First Week

I’m eating lunch in the teacher’s lounge. It’s the first day at work. There are no English classes today, but I must stay until 4pm for reasons I don’t quite understand. I think it has something to do with the taxpayers complaining about teachers going home early when they should be at school teaching something. This is the first time I have spent any time in Japan without Erika at my side. It’s uncomfortable, but at the same time I feel like I’m starting a new life. The teachers sitting around me are friendly, but I can tell that they aren’t too excited about speaking to a foreigner. They look down when I approached them with a question. I understand that I might seem like a creature from Mars. Some of the students have never seen a foreigner. I get a kick out of seeing their expressions when I pass them in the hallway. Their mouths open and they run into walls or they start to giggle.

I started this post earlier this week. I’ve been to five schools and taught 8 or 9 classes. I haven’t really taught anything. I’ve been introducing myself with a PowerPoint presentation and having the students ask questions afterwards. I think the kids are interested in me and I hope they will be interested in speaking English. I’m not worried about the students. They ask me to have lunch with them and play soccer or whatever. I enjoy hearing the students call me, “Mr. Kimball”. This is new a new concept for them. In Japan, they are used to calling a teacher, “Sensei”. I wanted them to experience some American culture by calling me, “Mr. Kimball”. Besides, my official title is not a teacher; I’m an Assistant Language Teacher. The faculty at each school is also having difficulty getting used to calling me, “George” instead of “George-sensei”. The biggest challenge for the faculties is communicating with someone that does not speak Japanese. I think the Education Department is trying to force the teachers to speak English by using me as a guinea-pig. Erika has helped the teachers break through the communication barrier, but they have a long way to go. My job is to encourage the teachers to speak in English and to assist them in any way that I can. It’s easy to see how nervous they are when they try to speak, but I think the Education Department is approaching this in the right way.

I still have to introduce myself to one more school and 5 classes. I have a total of 16 classes. The grades range from Kinder to 6^th. The 2^nd and 3^rd graders pick up the new language very quickly as they are curious about everything. The 6^th graders are challenging, but with the teacher’s leadership, they are showing interest in speaking English and learning American culture.   George