The Good, the Bad & the Ugly

I moved to another prefecture (similar to a state) in August. I like my small city. It’s convenient----especially for transportation and grocery shopping. My apartment is much smaller than the one I had before but it’s comfortable.

In Gunma, I taught exclusively at a junior high school. Here, in Saitama, I teach at three schools. Three days per week at a junior high school, and one day each at two elementary schools. Since most of my professional life I’ve taught teenagers, I anticipated elementary to be a challenge. Turns out, I needn’t to have worried.

At both elementary schools, the administration, staff and students welcomed me warmly and made me feel like part of their staff. I was given a tour, provided with schedules and calendars and introduced to the student body at morning assembly. Teaching is simplified and you incorporate more songs, vocabulary games and fun grammar exercises.

On the other hand, from Day One my two co-teachers and the vice-principal at the junior high school have been passive aggressive, controlling and disrespectful. The work environment they have created is nothing but hostile. They are doing their best to kill my joy of teaching. So while elementary leaves me physically tired because that age group requires a lot of energy, being at the junior high school leaves me emotionally tired.

My two predecessors quit (one after only three months), so I try not to take their slights personally. I’ve heard that some Japanese teachers of English prefer not to team teach with a native English speaker because if they’re not confident in their language skills, they feel uncomfortable making mistakes in their presence. I don’t know if that’s the case with my co-teachers or if they’re just simply hemorrhoids who get pleasure from abusing the lowest man on the totem pole. It’s a pity, because the ones that end up losing out are the students. They’re the ones I’m here for. The Board of Education is quite aware there’s a problem, but won’t do anything about it (classic Japanese avoidance of confrontation at all costs).

I’m thankful that my first two years in Japan were at a school where I got on well with all the staff and students and had a pleasant work environment. Otherwise I wouldn’t have lasted in this country and I would have walked away with a bitter taste in my mouth. Instead, I will take away with me sweet memories of my time at that mountain village school.

For this reason, most of my posts about teaching in Saitama will be about the elementary schools because there hasn’t been much interesting or positive to post about the junior high school.  

January 1, 2020