Tuesday, September 02, 2008
What, Me Prepare?
One of the biggest problems I have is dealing with helplessness. Whenever I encounter situations that leave me feeling out of control and unable to manage my surroundings, I get frustrated, angry and extremely irritable. The worst thing about teaching English in Japan via the JET Programme is experiencing these feelings over and over again.
When I first arrived last summer, I found myself defaulting to "helpless" as a state of mind, mostly due to the wait-and-see attitude of the JET Programme. I spent three days in Tokyo at an orientation that offered me virtually no training or guidance regarding my new job, all the while forcing me to pack and repack my suitcases so that my luggage could be shipped off to my new home (which I had never seen) via my new employers (who I had yet to meet). Then I was brought to Osaka with the tacit assumption that my employers would meet me at the station, although no one could (more like no one would) confirm this before I got on the train. They did show up and I was whisked away to my apartment which had no phone or internet connection, where I had little choice but to rely on my supervisor to do everything for me. Even when basic communication protocols were established, I still found myself in a daze for all of August, as no one was willing to sit down and really explain what I would be doing in the classroom. It took weeks for me to really get a handle on things and truly relax.
Having one year under my belt, I had high hopes that this new school year would be different. I knew what to do, I knew most everyone's name, so what could go wrong? Things got off to a great start last week when we had a large gathering of English teachers to prepare the lesson plans and necessary materials. We spent hours brainstorming, printing flash cards and feeding them into the laminator, carefully producing a complete set of props for each school. Up until this point, I had to carry my teaching aids with me to each school. This year, we were looking to prevent that by making sure every school had every resource ready from Day One. Sadly, today I was reminded, painfully, of how planning and preparation doesn't add up to much when the chaos of the school year begins.
I showed up for work today with few expectations. Given my experience of previous semesters, I knew it would be a while before anyone would have time to review the lesson plans or even write down when our English classes would take place. So you can imagine my surprise when I was handed a complete schedule of classes for the entire semester which included one lesson for this morning! At first, I was impressed. I thought "Clearly, they're trying to take English as a subject seriously for a change."
Once the morning meeting ended, I saw the teacher responsible for English lessons run out the door and head for his homeroom. I had to run after him to ask about my first class: obviously, I needed to know where the materials we had prepared we being kept so I could go over everything before the students showed up. He kept running, dismissing my question by saying "You don't have class today." When I told him the schedule said otherwise, his reaction was a stunned "No way!"
Let that sink in for a second. The man who prepared my schedule of classes didn't actually read it before handing me a copy.
I had to follow him all the way to his homeroom where he told me to wait outside. Unfortunately, my class was supposed to start second period, so I really didn't have time to wait. I ran to the English room to check if he perhaps stored the materials there - he hadn't. Also, none of the thirty-five chairs were set up for the students yet. I went back to the staff room and noticed a familiar-looking envelope on his desk. Inside I found all of the materials we had prepared last week, obviously unopened or looked at since that meeting. A quick inspection showed me that half the flash cards were still unlaminated. After running out of laminate, we kept printing with the knowledge that the laminating would have to completed at a later date. Silly me, I was counting on that "later date" to come before I had to actually teach! Likewise, the game worksheets that should have been photocopied had not been, nor was the song I was supposed to use available in any format - no CD and no lyrics for me to teach the children.
After tracking him down again and pointing out how much preparation remained along with the acute lack of time or resources to complete that preparation in the twenty-five minutes I had before class was supposed to begin, he agreed to cancel the English class for today. While that did solve the immediate concern of how to teach a class without any materials, it merely highlighted the overall problem of no one really caring about English class at this particular school. It also means that's one more class I'm going to have to fit into my busy schedule later this semester, as September is otherwise lesson-free. That's something else I had asked to avoid - scheduling an entire month of no classes - but it seems that request was ignored.
So here I sit, angry and frustrated all over again. I don't see what else I can do here. I am an "assistant language teacher" who rotates between five different elementary schools. I only have one day a week for this particular school. When we have meetings about lesson plans or teaching materials, I have no choice but to continue my "rounds" and hope that when I come back, the teacher responsible for English will have addressed, or at least considered, whatever it is that we had discussed. At the very least, he should know better than to schedule my classes before all the materials are ready.
Does this strike anyone else as completely ass-backwards? I'm the bottom rung, the lowest of the low, the last guy anyone thinks about when it comes to the teaching staff. Why am I responsible for pressuring my supervisors/coordinators to do their jobs? And with the time constraints of five schools a week, how can I even pull that off? Do I need to start calling teachers at home?
