Written on the evening of April 23...

Peter is slicing a daikon radish in order to make our new favorite salad - thinly sliced daikon and cucumber sprinkled with soy sauce and black pepper. Crisp and cold. Simple and delicious.

I was sitting at my desk today correcting a bunch of self-introduction worksheets from the 8th graders when I decided it was time to take note of their names. Some roll off the tongue and some leave you tongue-tied but I find them so uniquely Japanese - adorable and sometimes hard to decipher. Here’s a sampling for you:

I almost separated these between girls’ names and boys’ but then realized that I’m not yet familiar enough to make that call! In fact, last week I was reading a student’s information card and asked the class, “She likes basketball and her birthday in on April 24th. Who is this person?” No one volunteered to tell me that “she” was really a “he” until the Japanese teacher came shuffling up and whispered in my ear, “It’s a HE!”

Let’s start with some first names:

Saki

Hideka

Hiraishi

Ayumi

Natsumi (One of my favorites! It means “picking a spring flower”)

Akihiro

Yuta

Hideto

Shintaro

Shiohara

Katsushi

Daisuke

Now try out these full names:

Maeda Megumi

Yurika Tatsuta

Ayaka Nakajima

Shiori Sado

Yuki Kosugi

Keita Yasuda

Hideki Yamada

Hiroki Ise

Haruto Matsuda

Teaching has been going better. After a rocky start (trying to shout my instructions over a sea of forty raucous students), I feel I’m starting to get the hang of things. I have figured out that if I can capture the students’ attention in the first 5 minutes of class, my life becomes immeasurably easier for the next 45! This means that for my self-introduction class I stated my name and where I was from, then I explained, “Today you have two new teachers. I am one new teacher and the other is outside,” pointing to the door. At this point, the students were confused and a bit intrigued (a good combination). I told them, “My friend from America is here to help me teach today. His name is Eddie and he is very nervous so please be nice and speak only in English to him.” Ok, now they are asking each other, “Who hired this nutcase of an English teacher?” I stepped outside the classroom and motioned for “my friend” to come in. Someone who looks a whole lot like “Ms. Cait,” but now with glasses and a moustache. “Good morning! My name is Eddie,” I said using the distinct “nasal-congested-boy-voice” some of you may know : ) I jumped back and forth in front of the class about 6 times, switching between myself as teacher (“Eddie, don’t be shy! They are very nice and they speak English. It’s alright!”) and this new Eddie character (“Uh, mmmm, ok... Hello everyone. It’s nice to meet you!”) The kids were either silent with open mouths or giggling furiously and asking their neighbor if this was all for real. It was pretty entertaining for everyone, myself included.

I was taken back to the “V-sister Years” (Vix and Victoria) when Jamie and I used to prop up a camera, throw on some ridiculous clothing and speak with British accents as we filmed infomercials, cooking shows and the like. One of my all time favorites was the “Ski Lesson” series when Jamie and I (wearing fake fur and silk skirts) filmed ourselves learning how to ski during a vacation in Russia (Maine in February). I remember that there wasn’t actually very much snow that winter and the camera picked up sounds of us grating over ice and plummeting onto our knees on the frozen ground. Jamie’s little, white legs wobbled about as her lipstick smeared and I almost dropped the camera from laughing so hard! I recall walking away that day with pulled muscles and top-notch footage! Anyways, I’ve been thinking that perhaps all the skits at the family Christmas parties, the talent shows I did in middle school and even big presentations I had to give in college were great skills learned for this job! Interac was not joking when they told us trainees, “You are not here to teach as much as to entertain.” Point taken.

Written on the morning of Saturday April 25... Weekend time!!!

There are many things about my school that didn’t surprise me upon arrival, like the long hours teachers put in here, milk every day with lunch initiated by the Americans after the war, the daily clean-up of the school by students and teachers alike, etc. I guess somewhere along getting to Japan, I had read a blurb on these details. However, what no one tells you to expect is the flood of memories you experience once back inside a junior high school, in addition to the web of thoughts attached to those memories. It’s incredible to be somewhere so different than where you grew up and to imagine that this place has always existed. While we ourselves were attending middle school and passing through the awkwardness of adolescence, Japanese kids the same age were experiencing these stages here in Toyama. Very different places and yet, perhaps very similar experiences. So many times now, I have pictured who I was at age 12, 13 and 14. How funny are the changes that age and experience bring! I feel at an advantage being 23 years old in this situation. Even though junior high seems like ages ago, it really was only ten years. Although I wish some of my students would engage themselves in class more, I completely understand that “class with Ms. Cait” is not a priority for them. I don’t take it personally because I know that when I was that age, I meant nothing malicious towards my teachers if I goofed off or closed my eyes during class. I had things on my mind that involved the soccer team, what’s for lunch, the movie I saw last weekend, the boy I had a crush on, the upcoming school dance, etc. In 7th grade, kids have no clue how much time teachers put into lessons plans and correcting papers, nor how much additional energy it takes to teach five classes a day. Being on the other side now makes me appreciate all my past teachers that much more, plus teachers like my Mum or Peter’s mum, Robyn, who work their buns off to make class memorable! It also intrigues me to know how much potential each one of my students holds. If I can make their day more interesting, more fun by playing some crazy game in an English context or if I can boost their confidence an ounce that day by rewarding them with a “high-touch” (high-five), a sticker or just a “Great Job!” then it’s been a good day.