end of the year
Tomorrow is the last day of classes for the school year, then there's a closing ceremony on Tuesday, and that's it until April 6. In the interim I'll sit at my desk at school every day twiddling my thumbs, and wishing Hiroshima Prefecture wasn't such a tightass (i.e. wishing they'd let me go do something else with my time, like travel around Japan). Back when I first came to Hiroshima they told me that, starting from the new school year in April, I'd be working at Kannon High School (my base school) every day, instead of going to the other two schools as well. This is a fairly rare opportunity for an ALT, and is an infinitely preferable situation. Going to the same school every day allows me to teach almost all of the students on a regular basis and therein get to know more of them, and more importantly allows me to truly make myself into a regular staff member of the school - instead of "that gaijin who shows up sometimes". Which is to say nothing of the superior commute (2 minutes on my bike compared to various combinations of bike, busses, and streetcars totaling an hour or so).
But a few months ago I found out that they might have me continue going to the other two schools. The teachers at Kannon have been emailing the woman at the Board of Ed. in charge of all this to try and get me to stay at Kannon every day, but they're not sure which way it'll go yet. Unfortunately, I probably won't find out until a week or so before the year starts.
So last Wednesday and Thursday were my potential last two days at Aki Minami High School and Koyo Higashi High School. It was seriously annoying not knowing for sure if I'd ever be back at those schools again...at the end of the day I was saying goodbye, maybe forever but hey maybe I'll see you in a couple weeks as usual.
Aki Minami was a school that I always had a hard time with. While my JTEs at the other two schools were doing almost all of the lesson planning for me, Aki Minami's JTEs were leaving it all to me, which was hard to get used to at first. It was also hard to get accustomed to the students' ability levels...Aki Minami is known as being a pretty strict academic school so I figured their level would be high, like my base school. But as far as English is concerned their ability was generally a few levels lower, to the point of being around middle school level. It took me far too long to realize this, and as a result everything I was doing and saying for the first few weeks was going over the students' heads. Lesson after lesson of mine tanked completely, and some of the JTEs were clearly not thrilled with the situation.
Eventually I was able to hone in on their ability levels and plan things accordingly, and the classes started to get better. But it wasn't until the very end that I realized that I hadn't really changed anything at all - the students changed. They worked hard, paid attention, and improved to the point where they could understand what I was saying to them. The moment that I came to this realization was more satisfying than I can describe. Something that ALTs constantly have to fight is the notion that we are not making a quantifiable difference in the students' ability levels. Their test scores remain the same, and people begin to wonder whether it's worth 50 billion taxpayers' yen every year to keep importing us from around the world. But I made a clear, undeniable difference in these students' abilities, to the extent that in 7 months they went from not being able to understand a word I said to getting the gist of everything I said, with no problem.
Specific students who were shy to the point of refusing to talk when called on, and who had a visible look of anguish on their faces throughout every class when I first started, by the end were smiling at me, nodding in understanding whenever I gave instructions, and even going so far as to volunteer to speak without being called on. You have no idea what a huge change that represents.
I dreaded Wednesdays all along and couldn't wait to stop going to Aki Minami, because I knew I wasn't making a difference and wanted to get out of that environment. But in the end I made far more of a clear difference with those kids than in any class at either of the other two schools. And the JTEs there, who I was pretty sure were just waiting to get rid of me, have apparently made numerous requests to the Board of Ed. that I stay there next semester. One of them even almost started crying when she realized that I might not be back next semester.
Ultimately I still would prefer to stay at Kannon every day, but I guess it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to go back to Aki Minami every week. And as for Koyo Higashi...I liked it so much more all along, but I don't think I made anywhere near as much of a difference there. The students were adorable and I'll miss them, and I was very close to one JTE who I will miss a great deal, but I don't think they've been campaigning for me to stay like the other two schools have.
