Izumi City's Election

Last month, I dismissed the news that the Mayor of Izumi City (the place where I am residing in) was fired because of bribery. I thought it would not concern me as 3 months is too short to understand the Japanese politics. But I was wrong... now the boomerang is flying back to me aiming at my face. My boss, Chiaki Hamada at BIC Eikaiwa will be running for the election to be part of the city council.

Chiaki was born on 9 July 1957. She graduated from Hagoromo Junior College at the Literary Department majoring in English. She was once a Japan Airlines Ltd. international flight cabin crew. She resigned after she got married. After that, she and another ex-stewardess realized the importance of English and they both started the Eikaiwa. Chiaki was divorced and married her current husband 8 years ago. She is a super energetic and passionate lady, very different from my general perception of the Japanese women.

The campaign has started with Chiaki's supporters giving out flyers at the train stations twice a day. By 19 June, election would be over and results should be announced soon after that. Perhaps I should ask for her autograph now just in case she will be too busy to sign for me next time.

Some details about Izumi City...

Population : 181 083 people
No. of Household : 65 767
Area : 84.99 km2

Izumi City is a historic city dating back to the Yayoi Period (3 BC - the 3 AD) and has a significant cultural heritage. The northern part of the city is mainly urban while the southern part is hilly. The dominant industry of the city is the production of 'Izumi-Cloth" and its man-made pearls.

To get more information about Izumi CIty, please check out the official website at http://www.city.izumi.osaka.jp/ and http://www.tourism-industry.izumi.osaka.jp/. You can translate the website from Japanese to English with Babel Fish translation at http://babelfish.altavista.com/.

Elephantiasis Socks?

To view some photos which I have taken in Japan, pls visit my homepage at http://babyb3113.multiply.com.

It is difficult for me to explain my traineeship. Yes, I am an English teacher at a kindergarten here. However, my accommodation is provided by a BIC Eikaiwa (an English language school). So on Wednesdays, I work for BIC. I teach at the public school in the morning and stay in BIC after lunch.

Wednesday is the most interesting day of the week for me, mainly because I do not have to leave work at 7.30am to get onto the sardine-packed train. At 10am, I go to Wake Elementary School, somewhere near my apartment to challenge my patience and my teaching skills. Wake is a public school just like the SRK and SRJK in Malaysia.

Being a student at the kindergarten is something like living in Disneyland where everything is a fantasy. There is no room for mistakes and imperfections are disgusted. The classrooms are colourfully decorated by teachers who devote their lives to the school. Even the toilets have cutesy wallpaper to provide a cozy environment for children to do whatever businesses. Detergent for hand wash is imported from the US. English text books are Oxford Publication; it cost 1800 yen (RM65). It is almost like a fairy tale growing up in this kindergarten. I wonder if all kindergartens are like this in Japan. Or maybe I am working in one of the extreme ones.

On Wednesdays, I am back to reality teaching students from Grade 1-6 (1-12 years old) at the public school. Foreign teachers like me from the eikaiwa teach English once a week, each lesson is only 20 minutes. After that, the class teacher would repeat the same lesson 3 times for the rest of the week. It is exhaustive to teach students around this age group because the teacher is more of an 'edu-tainer' (in other words, clown of the class). Just like acting in a play, it is challenging to capture the audience’s attention. Students could get beyond control once they lose interest.

The Japanese government should really consider revamping the whole English curriculum and syllabus. How much can a student learn in 20 minutes a week? And how much can a student learn if their class teacher speaks no English? Greetings and questions such as - How are you? What’s your name? How’s the weather? Do you like…? - are repeated every week from as early as 3 years old to Grade 6. This has caused a straight horizontal line in the developing curve of the Japanese child. Studies have proven that a child could master at least 6 languages during their developing years. In the context of teaching and learning English, I would say that the Malaysian government has done a better job. Syabas Malaysia!

The major difference between the Japanese and the Malaysian public schools is the teachers are not allowed to physically punish the student for disciplinary problems here. The harshest punishment I have seen is to send the student to stand at the corner or outside the class. For fights, students are lectured for 15 minutes to repent and not to do it again. It is amazing to me how effective this mode of disciplinary action can be because Japan has a long held reputation for being a safe country and they pride themselves for integrity.

I was brought up with canes and the merit system. When I was 6 years old, I was caned twice on my palm for every word I spelled wrongly in my weekly spelling test. In school, I was not allowed to wear other coloured ribbons besides red, blue, white and black. Reason given was other colours are not recognized as the school’s identity. If disobeyed, 2 points would be deducted from one’s merit record. Nonsensical? Yes, I agree. 10 points would be added by representing the school in district level competitions. At my graduation, I was awarded one of the highest merit point student of the school.

Japanese students are allowed to dye their hair blond, keep it long without tying, wear one red shoe on the left foot and one blue shoe on the right foot, wear elephantiasis socks, chunks of Disney characters key chains on each bag (most of them carry at least 2 heavy bags to school). The boys trim their eyebrows, wear baggy pants to school. All girls carry a makeup pouch complete with an eyelash curler and a mirror bigger than the size of my palm. They put on makeup in the train. I wish I can take a picture for your entertainment.