When I first arrived last summer, I found myself defaulting to "helpless" as a state of mind, mostly due to the wait-and-see attitude of the JET Programme. I spent three days in Tokyo at an orientation that offered me virtually no training or guidance regarding my new job, all the while forcing me to pack and repack my suitcases so that my luggage could be shipped off to my new home (which I had never seen) via my new employers (who I had yet to meet). Then I was brought to Osaka with the tacit assumption that my employers would meet me at the station, although no one could (more like no one would) confirm this before I got on the train. They did show up and I was whisked away to my apartment which had no phone or internet connection, where I had little choice but to rely on my supervisor to do everything for me. Even when basic communication protocols were established, I still found myself in a daze for all of August, as no one was willing to sit down and really explain what I would be doing in the classroom. It took weeks for me to really get a handle on things and truly relax.
Having one year under my belt, I had high hopes that this new school year would be different. I knew what to do, I knew most everyone's name, so what could go wrong? Things got off to a great start last week when we had a large gathering of English teachers to prepare the lesson plans and necessary materials. We spent hours brainstorming, printing flash cards and feeding them into the laminator, carefully producing a complete set of props for each school. Up until this point, I had to carry my teaching aids with me to each school. This year, we were looking to prevent that by making sure every school had every resource ready from Day One. Sadly, today I was reminded, painfully, of how planning and preparation doesn't add up to much when the chaos of the school year begins.
I showed up for work today with few expectations. Given my experience of previous semesters, I knew it would be a while before anyone would have time to review the lesson plans or even write down when our English classes would take place. So you can imagine my surprise when I was handed a complete schedule of classes for the entire semester which included one lesson for this morning! At first, I was impressed. I thought "Clearly, they're trying to take English as a subject seriously for a change."
Once the morning meeting ended, I saw the teacher responsible for English lessons run out the door and head for his homeroom. I had to run after him to ask about my first class: obviously, I needed to know where the materials we had prepared we being kept so I could go over everything before the students showed up. He kept running, dismissing my question by saying "You don't have class today." When I told him the schedule said otherwise, his reaction was a stunned "No way!"
Let that sink in for a second. The man who prepared my schedule of classes didn't actually read it before handing me a copy.
I had to follow him all the way to his homeroom where he told me to wait outside. Unfortunately, my class was supposed to start second period, so I really didn't have time to wait. I ran to the English room to check if he perhaps stored the materials there - he hadn't. Also, none of the thirty-five chairs were set up for the students yet. I went back to the staff room and noticed a familiar-looking envelope on his desk. Inside I found all of the materials we had prepared last week, obviously unopened or looked at since that meeting. A quick inspection showed me that half the flash cards were still unlaminated. After running out of laminate, we kept printing with the knowledge that the laminating would have to completed at a later date. Silly me, I was counting on that "later date" to come before I had to actually teach! Likewise, the game worksheets that should have been photocopied had not been, nor was the song I was supposed to use available in any format - no CD and no lyrics for me to teach the children.
After tracking him down again and pointing out how much preparation remained along with the acute lack of time or resources to complete that preparation in the twenty-five minutes I had before class was supposed to begin, he agreed to cancel the English class for today. While that did solve the immediate concern of how to teach a class without any materials, it merely highlighted the overall problem of no one really caring about English class at this particular school. It also means that's one more class I'm going to have to fit into my busy schedule later this semester, as September is otherwise lesson-free. That's something else I had asked to avoid - scheduling an entire month of no classes - but it seems that request was ignored.
So here I sit, angry and frustrated all over again. I don't see what else I can do here. I am an "assistant language teacher" who rotates between five different elementary schools. I only have one day a week for this particular school. When we have meetings about lesson plans or teaching materials, I have no choice but to continue my "rounds" and hope that when I come back, the teacher responsible for English will have addressed, or at least considered, whatever it is that we had discussed. At the very least, he should know better than to schedule my classes before all the materials are ready.
Does this strike anyone else as completely ass-backwards? I'm the bottom rung, the lowest of the low, the last guy anyone thinks about when it comes to the teaching staff. Why am I responsible for pressuring my supervisors/coordinators to do their jobs? And with the time constraints of five schools a week, how can I even pull that off? Do I need to start calling teachers at home?
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Eh, such is the way of all bureaucracy.
I've found, both in the US and here, if you want to make sure that something gets done, do it yourself.
I also schlep all my flashcards and teaching aids with me... because honestly, English is not going to be a priority for them, as rarely as it's taught.
