私のCIPのために、「くれそん」というサークルに入るつもりです。「くれそん」というサークルは英語も日本語も通用するサークルです。外国人は日本人に英語を教えて、日本人は外国人と教えます。このサークルのメンバーは学生だけじゃありません。もちろん、学生もいるけど、外国人の会社員もいれば、日系人もいます。たいてい、部屋の中で話すけど、イベントをすることもあります。例えば、先学期バーベキューと魚釣のようなイベントがあるそうです。今学期も楽しいイベントがあります。
毎週火曜日、１９時から２１時までウィングズ京都という京都市の施設で会います。そこで文化や言語について話します。日本語か英語で話すかは誰が決めてもいいです。一人で習っている言語で母語話者と話すのは誰にとっても恥ずかしいですから皆さんが教える時と教えられる時があることが大切です。春休みの後、初めって「くれそん」に行きます。本当に色々な人と話すこと楽しみです。ましてや、イベントに参るのはもっとたのしみです。
CIPは京都国際マンガミュージアムのボランティアです。マンガミュージアムは三階建てです。漫画は３０万冊ありますが，みなさんは５万冊読めます。１９４５年から２００５年までの有名な漫画もあります。
毎日曜日ベリーさんと一緒にミュージアムに行きます。ボランティア活動は英語のガイドなので、外国人のお客様が来た時、英語で案内したり、説明したりします。ミュージアムにたいてい二時から四時までいます。
初めはマンガミュージアムのYさんがミュージアムの案内をしてくれました。それから、Yさんはみなさんに私たちを紹介してくれました。最近Uさんというボランティアの人も教えてくれます。私たちが質問をすると、Uさんはよく教えてくれます。先週初めて自分で英語のツアーをしました。
先学期CIPのために京都大学病院の「にこにこトマト」（にこトマ）」というボランティアのグループに入って、本当に楽しい経験をしたので、今学期も同じ活動を続けることにした。だから毎週木曜日に他の四人のKCJSの学生と京大病院に行く。にこトマというのは病気の子供の病院での生活をもっと楽しませるグループだ。他のボランティア達は皆女の人で、子供のために一所懸命がんばっているようだ。
毎週たいてい子供のためにボランティア達とカードを作るが、カードはいつもとてもきれいだと思う。そしてたいていカードといっしょにキャンデーを子供たちに配る。例えば、先学期ハロウィーンとクリスマスのカードを作った。にこトマはハロウィーンとクリスマスのイベントも行ったが、イベントはいつもとても楽しい。クリスマスカフェで子供達と子供達の家族にクレープやケーキといったお菓子をあげた。今学期、写真を整えたり、小児科のセクションのろうかを飾ったりした。今月の飾りのテーマは「にこトマの誕生日」なので、色々な過去のにこトマの活動の写真があった。そして今月の重要なイベントはバザーだから先週バザーのために皆さんと寄付された商品の値段を決めた。バザーで売るパスタソースはたった８０円だけだから、絶対に買いたい。寄付された商品がいっぱいあって、コミュニティーは本当ににこトマを手伝っているようだ。
今学期私は京都文教中学校と高校で英語を教えるCIPをしています。京都文京学園は東山三条の近くにあります。私は自転車で東山三条の学校に行けるから便利なCIPだと思います。実は、先学期早く起きて三条通でに自転車に乗っている時、いつも生徒がいっぱいいるので、私は怒って、「なぜ私のことをじゃまするのか？」というように感じていました。多分、私をじゃまをした生徒達と私が教えている生徒達が同じと思います。皮肉ですね。
とにかく、CIPに三回に行った事があるけど、二回だけ生徒と時間を過ごしました。最初の日エス先生のホームルームの生徒に自己紹介しました。前に準備していなかったから、どんなことについて言おうか分からなくて、色々なことを説明しました。普通の自己紹介のほかに、ハワイの文化を教えました。たとえば、ちょっとフラをしたり、ハワイ語の発音を言ったりしました。ハワイに興味がある学生が多かったです。反対に、私のことに全然興味がない生徒もいたかもしれません。
So…My CIP. As a quick summary, I have koto lessons once a week with Gabri in Yamashina since we both live relatively close to each other. Thankfully, Gabri’s host mom is friends with Imoto Sensei, our teacher, so that made planning a bit easier.