I took some photos on my last day at both schools, and a lot of them turned out great...as soon as I find some new webspace I'll get those uploaded. So if you like pictures of cute Japanese kids STAY TUNED.
P.S. I got that Home Ec. teacher to go out with me a couple times, including to an Irish pub last night for St. Patrick's Day, which she seemed to really enjoy. She seems pretty conservative and traditional (example: she won't let me call her by her first name yet) so I doubt that anything exciting is going to develop there, but you never know. At the very least, I have someone new to hang out with which is never a bad thing.
But a few months ago I found out that they might have me continue going to the other two schools. The teachers at Kannon have been emailing the woman at the Board of Ed. in charge of all this to try and get me to stay at Kannon every day, but they're not sure which way it'll go yet. Unfortunately, I probably won't find out until a week or so before the year starts.
So last Wednesday and Thursday were my potential last two days at Aki Minami High School and Koyo Higashi High School. It was seriously annoying not knowing for sure if I'd ever be back at those schools again...at the end of the day I was saying goodbye, maybe forever but hey maybe I'll see you in a couple weeks as usual.
Aki Minami was a school that I always had a hard time with. While my JTEs at the other two schools were doing almost all of the lesson planning for me, Aki Minami's JTEs were leaving it all to me, which was hard to get used to at first. It was also hard to get accustomed to the students' ability levels...Aki Minami is known as being a pretty strict academic school so I figured their level would be high, like my base school. But as far as English is concerned their ability was generally a few levels lower, to the point of being around middle school level. It took me far too long to realize this, and as a result everything I was doing and saying for the first few weeks was going over the students' heads. Lesson after lesson of mine tanked completely, and some of the JTEs were clearly not thrilled with the situation.
Eventually I was able to hone in on their ability levels and plan things accordingly, and the classes started to get better. But it wasn't until the very end that I realized that I hadn't really changed anything at all - the students changed. They worked hard, paid attention, and improved to the point where they could understand what I was saying to them. The moment that I came to this realization was more satisfying than I can describe. Something that ALTs constantly have to fight is the notion that we are not making a quantifiable difference in the students' ability levels. Their test scores remain the same, and people begin to wonder whether it's worth 50 billion taxpayers' yen every year to keep importing us from around the world. But I made a clear, undeniable difference in these students' abilities, to the extent that in 7 months they went from not being able to understand a word I said to getting the gist of everything I said, with no problem.
Specific students who were shy to the point of refusing to talk when called on, and who had a visible look of anguish on their faces throughout every class when I first started, by the end were smiling at me, nodding in understanding whenever I gave instructions, and even going so far as to volunteer to speak without being called on. You have no idea what a huge change that represents.
I dreaded Wednesdays all along and couldn't wait to stop going to Aki Minami, because I knew I wasn't making a difference and wanted to get out of that environment. But in the end I made far more of a clear difference with those kids than in any class at either of the other two schools. And the JTEs there, who I was pretty sure were just waiting to get rid of me, have apparently made numerous requests to the Board of Ed. that I stay there next semester. One of them even almost started crying when she realized that I might not be back next semester.
Ultimately I still would prefer to stay at Kannon every day, but I guess it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to go back to Aki Minami every week. And as for Koyo Higashi...I liked it so much more all along, but I don't think I made anywhere near as much of a difference there. The students were adorable and I'll miss them, and I was very close to one JTE who I will miss a great deal, but I don't think they've been campaigning for me to stay like the other two schools have.
I took some photos on my last day at both schools, and a lot of them turned out great...as soon as I find some new webspace I'll get those uploaded. So if you like pictures of cute Japanese kids STAY TUNED.
P.S. I got that Home Ec. teacher to go out with me a couple times, including to an Irish pub last night for St. Patrick's Day, which she seemed to really enjoy. She seems pretty conservative and traditional (example: she won't let me call her by her first name yet) so I doubt that anything exciting is going to develop there, but you never know. At the very least, I have someone new to hang out with which is never a bad thing.