I mean, think about it... you're actually complaining about a job where you had all of one class to teach in the workday... and, not to be overly critical, but if class was 2nd period, you had all of first period to set up the chairs and run the photocopier... that sounds doable, even if the the lesson wouldn't quite be what you imagined.
Don't abandon the "good" for the "perfect."
I've found, both in the US and here, if you want to make sure that something gets done, do it yourself.
I also schlep all my flashcards and teaching aids with me... because honestly, English is not going to be a priority for them, as rarely as it's taught.
I mean, think about it... you're actually complaining about a job where you had all of one class to teach in the workday... and, not to be overly critical, but if class was 2nd period, you had all of first period to set up the chairs and run the photocopier... that sounds doable, even if the the lesson wouldn't quite be what you imagined.
Don't abandon the "good" for the "perfect."
Don't take it personally. Teachers have a different agenda from bureaucrats at the ministries who devised the JET programme. It is what it is. Consider JET a temporary backstop and start looking around, bro.
# posted by 
: 04 September, 2008 10:59
: 04 September, 2008 10:59
I knew this would happen. I'm nowhere near pissed/angry/frustrated enough to seriously consider walking away from this job. In general, I've tried to communicate on this blog my gratitude for landing such a low-impact, high-reward job. But if I truly stated happiness as equally as I complained, there would be a glut of "Feelin' Fine" posts that would serve no purpose.
This was a day where a couple of things went wrong when I thought things were finally going really well - no disaster took place, as you can see.
Rob, if it had just been the chairs and the worksheets, I would have grumbled to myself and gotten everything ready. What killed me was the total lack of preparedness concerning ALL of the materials, combined with the fact that my 英語担当先生 was blissfully unaware of the schedule he created.
tg, trust me, I don't take 90% of this shit personally because I know how it goes around here. When I leave they'll address my successor by my name for months, just like called me "Justin" for a long while when I got here.
This was a day where a couple of things went wrong when I thought things were finally going really well - no disaster took place, as you can see.
Rob, if it had just been the chairs and the worksheets, I would have grumbled to myself and gotten everything ready. What killed me was the total lack of preparedness concerning ALL of the materials, combined with the fact that my 英語担当先生 was blissfully unaware of the schedule he created.
tg, trust me, I don't take 90% of this shit personally because I know how it goes around here. When I leave they'll address my successor by my name for months, just like called me "Justin" for a long while when I got here.
"..there would be a glut of "Feelin' Fine" posts that would serve no purpose."
Eh, I'd contend they'd serve as much purpose as any post expressing "frustration" would.
Ultimately, all writing/blogging/anything does is give voice to and reinforce our perceptions... so choose what you feel like emphasizing. I'm certainly not recommend all you ever do is espouse sunshine and rainbows, because who does? I certainly bitch and complain on occasion...
I'm just saying that if you need something prepared for a class, I've found doing it yourself is the only way to be sure... and if your sense of satisfaction about, well, anything, is reliant on somebody else's attitude or thoroughness - especially since everybody looks at things differently - it's a losing game.
Eh, I'd contend they'd serve as much purpose as any post expressing "frustration" would.
Ultimately, all writing/blogging/anything does is give voice to and reinforce our perceptions... so choose what you feel like emphasizing. I'm certainly not recommend all you ever do is espouse sunshine and rainbows, because who does? I certainly bitch and complain on occasion...
I'm just saying that if you need something prepared for a class, I've found doing it yourself is the only way to be sure... and if your sense of satisfaction about, well, anything, is reliant on somebody else's attitude or thoroughness - especially since everybody looks at things differently - it's a losing game.
Dan,
I know the feeling. When I first arrived here in Isahaya with the other two newbees we had no idea what to expect. We quickly learned that the elementary schools attitudes here is `It`s all you, do what you want. Your our schools English teacher.` Which is fine with me. I have lined up my schools English classes with the schedule of one school which takes English seriously. When I plan one class it is for 5 schools. My two junior highs are another story. I have settled in here and I am enjoying it.
Chad
コメントがあります？ Type something, please. It's less work for me.I know the feeling. When I first arrived here in Isahaya with the other two newbees we had no idea what to expect. We quickly learned that the elementary schools attitudes here is `It`s all you, do what you want. Your our schools English teacher.` Which is fine with me. I have lined up my schools English classes with the schedule of one school which takes English seriously. When I plan one class it is for 5 schools. My two junior highs are another story. I have settled in here and I am enjoying it.
Chad
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