The teachers’ drinking parties are a bizarre Japanese phenomenon which I've written about several times before on this blog. As usual it was incredible expense, especially for a mandatory work party. ($80. Where does that money go? I did not feel like I got $80 worth of food). And as usual most of the conversation seemed to revolve around the fact that I wasn't drinking. Even after a year they really have a hard time getting it into their heads that I don’t want to drink.
What made this party unique is that it was the farewell party for all the departing teachers. Which this year includes me.
I was not the star of the show however. The principal was retiring, and so most of the night was in the principal’s honor. Also there was a bit of inter-teacher romance that suddenly came to light. In Japan, inter-office romance is frowned upon. I suppose that’s true anywhere, but especially true in Japan. Japanese people go through a lot of effort to keep their relationships secret from their co-workers. (This is why I sometimes justify my own deceptions. I’m just following Japanese customs.) Anyway, it turns out two of the teachers I had worked with for the past year and a half are getting married. I had no idea they were even dating. No one did. And then they just announced they were getting married the next day. Needless to say, that event occupied most of the gossip for the night. I think a lot of people hardly noticed I was leaving.
I have more or less been slacking through this last year. (I think I've been fairly honest about that on this blog). Nevertheless, they found a lot of good things to say about me. The principle made a speech about all the leaving teachers. When he got to me, he said he didn't like Americans, but he liked me. He said his image of Americans was very pushy and rude, but I always let him walked through the door first, and I would sometimes ask him if his coffee tasted good. He said I was so polite that I reminded him more of a British person than an American.
Later on in the evening, each departing teacher was presented with a farewell speech by one of their colleagues. One of the Japanese Teachers of English read a speech to me, and then gave me a copy of the plaque with the speech on it. I’m reproducing it below. (PS-All of the grammatical errors and spelling mistakes are as is. Except for any typos that might have sneaked in while I was re-typing it. But pretend those were original spelling mistakes).
The Diploma
Joel Swagman
You have taught English as an ALT in Godo-cho for one and half year. During stau in Godo, you have talked to our students very actively and kindly. Therefore, all of the students like you very much. Moreover you have always cleaned the school with the students during cleaning time. I have never seen that an ALT clean with the students.
You are interested in Japanese history, and talk about
Japanese history with social studies teachers a lot.
We hope that you will be the vice-president in the USA some day, some soon!!
This is to certify you have finished working at Godo Junior High.
There are two ways to look at this I guess. One way is to just take it at face value and assume they were very happy with me.
The more cynical way is to remember that Japan is the land of coded words and hidden meanings. For instance a common Japanese technique is to damn with faint praise. By giving someone only small praise on trivial matters, what you leave unsaid indicates your displeasure with larger matters. Of course if you think about these things too much, it makes you paranoid, so I try and just take everything at face value and hidden meanings be damned.
I’m not a hard worker or a particularly good teacher, but I get a lot of points in Japan just for being easy going. Your average Japanese school is always really worried about receiving a foreigner. They view us as being rude, pushy, whiny, and aggressive. And they're worried about how they’ll be able to deal with us. Japanese people often have a difficult time saying no, and are worried the American assistant English teacher will just walk all over them. Simple acts of courtesy, like letting the principal walk through the door first or asking him how his coffee tastes, really do go a long way in Japan. (And you would be surprised at the number of Assistant English teachers who seem unable to do this.)
I thought (and Shoko agrees with this) the fact that they mentioned cleaning was a bit odd. Was I really the first ALT they had seen clean with the students? That seems like a pretty basic thing to me. What were all these other ALTs doing during cleaning time? Were they reading a book at their desk while other teachers rushed around them cleaning?
Link of the Day
Does the Media Have It Right on the War?
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