First Day of School

Yesterday, I had my first day of teaching English. It's a once a week job at a local elementary school (or "elementally" as we saw on a sign a few days ago), and I'm an assistant teacher. Basically, I'm just there to say things with a native speaker's accent. The other teachers barely speak English, but through pointing and Engrish, we managed to get through the day yesterday. They point to me, and I say the word printed on the card they're holding up. Pretty easy gig.

So, here are my most thoughts on the day, not necessarily in any particular order.

The difference between and American and Japanese school is immediately apparent. When you get in the door, you switch from your outside shoes to inside shows. When I went to meet the students 2 weeks ago, I'd not been warned, so I wore the plastic slippers available to visitors. Too bad I didn't match my socks that day (for those who don't know me will, this is not a new phenomenon.) Yesterday, prepared, I did bring my inside shoes AND I matched my socks. I wonder if the Japanese know that we Americajins often have fuzzy character slippers for inside shoes. Wouldn't that impress the kids?! They already think I'm a freak of nature (read on below), so I'm guessing they wouldn't be surprised by me wearing tweetie bird slippers or something like that.

Another difference: apparently I am a giant. I am only 5'6", pretty average for an American, and as a kid I was one of the shortest in the class. However, I nearly hit my head on the door when I walk into the classroom. All the kids were openly in awe of my height. It was pretty funny. I tower over all the teachers, and in some classes, the kids sit on the floor, so I definitely tower over them. All throughout the classes, they were gesturing to my height, and, according to the teachers who occasionally translated for me, they were making regular comments on it. When I tried to explain that I'm on the short side of normal and that my husband is quite a bit taller (most of this was through sign language and my minimal Japanese and their minimal English), there was an incredulous unison chorus of "ehhhhhhhhh????" Actually, that chorus happened a lot, like when I said I'm from Florida, like Disney, and it was apparently the first they heard that there was another Disney than the one in Tokyo.

My monstrosity is really only an issue when using the restroom. I teach grades 1-6, so everything is sized for them. Let's just say that a stall is too small if, while squatting, your knees touch the door, and your back touches the wall, at the same time. Thankfully, they do have one western style rather than the squatters that are still the norm in this region.

Overall it was a lot of fun. There were some odd moments, though. Between the 1st and 2nd class, the kids all go outside to run laps and do calisthenics. It was a beautiful day, so I took a book out and sat in the back of my car. Hatchbacks are great for creating an instant shady bench, by the way. Eventually, about 6 girls, around age 10, came and stood in a semi circle around me. Staring. They just stood there! I had no idea what they wanted, but I tried chatting with them a bit in my broken Japanese. They seemed to be curious about what I was reading. Eventually, I stood up, and they literally gasped at my height. So weird! I also thought if they were gesturingly asking if my husband had a beer belly, but I think they were asking if I had kids. Yes, beer comes to mind before babies.

Another humorous thing: the regimented responses. I'm supposed to start every class by saying Hellohowareyou? And they respond by saying I'mfinethankyouandyou. I get such a kick out of that. I think I messed them up, though, when I responded that I was great rather than fine on time. I don't think I'm supposed to ad lib. Ooops. For someone who's used to teaching without notes, this might take some time for me to adjust to. Of course, my curriculum literally is half a page long for each class, most of that page taken up by the opening and closing dialogues. The rest says things like "color song" or "introduction." So, I guess I'm not really ad libbing if those are my instructions, right?

They also are learning how to shake hands. I wish I had a picture of this because I don't think words can adequately explain. The kids stand a few feet apart, stiffly. There is much more space between than in an American meeting. Then they extend their arms perpendicular to their body, grab the other person's hand, and bow at the waist. This is, apparently, a Western style handshake.

I think that's all for now. Every teacher took pictures during class, so I'm sure I'll have some to post later.