So today was another day at school. I went to the middle school in the morning where I taught the 1A and 2B classes. Not many classes today...the 3rd graders had an exam today so that was canceled. Which meant that I had 1st and 2nd period to collect my thoughts and get things ready...yay!
As well, we have some new interns or student teachers at the middle school that will be working at my middle school for the next few weeks. This is their first week so they will just be watching and seeing how the classes are run. Then I think they go into action next week. There are 3 total, 2 of them for ENGLISH! and 1 for Physical Education. So that means I'll be working with the 2, I think. It should be interesting...a student teacher and an ALT running class next week...haha! Well, I think it will be fun and be cool to work with other people. And since they're still in college finishing up, they're closer to my age than the other teachers I work with around the area, so that'll be a nice change of pace.
Well, I finished up my morning at the middle school and headed over to the elementary school to teach 2 classes. Normally I don't have elementary school on Mondays, but since I had the day off last Tuesday, they switched the elementary classes on that day to today. Well, today were fun classes. The 5th graders reviewed some gairaigo words (words borrowed from foreign countries like America and Australia) and then we played a game with those. For the 6th grade, we're learning directions. So we made a block out of the desks with different locations and the students had to navigate a partner to the destination using "Left, right, straight, back, stop..etc" until they safely arrive.
All in all, not too bad of a day, considering it's Monday! So the title..."Work...different in Japan?"
I am posting this, because there was an interesting situation today. After my classes at the elementary school, I offered to stay a little bit and do some planning for the next time that I'd be at the elementary school with the 5th and 6th grade teachers. Well, the 6th grade teacher had to take care of some sports festival stuff coming up, so he said that we'd meet next week before classes. That was fine by me. So I went to the 5th grade teacher and she was busy with her bukatsu stuff, so she wasn't able to plan with me either, today. So all this meant that I really didn't have to do anything else and probably could have just gone home right there and then. Well, the 5th grade teacher is really nice and cool, so she talked to the vice principal to let him know that neither her or the 6th grade teacher had time to meet, so essentially I had no purpose of being at the school anymore for the work day. The vice principal is a nice guy and I think he's cool, but when the 5th grade teacher told him that we couldn't meet to plan for next week, he just kind of sat there and was like, "ummmm..."
The 5th grade teacher was like, "So is it ok if he either goes home or does something else since we can't do any planning right now? There's really nothing that we can do for next week today..."
And the vice principal still sat there longer just pondering and wondering. He was like, "So you can't do any planning today?" and the 5th grade teacher responded with, "Yeah, as I said before, neither the 6th grade teacher nor myself can meet right now."
The vice principal continued to sit there and was like, "Well, I guess maybe he can sit here and have some tea or something until the time is up..." At this point, it was about 3:40ish and my time is "technically" until 4:15. I'm just thinking, "Seriously?! What's the point of just sitting there and drinking tea when I could go do something else or just go home?"
That's one thing that bugs me about Japan. The fact that even if you have nothing to do, people want you to stay there until exactly your time is up or after...I don't mind staying late if I have to finish something or am not complete with my duties for the day. I really don't keep my eye on the clock and make sure that I compensate exactly for lost time or for time that I've stayed over. I think that you should just be able to leave when you want/need to.
Well, finally the vice principal was like, yeah, I guess you can leave early today. Since you're going to meet with the teachers next week anyway before classes. And we're all on the same page that you'll be here, right? In my mind I'm just thinking, "Duh! Yeah, I'll be here and obviously know that I have to plan with the teachers!"
It was around 4ish so I was like, "Arigato gozaimasu" and peaced out. In Japan, it's just so different that even if you're not being productive, your presence there is essential or valued. I worked for a company in America, and people were allowed to make their own hours, essentially. I knew some people that left work at Target around 3:30 every day, and no one cared. It's basically your own call that if you finished your work for the day, then you can do whatever. No one is going to sit there and watch you to make sure that you stayed until 5pm or whatever. And so I guess I'm just used to that mindset. There were some days at Target where I'd stay until 6 or 7pm because I had to finish working on stuff, and other days where I'd be out of there by 3:30 or 4 because I didn't have much else to do.
Technically, classes here at my school end as early as 2:30 or 3pm, depending on the day. But my designated time says that I have to stay until 4:15pm. There are some days where I just walk around the school because I have nothing else to do. I just try to occupy my time with something because I have to stay until 4:15. I think that it is so pointless and kind of annoying, but I guess that's one part of the culture.
Well, I've rambled on enough about this topic, but I guess it's something that you learn only when you live in a foreign country. You can learn about it, but it's so much different experiencing it firsthand!
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