Triple Fire Drill

I experienced a Japanese fire drill three days in a row this week. At the elementary schools, it was reasonably short and smooth. At the junior high school though, there was a problem finding one of the students, and some of the teachers weren’t sure where to go or what to do, so it was rather stressful. It’s hardly my first time doing an evacuation drill in Japan, so there isn’t anything particularly notable about it. But I am always struck by how military it is. Each homeroom teacher reports to the head teacher of their grade, and then that person reports to the head teacher of the school (kind of the vice principal), who then reports to the principal. They try to make their reports in very loud voices, using set phrases.

In other news, last week the teacher with whom I have the most trouble asked me what my job responsibilities were as an ALT. It’s a fair enough question, but to ask it now, in the middle of the semester, implies that my work is unsatisfactory. Well, to be honest I agree that my work is unsatisfactory, but since she makes the least use of me in classes that I attend, I would think she would want to expand that area before she asks me what else I can do. But I suspect that she doesn’t know how to do this.

What can I do, in my position? I have no authority, no say in the curriculum, so I can’t see a way that I would be able to do lesson planning independently. Doing it together with teachers seems presumptuous at best, as well as likely disruptive to the busier teachers if it’s even possible with my schedule. As far as leading a part of class, I would have to be designated a part of the lesson, and I would have to know how to conduct that part in advance, which means the teacher must either explain it to me (unlikely) or leave me to come up with the content of that part of the lesson. If I’m not leading a part of the lesson, I can be an dialogue partner (if my word usage isn’t too important), or, with a bit of preparation, a demonstration partner. In short, the best way for me to have a role in the class is to give me routine duties (greetings), guided duties (reading, dialogue partner), or the freedom to come up with my own activity. Outside of class, I work as a language consultant, homework and writing checker, and very occasionally a source of inspiration for activities. For the latter, since I have very little experience doing activities in this context, I need at least an hour usually, which tends to render me useless to the teachers. And that’s my job in a nutshell.

On Tuesday night there were a couple of games on sale at a very low price. These games are classics that I have wanted to play, so I decided to buy them. I spent half an hour making a character in Dragon Age: Origins last night, but aside from that I haven't played them because of lack of time. I really need to go to the gym tonight, but I'd also like to take advantage of having these games. I don't think I'll have much time on the weekend, because most of my Saturday will be spent in Matsumoto, and I'm planning to finally go to church on Sunday morning, and do climbing in the afternoon. Also, tomorrow I want to get a haircut. I need to work on my memory program, at least get started so that I can do some work at school, and maybe look more into embedded programming. Also, I should study for my Japanese exam which will take place in three and a half weeks. Why would I buy time-wasters when I'm so busy!