Tuesday, April 12, 2005
The Gossip
I’ve been so busy that every time I think of post on the blog, I just think “Post pictures!” We’ve put down the camera enough now that I can actually write a few things though.
It seems as though lots has happened, especially at work.
As you know, I have a new supervisor, Sasaki-sensei, and that’s a story all of its own, but there are also a few other new teachers in the staff room. In particular, the new art teacher, Tajima-sensei. He works only two days a week, Tuesdays and Fridays, and is at the other high school, Kamigoto, the rest of the week. He’s 30 years-old, unmarried, pretty large, and really friendly. He worked in Omura (in Nagasaki-ken) at a school for the deaf for the last year. He’s been teaching me Japanese sign language and it’s awesome. He’s not afraid to talk to me—he just came right up and introduced himself last week. That kind of bravery is cool. His English is alright, but at the enkai last week I spoke to him mostly in Japanese. He said Peter, at Kamigoto has very good Japanese. He’s been here for a year longer than I have, and I want people to say that about me in a year too.
He only teaches two classes each day, but he is a full time teacher so he must stay at the school all day. So he said he wants to hang out a lot and talk. I’m willing! It’ll be nice to have some company who’s also in my position. Lots of free time, but an obligation to be there.
Another new teacher is sitting directly across from me now. Her name is Yamaguchi-sensei. We now have four Yamaguchi’s at the school, and three are teachers that all sit near to me. It gets confusing. The Yamaguchi in front of me is a Japanese teacher, and she speaks to me. I always find it great when people just start talking to me in natural Japanese and have complete confidence that I will understand and respond. Many people are too shy to do that—or they assume I will not speak Japanese. So I think she’s great. The Yamaguchi-sensei behind me is the school nurse, an then Koichiro (also a Yamaguchi) sits next to her. Because I’m facing the opposite direction now, I can’t stare at Koichiro anymore. Consequently, I feel like everything is happening behind me. Everything I used to look at is going on behind my back. I’m getting used to it though.
I’m not sure how things will be this year. It looks like I’ll be teaching 8.5 classes a week, plus a few extra once Norimura-sensei arrives. I got that .5 of a class today; I finally talked Hatakeyama-sensei into sharing half a class with me. It’s 2-2A, my wonderful, wonderful college-bound students who I can’t bare to give up. I’ll teach the first 25 minutes listening and he’ll teach the last 25 minutes grammar. We don’t know if we’ll team teach or teach alone yet. We’ll play each class by ear, depending on how busy we are each day. I can stay for the second half of the class, but it’ll be in Japanese and I usually won’t get to participate at all. That’s fine with me though. I’ve BEGGED for this class for weeks and even 25 minutes with them per week is absolutely splendid.
I’m hoping to keep busy this year—I’m starting English notebooks with all the first years. Every first year in the school will write to me once a week in a notebook. Just a short paragraph or so and I’ll write back to them. It’ll be a lot of work, but I’m excited. I want to get to know them really well, especially the commercial students, because they are who I will really work with as the advanced students advance. They won’t have time for team taught lessons, even though I love the heck out of them. I can learn to love the commercial students too. Some of them are really great.
I’m avoiding it. Partly because I feel like the more I think and talk about it, the more real it will be, but at the same time, it’s really important to me and I think evaluation—just writing it down can really help you see the situation more clearly, and perhaps more honestly.
I’m worried about my relationship with Sasaki-sensei. She’s… first of all, she’s brand new and really busy and stressing out and things might (hopefully) change in just a few weeks when she’s in her rhythm and all. At the same time, I understand a good relationship with your supervisor is very important and I want to get off on the right foot.
Basically, I don’t get along as well with other women, especially women who are about the same age as me. I tend to intimidate and overwhelm my female peers, especially when they are quiet, shy or insecure. I guess this is no secret. I have very good relationships with many of the men in the office, and am not too close with many of the women. It’s not like I can’t—Masami and Satomi were two of my best friends last year, and I loved Chikako and Kyoko at Wakamatsu, but I do tend to get along better with men.
