Therapy
The ever diversifying role of an ALT - clown, climbing frame, punching bag, z-list celebrity, tape recorder, procrastinator, teacher (sometimes) and now…therapist.
I was informed today that next week is student-counselling week. Students pick a teacher of their choice, and have a talk with them about whatever hormone-induced irrepressible psychological trauma that is plaguing them - not necessarily specific to school. The role of the teacher in this situation is unclear to me, but I assume that since we are in Japan, the teacher should just nod and smile.
Anyway, in a bizarre turn of events, I have been picked by one child. This seems nonsensical to me, as I cant even help myself in this country, let alone anyone else. I can only imagine with hopeless apprehension as this pubescent girl starts exorcising her emotional demons in our counselling session, causing me to wildly flick through “Bob’s Big Colour Book of Psychiatry”, in the vain hope that I will find some answers for her.
Using the limited Japanese in-school language that I know, my replies to her are either “you must do your best” or “stop talking”. Or a combination of the two. As she is moved to horrible tears, I give a little stretch and say “welll that’s all for this week”.
