Graduations

Spring is here again (finally) which means graduations, parties, saying goodbye,  flowers, holidays and change. At my last visit to the big Junior High School I was given a package of letters addressed ‘to the ALTs’ from the graduating third graders, saying thank you for two years of occasional English. They ranged from ‘I enjoyed game’ to more detailed messages such as ‘thank you for teaching English and abroad culture for us. We had a good time at the ALT. I will go to foreign country and use English taught by you’ Here are some highlights (and this formatting is frustrating):

 ”Thank you for teaching us English. It was very fun. See you again.

PS JEF UNITED ICHIHARA CHIBA is very strong team!! Soccer is interesting”

(I finally asked this girl is JEF United are good at soccer last week. Her reply was あまり- not really)

“thaksyou. With all my heart <3″

(this next one was written all in katakana)

“I am a Manchester United fan. We won’t lost to Liverpool!! Gerrard’s kick is the best!! Please come to [name of Izakaya we sometimes go to for 三次会s] and have a conversation. see you SAM day”

“genki de ne <3

your happy <3

ba—-i [picture of hand waving]“

“thank you for real English”

“At the time of class of the ALT, I was very happy. The various time when I played a game was the most pleasant in that.

Thank you very much so far”

“Thank you for teaching us English. It was exciting”

“Thans. See you again. Take care” (this boy spelt Sam’s name wrong)

“I like you [picture of smiling face giving peace sign]“

“thank you very much. three years. very good class”

one boy made up Kanji for my name: 流胃酢 style of/stomach/vinegar. And then thanked me from the bottom of his heart.

“I learned many things from you. Thanks to you I became interested in English. Please check with a dictionary.” (I’m not sure about the last part. What am I meant to check?)

“I don’t like English, but I came to like English. Sam & Louis are BEST OF TEACHER”

“English very X100000 difficult…but ALT is very interested”

“Thank you very much. The English was very fun. I want to change myself. I will try to do every thing and enjoy doing it”

“If I am going to meet studying English peaple, I will said “America and Australia are lived by great English teacher. Their name is Sam and Louis.”

“Thank you so much for the last two years. I couldn’t grow up without you!! You changed my life!! I wish your happiness!! See you someday!! Your forever student Kento”

I worry about that boy sometimes.

 

Summer Comes

So the weather’s heating up and occasionally, after school or during a quiet Sunday at home, I decide to hop on my bike and look for some little spot around the town I haven’t seen yet. Sometimes I’ll go to a place that looks interesting on google maps, sometimes I will have driven past a place and always wondered what was actually there, and sometimes I’ll just go in a direction I haven’t really explored. The results range from me fearing for my life as I reach the end of a dirt track, long since past what could be called a road (thankfully I’m always driving when this happens. Although it tends to happen at twilight, the scariest time) to finding a little beach protected on three sides by cliffs, with streams of water trickling down the faces of the cliffs- a perfect place to watch the sunset. I wanted to claim one of these as my own, to have my own place I could cycle to and read, and be alone. And I thought I’d found it- the beach out on the cape, surrounded on three sides by cliffs and only accessible by a steep road down from a gap in the bamboo. It was nice, I thought, I’d clean up some of the junk that has obviously washed up during typhoons, left there because no-one uses the beach, and I’d find a good place to read, and when it gets a bit warmer I’d pitch a tent on the thin strip where there’s sand instead of fist-sized rocks. I’d swim when it gets a little warmer (the water looks perfect) and maybe one day I’d even have someone to be romantic with, who I can take there to watch the sunset.

But the I went back there, and found a hole had been cleared in the bamboo, steps made out of rocks where the path was before, and even a handrail made of rope. Evidently someone else goes there, and either someone in city hall or a fisherman thought people go there often enough to build a reasonable staircase down there. So no fortress of solitude for me. Ah well, you win some you lose some.

And yesterday a student pointed to a word in a dictionary, part of a longer translation, and asked me what it means. The word was ‘the’- I was powerless to explain, in Japanese or English. The best I could do was tell her that, in that particular context, you don’t need it.

