My First Day of School

April 13th, 2007
It's a good thing I'm not (very) supersticious because today I had my first class for the junior college. I had a meeting with my supervisor earlier this week, and I've been antsy ever since waiting to see how it would go. The class is Childcare English. It's an elective course through the childcare department meant to prepare students for an internship next March on base. The English department (the people who hired me) put a cap on the class of twenty students, but since it's an elective, there was no telling how many would actually show up. So until this morning, I did not know how this day was going to play out. If less than 20 showed up, I was going forward with my first lesson. If more than 20 showed up, I'd do interviews to narrow it down.
The first thing I do when I get to school is take my shoes off. No, really. There are marvelous little shoe cubbies in the entryway, and I get to trade my shoes for a pair of slippers. The ones they provide are not so comfy, but I brought my own pair today, so I was ready to go. I'm delighted that I don't have to worry about what shoes I wear to school anymore. I'm just going to take them off when I get there, anyway! :-)
I was greeted at the door by one of the English teachers, Jenni, who helped me sign in since Luc is gone. Then we met a teacher from the childcare department, who told me the total count of interested students for my class was 24. In the US, not only would they never cap a class at 20 (try 30), if there were four extra, they'd never ever ever bother to take them out. But this is not the US. This is teacher heaven. So my first class, I held interviews. On Tuesday when they first told me that this might be a possiblity, I had thought about when I helped judge drum major tryouts back home. The score cards were vital in that process because students would inevitably complain about the results. Here, they told me that I didn't have to have any system of scoring at all. "Just choose the best 20. You'll be able to tell. No one will question your decision." It's an amazing feeling to hear that last sentence. I'm so used to someone breathing over my shoulder all the time.
So this morning, each student came into a room with me, usually hesitantly because it's polite to wait until invited around here. I had to ask them to sit down before they would. Then I asked them a few quick questions: name, where they were from, siblings, may be something beyond that, but that pretty much covered it. Then I rated them all 1-10 based on how they spoke. I realize this doesn't sound difficult, but it was just enough to distinguish the lowest four, and that was all I needed.
In the process of talking to the kids I did learn a few generalities about them as well. The majority of the class comes from either Nagasaki or Omura (which I think is near here) with a few from Sasebo and a few from elsewhere. There will be exactly two boys in the class, but that wasn't especially surprising to me, since it is childcare, which is a generally female field. The really fun part is they're mostly pretty excited about being in the class. I've been warned over and over since I got here to expect the students to not want to say anything. These students offered information and seem anxious to get a high enough score to get into the class. One girl even asked to speak at the end of the interview ("Yeah, sure, go ahead!") and told me that she had signed up because she loved kids and she loved English and she hoped I'd let her stay. I could have hugged her. She was well in the top half, so instead, I told her I looked forward to teaching her. I'm not used to that kind of enthusiasm from my students, and it's really energizing.
When the interviews were done, the teacher from the childcare department who was coordinating with me told me that I could go home. I was done for the day. So that was it.
Instead of going home, though, I went to a meeting for the English Department. I'm subbing for another teacher's conversation classes all next week, and the teachers all plan together, so I needed information. I was told there was no plan for next week. The goal was to build community in the class and get the kids talking. That's it. I was given a few introduction games, and the rest is up to me. Crazy! So I'll be busy this weekend lesson planning. The meeting gave me a chance to meet the other English teachers, though, and that was nice. I had met the other Navy wife, Debbie, before, and the other three women are very nice as well. I could spend a whole letter just telling you all the details of their lives, but I'll spare you. The point is now I have a few more friends. It's a small group, so they hang out together a lot. So that should be fun!
I went to lunch with two of the English teachers, Ada and Dannielle, at the school cafeteria. Everything there is done in sets. Just outside the door to the cafeteria is a vending machine with little plastic chips in it. Each chip has Japanese writing on it. You pick the meal you want and buy your chip. Dannielle and Ada helped me translate. Ada's been here 18 years, so she can read most of the Japanese. I chose a chicken meal that she recommended. We took our chips up to the counter, and for 300 yen, I got three fried chicken tenders (Japanese style) with sauce over them, salad, a plate of rice, and a bowl of miso soup. We ate, and then we had to take our trays up to the front again, rinse all the dishes, and leave them in a washbasin. It was pretty good, especially for cafeteria food. Ada says if you need a quick meal, their to go sets are pretty good too.
Back home, I've been working on school work since then. Zack's been pretty busy this week getting ready for their upcoming deployment. It's frustrating to him at the moment, but from what he says, his CO has great faith in him, so I'm sure he'll be fine.