sank yuu
It’s not often that I show// my student’s work, since some (weak) part of me thinks it is slightly two-faced to simultaneously eke work out of them, happily smiling at them for putting in so much effort, and then whilst their backs are turned go “HA HA” and put it up on a public website.
But today is different.
Well, sort of. Today was a regular day at Elementary school other than one tiny detail - that being for some reason all the homeroom teachers thought it would be a good idea for EVERY SINGLE KID in the school to write a letter to me thanking me for my work this last term. I basically walked into the staffroom this morning and everyone was huddled around a cryptic letter-like piece of paper, on which they promptly asked me to draw a picture of myself, which they then rushed off to copy hundreds of times. Now, this is great in a way as it’s pretty much like getting ‘feedback’ - although it’s not like the kids would really say anything bad even if they wanted to. In another way it was sort of strange, as it felt like a kind of farewell gesture, like I was leaving and never coming back and this was the one chance they had to embrace, to tell me how much they have enjoyed my lessons. As it is, I am clearly not leaving just yet, so after pouring their tiny little hearts into these letters I’m going to show up next week and everything will be exactly the same as usual, which even to me, seems a bit disappointing. I almost feel like I should throw myself in front of a train or something, just to make all of this worthwhile.
Anyway, the kids wrote in Japanese, which is fair enough, as to expect them to articulate a thank you letter in English at this point in their education, using only animal and food names, numbers and restaurant terminology would be asking, well, the ridiculously impossible. THANK YOU JON SENSEI MONKEY APPLE EXCUSE ME THIS IS TOO COLD.
Many of them wrote exactly the same sentences, since all Japanese people really are just minions of a sole consciousness and think exactly the same way. However, there were a few letters that really stood out, either because they were heart-warmingly touching, or just downright fricking bizarre.
So anyway, here’s a rough translation of some of the things the kids put down on paper:
“Thank you for teaching us many things. I am learning English and Jon-sensei’s English is easy to understand.”
“I like to play the Mr Wolf game. I also like the English songs we learn, especially Row Row Row Yabot (sic)”
“I want to learn how to write Salad, Curry and Sandwich in English”
“One year ago when you came to this school I thought, “Jon sensei is a male teacher”. At that time I thought “A female teacher would be better” because I don’t like male teachers. But Jon-sensei always makes me laugh. So I think Jon-sensei is a funny teacher.”
“Good morning Mr Jon how are you are you ok? I am great and macho. Hungry rice rice rice rice rice riceeeeeee that’s what I say. I’m going to play shiritori (*a kind of word game): ringo, gorira, rappa, pantsu- smelly- let’s clean- .the end. Igirisu, suppaina, nakama, manbo, bobobo, bobobobobobobobobobo, boranchia- “
“This has been a really fun year. I become happy when I study. Jon-sensei is funny. Ha ha ha. Jon-sensei is a good singer and I was surprised that you can play guitar.”
“Jon-sensei has very long legs”
“Last year in the summer holidays, I met you with my friends outside your house. You introduced yourself then we did the same (*I remember this, it was literally DAYS after I arrived in Japan - and this group of kids took about 15 minutes to squeeze their names out from behind their manically grinning faces) then you played a song on your guitar by Yuzu. I was happy. At that time, I knew that you would be a fun teacher.”
Damn to that last one.
Because you know, apart from all the robotic thank yous which I obviously appreciate but at the same time know that it’s basically the only thing the kids could think to write down on paper, interspersed among the hundreds of these letters were some genuine Jon-sensei-related memories that these children had written about. Which really just wrenches at my cold, black heart. I feel like Skeletor at the end of the He-Man Christmas Special where he becomes all nice and saves the children.
You’ll have to forgive me if this kind of thing makes me go all blubbery, because behind all the bureaucracy, frustration, fingers up my anus, chain smoking and horrible, horrible school lunches, there might JUST BE a few kids here who I’m having some kind of positive impact on, and that not only makes me feel fantastic about what I am doing, but it really makes my whole existence here seem worthwhile.
wipes away single tear
MY FATHER NEVER HUGGED ME.
I’ve put some of these letters up in the gallery section, and also added a gallery of pics of my car. Also, the 1 person who actually reads this site (hi Dwayne) might be wondering where in Christ’s jockstrap is the ‘hilarious’ analysis of my mid-year conference presentation and well, the answer to that is- it wasn’t really anything worth writing about. I’m going to leave it for a while until I forget what actually happened so I can just make stuff up.
