http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10312475/site/newsweek/page/1/
Thanks for the story Jay.
I think all my friends who are Japanese here have traveled to English-speaking foreign countries before. If people haven't traveled, they just seem to be kind of close-minded to foreigners. It would be like sending a Japanese person who doesn't speak much English to live in the rural American south or in the countryside in the midwest. I think they'd feel the same kind of isolation as foreigners here. I don't think it's all that different from how any race isolates any other race that is in the minority. But the isolation is really real. I experience it every single day at school, where many of the teachers ignore me because I think I make them uncomfortable. It's not my fault, it's a combination of my not speaking Japanese really well, and them not having the patience, self-confidence or the interest to connect with me. I can see how hate could arise from being isolated. That's when I remember that it's just this teacher's community that I am in, and this kind of isolation doesn't happen at Aikido or when I'm with Etsuko or Hiro. When I keep that kind of perspective, it's not so bad.
I tell of my day-to-day experiences in a funky Japanese town from my American viewpoint. This blog could also be called 'Bizarro World', 'Notes From Kyushu, a Smaller Island', or 'Teaching English in Japan: Smash Your Ego in 10 Easy Lessons."
Friday, December 09, 2005
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4 comments:
I'm terribly sorry, as Japanese, to read this. You've got difficult days at school.
It's said people in Kumamoto are rather conservative than ones in other prefectures. Besides, especially teacher's community is much more conservative than usual, which I hate. Not that all the teachers have conservative ideas, of course. You're in very the rare circumstance, unfortunately.
In addition, basically, Japanese who does't(can't?) speak English sometimes has a sense of inferiority when he/she is with foregnerns. One is afraid of being talked to. As a matter of the fact, when a foreigner talked to a friend who didn't speak English at all, she just ran away without saying anything. Not because she didn't like foreigners, or hadn't the patience, but just because she got so nervous and had no idea to react. It was so rude and irritating for him, though.
Teachers should have confidence. At least they should pretend to have it when they're in front of their students, I believe. However, if they were in a situation they have to speak in English, their confidence would be collapsed. I suppose they are afraid of it.
I've got no idea how teachers in your school behave in front of you, but my opinion could be one of the reasons, I suppose.
Anyhow, I should've been a teacher at your school;)
Hi hide ;) -- good of you to drop in.
First I should say I realized that last week was testing week in school, and so that probably gave me some stress. That could be another reason why it seemed especially difficult for me last week.
Another friend of mine who also did some teaching said the same thing, that teachers have to be very conservative. She also thinks Kumamoto is different from other places. も熊本の男性がとても違うと言うた! I think she must be right. ;)
Anyway, I never really know what most of the teachers are thinking, but I suppose it is important for teachers to keep an image. If they are nervous or embarrassed or something, it would be terrible for their students to see that, because they would both feel ashamed, right?
How do you think the foreign English teacher was viewed by other teachers when you taught in school?
Men in Kumamoto are so much different from others? Really!?As I've never lived in other prefectures, I've got no idea about that.
Whatever. Well, I worked with two ALTs who had totally different, opposite personalities. One was quiet, serious, modest, and like that. So much like a stereotype of Japanese. The other one was, you know,
Paul, always full of confidence, doesn't care trivial matters, making fun of everything all the time, and so on. Totally like a stereotype of American;)
I think both were liked by other teachers more or less. But did they talk to ALTs frequently? Come to think of it, they didn't. Some of them sometimes did, but others probably didn't at all. One of my coworkers just hated English as a language. I suppose it's caused by her English teachers during junior high.
Each person has his/her reasons. A friend told me it needs some energies for her to talk to people to whom she's never talked, or to do new things, like joining "hash". And this sort of energies getting less year by year, she says.
So in my opinion, in most of the cases, ALT's are not disliked by teachers. That is for sure. We never hate people with no reasons, or with outrageous reasons. Some nuts do, though.
Hope everything will be all right.
Come to think of it, actually, I think she said 'Kyushu men.' I've heard that they can be sort of stubborn, but I don't really know. I've never lived outside of Kumamoto either. ;)
I definitely agree that each person has his or her own reasons for acting however they act around the ALTs or foreigners. I also thought that it makes it more difficult if the ALT him/herself is also shy about speaking. I often don't know what to say when people talk to me--either I don't understand, or I don't know the words to say. Or, the ALT could say something offensive or embarrassing. I think that happens too, just because what is a certain way in Japan isn't necessarily offensive in the ALT's culture. And sometimes the ALT could get offended and push people away, but I believe that's more rare...
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