Cracking the whip

Cell phones aren't really a problem at most of my schools. The students aren't supposed to have them, and most abide. But, as you might expect, there is a direct relationship between the urbanity of a school's location and the visible prevalence of cell phone possession among students. I'm at my 'city school' this week. This isn't meant to imply that I'm teaching the worldly, urban street youth of Japan; no, these kids are, by any objective measure, parochial at their foundation. But they do like their cell phones.

The other ALT who works at this school (we sort of irregularly alternate weeks) has repeatedly found himself in situations where students openly (flauntingly?) operate their keitais during or between classes. Each teacher has her own approach (or lack of an approach) to discipline, and the students do take advantage of gaps in the armor. My friend has sufficient command of Japanese to address their behavior, and he does, but the situation brings up some issues regarding the role of ALTs in classroom discipline. What is the role of the ALT?

The responsibilities of an ALT are dictated by his individual situation. In junior high school, I work alongside other teachers. I view myself as support for the Japanese teacher of English, and that informs my level of involvement in classroom discipline. During my first year, I'd try to match the tone of the JTE. This meant that in less disciplined classes, I wouldn't try to single-handedly bring the class in line; I just accepted that that was the way the class was.

Chalk one up for cultural sensitivity. Hah. I'm too old for that now. This contract cycle, the Age of Intolerance resumes.

Recently I've been taking a more active, assertive role because I feel more knowledgeable and confident about Japanese and the behavior of my students. When I judge that the JTE doesn't have sufficient control of her class, I move about the room and attend to the problematic students while the JTE continues to teach.

ALTs in elementary schools often have to shoulder more of the classroom discipline burden as they don't work with JTEs as junior and senior high school ALTs do. A teacher who participates in the ALT's lesson can help to a certain extent, but one doesn't always have those teachers (some totally check out when the ALT takes over the class-- cookies and coffee in the break room). ALTs at the elementary level have to use more Japanese and be more assertive with discipline in order to be effective. Not to make them sound balanced or equivalent, but I actually have a hard time comparing JHS discipline with elementary discipline-- with the former, students are more recalcitrant but the JTE can help; with the latter, it's your own show but the students go nuts for inflatable hammers. Wait-- so do my JHS students...shit.

I think I've learned a few things while teaching in both situations. My Japanese isn't very imposing, and neither is my stature, so I rarely use the intimidation route to effect behavioral change. I find that just making the students uncomfortable with a conversation works best. I do this by merely directing my attention to that student (only that student). Most students don't want to be singled out against their will. The best thing about this approach is that it doesn't have to be negative at all; it's exactly not a confrontation. You can really just talk to the student about any dumb thing that comes to your mind; instead of saying, "Quit screwing around," I say, "Where's your notebook?" or things like that. Some kind of simple, simple English sentence works; a barrage of the Queen's doesn't. I don't speak Japanese at all in junior high school classes as a rule, and this approach to discipline allows me to be consistent. Anyway, at best, the student changes his behavior so he doesn't have to speak English with the ALT; at worst, he gets some English conversation practice in.

Back to the cell phones. Discussing the problem, my friend and I agreed that the teachers should be stricter with the students to show that they are serious about following the rules, but we also acknowledged that the teachers may simply be picking their battles. Still, we wondered about the role of the ALT here. Can you overlook a blatant infraction? In new ALT training, it was pounded into our heads that ALTs are supposed to be super-genki, creative, and fun. Finding students operating their cell phones put my friend in a tough position vis-a-vis the whole 'fun, friendly ALT' thing: he wondered whether he should tell the JTE, making her aware of the situation but likely alienating the students (who would find out that the ALT told her), or take it upon himself to square away the student. He chose the latter, and I think it was the right thing to do because it was the potentially constructive route. It gave the offending student an opportunity to change his behavior. Now, I say 'potentially constructive' because the students were back at it again the next time my friend visited the school, but you know...

Anyway, each ALT must communicate with her JTE in order to establish how to handle classroom discipline, and she must find out for herself what sort of approach will work best with her students. For example, my friend who teaches primary school in Cameroon says that students there are beaten daily.

The beginning of April is a big time in for civil employees in Japan. We ALTs got a new supervisor at the board of education, the other office workers got shuffled around, and many teachers at all of the schools were switched around all over the place. And our board of education itself was relocated out of its convenient, reasonable placement at the center of the city to a distant building on the other side of the island. Makes for a nice motorcycle ride, though.

Anyway, the respective office ladies of a few of my schools changed. Introducing myself to one of them one day, I thought it interesting to compare my katakana name (ザック, ZAKKU) to the semi-onomatopoeic Japanese expression for crunchy food texture, さくさく (SAKUSAKU).

