. So Margaret is rich. Every month, post office sending nijusanman (230,000) yen and you pay water and electric and sometimes is go to club, so you are rich. Yah, difference me.
ME: ---Yes, but I have to wipe poop every day. --
Tet: silence
Do you think I should quit my job?
If you is quick your job, who is pay your sub-prime loan? Me? If I must pay your sub-prime loan, I can only pay ichiman (10,000) one month. How many years finish? 100 years? 200 years?
Do you think I should open an English school of my own?
If you have many customer, it's okay. But if you have customer zero, it's dangerous because you have many deposit (debts). So if you will do school, rental room, is a something, I think you finish deposit--sub-prime loan, credit card loan, home loan, you have many. I don't know your deposit.
Lesson: Relax, transfer to a closer job location, pay off your debts before starting up a business and have a strong marketing plan. PS You drink too much.

aging gracefully, being an adult, and working with kids...WTF?

MIND - So as I think about my 35th birthday and the "goals" I have created (or rather burdened myself with) regarding that date, I find myself trying to decipher adulthood.

Am I still in the young adult phase because I love hip hop? No, seriously, hear me out. I was in college when hip hop exploded on the scene, and it hasn't really left the night club play list...so as I go out and find younger friends in Japan, inevitably we drink the night away to hip hop. There is something very surreal about 20-somethings singing to Biggie and Mary. Of course, I use my usual, "I had pubes/permanent teeth/was potty trained when you were just born" line a lot here in Japan. Never mind that these kids probably know more hip hop history than I do!

Is it because I'm not married and/or a mother? Quite possibly. I always tell my sisters that unlike them, I have no living, breathing person reminding me of the passage of time or lifelong responsibilities of parenthood AKA adulthood. Even when I had dogs (which btw, I VERY STRONGLY do not think of as children/babies/people), those turds never grew/aged/or got potty trained, so we were in this weird time warp together. lol.

Maybe it's because I'm the middle child in my family. I've been the youngest (to two older sisters) and oldest (to two younger siblings) and aunty (to six awesome kids) all at the same time. The names used to taunt me as a youth have paid off since. I am Forever the Queen of the Milk (prep chef), Queen of the Loft (lone traveler), and Rachel's/Tee's sister (personal assistant/party pal extra-whore-dinaire).

At the end of the day, my mother's words ring true, as they almost always do with me. "Marge, you are on your own journey and the time for you to do certain things will come." She usually segues into spiritual reminders after this kind of intro...so I will "segue" into the body portion of my blog. :)

BODY - HELP! My neck is wrinkling! This is the real reason 35 is stirring up such a rebellion! I mean, heck, I've been hiding the "snake" since college so I have come to accept this genetic curse (okay, okay, BC pills and nicotine have not helped). I can wear pants, suntan, put make-up on it if I really care. As for the saggy boobs, there are some awesome bras with the latest and greatest technology to help remedy that. I can even wear body stockings or special tops to camouflage the little gut. But what, now I gotta start wearing scarves? baubled necklaces? turtlenecks? COME ON! I should just be grateful for the healthy body, right? Okay, but if you have any secrets for neck wrinkles, let me know!

SPIRIT - Feeling like a breakthrough is coming on. Must be Spring Fever.

LANGUAGE BARRIER OR CULTURAL BRIDGE? Ask Tet.
(My Valentine's Day Chocolate....usually women give chocolate to men on Feb 14 and men reciprocate on Mar 14 "White Day")

What do you think about marriage?

I don't know, I never marriage. Marriage equal human people can't live alone. So human usually is independent and makes family. And child have a grandchild. Grandchild want grand grandchild. This is history. This is human's instinct, I think. right? So same eating, same sex, same sleeping. So same marriage. You will marriage me future. (I get this stressed look on my face.) Don't (he copies my expression). I don't like your deep thinking. It's not good. Baby? Why you write this? My English isn't good enough. So your family is reading? Sh!t. This is a little inside joking. So please writing PS.

PS Today we talk about instinct because today's Margaret super drunk. Wake up, eating too much, and s*x too much, and sleeping too much. And wake up, eating. It was...dangerous.

alcohol balls, japanese hay fever, and office politics.

MIND - My friend just returned from Australia and as I was walking her to the station after a great dinner, two drunk men approached us and started talking away in Japanese sprinkled with English. Of course, we were "beautiful." Never mind I was wearing my work outfit which makes me look like a burglar. Hey, it's still cold here! They asked general introductory questions, "Why are you come here to Japan?" "Where are you from?" "Do you know Osaka #1 food?" And they invited us to a bar I have seen many times on my way home. My friend looked scared and said she had to go home, but if she was willing, I would've shot the shit with them for sure! Heck, my single word Japanese would be harder for them to decipher probably. To alcohol balls---helping people overcome fears and build friendships.

BODY - Japanese hay fever symptoms include a night time cough, yellow/green phlegm, and sore throat. I went back to my doctor who had a sub doctor filling in and I was told (after much deliberation and quizzical looks) that I had "phlegmingitis." Yah, that's what I said. Maybe he meant laryngitis? I don't know, but hey, he was giving me drugs. A company employee happened to be in the receiving room and was recruited by the nurse to explain my prescription med dosages. Two medications were for symptoms I specifically said I didn't have. I was told it was a "set" so I couldn't refuse part of it. Was I at McDonald's?

Tetsuya explained it this way. "It's Japanese style. You don't have now, but maybe later, yes, you having headache and fever. So you take all, okay?" A bilingual coworker of mine graciously shared her insurance covered meds for allergies (we have been having parallel illnesses for the past three weeks). Meanwhile I will start wearing the mask and if I feel adventurous, I might even spring for the plug/mask "set".

SPIRIT - As I was cutting the one hundredth and something magnet for a craft idea gone wrong, I started brooding over things that I didn't like. It's so amazing how quickly thoughts start a revolution up in your head while crafting. Anyway, I had a flashback of my library days and every time that comes up, I have to go through a mental process of literally bringing myself down from that negativity. I had to 1) let myself be angry for a little while 2) accept the situation that is and 3) drive myself to use my time more wisely so that I don't obsess over the work part of my life. Easier said than done, right? It's funny how much thicker the manual of "unwritten" policies is than the real policy manual. I need to do something independently.

LANGUAGE BARRIER OR CULTURAL BRIDGE?

ASK TET: What do you think about the state of the global economy right now?

Before, I think, my image America is working hard people is get more big money. Yah. Then recession. Now I know only high ranking peoples have many moneys. So, bull$hit America. Same Japan. After second war, Japan thinking is America is best. But GHQ education is loser thinking. So America is strong, but Japan government is like child. Politician say "Mmm, I don't know this way or this way." So no change. But America is fast! Obama is "Don, Don, Don" is change. Yah. And I vote for Obama too because you don't know Fedex location. (He took me to mail my absentee ballot.)

What do you think about foreigners who live in Japan?

My thinking is good things. Japanese basement (foundation) is only Japanese thinking. America long time ago is Black, White, Europa, I don't know. But now, America is many: Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, many cultures. America is mix. So thinking is many cultures. Foreign people in Japan is good because my thinking is....(hand gestures for expanding). But my thinking is different.