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.