whole new school
This week has seemed long, despite it’s only being four days. Maybe it’s because it was my first real week of teaching since I got here 9 months ago.
I say that because tables have turned and schedules have been rewritten, and it seems I am going to be earning my keep this time around. I have new JTEs (Japanese teacher of English), fresh new first-year students, it’s like spring cleaning.
Last year was not a very helpful intro to teaching. I spent most of it standing or sitting around. The best I could do was to get them to tell me in English that they “donto know English.”
So earlier this spring when I realized there might be some turnover, I started a private campaign of chats with future JTE candidates about the aims and goals of a foreign language class, and asked soul-searching questions about the value of perfectly correct memorized lines vs. less accurate verbosity in students. I was kind of like a born-again language advocator, having little heart-to-hearts with potential converts.
I think it worked. I now have near-complete control over Oral Communication 1, the class I teach 8 hours a week to a total of 50 or so students. Gulp.
Originally I had hoped to share the responsibility 50/50 with an eager language advocate like myself. I wanted efficient lesson planning sessons with someone who could nearly read my mind and vice versa, which would lead to great stand-up routines in class with lots of enthusiastic student participation and response. And I figured with my good attitude and having efficient lesson plan bit all figured out, it was pretty much in the bag.
What JET doesn’t want that Utopia? In reality the class quality ends up depending almost entirely on a) my command of the Japanese language which is negligible and thus b) the style, personality, English ability and confidence of the JTE who teaches with, translates for, and lends credibility to, me. Whose assignment to me is complete luck of the draw. Right now, for example, I have a giggler (”what should we do next class gigglegiggle!” “we don’t have a plan do we hehehe!!”) and the best I can do is to carefully consider the very bad consequences if I ever cleaned her clock the way the giggling makes me want to.
Despite complaints, what I actually mean to say is, this year so far it looks like I have it pretty good. The JTE switch gave me two people who are newer than me to this class and thus seem happy to help “maintain” the type of language teaching I want to expirement with think would be most beneficial to the students. And in keeping with the peter principle I would rather have more power in class than I’m qualified for, than less. So according to the new system, most of the lesson planning will probably fall to me, dictated only by the fact that we still have to use the textbook.
I’m okay with this responsibility. Because THIS year I’m pretty sure we’re actually going to FOLLOW the lesson plan when I go to the trouble of making it, and that right there will improve things immeasurably.
It took work to get here, and it’ll be work to plan and prepare, but if I can keep this good thing going, well, for now a good class is an awesome reward. And this will be the year that answers the second of my most important questions, whether teaching is a job for me.
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I am looking to chat w/ someone who has studied Japanese at the YMCA in either Hiroshima or Osaka. If you have studied there, please shoot me an email.
Nope, sorry. But studying Japanese would probably do me some good, wouldn’t it? I need some kind of linguistic boot camp, a swift kick in the butt followed by daily kanji quizzes, something like that.