There are so many questions I can’t answer.

 

Saying Thank You

As the school year draws to a close the teachers tend to persuade their students (though many do this on their own accord) to thank the ALTs, so one second grade girl wrote me a note to practice my Japanese reading while I was eating lunch today. It said

“ルイス先生へ

えい語を　おしえて　くれてありがとう。　またおしえてね！　二年”

“To Louis Sensei

Thank you very much for teaching English to us. Teach us again! Second grade. “

I felt bad because I tried to write the Kanji for 教える to prove that I could do it, but I’m having one of those days where I forget my indoor shoes, or accidentally read 冬 as はは. (How I made that mistake I don’t know…) so I didn’t even get that right. I was impressed that she did this without her teacher telling her to. And then I came back to the office and there was an envelope on my desk from another of the primary schools, full of origami and thank you notes with rabbits (For Easter. I think. Although I can’t remember when Easter is)

The first thank you note said

ルイス先生へ

わたしが、ないている　とき、手に　ハンコ　を　おしてくれてありがとう　ございます。　わたしも、ルイス先生みたいな、やさしい人に　なりたいです。

さら

 ”To Louis Sensei

The time I was crying, thank you very much for putting a stamp on my hand. I want to become a nice person just like Louis Sensei.

Sara”

That is, no kidding, an exact translation. I always give out stamps of smily faces and kangaroos for good students, and I gave her one because she was crying (one boy had come into the class, taken her pencilcase and thrown it in the bin. Gosh boys suck)

That girl’s parents own the local onsen, I think, and are really nice people.

So now I have drawings of the families of a whole first and second grade class, a folder full of origami, a note from a second grade girl and another either notes from another second grade class, all on my desk. These kids are great.

 

I’m fine thank you, and you?

I don’t want this blog to be a list of reasons I never post in this blog, but I have reasons this time. In the lead-up to the first weekend in January I was studying my fingers to the bone for the JLPT, worrying only about the Kanji section and counting on my reading to be good enough to counter my horrific listening skills. Turns out the test was easy- compared to previous years anyway, and the listening (my weakest point) was the easiest section, and the reading was what killed me. So I basically paid ￥5000 for a test that I failed, plus hotels, train and other costs for the weekend. On the plus side I walked to four of the 88 temples (71 is the most beautiful of all the temples I’ve seen in my time in Japan, set into the side of a mountain, there’s a beautiful trail up there through Shikoku wilderness. I of course didn’t know that, and walked next to the Takamatsu expressway and up the winding mountain road) saw some of the most beautiful train-window scenery I’ve ever seen, particularly on small section of the Dosan line that passes through Tokushima prefecture, and the section along the southern Kochi coastline, and my Japanese has improved exponentially as I intended it. Although not nearly enough.

Next year I’ll actually pass level 2. Then I’ll think about level 1. Sometime in the distant future.

The next Thursday (after arriving back on the Tuesday) I boarded the night bus, after downing a Sapporo to help me sleep, and travelled across Shikoku and over the Seto Inland Sea to arrive outside a darkened train station in Osaka at two minutes to six. In the thirteen hours between when my train arrived at Abenobashi Station and Tamara’s plane arrived at Kansai International Airport I checked into a hotel, feel asleep, found and lost the same vegetarian restaurant three times, walked up and down Shinsaibashi-Suji more times that I can count, ate mainly food I can buy in Shimizu, drank a lot of coffee and got on the wrong carriage of the right train, and nearly ended up in Wakayama because of it. But eventually we met up, and lately I’ve been playing the tour guide/person who knows which train to catch and can legally drive. It’s all been end of year drinking parties with office wide Janken tournaments and bosses falling asleep and spilling drinks on Tamara, preparing to play santa for 59 children between the ages of 2 and 5, and getting reading for the winter vacation including trips to Hiroshima, Osaka, Kobe and Sapporo.