After my initial participation in my CIP, which consisted of two lessons and a rather informal concert in the space of one week, the pace of koto lessons has certainly slowed down. The next planned concert isn’t until sometime in February, yet Imoto Sensei has already chosen a song for us to play by then. I’m not sure if that means that we are only going to be practicing this one piece for the next few months, or if we play this one until it is as good as it is going to get and we get additional songs. I’m hoping it is the latter, or else I will not be very amused by the time February rolls around.
As for the actual lessons themselves, they are so-so. First of all, I have no memory for Japanese formalities, so I am always at a loss for whatever phrases are expected out of my mouth at the beginning and end of every practice. Perhaps I will remember one day, or I should just improvise whatever I think sounds appropriate. Continuing on, Sensei reminds me very strongly of my childhood piano teacher, and I have a feeling it’s because I feel like I’m being treated like a child when I make a mistake or can’t understand exact details of whatever she says. (Oh, the fate of every person who can’t speak the local language.) I likewise respond by acting like the child I’m being treated as by being as uncooperative as possible. Really, there is just something about Japan that brings out my worst character traits. Anyhow, I am again grateful that Gabri is there to handle the situation with her superior Japanese language skills and social grace while I seethe in the background until I start feeling magnanimous again.
Nevertheless, Imoto Sensei is certainly a character. Because I didn’t bother learning how to ride a bike until coming to Japan, I was practicing my biking one day and I happened to be in her neighborhood since she lives about five minutes away from my house and I was familiar with that area. She must have seen me almost run into a neighbor of hers on my bike as I was turning the corner of her house, since the next thing I knew, she was making me do laps around the neighborhood and critiquing me on how good my left turns and right turns were. She also invited me to accompany her and her husband to a Buddhist ceremony at a shrine on a holiday instead of having koto lessons, so that was nice. Overall, Imoto Sensei is probably a rather generous person who very much means well, but can’t help trying to correct mistakes or weaknesses.
As for the involvement part of the CIP, I do feel like I am literally more a part of the community. I get greeted on the street by the Ojiisans and Obaasans that saw me at the mini-concert at the temple and having Sensei so close makes my world seem a little smaller.
Kids Will be Kids
When I first entered the doors of Doshisha’s kindergarten I didn’t know what to expect. How were the children going to react to me? Will they be any different from the children in America? Turns out children are equally energetic and wound up any where in the world. Everywhere I looked they were screaming, clawing at each other, jumping off the slide, hanging upside-down from monkey bars. To be honest, I was a little terrified.
Then I heard the first “Hello!” Many other small voices hesitantly followed, tiptoeing towards me as to get a closer look. My reply resulted in an explosion of giggles from the investigative party. I can certainly say spending time with these children allowed me to see a unique facet of Japanese life.
Most of the time I felt the kindergarten wasn’t much different than that in the United States, there was one apparent difference. When children got frustrated, or angry, sometimes just a little too energetic I often saw them hit (or even tackle) their teachers. Thankfully, because I am a foreigner I was granted a “barrier” from the children’s physical attacks. But the teachers I encountered weren’t as lucky; I witnessed countless numbers of secret ambushes. The teachers seemed more like “human piñatas” than “figures of authority.”
As an American, I found this shocking. I’d grown up with the idea that a “good parent” or a “good teacher” was someone who set strict boundaries and, when those were crossed, consequences. I’d assumed that these standards were the same no matter where you were in the world. But after volunteering at the kindergarten I realized rules aren’t considered nearly as important as fostering the development of a mutual child/teacher friendship. To me, this seemed more effective than the strict rules placed in American schools. All in all, it was an eye-opening experience that allowed to me to experience teaching English and, in turn, gave me new insight into Japanese culture.
