Odelia Sensei

I’m teaching! After all, it is what I came to Japan to do (if you don’t count the opportunity for adventure, travel in Japan and Asia, and the time for self-reflection, etc.)

The first week in the classroom went by in a flash. There’s so much to do. And, this is a bit of a scary thought for me because it was a light week – I only had half the number of classes compared to a regular week and the material for the first lesson was a piece of cake considering it was my life that was the topic.

Monday was the official welcome back for the students and my official introductions to staff and students (It was also the last day of summer weather. Who knew the sun would disappear over night?) Everything went very well, considering I was up early that morning and sick as a dog from eating who knows what. Of all the times… I couldn’t very well call in sick. You only get one first day. I just breathed and smiled my way through it and I don’t think anyone noticed anything.



In the morning, I gave my speech to the teachers in Japanese. I added a special thanks for their help in getting my housing issues all sorted out. A quick scrub down of the school by staff and students (there are no janitors at Japanese schools.) And then, it was off to the gym for the assembly. I gave my speech in a mix of Japanese and English and I think it went over fairly well. The kocho-sensei (principal) gave a speech encouraging the students to devote themselves to their studies. He also spent a lot of time talking about the environment and said that each student had a responsibility to do something about global warming. His message seemed to verge on the political in a way that would never happen in Canada.

On Tuesday morning I had my first class. After weeks of smiles and hellos from students, it was a shock to find them so shy and quiet in class. I must admit that I had been warned, but my experiences to date seemed to indicate an entirely different reality. Not so. The whole thing felt so awkward. The lesson plan didn’t time out right and I wasn’t sure if any of the students understood a word I said. Plus, the speakers I bought for my computer slide show were crap and made it impossible to hear the anthem I wanted to play for them. No one had questions for me, no one seemed to know what to do.

After a little re-jigging of the lesson plan, and a new stereo system, the self-introduction class seemed to be a hit with the other classes at my base school. I even found the nerve to sing O’Canada for the students. After, however, the students took an oath. It went, “I promise to try my hardest in English class and not be afraid to make a mistake, because Odelia embarrassed herself singing.” I also found out that the first class of the week also has a reputation for being very quiet.



It’s fun to watch the students as they sit and take in my presentation. Some of their reactions have become so predictable it’s as if they are choreographed. “Ooooo,” they say when the photo of me and Noah pops up. “Kawaii!” (cute) when my cat’s photo is on the screen. They all gasp when the rams butt heads in the video of the anthem and then coo immediately afterwards when the shot of the otter pops up. It’s kind of an, “Ohhhh/kawaii!” combo.

All’s good at Ota Girls’ High School.

The visit school, Nitta Akatsuki High School, is another story all together. These kids seem like they couldn’t care less about the class. And, I can’t really blame them. It’s a technical school and many of them won’t go on to any kind of post-secondary program, at least not one that requires an English exam. And the timing of the class makes things even worse. I teach two periods with them. Both of the 50 minute classes are back to back, so that’s almost two hours straight of the same class. And, these two hours fall right after lunch and right before the end of school for the week. A victim of timing.

These kids were listening only periodically. Some of them filled out the worksheets, most didn’t bother. And, at least 3 of them slept through parts of the class. They’re mean to each other too. One boy, who you could tell wasn’t the coolest in the class was sitting all by himself. There was some group work, so I asked the table of girls behind him if he could be part of their group. Asking was my mistake. I got a resounding “NO”. It was probably the most confidently any student in that class had spoken any English the entire afternoon.

I’m nervous about teaching these kids. The teacher wants me to plan a year of journalism themed activities around newspaper and radio type ideas. It’s a good suggestion and fits in well with their written and oral units. But it’s going to be a lot of work to come up with activities and pull this off. Especially for a group of students who’d much rather be doing just about anything else. I’m going to try to turn some of my ideas into games and class competitions. We’ll see if that helps.

The students at Ota Girls’ are so very different from the students at Nitta Akatsuki. They are very motivated. On Friday, I was in Takasaki for a get together with other Assistant Language Teachers. It’s about an hour and a bit by train from Ota. At the train station, I ran into two students who travel all that way, every Friday, for a math cram school. Amazing.

I walked home from the station with one girl. She’s truly trilingual (Japanese, English, and Chinese.) Her dream is to become a doctor and work internationally. She’d even like to study medicine in Canada. She nearly burst with excitement when I told her that Doctors Without Borders is a Canadian invention. I have a feeling I’ll hear a lot from this student over the year.

I’ve had my initiation. Now, down to work planning lessons, marking papers and teaching English. Any tips?