And also I occasionally do some teaching. At Junior High Schools it’s mainly been interview tests- 100 students one after the other moaning ‘I’m fine thank you, and you?’ and answering questions about their favourite sports, etc. It occasionally gives some interesting responses, like the boy today who said ‘I like (English teacher’s name), How about you?’ or the girl a few weeks ago who, as she was leaving the room, turned back to me and said ‘I’ll never forget you’

And then there’s the boy who shall forever be known as Cup Ramen, because I asked him if he can cook (it was on the sheet, I asked 100 fifteen year olds if they can cook) and he said yes, and I asked him what he can cook, and he said Cup Ramen. Apparently seafood flavoured Nisshin cup ramen is the best.

I also mark christmas cards and other writing activities. Two interesting ones that came up recently were the poster the first years were doing about their favourite person, which included such gems as

“I have a good friend, her name is Hanaka. She likes Mr. Louis” (from the group in first year who can’t talk to me without giggling. Ah, thirteen year old girls)

“I like her because she is my friend. I have a good fried best friend”

“I have a brother, I like him because he is fool”

 and “I have a brother. I like him because I am longing him”

Now I know they’re only twelve/thirteen, and they do their best, but I don’t know what it is about this school that produced a constant reportoire of witty Engrish. Take the christmas cards as an example. Things like.

“Merry Christmas!

(give me back my money)

-Misaki”

“Dear Misaki

Give me back my life

Kento”

“give me back yuto”

“hello!!

Please call me mima

byby everyone

-Shinnosuke”

(two serious ones next, I recognize the first quote but not the second)

“this year to save me from tears I’ll give it to someone special

Seito”

“I keep you inside me

oh the truth is unspoken

so my heart won’t be broken for christmas” (are they both from the same song?)

 OK, back to the silliness

“how many ~

なんだけぇ～

it must do it”

“Now I’ve found real love” (yes, that is all the card said)

and my absolute favourite, written in perfect English with perfect handwriting:

“A MERRY CHRISTMAS!

But that’s none of your business”

 

Still introducing myself…

I still have four and a third schools to introduce myself to. I should do my last self introduction lesson on the 22nd of November. Until the new first school year starts in April, and a new bunch of first graders start (I look forward to it soooo much)

So, I keep asking my ‘where do I come from?’ question and the answers seem to be consistently weird. My favourites are:

アフガニスタン – Afghanistan

イラク – Iraq

and my number one, all time favourite, from three different boys in three different classes at one of my schools yesterday

外国

That’s right, I’m from ‘foreign’ – literally ‘outside country’. I had to high five him, because it’s not really wrong, although he was speaking Japanese, and it’s kind of wrong to just lump all foreigners together as 外国人, but everyone does anyway. I’ve gotten used to it, just like the children staring at me in Sunny Mart. It’s great. Really. Honestly.

 

I am in a great deal of pain

I don’t really understand Japanese culture – But I’m not going to write a whole entry about how nothing at all makes sense here because so what if making a whole school practice unicycles constantly in Australia would be more than a little twisted- there is nothing, seriously nothing, that beats the feeling of holding a six year olds hand as she steadies herself on a unicycle, it’s even better than the feeling of the same student taking your hand, leading you to the equipment shed and then trying to teach you to ride a unicycle, despite the fact that you’re in business clothes and can barely understand a word they say.

I have found the Japanese child I want to adopt though; the unicycling girl and her twin sister- Ako and Riko, completely identical except one wears glasses- even their teeth are identical. The left front tooth on both girls is poking out in the same way. When I left they all ran at me to shake my hands, and when I came back to say goodbye after my last class for the day, they all lunged at me to shake my hand, and I bent down to be on their level, and they swarmed – group hugged by twenty 6 year olds in a country where the adults never touch in public.

But that’s not that part that I don’t understand. No, Children are always 元気, no matter where they’re from, just like teenagers are always resistant. The part I don’t really get is the festivals- the bus-pulling, shrine carrying, impossible feats of strength broken-up with short breaks where everyone puts their shrine down, or stops dancing in the scorching heat, and sculls a beer, smokes a cigarette, or both.