My experience with CIP has been excited, yet a little unfulfilling. I say that because although I enjoyed going to the school to partake in the activities with the students often I was unable to because I was scheduled on a Friday and it seems that many field trips and holidays fall on that day. I originally decided to become an Assistant English Teacher for my CIP because I was thinking of doing the JET program and I wanted to be sure that this type of work would be something I would want to do. I got quite a few other things out of the experience as well. For instance, I got an insight into the Japanese education system. The thing that shocked me the most of is how relaxed the atmosphere is while still managing to maintain the same structure. The teacher has a friendly relationship with is students and yet he still holds together this structure. The role I played was at first more difficult that I had expected. Not using Japanese with the Japanese teacher was strange to me. I felt as if it kept the students outside of the conversation. Something I realized about the English classes in Japan, is that it is taught in much the same manner that Japanese is taught to native English speakers. However, I still don’t quite understand why it is done in such a strange manner, yielding very few that are able to fully master the other language due to things like limited vocabulary and intense grammar. A suggestion that I have to offer to the English Education Department is to perhaps focus on two things, vocabulary themes (lists that cover all the words of the same theme) and more frequent speech practice. I understand that not all students want to learn English but with the way it seems to be structured, those who do want to learn won’t be able to do so to the extent of their full potential.
On a lighter note, I really enjoyed getting to know one of the classes, I remembered a lot of their names and they really enjoyed my lessons. One lesson in particular I really enjoyed because I got the chance to explain the grammar point in Japanese to the students. Unlike Japanese classes in America, English classes in Japan are taught in English at the middle school level. I can only imagine how difficult that must be to grasp if you do not understand the language of instruction. When I explained it to them in Japanese, they were more enthusiastic and they began to correctly use the grammar point.
Being a foreigner in that setting is also very interesting. Unlike adults, children are not as accustomed to foreigners since they wake up early and go directly to school where they socialize with other Japanese children and leave later to go home where they spend time with their family. So as a foreigner I at first felt a little awkward because I didn’t understand from their point of view why I was so astonishing. But little by little I grew very comfortable and eventually feeling more prideful able being a foreigner. For the most part Japanese children thing foreigners are cool and mysterious. So all the students are just very curious of me and about where I come from. I think in all, my experience was different. I am just glad that I got the chance to see what a Japanese school is like in a hands-on way. I’d recommend it but only if you can go more than once a week.
My CIP, teaching at a middle school, was quite enjoyable. I happened to be lucky: out of the three who taught at the middle school, I had the least amount of canceled classes, so I got to see the students more. I taught 9th grade mostly, as 8th grade was cancelled almost all the time. I recently switched to a different 9th grade class, which made me a bit sad (I was almost finished remembering their names!!), but I really like my new class as well. I also got to teach the third 9th grade class, so I’ve seen them all at this point. I’ve never taught in an officially before; I was always the girl who you’d ask for help on home work in high school. But, I always enjoyed that, and I’ve enjoyed this as well.
One of the many interesting aspects about teaching at a Japanese middle school was that I got to see how English is taught as a second language in a language I am trying to learn. For example, we just learned the grammar pattern for “language I am trying to learn,” or “noun modifying sentence that comes directly after.” In Japanese, it is the opposite, but from the student’s perspective the English phrase is written the other way around. (I couldn’t begin to count the number of times I said 反対 while I helping them.) They would often rearrange phrases to make a grammatically correct sentence (something I personally never did while learning a language). For example, this past week a question would have “I like,” “the season,” “summer,” and “is” and they would have to put it in the right order. (This is harder than it seems. As I was walking around helping them, I noticed that almost every student put “Summer I like is the season.”) It’s also nice that I can explain some in Japanese as well, which usually earns me a 「日本語うまいね」 or some variation.
Another thing that they do is using games as part of the learning process. I never thought I would play “rock, paper, scissors” against a class of middle school students. If they won, they could ask me a question and get a point for their team. I discovered that I am 「じゃんけん、強い！」 that day. They did things like that all the time. It was interesting and a bit strange to be able to understand the teacher in Japanese explaining English grammar. I could really sympathize with the students, being in a similar, though reversed, situation.
I found it really interesting seeing a Japanese middle school from the inside. I have heard many scary things about the intensity of the Japanese school system. This one was surprisingly laid back. The students all talked through class, for example, or even slept on occasion with no one bothering to wake them up. They were also very rowdy and talked rather casually with the teachers. They also use some kind of reward system. A winning team or the first ten people to finish a crossword would get to make another step on their world map. I only got gold stars and the like until about 4th grade or earlier, but they still do things like that in 9th grade. Another difference was that the teachers moved from room to room instead of the students. This nicely avoided “traffic jams,” but the teacher did forget his marker on occasion. They also ate lunch in the classrooms where it was brought to them and changed in them after gym. (I walked in twice by accident, and twice a boy was just wearing underwear in the back. And no, I have no idea what that was about, but he got clothed quickly while the teacher ignored him.) They cleaned the school themselves. There were always a few students with brooms around that would say “Hello” to me or bow.
