You want me to teach English? THEN GIVE ME SOME DAMN CLASSES
ARGH. Argh I say.
Yesterday saw the start of the new academic year and my very first Japanese elementary school entrance ceremony; incidentally, I find the sight of six year olds dressed up in their very very best both adorable and oddly disturbing (this was particularly in regard to the little girl who was rocking a bitching gogo-skirt and blazer combo that had me feeling envious at her style until I remembered that she was six.) We also had the first April shower which WAS NOT SNOW THANK GOD. I went out in the rain to go and buy some onigiri for lunch at the conbini because I had forgotten mine and I have never in my life been so happy to splish through puddles. It even smelt like spring at last.
And then I woke up this morning to find that there'd been another dumping of snow during the night. JOY.
Anyway, yesterday was a Minami day and today I'm at Horomui, my second Elementary school. I just got handled my schedule...
I have no classes until May 10th. MAY 10th. What the hell? And on top of that, my work load has been HALVED; I'm only teaching 3rd and 4th grade apparently; 5th and 6th have mysteriously vanished from my schedule.
So, a handy insight into the world of the Japanese Elementary School system. English is only compulsory to students in the fifth and sixth grade. Last year a text book was put into circulation that was considered optional (we used it at Minami, my base school, whereas at Horomui I was told that they weren't using it as they wanted the kids to have fun rather than improve their language skills). This year, it's compulsory, and the expected teaching time with it is 35 hours. The presence of an ALT (Assistant Language Teacher- aka, me) is only required for seventeen hours, with the majority of the material being covered by the HRT (homeroom teacher.) So, I knew my hours were going to go down this year. I did. But I didn't think that I wouldn't be getting to teach them AT ALL.
I'm really peeved. I LOVE the new sixth grade here, I had a blast teaching them last year and both the teachers for those classes and the students have told me how much they enjoyed English class. One kid, Ryounosuke, literally cannot sit still he loves it so much. And because he likes it, he puts effort in and he's good. The other kids, who are having fun in the class anyway, see him having fun and actually picking the things I'm trying to teach up easily and quickly, and they see that it's not impossible for them to speak English so they DO. And it's wonderful. How am I supposed to keep that enthusiasm alive if I don't even get to SEE THEM?!
...I'm going to have to talk to the HRTs about setting up an afterschool English club. That's the only way around this that I can see. If they're not going to let me teach English in my contract time then I'm damn well going to teach it outside of it. I'm not going to give up on their interest just because the bloody vice principal at the school has no interest in these children actually challenging themselves academically.
Yesterday saw the start of the new academic year and my very first Japanese elementary school entrance ceremony; incidentally, I find the sight of six year olds dressed up in their very very best both adorable and oddly disturbing (this was particularly in regard to the little girl who was rocking a bitching gogo-skirt and blazer combo that had me feeling envious at her style until I remembered that she was six.) We also had the first April shower which WAS NOT SNOW THANK GOD. I went out in the rain to go and buy some onigiri for lunch at the conbini because I had forgotten mine and I have never in my life been so happy to splish through puddles. It even smelt like spring at last.
And then I woke up this morning to find that there'd been another dumping of snow during the night. JOY.
Anyway, yesterday was a Minami day and today I'm at Horomui, my second Elementary school. I just got handled my schedule...
I have no classes until May 10th. MAY 10th. What the hell? And on top of that, my work load has been HALVED; I'm only teaching 3rd and 4th grade apparently; 5th and 6th have mysteriously vanished from my schedule.
So, a handy insight into the world of the Japanese Elementary School system. English is only compulsory to students in the fifth and sixth grade. Last year a text book was put into circulation that was considered optional (we used it at Minami, my base school, whereas at Horomui I was told that they weren't using it as they wanted the kids to have fun rather than improve their language skills). This year, it's compulsory, and the expected teaching time with it is 35 hours. The presence of an ALT (Assistant Language Teacher- aka, me) is only required for seventeen hours, with the majority of the material being covered by the HRT (homeroom teacher.) So, I knew my hours were going to go down this year. I did. But I didn't think that I wouldn't be getting to teach them AT ALL.
I'm really peeved. I LOVE the new sixth grade here, I had a blast teaching them last year and both the teachers for those classes and the students have told me how much they enjoyed English class. One kid, Ryounosuke, literally cannot sit still he loves it so much. And because he likes it, he puts effort in and he's good. The other kids, who are having fun in the class anyway, see him having fun and actually picking the things I'm trying to teach up easily and quickly, and they see that it's not impossible for them to speak English so they DO. And it's wonderful. How am I supposed to keep that enthusiasm alive if I don't even get to SEE THEM?!
...I'm going to have to talk to the HRTs about setting up an afterschool English club. That's the only way around this that I can see. If they're not going to let me teach English in my contract time then I'm damn well going to teach it outside of it. I'm not going to give up on their interest just because the bloody vice principal at the school has no interest in these children actually challenging themselves academically.