As it turns out, due to my exceptional visa situation I won't be teaching at a junior high school, as I had expected. Instead, I will be a full time teacher at Active English School, right above the liquor store. First I was going to write all sorts of horribe things about bureucracy, discrimination, and the disavantages of having studied in one country, while being the citizen of another.... but now I must admit that everything is working out to my advantage. The school is just a ten-minute walk from my house, and I can teach the way I see is best for the students (and for myself of course, but that is not something I like to propagate).
My students range from kindergarten age to adults, though they are mostly kids. That means I get to play games and I'm even getting payed for it! Of course everything has its challenges. The other day I could observe one of my colleagues during a more challenging lesson. The new student he was teaching, a twelve year old girl, was too shy to say anything. But she obviously knew the answers, from the things she wrote down on paper. Is this another Japanese trait that I should get used to? Maybe... In any case, I set up a strategy to cope with this kind of problem, in case I get such a student. One that will motivate them to say something, and at the same time discourages me from losing my patiente. But more about that when such a thing arrises.
Most kids are very active, however. (Hence Active-English?) They are full of energy, and to find an outlet for this you really have to play games with them involving physical activity. In the end you find yourself also jumping up and down, touching your knees and toes, and miming out all sorts of actions. Exhausting, but fun. I don't feel like I am teaching as much English, but we all have a great time. And there is hardly any Japanese spoken, or understood, at least not on my side. So I guess it is useful. Especially if the kids go home with a feeling that English class was fun, and they want to come again.
There are seven teachers at our school, five of which are about as new as me. (Some ofthem still have to go to Korea to pick up their visas, but more about that later.) The people you can see in the picture are (from right to left) Yanek from Montreal, Abbie from Vermont, behind her Dana from Pennsylvania, Ross from Schotland, Wendy from Austalia (though originally Argentinian),
Nick from Indiana, and finally Yours Truly. The atmosphere at the teachers office is very pleasant and comfortable. We are very much of the same mindset, quite international, love nature, and like to joke around.
Most of us teach primarily at public schools, with some additional hours at Active in the evening. From what they had told me, I feel kinda happy that I don't qualify to teach there. As a native speaker, what they have to do is the so called "tandem teaching", meaning they share the workload with a Japanese teacher. In other words, the Japanese teacher is responsible for explaining the grammar, maintaining the discipline in the classroom, and generally conducting the lesson. The native teacher takes up the role of a human tape-player, to "teach pronunciation" as they say. From what I've heared, it is about as much fun as it sounds. :-(
The only disadvantage of not going out to the public schools is the different schedule I have, compared to most other teachers. While they have to get up early, I get to stay up late and sleep in until noon or so. The afternoons and evenings are loaded with classes until nine or ten, even on Saturday. Of course I get Monday off, but I'm not sure how much fun that will be while everyone else has to work. Alltogether though, this job seems phantastic. It is exactly what I had wished for while commuting back and forth accross Mexico City, rushing from one busy company executive to the other. Finally I am teaching in a place with clean air, quiet streets, and disciplined, friendly students. I love it!
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