Happy Holidays to everyone!
I'm currently sitting in the main office for all of the ALTs in Sapporo. There are only a few of us here, but it's nice to have a group of fellow foreigners to spend the day with. It's been interesting for us experiencing our holiday seasons in a new country. There is Christmas in the air, not really Chanukkah, but it's not quite the same. Japan loves such Christmas hits as Mariah Carey's, "All I Want for Christmas is You," and Wham's, "Last Christmas." (And you hear those songs EVERYWHERE, in all of their glorious incarnations, be it the actual song or the elevator music versions.) And it's a Japanese tradition to eat fried chicken on Christmas Day. So hit your local KFC, and you're sure to see a line of Japanese people waiting to dig into their "Durum Sticku Set-to," or translation, "Drum Stick Set."
Tonight I have something called a "Bonenkai." I've been to a couple of enkais, which are essentially work parties. It's a funny experience because most of the time the other teachers don't really talk to us ALTs and the enkais are the few times that a word is even uttered in our direction. Many of the teachers do speak some English, or at least about as much English as my Japanese. At my first enkai with my base school, Hassamu, the geography teacher, Nakai-sensei, came over to me and literally guided me over to every teacher and forced to have a conversation with me. It was hilarious. And I felt so bad for the teachers because they started freaking out saying, "I don't speak English! I don't speak English!" And, of course, they're saying these words in perfect English, hehe. And I always try to tell them, "It's okay. Speak to me in Japanese." (Of course, these words are in Japanese as well. This is a phrase I've got down.) It's fun to see your teachers at an enkai, because normally they work so hard. They put in so many hours and at an enkai they can finally relax, eat up and, more importantly, drink up! This may sound like a horrible sentence, but drunk Japanese people are hilarious! My head JTE becomes really bossy. She was ordering me to eat all of the left over food and finish all of the beer, so I could order another one. I secretly hid my glass, so she wouldn't see that I still had a full glass.
And now to a small introduction to my teachers. Honestly, I still don't even know all of my teachers names. The students have been trying to teach me, but there are like 45 names...oh well, I'm trying my best.
First, the JTES:
Miki-sensei, my head JTE
She goes by Takahashi-sensei with the students, but there are 4 Takahashis at my school, so it it keeps it simpler to call her by her first names. She is amazing! I love this woman. She's so much fun and is open to experimenting with new activities. I always feel like I screw up around her. You can tell that she's so comfortable as a teacher. Not that she's bored or anything. It's just she's been teaching for a while and you can tell that knows how to carry a classroom.
Kawamura-sensei
She's awesome. I've never seen a teacher put so much energy into a class. And she carries the same amount of energy the entire day! It's amazing to watch. And the poor woman has a hurt leg, so she has to use a crutch to get around the school. But that doesn't stop her. She wants to go to America, but she doesn't have the time right now. She's always gives me chocolates from her secret stash in her desk, hehe.
Nakagawa-sensei
I've probably become the closest to Nakagawa-sensei. She's a little bit younger than the other teachers and she's lived abroad in the States. We talk about practically everything from politics, to the NBA, to Italian movies. She's a substitute teacher, so she'll probably be leaving at the end of the school year. She came at about the same time as me, so we also bond over that as well. She's also confided in me a bit more because she has lived abroad. Sometimes talking about traveling is seen as a sign of pride, so she's hesitant to share too much with other teachers. But she's still a lot of fun, and is always open to trying new things in the classroom. She's also cool because she loves the song, "All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth."
Kuwamura-sensei
She has probably some of the most fun classes. I love her 3rd grade classes. The students are hilarious and she's so comfortable with them. It's always a great time. However, I gotta say, I have trouble reading her sometimes. I can't tell if she always likes what I have prepared for class or not. This is not to say that she's not a great teacher, she is. I just wish I could read her better. Guess I better improve my Japanese!
Kazuhiro-sensei
Another Takahashi in the office. I regretfully say that I've had the hardest time working with this JTE. We just can't get a flow together. I don't know what it is. He doesn't really let me try any activities. Or when he does let me try something new, he will cut off my activity very quickly. If you've read my previous entry, now you'll know who I'm talking about. He's a good guy. Maybe we'll eventually find a better way to work together.