It was much less formal and less strict than I thought it would be. They are really friendly students, always making jokes. I somehow developed a joke with the boy who is always changing in the back. It’s a nice example of how laid-back they classes can be. (It’s all in English except the first two lines)
N: “Who do we like in Fahrenheit?”
Together: (while pointing fingers at each other) “JIRO!”
Mr. Ueno: “So, you like a man?”
N: “Yes, I like a man.”
Mr. Ueno: “You like men?”
N: “No no no, I like women!”
Once they know that I can speak Japanese and if I speak informally with them, they respond in kind, which was nice for talking to them. I have some great memories from this experience: playing janken with everyone, the “Jiro” joke, and the time I did a Kamehameha wave with them to name a few. It makes me happy that I can keep on observing all this and that I can teach again next semester! I believe I’ll have another school next semester, my host brother’s. I kind of hope I get his class!
最初CIPのために剣道をしたかったけど、その場合はちょっと面倒すぎると思いました。昨同志社の剣道部と京大の剣道部もけいこは土曜日の午後のだし、他の日に遠い京田辺キャンパスへ行ったりしたくなかったです。とにかく、岡山にいる間に、ホストファミリーのお母さんがおことのひき方を教えてくださいました。その後で、剣道からおことにCIPを変えたかったです。最初はおことのけいこは高すぎて、家に動物がいるから楽器を借りないので、おことをひくのは無理と思いました。
でもEクラスのガブリさんはおことのけいこをもう始まったし、山科も住んでいるし、私におことの先生の連絡先をくれました。だから十月の十日に先生に電話しました。次の日に二時間のけいこをしました。優しい歌をひきながら歌いました。でもひくより先生と話すの方が難しかったです。井元先生は話すのが早すぎて、分からない言葉をたくさん使われました。話が全然分かりません。同じの週の木曜日もけいこがありましたが、その時ガブリさんもいました。中学校と高校の時にオーケストラとビオラをひていたので、一人より他の人とひく方が好きです。だからガブリさんとひくのは楽しかったです。ガブリさんに井元先生の話を翻訳してくれました。本当に助かりました。日曜日に祭りがあったから先生の他の生徒と山科にある神社でおことをひきました。神社はとても楽な感じがあって、心配しないでひけました。自分で「チューリップ」と「たなばた」をひきながら歌って「十五夜お月さん」もひいて、ガブリさんと「数え歌」をひいて、「さくらさくら」をひきながら歌いました。たくさん間違えたけど、いい経験でした。
幼稚園での楽しい英語！
毎週火曜日二時から四時まで私は同志社の幼稚園で英語を教えています。私はCIPが大好きです。私はエヴァンさんというショアさんの息子さんと一緒に教えています。エヴァンはおもしろくていい先生だと思います。日本人の助手の先生は、ばんば先生です。私は、2つの異なる授業を教えます。最初のクラスは、4／5才の子供のクラスです。2つ目は5／6才の子供のクラスです。
クラスの初めに出欠を確認するために、エヴァンさんは英語で子供に 「名前は何ですか」と言います。それからエヴァンさんは自分を指して、「私の名前は何ですか」と尋ねます。その後エヴァンさんは私やばんば先生を指して、「彼女の名は何ですか」と尋ねます。子供たちはいつも私の名前を覚えていて、私はいつもびっくりさせられます！
出欠を確認した後、英語の動詞の確認をします。例えば、「スリープ」と「ウェイクアップ」です。それから、英語で形容詞の確認をします。「ホット」と「コールド」または「ファニー」などの形容詞を言います。その後、英語のアルファベットを教えます。最初のクラスは若いから、一日に一文字しかを考えません。 でも、次のクラスには一日二文字の一日を教えます。 大きなアルファベットの文字と小さな文字を８回ずつ書きます。その後、子供たちはその日に習った文字で始まる単語の四種類の絵を描きます。 子供たちに教えることがとても楽しみです！