Teaching in Japan - Jessica’s Diary
Here are her initial impressions of Japan and teaching...
Jessica Hartridge worked at Cactus Language for two years as our Creative Designer. Jessica has always been fascinated by Japanese culture and left Cactus in August to spend a year teaching in Japan. Here are her initial impressions of Japan and teaching...
My first month in Japan has passed like a long lucid dream through which I have had moments of utter despair and complete happiness – this is why I wanted to participate on the Jet programme after all!
The Tokyo orientation was extremely grand and indulgent. At the time I remember winging with my peers that the masses of information given out was too broad to be useful to anyone and that there was little focus on teaching and learning Japanese and more on how to deal with culture shock. In retrospect I now see that culture shock was more important than I initially thought but I still feel there could have been more emphasis on the afore-mentioned.
Due to a typhoon (how thrilling!) our final destination plans were delayed by 10 hours so we had more time to get to know each-other and make the most of the shops in the airport. When we arrived in Naha I had assumed I would be staying with the other Jets in a hostel for the night but I was one of the few who’s supervisor greeted us at the airport. As I soon as I realised I would be leaving the group to join my supervisor, was the moment I had to leave. I can’t describe that short burst of panic I felt, the closest I can compare it to (and I know it’s a cliché) is being about 8 years old and being pushed out into the deep-end of the swimming pool. It felt like I was completely alone and that everything around me was alien. (alien is a word I have found myself using quite frequently…)
I could go into more detail about the confusions in the hotel, nearly breaking my room key trying to get it out of the door, trying to put on Japanese pajamas, my supervisor’s embarrassment at breakfast when he realized I was left-handed, my heart-warming welcome party at Kumejima airport and evening BBQ, but I know this report is supposed to be short so I will fast-forward to my work related experiences and leave the rest for another time.
In total I will teach at three Junior High schools and six Elementary schools. I am very lucky to have been given teaching accommodation close to my main Junior High school and one of the English teachers lives in the apartment below me so I am never far from help. Additionally all of the teachers in the ‘complex’ are young and seem really cool. I haven’t had any drinking parties with them yet but there have been plenty of festivals on Kume throughout August so I’m sure the parties will come after these have died down.
I have spent most of my time in the Board of Education where people have been extremely friendly and helpful… and I have internet and hotmail! My supervisor has expressed that his English is not good and my Japanese is probably worse so there has not been as much communication between us as I’d expected. This hasn’t really mattered though (and I am the first person to stress out if I don’t know what I’m doing) as there have been people around to help me sort out my car, the insurance, buying tickets for the ferry and hotels in Naha and writing the romanji for mosquito spray and suncream. The other Jet on Kume (thank God we get along!) has shared her knowledge with me and we have really helped each other out with hugs and ear-bending.
Also, my brother recently came to visit who has been living in Japan for the last three years. He is now practically fluent and helped me with numerous things such as buying food in the supermarket, insect stuff to gas out all the cockroaches from my house, and was there to help me apologise to my neighbour when I reversed into his parked car! (I later bought him some aomori when he refused money). The downside to his early arrival was that I missed some of the Okinawan Jet gatherings but I am sure I will have a chance to meet up with people in the months to come.
So, back to teaching! my schedule for September… It looks as though Mondays and Wednesdays will be full days of teaching for me and the rest half days. My class sizes range from two students to around 25 so I think I will gain a lot of experience in teaching techniques and group dynamics! I think there is also a strong emphasis on team-teaching which sounds great to me as I have heard that the ALT teacher’s control can swing both ways. I have prepared a poster to put on the board as all of my first lessons will be taken up introducing myself. How I’m going to adapt my presentation for six years to 14 (?) year olds is another thing but I still have time to prepare since I was not scheduled to attend any of my schools first day presentations.
My roller-coaster first month has been through all the motions. On my first day of Kume I woke up (if you can call it that after bathing in a pool of sweat all night) thinking “I hate it, I hate it, I hate it!” and just had to ignore myself and think “wait to see how you feel in a months time”. Today, the 1st September I feel happy to be here and eager to improve my Japanese so I can get to know people better as they all seem very genki and up for drinking parties and general genkiness!