And so, yes, I feel some tension between Sasaki-sensei and me. I just already think she doesn’t like me very much. And I can’t understand her very well. I know that doesn’t help. She hasn’t had a whole lot of practice speaking with natives, I guess. And it shows. I guess this is the plight of many ALTs in Japan. English teachers who don’t speak English, but I never thought it’d be a problem for ME! To be fair, I may just need to get used to her way of speaking, and I’m sure that’ll happen. But she prefers to speak to me in Japanese, which sometimes I understand better than her English. She relies too much on this little electric pocket dictionary. I don’t think it’s healthy.
She’s also just a little control freak. I told her I was painting my kitchen and she about had a heart attack. She asked me if it was okay, and I said, “Yeah, it’s great. A fresh coat of paint is so nice, don’t you think?” [Enter pink pocket dictionary] She wanted to know who gave me permission. Well, Hatakeyama and I discussed it last year and really I’m not supposed to, but he said so long as it was a neutral color and I did a nice job, it would be okay. I told her it was white and looks a lot better than the previous job which was peeling and had stickers and crap all over them. She scurried off to Koichiro, who came over last night and saw it, and he said it was puro (like a pro) and kirei (beautiful). He told her many times that it was fine, it looked great and my mother was doing very well. Not satisfied, she hurried off to Hatakeyama-sensei, who said again so long as it’s white (which it is) and I don’t paint any designs it is fine. I’m not the first ALT to paint it—the green was from a predecessor James—and he knows how badly it needed it.
I guess this isn’t a great example of “tension” between us, but there’s just no trust there yet. I knew painting wouldn’t be a problem, that’s why I did it without telling anyone, but this is her first real job and so I'm sure she wants to do everything right. I’m just afraid she won’t be very forgiving and lax about the rules.
I guess Hatakeyama was just very lenient with me. (Or so my mom says as we were discussing this today.) He’s much older and understands not only how to be a superior and compromise, but also the rules and attitude of the school. Everyday he was telling me, go ahead and do that, just don’t tell anyone because you’re not supposed to. Whether it was painting my kitchen or teaching class alone or going home a little early when I had nothing else to do.
As I wrote in an email to Peter yesterday, “This may be a year of learning to accept when I don’t get my way.” And if that’s the case, I will accept it, but I may have a harder time being happy about it, because I know how it COULD be if Hatakeyama were still my supervisor. Like giving me half a class with 2-2A because he knows how much I love them and how happy it makes me to teach. He is awesome.
Today, however, Sasaki-sensei did let me grade tests! I was shocked and pleased. She gave me three classes tests and let me have at ‘em. It took up about an hour of my day, and even though it was nearing lunch time and my stomach was growling, I graded them all before I ate lunch, for fear she might take them away from me if I left the project early. I wanted to show how pleased I was that she was letting me help her. And I wanted to show dedication. She may be letting me grade tests because yesterday I said to her, “Don’t be mad at me if I am never busy,” when she refused to let me teach 2-2A next week. (That’s all worked out now—I do get to teach them, but I had to go through Hatakeyama to do it. I didn’t want to undermine her, but I did want to teach them and Hatakeyama knew how important it was. So he offered me part of his class (in an example of compromise) and then she came through and said I could have half of her class time after all. Hatakeyama carries that kind of weight! Did I mention—he’s awesome!)
And things are going great with Koichiro. Some huge awkward-weight has been lifted and we now have a relaxed and friendly relationship at school again. It’s really relieving because I feel like I don’t have many friends there anymore. Well, that’s an exaggeration, but everyone is really busy right now and I just stress about the situation with Sasaki-sensei when I don’t have anything else to do. Koichiro and I spent much of the day talking on Monday, and he even came to the school assembly and sat next to me for it. (He usually never comes and when he does he’s alone in the back corner.)
We talked about Golden Week (when I’m doing the hitchhiking in May with Peter) and there’s a possibility we will meet up in Nagasaki to go to a Renshikan Karate convention at the end of the week. He’ll be in a sparring competition and I want to cheer him on! It’d be the first off-island experience we’d have together and for some reason I’m really looking forward to that. It validates things somehow. He’s been spending more time in my apartment lately—and he always INSPECTS it when he comes over, looking at food, books, mail, whatever’s laying out—and he’s getting to know my mom a little bit. I’m proud of the English he uses around her. He’s far from perfect, I realize, but when he concentrates he can speak with her. It’s swell.
I think I just may have a friend again.
Nice.
Well, it’s really late. Mama’s already sleeping and I want to be there too. That’s all the gossip from me!