Life as a kindergarten English teacher in a country that use no English

In a blink of an eye, it is already my second month in Japan. The first month was more of a training period for me to familiarize with the kindergarten’s education system and administration. Some days there are amazing new discoveries, but there are days that I wish time would pass a little quicker.

There are altogether 5 English teachers in the kindergarten – 1 Japanese, 3 Americans and then myself. 2 of the Americans married Japanese wives and therefore they understand Japanese. Where as for the other American teacher and I, we know zero Japanese (well, maybe he knows more than I do). This is a major handicap for an English kindergarten teacher in Japan.

Basically, the children at the kindergarten are divided to 4 levels – Sainensho, Nensho, Nenchu and Nencho. Each class has English lessons in the morning once or twice in a week, except for Sesame and Sunny classes.

Sainensho (2-3 years old)
There are 2 Sainensho classes – Purin and Donuts. There are 2 teachers and less than 20 students in each class. The child’s Job Description, JD is to attend school (reluctantly, for most of them), cry, pee and pooh. For some, crying happens naturally the minute they step out of the bus. But for the rest, it is ‘induced-crying. This means ‘I do not know why but I think it is cool to cry’.
There is also Piyo Piyo, where the child comes with their mum once a week for 6 months. This duration is sort of like a trial period to see if the child (or rather the mum) likes the kindergarten or not.

Nensho (3-4 years old)
Nensho classes are named after animals – Panda, Koala, Koinu, Koneko and Racko. The number of teachers and students is like Sainensho. The JD changed as the child is promoted. If you find a child who sits still or keeps quiet in class, high chance that he is not a Nensho student.
The Head Teacher of the English Department (aka my immediate boss) loves this particular adorable boy from one of the Nensho classes. One day, the little boy ate five rice balls for lunch. When the teacher asked him if all the rice balls are in his stomach, the boy replied, ‘No, two are in my stomach, one is here and one is here.’ He pointed to his head and then to his buttock.

Nenchu (4-5 years old)
Budo, Ringo, Suika and Ichigo are name of fruits and they are the Nenchu classes. I would say the teacher’s JD is the most difficult to define in this level. At age 4-5 years old, children would start to grow horns on their skull. To make matters worst, there is only 1 teacher in a class of more than 20 monsters, I mean students. They tend to ask the most questions and instructions go through the right ear and come out from the left ear. This… is where I belong!
I teach with 2 other English teachers in the Sesame class. This is a special class because the parents pay higher for their children to have English lessons everyday. The class has 28 children.

Nencho (5-6 years old)
Nencho classes are Niji, Hoshi, Sora and Tsuki. They are named after nature. These children have full grown horns but they are able to control themselves, I think.
Sunny is the English class. Most of the students understand simple English, some tries hard to converse with me and some just refuse to use English even though they have been exposed it for 3 years.

The most interesting part of an ordinary day for me would be lunchtime. The kindergarten provides lunch everyday except for Tuesdays. I eat in Sesame class with the children everyday. Children would first set up their table with their tablecloth (sort of a handkerchief), a cup and their chopsticks, fork and spoon would be placed in a box. All their utensils are printed with various kawaii cartoon characters ie. Disney characters, Ultraman, Anpanman, Doraemon, Pikachu etc.

When most of them are ready, the teacher would pick 10 children to go to the cafeteria to get the food. 8 students would carry 2 tray of bento clumsily, 1 would carry the detergent for mouthwash and 1 would carry the teapot back to Sesame. Then food would be distributed. When all students are seated and settled,

Teacher : Hands together. (Children repeats)
: Thanks for the food. (Children repeats)

And then we will take about 20 minutes for lunch. In the process, I would try to make simple conversation with the students or make a fool out of myself to be like them. There are usually 1 or 2 girls who refuse to eat or eat very slowly. Some would spill tea here and some would ask for second helping. When it is time to clean up,

Teacher : Hands together. (Children repeats)
: Gochisoo sama deshita. (Children repeats)

After lunch, children would have to change from their tshirt and pants to their formal wear and get ready for English time. Please view the pictures I have uploaded in my homepage to see how the children get change. It is a terribly complicated process for a 4 year old because the design of the uniform is very confusing, even for the teachers.

There is a fix theme for the English lessons in Sesame and Sunny. For example, the theme for April is Easter and colours. For May is Pinata and shapes. The reason is to expose the children to other cultures of the world. Please do not ask me what Pinata is, I will only be able to answer you at the end of May. Like I said in my previous post, life as a Japanese child is always fun. There are no ABCs and 123s and no homework unlike the Malaysian children. The teachers usually prepare arts and craft or games related to the theme.

After English at 2pm, it is time to go home. Children would bow and say,

Children : Teachers goodbye. Everybody goodbye. See you tomorrow.

And that is half a day gone for me. At 3pm, the next show will begin where the Elementary School children (those who have graduated from this kindergarten) would come back for Activity Kids, Free School and Kids’ Box. Find out more in my next blog.

Mich
- from the land of little Monsters