Unusually, I had a school visit on Wednesday today, to Miyanohara Elementary School, for lessons with the third- and fourth-years, and with the fifth- and sixth-years. With the middle years, I did 'This old man', and the children learned the song quickly and well, and seemed to be enjoying themselves. At the end of the lesson we even had time to play 'The Grand Old Duke of York', which was lively enough to be rather close to dangerous (but nevertheless fun) when played in the library!
I like the third- and fourth-years a lot; unfortunately, I can't say the same for one of the teachers. I'm sure she means well, but she insists on telling the children the answers to any questions I ask before they've had time to think themselves (and quite often the answers she gives are wrong), she tries to pre-empt any explanation I give (and again, quite often her explanations are wrong) or rephrase (needlessly) my explanations or instructions, and worst of all, she does all of this while I'm talking! Both the Japanese teachers and I tell the children (in all the classes, in all the schools) to be quiet while the teacher is speaking, but in this case it's not the children who are the problem- it's the damn teacher! I came very close to losing my temper at her today- not only was she 'explaining' something completely wrongly, but when I checked that the children had remembered the words to 'This old man', she helped every single one of her class! I bit my tongue, held my breath, and when she'd finished I calmly said, 'Right, we'll do it again- and this time without the teacher's help!'
The upper years, meanwhile, continued with their explanations of various aspects of Miyanohara for the English video we're planning to make. I got the original texts in my letterbox on Sunday, but I took one look at them and decided they weren't worth translating into English. For example, one group had said of graduation, 'The graduation ceremony is held in March'. Despite the fact I'd told them specifically (as well as part of my general explanation and instructions) that there was no graduation at British schools and so they would need to explain everything, from the most basic facts, this was all they'd seen fit to include.
Anyway, after another lesson of adding to the original texts (or in some cases- quite a few cases, actually- rewriting them completely) most of them were in a fairly good state- although there were still four groups who hadn't finished (or who had hardly started, in one case...). The group who were supposed to be writing about the machinami- the appearance, the feeling- of Miyanohara really had me gritting my teeth in exasperation, though. They'd written all about the roads in Miyanohara (or, at least, they'd written that there were roads, without bothering to explain further), and so I commented that as well as filling out the details of what they'd already written, they should also write about, for example, the houses, the atmosphere, the general appearance of Miyanohara. When I next looked, though, they'd rubbed out everything about roads, etc., and started over, writing about houses (namely, that there were some). I look forward- actually, I don't- to receiving their text.
I am still amazed, though, by the children's lack of ability to comprehend a situation, no matter how well explained, of which they don't have direct personal experience. They really have no clue whatsoever about what they should explain about their life, their school, etc., to someone who knows nothing about Japan: they just don't know where to start. I think that this is because they've never met someone who knows nothing about Japan, nor have they ever had to explain things like I expect them to do, and in this sense I can understand why they run into problems. It would be like asking me to, for example, gut a fish. However, what is surprising is the extent to which they still run into problems even when the way to proceed has been explained to them. I tell them that they need to explain everything from the most basic, the most 'there's-no-need-to-explain-this'-sort of facts, because they don't know what the person they're communicating with knows or doesn't know. I tell them they need to think along the lines of 'who', 'where', 'when', 'why', 'how', etc., and that the little details are often the most interesting. But do they take heed? Of course not- it's not that they're not listening, but more that what I'm saying just doesn't sink in, it's so far out of their range of experience. Of course, what I'm saying isn't limited to Miyanohara Elementary School (which is actually a really enjoyable school to visit); I really think that Japanese children in general could do with being taught the skills of description a little more than seems to be the case now.
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