Love, Sierra
P.S. Watch for back-posting. I have some pictures to post from the weekend, but I wanted to get this up since I wrote it already.
It seems as though lots has happened, especially at work.
As you know, I have a new supervisor, Sasaki-sensei, and that’s a story all of its own, but there are also a few other new teachers in the staff room. In particular, the new art teacher, Tajima-sensei. He works only two days a week, Tuesdays and Fridays, and is at the other high school, Kamigoto, the rest of the week. He’s 30 years-old, unmarried, pretty large, and really friendly. He worked in Omura (in Nagasaki-ken) at a school for the deaf for the last year. He’s been teaching me Japanese sign language and it’s awesome. He’s not afraid to talk to me—he just came right up and introduced himself last week. That kind of bravery is cool. His English is alright, but at the enkai last week I spoke to him mostly in Japanese. He said Peter, at Kamigoto has very good Japanese. He’s been here for a year longer than I have, and I want people to say that about me in a year too.
He only teaches two classes each day, but he is a full time teacher so he must stay at the school all day. So he said he wants to hang out a lot and talk. I’m willing! It’ll be nice to have some company who’s also in my position. Lots of free time, but an obligation to be there.
Another new teacher is sitting directly across from me now. Her name is Yamaguchi-sensei. We now have four Yamaguchi’s at the school, and three are teachers that all sit near to me. It gets confusing. The Yamaguchi in front of me is a Japanese teacher, and she speaks to me. I always find it great when people just start talking to me in natural Japanese and have complete confidence that I will understand and respond. Many people are too shy to do that—or they assume I will not speak Japanese. So I think she’s great. The Yamaguchi-sensei behind me is the school nurse, an then Koichiro (also a Yamaguchi) sits next to her. Because I’m facing the opposite direction now, I can’t stare at Koichiro anymore. Consequently, I feel like everything is happening behind me. Everything I used to look at is going on behind my back. I’m getting used to it though.
I’m not sure how things will be this year. It looks like I’ll be teaching 8.5 classes a week, plus a few extra once Norimura-sensei arrives. I got that .5 of a class today; I finally talked Hatakeyama-sensei into sharing half a class with me. It’s 2-2A, my wonderful, wonderful college-bound students who I can’t bare to give up. I’ll teach the first 25 minutes listening and he’ll teach the last 25 minutes grammar. We don’t know if we’ll team teach or teach alone yet. We’ll play each class by ear, depending on how busy we are each day. I can stay for the second half of the class, but it’ll be in Japanese and I usually won’t get to participate at all. That’s fine with me though. I’ve BEGGED for this class for weeks and even 25 minutes with them per week is absolutely splendid.
I’m hoping to keep busy this year—I’m starting English notebooks with all the first years. Every first year in the school will write to me once a week in a notebook. Just a short paragraph or so and I’ll write back to them. It’ll be a lot of work, but I’m excited. I want to get to know them really well, especially the commercial students, because they are who I will really work with as the advanced students advance. They won’t have time for team taught lessons, even though I love the heck out of them. I can learn to love the commercial students too. Some of them are really great.
I’m avoiding it. Partly because I feel like the more I think and talk about it, the more real it will be, but at the same time, it’s really important to me and I think evaluation—just writing it down can really help you see the situation more clearly, and perhaps more honestly.
I’m worried about my relationship with Sasaki-sensei. She’s… first of all, she’s brand new and really busy and stressing out and things might (hopefully) change in just a few weeks when she’s in her rhythm and all. At the same time, I understand a good relationship with your supervisor is very important and I want to get off on the right foot.
Basically, I don’t get along as well with other women, especially women who are about the same age as me. I tend to intimidate and overwhelm my female peers, especially when they are quiet, shy or insecure. I guess this is no secret. I have very good relationships with many of the men in the office, and am not too close with many of the women. It’s not like I can’t—Masami and Satomi were two of my best friends last year, and I loved Chikako and Kyoko at Wakamatsu, but I do tend to get along better with men.
And so, yes, I feel some tension between Sasaki-sensei and me. I just already think she doesn’t like me very much. And I can’t understand her very well. I know that doesn’t help. She hasn’t had a whole lot of practice speaking with natives, I guess. And it shows. I guess this is the plight of many ALTs in Japan. English teachers who don’t speak English, but I never thought it’d be a problem for ME! To be fair, I may just need to get used to her way of speaking, and I’m sure that’ll happen. But she prefers to speak to me in Japanese, which sometimes I understand better than her English. She relies too much on this little electric pocket dictionary. I don’t think it’s healthy.