Other teachers:
Nakai-sensei
I love Nakai-sensei! He's a geography teacher who speaks amazing English! He caught me off-guard when he broke out in English with me on my first day. I'm used to sitting quietly in a staffroom and he just started up a conversation with me. He and Miki-sensei want me to start teaching them some basic Spanish phrases. Nakai-sensei especially wants me to teach him some Spanish because he's from Osaka, and the dialect there is known for rolling the Rs. He's been so nice to me.
In my first week at Hassamu, all I did was introduce myself over and over to each individual class. I'm an assistant, so I always go to class with the main JTE. Well, I follow Miki-sensei into class on one of my first days, and she turns to me and says, "Sorry, I have to go. It's an emergency." I'm like, "WHAT!!!" Well, I was that way on the inside. I tried to maintain my composure, but me and the students were basically looking wide-eyed at each other. They were 1st graders, so they're the students with the smallest English vocabulary in the school. And I'm the person with smallest Japanese vocabulary in the school, so my one thought was, "Oh, no." Then, suddenly, Nakai-sensei walked in the door. Now, the students have always had him as a geography teacher, so when he suddenly starts speaking English, they're all shocked. It was basically one collective, "EEEEHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!" He totally saved me. He's been so nice to also invite me to the teachers' basketball games. He asked me if I'd teach his 5-year-old daughter English, to which I gladly agreed. I might even throw in a few Spanish & Italian words here and there.
Yonezawa-sensei
She's the home economics teacher and she sits right next to me. So, occaassionally, we'll have chats in the morning. She doesn't really speak any English, but we manage. Her daughter recently got married to an American and is living in California. She asked me if I'd help her learn some English so she can speak with her son-in-law and his family. She tries to phone them on Skype quite often. I told her that's how I call my mom, as well.
Watanabe-sensei
She is SOOOOO Nice! She sits right across from me. Watanabe-sensei is the Japanese language teacher. She speaks about as much English as I speak Japanese, but she always asks me how I'm doing. And she would check to make sure that I had bought boots for winter. I'm trying really hard to learn more Japanese, because I would really like to talk with her more.
Mizuma-sensei
He's hilarious! He used to be an English teacher a long time ago. And his wife is an English teacher, so he speaks quite a bit of English. However, and I don't know how much sense this will make, but he speaks English using Japanese grammar. It's pretty funny. Something in Japanese that people will say when listening to you is, "So, so." That's literally the romanization spelling of the Japanese word for "Yes," or "I understand." However, the word is also used in other contexts in the Japanese language. However, it wouldn't work in other English contexts. (Sorry, I know this is really confusing.) So, he tries to literally tranlate his usual Japanese response into English, but it sounds kinda funny. So whenever I'm explaining something, he says, "Oh, yes. Oh, yes," in a very emphatic manner. It always catches me off-guard. He's the P.E. teacher at Hassamu and absolutely loves basketball. He's probably considered the loud-joker of the teachers.
Hayashi-sensei
He's the art teacher. He's very cool. Hayashi-sensei has traveled around Europe. He doesn't speak a word of English, but I usually get the gist of what he's saying. (I actually prefer that teachers speak in Japanese to me. I'm trying to learn!) Some of the students invited me to the Art Club and I think we both surprised each other when we showed up. After a few visits to the club, he came up to me at the end and said, "You are a part of our circle." It was such a wonderful moment. And later, he came up to me with a little script in English and presented a Merry Christmas poster that the Art Club students had drawn.
Okie dokie, well I'm off to do some actual paper work. Love you all out there and hope to all of you are well!!!
Side-note:
If anyone is trying to reach me, I might be hard to get a hold of for a little while because I'm going to Tokyo, Niigata and then Taipei. I should be gone for a few weeks, but I hope to be in touch throughout the time. If I don't get to talk with you, I hope all of you have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and a wonderful NEW YEAR!
-cel
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