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.
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.
posted by babyb3113 @ 11:49 PM
1 Comments:
At 8:31 AM,
YoursLovely said…
hey gal ....no more updates ? Keep your blog alive as you are in Japan k ! Next time I'll be posting to you from HK ... :)
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