Lordy Lordy Lordy it's been a while...
This week I have been doing speech tests with my year 2 students (Canadian grade 8's) and it has been tortuous to say the least. Second year students are the devil incarnate. They don't study, they don't listen and they don't care. It's a test of indurance to say the least.
Let's be a fly on the wall shall we...
Joe: O.K Taguchi-san, first question ... what is this? (pointing to a desk)
Taguchi-san: Yes, I am!
Joe: uhhh, ok, good job....next, what day is it today?
T: It's a piano!
J: um...ya, ok
This really happened, no joke and there were so many other students in the same boat.
Joe: What did you do yesterday?
Tsubasa: It's Tuesday!
Joe: Dear god!
The worst part about the whole thing is that I gave them all the questions that were going to be on the test TWO WEEKS AGO!!! All they had to do was look them over and memorise the answers. But did they...NOPE!
So after I was done with one particularly shitty class I went through my grades and made everyone with a "C" (since Japanese people have come up with the idiotic idea that failing students would be too mean, the worst grade I can give these kids is "C"!) stand up and I asked each of them in front of their classmates in Japanese whether they had studied or not. To which each on replied "no". Then I asked them why. They each replied (in Japanese) "I was hanging out with my friends." So I proceeded to give them all a lecture in English about how they aren't 5 years old and that they should start acting their age and get some responsibilty. I told them that if they were in Canada they wouldn't have made it past grade 3 with that kind of work ethic. To which they all looked shocked that I had actually confronted them about them all being lazy little shits (this of course was after the Japanese teacher translated my rant into Japanese) .
Next time I have to deal with something like that I am going to make them all stand up and apologize to me (in Japanese) for wasting my time. Grrr!
Having said that, I am signing on for another year!
It's not as bad as it sounds. I'm actually quite happy. The bad kids are annoying but there are lots of good kids too. I am scouting out a job in the next town over and if all goes ok, I will be quitting JET and heading to the world of private ALT'ing so that I can get my ass outta the boonies and be closer to my friends and the sweet new boy that I hooked up with. If I can't get that job I will stay here in Kameyama. But send you cosmic vibes my way please. Save me from my rice paddie wasteland!
Well that's all for now.
That wasn't very interesting now was it....
Unfortunately I haven't been doing much lately accept for teaching and drinking gin.
Cheers
Joe
This week I have been doing speech tests with my year 2 students (Canadian grade 8's) and it has been tortuous to say the least. Second year students are the devil incarnate. They don't study, they don't listen and they don't care. It's a test of indurance to say the least.
Let's be a fly on the wall shall we...
Joe: O.K Taguchi-san, first question ... what is this? (pointing to a desk)
Taguchi-san: Yes, I am!
Joe: uhhh, ok, good job....next, what day is it today?
T: It's a piano!
J: um...ya, ok
This really happened, no joke and there were so many other students in the same boat.
Joe: What did you do yesterday?
Tsubasa: It's Tuesday!
Joe: Dear god!
The worst part about the whole thing is that I gave them all the questions that were going to be on the test TWO WEEKS AGO!!! All they had to do was look them over and memorise the answers. But did they...NOPE!
So after I was done with one particularly shitty class I went through my grades and made everyone with a "C" (since Japanese people have come up with the idiotic idea that failing students would be too mean, the worst grade I can give these kids is "C"!) stand up and I asked each of them in front of their classmates in Japanese whether they had studied or not. To which each on replied "no". Then I asked them why. They each replied (in Japanese) "I was hanging out with my friends." So I proceeded to give them all a lecture in English about how they aren't 5 years old and that they should start acting their age and get some responsibilty. I told them that if they were in Canada they wouldn't have made it past grade 3 with that kind of work ethic. To which they all looked shocked that I had actually confronted them about them all being lazy little shits (this of course was after the Japanese teacher translated my rant into Japanese) .
Next time I have to deal with something like that I am going to make them all stand up and apologize to me (in Japanese) for wasting my time. Grrr!
Having said that, I am signing on for another year!
It's not as bad as it sounds. I'm actually quite happy. The bad kids are annoying but there are lots of good kids too. I am scouting out a job in the next town over and if all goes ok, I will be quitting JET and heading to the world of private ALT'ing so that I can get my ass outta the boonies and be closer to my friends and the sweet new boy that I hooked up with. If I can't get that job I will stay here in Kameyama. But send you cosmic vibes my way please. Save me from my rice paddie wasteland!
Well that's all for now.
That wasn't very interesting now was it....
Unfortunately I haven't been doing much lately accept for teaching and drinking gin.
Cheers
Joe
2 Comments:
Wait! What sweet boy? Do tell do tell! Was it the conference hook-up? Is it lurve?! Am I jumping to conclusions way too fast?
Totally hear you about the brats. We have some even more hardcore shit going down over here. Can't even really get into it here, but suffice it so say there have been hospitalizations.
And about the state of English ed in general...I'll leave you with just one short tale:
Last week I had a visitor to our office come up to me, hand me her business card, smile, and say "I....English textbook".
She then ran off.
It was only about 20 minutes later, after I had looked at the card more closely, that I realized she's one of the authors of the English communication textbooks in use at my school.
In case you missed it:
"I English textbook"
Nuff Said
- P
Joe,
I like to compare teaching English here to being the host of "Celebrity Jeopardy" on Saturday Night Live. If you have never seen an episode, I highly recommend downloading a few off the internet.
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