Balance

I met some kids at the supermarket the other day when I went to buy more thread. Actually, I met what seemed like half the island. There isn't a lot to do on the island when the weather starts to cool down, so most kids hang out in the supermarket. There's a small arcade, a snack stand, a bookstore, and some purikura booths. Most kids just waved and said hello, but a couple, Chi-chan and Mizuki (names changed) walked along with me for a bit to have a chat. I went to the area with the embroidery floss and started to fill my basket. They had black, thank goodness, so I was really stocking up. I knew I didn't want to run out of any colors before I finished the bubbles.

The girls asked what I was making, and I showed them what I had sewed so far (I had brought it along with me so I didn't accidentally buy the wrong floss… again.) and they obligingly cooed over it and I automatically rejected all their compliments Japanese-style. Oh no, it's hideous, it looks like a monkey sewed it, it only looks good if you aren't wearing your glasses, and so on. I asked them if they liked 家庭科, Home Economics, and they both immediately responded with loud NOs. I was surprised, since most kids who follow me around into the sewing section like Home Ec, so I asked them why. They thought about it for a minute, and then Chi-chan offered that it takes too much time, and Mizuki added that it's too 細かい, or delicate/small. We talked a bit more, and I considered tying in a small lesson about how things that take time and are small or delicate (like English!) are worth continuing, and that the reward of finishing a piece or being able to understand more English is worth it. I eventually decided against it and let them go on their way without a heavy-handed prod about English.

On an island you can't avoid your students or your coworkers after hours unless you want to hide in your house. This can be suffocating to many ALTs, but I love running into my students. They're almost all good kids, so even the kids that have graduated to high school and don't see me in class anymore still say hello. I have worried a fair bit about how, as the Assistant Language Teacher and resident Foreign Devil, I should talk with them. Do I force every child to say hello to me? Do I run them down on the street and make them do at least a little bit of English practice (What color is this?? Do you like conbini??)? Do I speak a little bit of Japanese to ease things along or stick with 100% English?

Now, I'm not in this job to be liked. I don't give a fig whether my students like me, which might be one reason a lot of them do. Kids can smell desperation a mile away. I'm in this job to teach English and encourage internationalization. So my number one goal is to keep kids open and receptive to English. I try to hit a balance with the kids. If the kid is obviously avoiding me I might not say hi to them. So many of these kids have social anxiety issues where they just stop talking, sometimes for years, and I don't want to overload them. Unless the kid initiates I won't usually start a conversation. I will admit that this works because pretty much all of the kids initiate conversations at one point or another, even the kids who aren't that great at English. I'm sure I'd feel more pressure if only the teacher's pet kids were talking to me outside of class.

I use more Japanese with elementary school kids, but I generally try to make the English sandwich where I say something in English, then Japanese, and then English again. I can actually do more English practice with elementary school students than JHS students because quizzing a group of ten year olds what colors they like is still a fun game. Teenagers are going to feel more put on the spot.

I want to do what's best for the students. They suffer from one of the biggest blocks in learning; why should we learn this, we're never going to use it. The opportunities for English on the island are larger than the kids think (the fishermen actually support learning English because they speak English with other sailors they meet internationally), but they aren't very obvious. As long as they don't start to hate English they'll probably be ok. They'll learn in high school, their jobs, on their own, or in an English Conversation Class. So my goal is just to keep their minds open. I don't want them to resent English, or avoid the ALT. I don't want them to run away from something that they might well have to use later in their life. So I'm not too hard on them outside of class. I'm looking at the big picture, and midterm grades don't factor into the big picture very much at all.