So this weekend we got dressed in white pants, camel-toed shoes and happi-coats, and walked down to the local shrine. I was pretty wrecked from a big Friday night (this was Sunday morning) and we met with 20 men, of whom I was the youngest by far, and the tallest by quite a bit. And also, probably, the weakest. And we carried a shrine that could not have weighed less than half a ton through the town, to different parks, to the harbour, and past people’s houses and shops. Periodicially we’d run for 50 metres, or stop and bounce the shrine up and down (dislodging a section, which someone would have to pick up, climb up onto the shrine, and put back in, adding extra weight) there were two men at the front who drunk a lot during the lunchtime break, and they pushed back against us to slow us down, argued over which way to go (the route was largely unplanned) and would encourage us to run, and say things ranging from ‘are you alright?’ to ‘hey, ladies, are you dying yet?’ At one point one of the old drunk men touched me a little inappropriately, and at several times he slapped me on the shoulders, thinking it would be hilarious to hit me where it hurts.

And then afterwards, in true Japanese traditional, there was an all-you-can-eat, all-you-can-drink party. Well, technically there were two parties…one after the other.

And it’s happening again this weekend. Me, being a great cultural ambassador, will probably end up going. I want to, it was a great experience. Maybe this time I’ll be able to take photos (if not we were roped into another one happening in April) There’s a culture festival on as well, which will be my out if I’m still in a lot of pain. The bruises haven’t started to show yet, I’m just very tender…and may be driving for an hour to get Nick to register as a postal voter, and also to play volleyball in Shimanto. Yay for spreading myself a little thin!

Also, I’m spending a lot of time helping middle schoolers with speech contests, and I really want to do more, because sometimes sitting in the office on Facebook and typing up blog entries doesn’t really feel like work, y’know. Neither does Japanese study, though. JLPT in just under six weeks

 

Interesting Experiences…

Anyone who believes Japanese students are all diligent, obedient children with hands itching to be raised and mouths eagerly awaiting the opportunity to challenge themselves with pronouncing what must be the hardest place name in the world for Japanese people (Perth, or as they say it “paa-su”) is sorely mistaken. The average Japanese child refuses to answer any question in class, speaks only to their friends and NEVER when called upon (especially not when other people might see or hear them) and will never, ever do what they’re told. I’m glad of this now, it makes class a more interesting time…sort of. Kind of frustrating though.

But the range of kids, and the way in which kids with special needs are integrated into the schools. My third and fourth grade class today had one deaf boy, and one girl with prosthetic legs. At the start of the class, a girl handed me a microphone to clip to my shirt, so the deaf boy could hear me, and with the help of an aid, and all the students using a little sign language as they spoke, the deaf kid got on fine, and actually managed to speak some English. The girl with the prosthetic legs was a bit separated from the group though, but was wicked good at English, though a little shy. Apparently during sports day practice she is given a smaller course to run, and runs, together with the rest of the school. The kids are helped, not pushed aside, and the amount of bullying (a massive problem in Japan, which leads to suicides for a lot fo bullied kids) was surprisingly low. Then came the fifth and sixth graders. The class all entered the music room, where English class was held, and I saw a girl getting picked on by two boys, I got up to stop them, and then she started hitting the boys. Hard. Repeatedly. So I ended up stopping both of them, and another girl came in, and the girl who did the punching started talking to her in sign language.