She’s also just a little control freak. I told her I was painting my kitchen and she about had a heart attack. She asked me if it was okay, and I said, “Yeah, it’s great. A fresh coat of paint is so nice, don’t you think?” [Enter pink pocket dictionary] She wanted to know who gave me permission. Well, Hatakeyama and I discussed it last year and really I’m not supposed to, but he said so long as it was a neutral color and I did a nice job, it would be okay. I told her it was white and looks a lot better than the previous job which was peeling and had stickers and crap all over them. She scurried off to Koichiro, who came over last night and saw it, and he said it was puro (like a pro) and kirei (beautiful). He told her many times that it was fine, it looked great and my mother was doing very well. Not satisfied, she hurried off to Hatakeyama-sensei, who said again so long as it’s white (which it is) and I don’t paint any designs it is fine. I’m not the first ALT to paint it—the green was from a predecessor James—and he knows how badly it needed it.
I guess this isn’t a great example of “tension” between us, but there’s just no trust there yet. I knew painting wouldn’t be a problem, that’s why I did it without telling anyone, but this is her first real job and so I'm sure she wants to do everything right. I’m just afraid she won’t be very forgiving and lax about the rules.
I guess Hatakeyama was just very lenient with me. (Or so my mom says as we were discussing this today.) He’s much older and understands not only how to be a superior and compromise, but also the rules and attitude of the school. Everyday he was telling me, go ahead and do that, just don’t tell anyone because you’re not supposed to. Whether it was painting my kitchen or teaching class alone or going home a little early when I had nothing else to do.
As I wrote in an email to Peter yesterday, “This may be a year of learning to accept when I don’t get my way.” And if that’s the case, I will accept it, but I may have a harder time being happy about it, because I know how it COULD be if Hatakeyama were still my supervisor. Like giving me half a class with 2-2A because he knows how much I love them and how happy it makes me to teach. He is awesome.
Today, however, Sasaki-sensei did let me grade tests! I was shocked and pleased. She gave me three classes tests and let me have at ‘em. It took up about an hour of my day, and even though it was nearing lunch time and my stomach was growling, I graded them all before I ate lunch, for fear she might take them away from me if I left the project early. I wanted to show how pleased I was that she was letting me help her. And I wanted to show dedication. She may be letting me grade tests because yesterday I said to her, “Don’t be mad at me if I am never busy,” when she refused to let me teach 2-2A next week. (That’s all worked out now—I do get to teach them, but I had to go through Hatakeyama to do it. I didn’t want to undermine her, but I did want to teach them and Hatakeyama knew how important it was. So he offered me part of his class (in an example of compromise) and then she came through and said I could have half of her class time after all. Hatakeyama carries that kind of weight! Did I mention—he’s awesome!)
And things are going great with Koichiro. Some huge awkward-weight has been lifted and we now have a relaxed and friendly relationship at school again. It’s really relieving because I feel like I don’t have many friends there anymore. Well, that’s an exaggeration, but everyone is really busy right now and I just stress about the situation with Sasaki-sensei when I don’t have anything else to do. Koichiro and I spent much of the day talking on Monday, and he even came to the school assembly and sat next to me for it. (He usually never comes and when he does he’s alone in the back corner.)
We talked about Golden Week (when I’m doing the hitchhiking in May with Peter) and there’s a possibility we will meet up in Nagasaki to go to a Renshikan Karate convention at the end of the week. He’ll be in a sparring competition and I want to cheer him on! It’d be the first off-island experience we’d have together and for some reason I’m really looking forward to that. It validates things somehow. He’s been spending more time in my apartment lately—and he always INSPECTS it when he comes over, looking at food, books, mail, whatever’s laying out—and he’s getting to know my mom a little bit. I’m proud of the English he uses around her. He’s far from perfect, I realize, but when he concentrates he can speak with her. It’s swell.
I think I just may have a friend again.
Nice.
Well, it’s really late. Mama’s already sleeping and I want to be there too. That’s all the gossip from me!
Love, Sierra
P.S. Watch for back-posting. I have some pictures to post from the weekend, but I wanted to get this up since I wrote it already.
