Juat West of the Midwest Chapter 7: School Days

                                                                   Meeting some of my students at Nyutabaru Air Force Base Air Show.

With school in full swing, my teachers and I seem to have gotten our routines down. 

That's not to say I have the same regimen for each teacher.

Far from it. 

In fact, my teachers' classroom styles are as different as their personalities.

At Tonda Chugakko, the largest and most centrally located of the elementary schools, there is Yamamoto-sensei. If you remember, I met him during the very first moments on Kyushu soil. Yamamoto-sensei seems to be the senior English teacher in the Shintomi School District and he certainly has the most commanding presence, despite his diminutive dimensions.

Probably in his late 50s, Yamamoto-sensei is always well-groomed, always dressed in a white shirt (well worn, but well pressed), tie and slacks. His mastery of the English language is excellent and although his teaching style tends to be a little too formal for my liking (and I'm quite sure his students would agree), he's well respected and liked - at least by me. Before each class, he goes over what the students are expected to learn that day and how I'll be participating, which usually entails clarifying pronunciations and taking part in dialogues. 

Unfortunately, most of the dialogues do little to detour from the terrible textbooks the students are forced to learn from. However, he's NEVER ONCE made me feel unwelcome or unwanted.

And he's quick to smile.

Especially when he sees how the students light up when I enter the classroom.

Hatekeyama-sensei is the other English teacher at Tonda. Probably in her early forties, she has a lovely round face that reflects a rather happy individual.

Full of giggles.

Full of life.

And from what I've seen, full of love for and from her students. 

When necessary, she can also scare the crap out of misbehaving students (and me for that matter) when her gentle voice and pleasing demeanor turn in a flash to booming and formidable. Thankfully, she's never had a harsh word for me. In fact, before each class we have together, we sit in the teachers' room and chat.

And laugh.

A lot.

Not only does Hatekeyama-sensei carefully go over what we'll be doing in class that day, she also gives me freedom to create my own dialogues, stray from the formal class routine and follows my often unscripted plan with a grace and gaiety that I find delightful and inspiring.

Hashimoto-sensei is the English teacher at Kaminyuta Chugakko, the smallest and most rurally located of my schools. I would have to guess that she is in her sixties  - even though her dyed jet black hair tries to hide it - maybe 4'9" (on tippy-toes) and very near retirement.

Every day I'm scheduled to participate in her classes, she picks me up at my apartment in her tidy, little, white car. Barely able to see over the steering wheel (and that's with the use of a pillow), Hashimoto-sensei very slowly and very, very cautiously drives past rice fields and forests to the modest but well-kept elementary school far from town.

I love our little journeys together.

She's not only very kind and very thoughtful, she is also very accepting of my presence. 

Even though she has the worst grasp of English of any of my teachers. 

Yet this has never intimidated her - even during our first couple of classes together when nerves and language barriers could have set us on the wrong path. 

When she saw that I wasn't there to judge, expose or condemn her, she gained confidence.

Now, Hashimoto-sensei wears her broken English like a badge of honor. 

And with the patience befitting a saint, she helps me with Japanese.

I adore her.

Finally, at Nyuta Chugakko, another very small, humble and rural school I visit, there is Kubota-sensei. 

With a face like a rabbit and a head like an egg (and a personality to match) Kubota-sensei is certainly a very, very nice man and has been very kind to me. (He also picks me up on days I'll be visiting his classes.) It's just that he seems far more interested in learning about all the eccentricities of the English language rather than in teaching it.

His students are clearly bored out of their minds. 

The problem is that even though his English is excellent, he doesn't know how to convey his love of the language in his lessons; which, like Yamamoto-sensei, never veer from the textbook. 

Kubota-sensei does tries to connect with his students through music.

But turning on the CD player so the kids can read the lyrics and sing along to out of date pop tunes, while I sit idly by, doesn't seem to be a good use of anyone's time. And when I do take an active role in his classes, it seems to be more as a human tape recorder rather than a classroom assistant.

However unsuccessful or ineffective I might feel in the classroom at times, I'm still confident that my influence on the students of the Shintomi School District will most strongly be felt outside class visits.

Maybe during lunch time. (Each school visit, I'm assigned to eat with the students of a particular class.) Or during recess, when I'm able to wander the hallways, playgrounds and school gardens and join students in a game of ball or hopscotch.

Or during my walk to Tonda Chugakko, the grocery store, the river, or the Town Hall, when I'm often met by a slow-moving, giggling gaggle of smile-hiding girls who stop everything to walk beside me and talk to me. 

My arrival on the scene compels them to use English; while at the same time, they have the opportunity to see me attempt Japanese.

We talk about music.

Mostly Back Street Boys.

And we talk about our lives.

Mostly mine.

Even the intentionally slower pack of bravado-laden boys (who usually follow close behind,) bent on showing off their physical prowess more than their grasp of English, are eager to spend time with me.

And so they, too, try to communicate.

Each sad attempt.

Each silly mistake.

The bond grows stronger. 

And that's what all of this is about, isn't it?