I’m not going to lie to you, readers, and say that I didn’t have certain reservations about the new school year. I was utterly blindsided when I saw the amount of changes that occurred at my schools over haru yasumi (spring vacation). We’re talking new vice principals at BOTH schools, two new English teachers at one, and a whopping 13 teachers transferring and being replaced.
For those of you who don’t know the way Japanese schools work when it comes to teachers – teachers aren’t hired by the school, but by the Board of Education. In my prefecture, the BOE places teachers at a school for a three year term. As far as I know, the teachers don’t really have much say in where they are placed. At the end of those three years, the teacher can either request to stay at the school for another term or will be transferred to a new location. This means that there is a constantly cycling in and out of teachers every year.
I walked into the teacher’s room at the beginning of this month thinking that I was a seasoned ALT veteran who knew exactly what to expect and how things operated only to be bitch slapped back into my rightful role as wide-eyed gaijin newbie. Strangely enough, I think the hardest thing for me to psychologically comprehend was that my desk had been moved at both schools. This might seem silly, but desk placements in Japanese offices follow very visible hierarchical rules. At one school, I cheerfully walked into work to see that I had received a demotion. Before, my desk had (rightfully) been at the very lowest rung of the totem pole – but it was still connected to the rest of the other teachers’ desks, so I still felt included. Now, I’ve been quarantined at an isolated desk that is wedged into between the printers, public-use computer, and working timecards. I’m fairly certain that if a broom closet had been available they would have stuck me in there. Unfortunately, all the broom closets are being used, so they’re still going to need to see Whitey everyday (the worst part of this new desk placement is actually that I now have a very clear view of Spider Solitaire Sensei when he decides to play Spider Solitaire on the computer. The clicking, dear god, the clicking!). [Please read the above paragraph with a healthy edge of perky sarcasm, I’m not being mean here!]
Feeling pretty dejected about my demotion, I walked into the other school expecting the worst…only to see that at this school I had actually been promoted up a few rungs in the office desk hierarchy. I am now securely wedged in between another English teacher and the new music teacher. So, I guess the demotion and the promotion actually cancel each other out and I have the exact same standing that I enjoyed last year.
But, I can now officially say that I am absolutely stoked about the new school year. Not only are the ichinensei (first year students) that I had last year no longer afraid of me, but the new ichinensei in both schools are a group of extremely happy and fun kids who actually WANT to participate in English class! Even if they aren’t particularly thrilled about English, they are willing to put in some effort and have fun in class.
The one student who instantly earned my affection though is a young boy who jokingly told me that his nickname is Sukebe-kun (‘sukebe’ is the Japanese word for pervert or dirty old man, ‘kun’ is a suffix that is commonly used for guys by their friends or teachers). “Please call me Sukebe.” He was pretty shocked to discover that I actually know what that word means (his friends totally flipped and laughed at him) and he’s definitely earned a nickname that will stick.
The class that always blows me away and is always my favorite class is the sannensei (third year) Advanced English Communication Class. This class is offered as an elective, so the kids are in it on an entirely voluntary basis. Last year, there were only three boy students in the class, this year there are three boys and one girl. They are all super intelligent kids and have a serious determination to learn English. Two of the boys are members of the yakyuu-bu (baseball team) AKA The Coolest Boys in School. I’m going to write a separate post about Boys in the Yakyuu-bu, so right now I’ll just say that these boys have a certain air of confidence and bravado about them. Here on this blog, I’ll call these two boys Shaved Eyebrow-kun (because he shaves his eyebrows very thin, something that is very common among young Japanese guys) and Ikemen-kun (ikemen is the Japanese word for ‘hunk.’ During last year’s natsu matsuri (Summer Festival), I caught two Japanese housewives oogling this boy and calling him ikemen.)
During today’s jiko shoukai, Ikemen-kun informed me, “Shaved Eyebrow-kun is my teammate. But today he is being shy boy.”
Absolutely endearing, even though hearing the term ‘shy boy’ applied to anyone over the age of 5 makes me think of serial killers. =P
Ikemen-kun also told me that he wants to move to New York City and ‘be like Derek Jeter.’ That might not strike you as super interesting, but here in inaka-ville it’s highly unusual to meet someone who wants to move abroad. I’m sooo excited and lucky to get to teach in a class full of fantastic students like this!
Needless to say, I’m an unbelievably excited about the 2010-2011 school year! JET is definitely something that takes some getting used to. If you can learn how to adapt to the surprises that unexpectedly pop up during your time in Japan, JET is definitely one of those programs that keeps getting better the longer you do it.
filmranger
Constantine,
Glad to know you`ll still be around for a while.
Don`t see them moving your desk as a slight – very often Japanese will do things without asking or telling you, thinking its a way of showing you favour and we often misread the intentions. For example – if you use the shared computer or the printer quite often, they may have moved you closer to those facilities as a way of showing you that they appreciate the extra work you do – a way of implicitly giving you carte blanche to use those things as freely as you want. Converesely, if you don`t often use those machines, preferring to photocopy at your expense in 7-11, they may have noticed and are making an invitation (or implied instruction) to use those machines more frequently.
As a foreigner, we often read `culture` into a lot of gestures, which often in the end actually are not about culture or foreigness at all.
Its fairly rare for a Japanese person or company, to do something that would be an overt or deliberate snub, as there would be loss of face on your part and potential further discomfort, and one thing that Japanese tend to avoid is discomfort. Rather, if they were unhappy with you, they would have told you you were doing a great job to your face, but then would have asked JET or the school board to move you to another school.
I was working in one college where all foreign teachers were sequestered into one office and Japanese teachers into another. We all got paranoid, feeling like we were being left out as somehow inferior teachers, but it turned out it was actually because the boss didn`t trust that his Japanese staff were working hard enough without his constant supervision, and he wanted THEM in earshot. It wasn`t about US at all!
constantineintokyo
Haha, yes, I know what you mean. After thinking about it for a few minutes, I reached a similar conclusion – that it really wasn’t meant as a slight and that my desk had just be rearranged. Not a big deal at all. BUT my initial reaction was definitely funnier, so I decided to recreate it here in this post…for my own entertainment as well as yours. π
Joe
Interesting and funny.
constantineintokyo
Thanks!
karen
I love your writing style! Keep your sense of humour and you can conquer the world… hehe
constantineintokyo
And I plan to!…Take over the world, that is. =)
Taro
It sounds like you will be having a great show !!
Your student crack me up.
constantineintokyo
Yeah, my students crack me up too! I really think this year’s batch of kids will be tons of fun!
Nessa
Hee! I just wrote about being so excited to meet my class and reading this post makes me more so!
I actually had a question for you: so few JETS get a city post and you got TOKYO! How?! Luck of the draw?
constantineintokyo
In Tokyo, there are only 9 JETs. Of those 9, four of us are placed on islands in the Izu island chain, which are volcanic islands off the coast of Tokyo that are administered by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. So, out of roughly 5,000 JETs, only 9 get placed in Tokyo-to.
City placements aren’t very common in JET, chances are you’re going to get a rural placement. This is because its cheaper for schools in large cities to just hire part-time ALTs from private countries rather than full-time JETs. But, some JET placements are within a reasonable commuting distance, so you can go to the city on the weekends, which is what I sometimes do.