You don't need to tell me how ill advised that was. The comparison fails to make sense. I know; let's continue.

So I basically explained to the office lady that my name is funny because it resembles a snack food expression and that that expression translates to 'crispy' in English. Not amused yet? Yeah. I don't think she was either; she listened too intently, and without the mirth I had hoped for. She now calls me "Crispy" every time I see her. Fun story.

It's simple really...

We were about to jump in the water the other day when an ancient man (from Miyako) approached us to see what sort of things we were up to.

He seated himself where the hatch opens at the back of my friend's car and began talking unintelligibly, though at length, about generalities. I mentioned that I like Miyako and enjoy working as an English teacher, and I joked that the students are frightening. He recommended that I strike the students when they are insolent.

I'm glad I don't deal with discipline in the classroom.

Still doing that stuff

Hey, it's your boy here on this island.

It's finally starting to get a little cooler around here. Diving is still possible, but if this past weekend is any indication, I'm going to need a thicker wetsuit. I haven't been that cold since experiencing a morning in Fukuoka, which, by most accounts, is not cold.

Lately I've been spending a lot of time thinking about my post-Japan plans. This isn't to say that I don't have a sufficient incentive for staying on the program for a couple of years, but the things I want to do are of the sort that requires planning. This ALT gig via the JET Programme is a pretty good job, all things considered-- the pay is decent (not copious, but quite comfortable), I enjoy the work itself, work hours are highly agreeable, etc. At the same time, outside of Japanese language skills (which, for the most part, one needs to make a non-trivial effort to acquire-- it doesn't just 'happen' for most people just by being there), one doesn't get a whole lot of out of the experience. And, at the same time, one's given skills, such as actual teaching ability, capacity for writing, or technical/scientific skills, tend to atrophy. yabai

That sounds more cutting than I intended-- allow me to clarify. I am trying to describe (or simply elaborate for my own benefit) the real, practical skills that can be developed by being an ALT. I don't think that there are many, and I would love to be wrong. There is an appreciable case to be made (and one that I will be making, future employers) that what makes the experience worthwhile is the intercultural exchange-- namely, what you bring to the table (the table that is Japan, or another foreign country) as a cultural envoy and, more significantly, what happens to you as a result of being transplanted into another society. It seems that many people believe this ability to adapt to another culture is a valuable skill of sorts, believing that it is a hard thing to do.

You might be thiking 'So, ZT, what's the hangup? Why can't you sincerely appreciate this aspect of being an ALT?' The hangup is this: in light of what has brought me here, that whole experience, it is hard for me to consider 'adapting to another culture' to be a significant thing. I mean, I'm not the cosmopolitan child of a foreign service officer and I'm not a descendant of recently arrived immigrants. I've never 'summered in Europe' or colonized India while wearing khaki. I'm just a dude from the southeastern United States who, by most accounts, ought to be a rather...culturally insular sort. But, somewhere along the line I got this crazy idea that the meaning of life is to see the world, and now I'm going at it. It hasn't been all that tough. Cultural adaptation, for me, boils down to simply making a conscious effort to go with the flow-- you suspend everyday judgment, you stop having to be right. Practicing sincere philosophy helps with it. Sure, there are tough times, but I still have my guitar, Plato, and XBOX Live.

As I write this, it's becoming apparent that I want to do this cultural immersion stuff. I get a kick out of it. That's probably why it's not a big deal to me, or why I find it easy (USUALLY easy-- the East Asian disavowal of Western logic is...trying). I mean, it makes sense. Before coming out here, many of my friends said 'you're going WHERE to teach English?' (it's more a declaration of my recklessness than a question). Perhaps they say this because they simply have no desire to be elsewhere. That's cool. And I guess that is the sort of person you wouldn't be keen on sending overseas on behalf of your organization. Maybe I am of the sort you would send. Still, I'd like to have more practical skills than simply being able to live in a foreign country, and I'm not terribly keen on being an English teacher until I die (not that one learns much about education simply by being an ALT-- again, it's that non-trivial effort thing).

I guess the true test of my 'adaptive skill' would be me being sent somewhere I don't want to go, like Michigan. More exotically, I also don't want to go to wherever in Africa the tsetese fly is. That shit freaks me out.

Anyway, the significance of adapting to another culture and location is a discussion I'll continue to pursue. Also, it is fun to write when no one is grading my work. I can use excessive parentheticals with impunity.

Orientation in Naha, Okinawa proper

Naha. Our nearest major city.