The teacher came in after that, and she did the usual Japanese teacher warning the new ALT about the unruly class speech to me, in a low whisper (my favourite version is still Kunishige-Sensei’s “there is one boy who sometimes loses control” which really scared me at the time but is funny looking back) she said that the fifth and sixth graders were all boys and one girl. I looked and saw two girls so I figured she meant one girl in each year, but no, she said, Sato is a boy. A boy with a very gender-non specific name (I was going to say “oh, what a sweet name…” you know, as a pun….satou means ’sugar’…)

So this long-haired eleven year old boy in Girl’s clothes, smart, and the best friend of the chubby deaf girl is by no means the average Japanese student, but neither is the diligent, wickedly smart girl who, when I asked what kind of manga she liked reading said (in English) “oh, you wouldn’t know the manga I like” despite being surrounded my the most useless, hyperactive class, nor the super-energetic six year old girl who loves to touch me in places she shouldn’t, with the evil giggle although she will stop and explain to me in Japanese using hand actions (god I wish more people used hand actions to make their words clearer, instead of just repeating them when I obviously don’t understand) nor is the fully integrated deaf child, the child who “sometimes loses control”. There is no average, judging these kids by their race is so massively wrong.
It’s cool though, I’m beginning to wish I went to a primary school with twelve to eighteen kids, although I can see how it messes up the older kids to be the only twelve year old surrounded by marauding six year olds. But anyway, at each new school I have a new favourite kid. My favourite at Ashizuri-mizaki elementary is the first grader who always looks at me, or the fifth grade girl who likes beating boys at sports and respects me because I played soccer with her. My favourites at Souro are the two first grade girls, the crazy Yuuka and the more controlled, smart Sakura, and the sixth grade girl who took control of the dance. The kid who held my hand and tried to teach me unicycle is my favourite at Banyou Elementary, followed closely by the girl who asked if we have dentists and electricity in Australia. My favourite Shimonokae Middle School girl is the short girl who talks to me about music, and her two tall friends. I like the deaf girl and boy, and the super-awesomely smart but shy girl with prosthetic legs, and the Cutest First Grader Ever, and the boy who dresses like a girl at Kubotsu, I like the girls who came up to me after class at Shimizu Middle School to talk to me, even though one of them was too shy. I like all the first and second graders at Shimizu Elementary, all 130 of them, for their energy, especially the two really precocious first graders who danced with fire in their eyes. And my absolute favourite is still the quiet unicycling second grader at Nakahama Elementary.

I have other favourites too. But it’s not good to choose favourites. And then post on the internet about them. On two different blogs…

 

Ah, sweet

You know when you want something, and you know exactly what you want, and you spend hours (ok, for me it was minutes) searching for it, and suddenly it literally falls onto the desk in front of you? Well, I had one of those moments today.

I was marking and making comments on a simple writing exercise for second grade junior high school students, and was thinking all along (because this is what us youth think nowadays) that it would make a great blog entry, if only I could think of the punch line. And then I found it.

The problem is I don’t know which one is the most precious…

The activity was to finish sentences. The kids were given three example sentences and told to rewrite them, changing the sentence final object to make it more relevant to them. The sentences were

1. I want to be prime minister

2. I go to school to Study

3. English is a tool for communication

Here are some of the variations I looked over:

“I want to be a cat” (there were two cats, a dog and three fish-wannabes)

“I come to school to sleep” (oh, oh, oh so sadly true)

“I want to be happy”

“I want to be big”

“I want to be a god”

“I want to be a clothespin (blue)” (she was even specific)

“I want to be a grandfather

I come to school to become thin”

“I want to be a Santa Claus”

“Russian is a tool for speaking with Russian women” (this boy, I’m told, finds Russian women attractive)

“English is a tool to be cool”

And finally the top three:

“I want to be Ms. Hara

I come to school to fly sky” (When I showed Hara-Sensei, she said he was a boy, so it was impossible for him to be Ms. Hara. She didn’t mention that the boy’s wish to “fly the sky” was also a little impossible)

“I want to be Norihisa

I come to school to meet Nori

English is a tool to talk with Nori” (apparently Norihisa, or Nori for short, is well-liked)

And my absolute favourite:

“I want to be A Thousand Winds

I come to school to be A Thousand Winds

English is a tool to be A Thousand Winds”

Can anyone with better Japanese/better knowledge of Japanese pop culture explain to me what that poor boy was on about?