Fukko

I’ve been at school for about a week now. The first Junior High that I’m at is called Fukko. It is right at the base of the castle. They teach 7th – 9th grades here. The school itself is very different from Palmer Way. All the teachers have their desks in the teacher’s room, and they move from class to class instead of the students. It is crowded and messy in the teacher’s room. They are seated in clusters by grade level, presumably for collaboration. I don’t think there are any custodians, because the students do all the cleaning. Therefore, the rooms are not very clean. There is not much of a field outside, just dirt. Apparently this is very typical of a public school. Many teachers are afraid to speak English, so I try to say hello/ohayo gozaimasu and look as friendly as I can. The first day, I walked around to each teacher, gave them my card with my name and e-mail address on it, and a piece of chocolate. They liked the chocolate. When I was introduced at the morning meeting, I did a very short introduction in horrible Japanese. They all clapped and said how wonderful my Japanese was. It was kind of them to fib, but I think they really just appreciated the effort. The vice principal, Kyoto Sensei, has been very kind to me. He is a former English teacher, so he speaks very well. Everyday he makes an effort to come and talk with me. Today we talked about schools in San Diego and how they are different than here. It turns out his wife works at one of the other schools I will be visiting. The main English teacher I’m working with, Hirata Sensei, has also been very kind and helpful.
I have been doing self-introductions each day to different classes. Sometimes I am in a small group outside the classroom, and sometimes it’s in front of the whole class. Japanese students begin learning English in 7th grade, although now I think it may begin in elementary school too. I have been introducing myself to the students as “Leilani,” because no one can pronounce “Frazier.” I thought my first name would be harder.
The one thing that has really surprised me here is the behavior of the students. It is very common to have the teacher or another student speaking, and have small groups of other students talking quite openly at the same time. The teacher just talks louder. Some teachers will ask the students to be quite, and only sometimes will they listen. With one teacher, I had to just completely take over because they were being so disrespectful to her and me. Many of the students are very nice though. I only see each class once a week, and I am only at Fukko for 3 weeks. I wish I could spend more time in just one school.