This last week has been go, go, go. I didn't expect anything less because it is Tokyo after all. Monday was my birthday! Twenty years old, yay! Too bad I was sick so I wasn't able to celebrate it. On Tuesday the trains were stop and go and we barely made it to the Sagamihara campus on time. From there we couldn't breathe till the afternoon for lunch. That isn't to say it wasn't fun, it was really fun to talk with and shadow the university's English classes. Wednesday was at the Junior High School, but we didn't work with any students because they were all gone on field trips or testing. Thursday was my advanced session on the topic of Burnout, which I wrote up the prior week. Friday was a lot of beginners groups and opportunities to test some new strategies to help the sessions go smoothly. The thing with having a lot of things to do is that you are able to learn a lot. Let's hope I remembered some of it...
Aoyama Gakuin is a private school. This means the university, the high school, the junior high school, and the elementary school fall under that category. They also have some quirks when compared to public schools. In the paraphrased words of their power point, here is how and why they teach English.
First off the elementary school starts teaching English in the first grade rather than fifth or sixth grade as it is in public schools. Aoyama Gakuin is a Christian university and English is a large part of global communication and Christianity. Students in first through forth grade work on learning foreign culture and a broad world outlook through English for two reasons: to instill curiosity and to teach them how to live together with people from many backgrounds. Once they get into fifth and sixth grade, they start focusing on Japanese culture, values, and history in English. The goal is so they can start thinking about what they can do to contribute to global society. Also, the whole elementary has no report cards, rather the students evaluate themselves. At the end of the semesters, all students attend an interview with their homeroom teacher and parents. Here they are asked to share what they have accomplished and what they still need to work on. If they are really struggling with a class, they have a separate interview with that classes teacher. There are still tests and test scores and grades behind the scenes just in case they want to transfer out of Aoyama Gakuin, but they are never shared with the student.The belief here is that they don't need to focus on grades or have the stress of comparison when they are still so young. Rather, they need to focus on what they have done and what they can still work on. I think this is a great idea because it takes a step towards building a culture within students to focus on learning rather than a focus on the perfect grades.
In the classes they were still working on vocabulary. In the fifth grade classes they were working on basic introductions and introducing themselves to us. I tried to remember as many of their names as possible because they had some amazing goals for what they wanted to be. It would be cool to recognize them twenty years down the road. The teacher was patient with them and if they couldn't remember what to say, she told them to sit down and try again later. The students never seemed embarrassed. If there was a kid who laughed at another, the teacher stopped the class and told everyone that it is okay to mess up and to not laugh at another students progress. Having that much attention to the students mental is important to develop a positive learning environment where they are confident to learn. In the sixth grade class, they were listening to a conversation between a mother and her son about the television. Only after two times through the audio, all the students were able to answer the basic questions in their work books. The next part of class was free work time. There was two projects that students needed to finish. One was to interview us: find out where we are from, our hobbies, our favorite food (which I always default to hamburgers because I panic) etc. The other was to practice saying the lords prayer in English. Some students were struggling with going to fast and we had to slow them down. When they messed up a word, I started back from the start of the line so they'd be able to hear the flow. Showing them how to make the sounds in the mouth was also important. There are some sounds in English which aren't used in Japanese. A common on is "L" with a few others. The students were eager to learn and talk to us, but it was a little difficult to interact with them because their English is very basic and our Japanese is worse than basic. We got by with pointing, hand gestures, and talking with simple sentences and vocabulary. It was a fun, other than the fact that they kept calling me Jackie Chan... I don't look like Jackie Chan anymore!!
The Junior High was a different experience. We didn't interact with any of the students because they were all off doing different and fun activities. We spent the whole morning working, talking, and then gossiping with one of the English teachers who helps with the Chat Room. We read the students English essays to gauge their abilities and what vocabulary they can understand. The teachers next goal was to teach them structure to an argumentative essay. As of last week, they knew an essay needs reasons, a counter reason, and a rebuttal. The essays accomplished it, but in a scrambled egg sort of way. To help, he had us three write an essay each. I was writing against changing my life to help the environment. Then there was an essay for changing their lifestyle to help and one that was in the middle. I'm proud to say that I was the one who wrote most like a Junior High School student. Then we made a poster to introduce ourselves. Once again, my favorite food was hamburgers because I panicked, or maybe it's because I've been craving a good one recently...
He talked to us about the students mentality through all the levels in Japan as a whole. In the primary level, students are care free, having fun, and learning. They are very energetic. In Junior High, it buckles down because there is a lot of pressure to get into a good high school. He brought up the old saying, "the nail that stands up is hammered down." Standing out is not a goal students strives for. You don't have to look far to notice either. On the streets of Tokyo, the men are all in either white or blue button ups and suits; the women are in dresses or business attire. The straight black hair and the minimal makeup is a standard as well. This one phrased is simple, but this powerful sentence has a ripple effect. For one, people idolize their High School and University lives. That was the last time that they had fun and could express themselves often. The clubs they were in, the school festivals, and the friends from spending just a sheer amount of time at school. Media plays to this a lot. The idols and J-pop groups all dress in high school inspired uniforms and sing about adolescence. The commercials have high school students advertising the products. When was the last time that you saw a high school student in the United States in a commercial for anything other than toys?
In the Chat Room and in schools in general, it shows as well. It explains why it is difficult to get students to participate in a group setting: they don't want to stand out in front of their peers. The lecture environment is similar to that of a large public school in the States, but there are some differences. They only go to class once a week and the classes are an hour and a half long. They take a lot more than 4 classes a semester though. The structure of the lecture is sitting and listening to the professor without interruption. It's difficult. Another difference from the United States is all the pressure in Japan is getting into a good High School rather than into a good University. This poses a problem. You are putting a lot of pressure onto the shoulders of a pubescent teenager, and generally they mess up. The thing is, if you mess up getting into a good High School there is little forgiveness for the rest of your life. Just thinking about if I had to make a life changing decision, let alone motivated, when I was fifteen scares me. I couldn't even get a haircut without my mom there with me.
In the University, the professors said that once you get in, all you have to do is show up and do some homework. Sounds a lot like High School in the U.S. We shadowed beginning level English classes at the Sagamihara campus. The first class was around forty students and was split into three groups. Each group had the chance to listen to our experiences in American university and to ask us questions about anything. It was difficult to get them to speak up and ask questions. I had to go around in a circle and ask them individually if they had questions. This is part of the "don't stick out" mentality and the fact that they aren't confident in their own English. I filled the silence with asking myself basic questions as example questions and answering them. The next class was watching a video on the Aswan Dam and how it displaced the Nubian people of Egypt. After watching the video twice, they were asked to answer the questions in their workbooks. We walked around and had discussions and answered questions some of the students had. Then the next class we shadowed was presenting their hometowns in English and what tourist should do in their towns. We were asked to grade the students on an A to C scale. I think because they had their speeches written down, it was easier for them to talk in front of the group. For an advanced topic, I'll try to have the students write down their answers first before talking so it might help them organize their thoughts. Some were very informative and gave me ideas for what to do in Japan. One student told the class that his town was empty and not to go there. If for some reason someone found themselves there, the only thing to do is go out drinking.
The vibe overall got more quiet the higher the classroom we entered. Though, they still had fun when they were prepared and didn't have to put themselves in the spotlight. I'll try to focus on those aspects when I'm in classrooms in the future and see what the teachers and professors do to foster those environments.
Until next time,
Caleb Hansen
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