Well, it's been well over a month now and I've been fine as far as missing home goes. That's not to say I don't miss it, it's hard being without all my friends, but I'm able to handle it, and I think it's become a different form of homesickness people go through in recent years. The next paragraph will explain.
You see, when my sister was on exchange in Africa, she had very little connecting her to home. She had what she brought with her, probably a letter every month, and maybe a few gifts (you may correct me if I'm wrong). Her main form of communication was (most likely) the postal (lack of) service, and maybe a very expensive phone call.
Today, most people are slowly switching how they view the world. Large expanses of land are now just a plane flight away. I've seen relatives cross continents for family gatherings, and people leave continents for meetings. Not only that, but my generation is becoming less and less grounded by location, taking to the Internet where distance is based more on connection strength than displacement. On the web, everywhere is in one place. People can experience whatever technology and their connection strength can bring them. You can place your life on the Internet, or live it out there. You can also interact with anyone with a connection. So, as far as missing hearing one's voice or seeing one's face, they're never more than a few keystrokes away. You can see what is happening, discuss it, give your input, the only thing you can't do is directly interact, and that is where it pulls the rug from under you and you realize that you're still not actually "there."
So, rather than wonder how everyone is doing, wondering how much they've changed, if their hair is still the same shade of gold, et cetera, people of this generation are likely to miss the being there, but being so close and yet so far is still quite hard. For example, I saw the picutres of my friends painting the tressel, and I know I won't be able to do that with them. But I'm fine, and I'm makng sure to keep myself, mind and body, in Japan. Now then, that's enough of that, it's time now to talk about my day at school.
Despite the excessive studying, longer school hours, and emphasis on doing well to get a permanent job (pretty much all students are hired immediately after graduating from college and will work the same job until retirement) the students here are still students. My homeroom class is especially good at avoiding work and causing disruption. So today, since I am still unable to understand the spoken language, I looked at who the teachers keep their class in line.
One of thebest tactics is to have an ominous aura. Teachers whose appearance is intimidating (usually fit and bulky) seem to keep the class in a state not to far from fear. However, teachers that try this by putting effort into it usually look tired or worn after a while, which the students pick up on. Teachers who yell scare the class too much and once the scary is but a memory, so is the control it gave. Then, there are the teachers who go around picking out students individually while the students who aren't being focused on give off an aura of "everything's okay," which speads and makes this tactic often useless.
Other teachers have better luck steering the class without their noticing. They can keep the classes attention by getting them to participate consistently and by keeping track of the conversation. It's best to keep them on topic, and if they get off topic, steer them back slowly, otherwise they'll realize what's going on and they'll do their best to stay off topic (more general or more interesting topic will fare better). Just make sure to keep the sly ones in on the conversation because if given a chance, they'll toss out somthing random to throw everyone off.
In general, teachers who control the atmosphere of the class do better than those who control the students.
And before school this morning there was yesterday. Yesterday my host parents brought me to a beach along the Sea of Japan. I'd type some stuff about it, but it wasn't as fun with only them (not that I have anything against them, I just find my parents here to be regular parents (conversely, I would say that my actual father is very clever with much cunning (no I didn't mean to use that many "c"s))). So, here are the pictures, I might add text later.
You see, when my sister was on exchange in Africa, she had very little connecting her to home. She had what she brought with her, probably a letter every month, and maybe a few gifts (you may correct me if I'm wrong). Her main form of communication was (most likely) the postal (lack of) service, and maybe a very expensive phone call.
Today, most people are slowly switching how they view the world. Large expanses of land are now just a plane flight away. I've seen relatives cross continents for family gatherings, and people leave continents for meetings. Not only that, but my generation is becoming less and less grounded by location, taking to the Internet where distance is based more on connection strength than displacement. On the web, everywhere is in one place. People can experience whatever technology and their connection strength can bring them. You can place your life on the Internet, or live it out there. You can also interact with anyone with a connection. So, as far as missing hearing one's voice or seeing one's face, they're never more than a few keystrokes away. You can see what is happening, discuss it, give your input, the only thing you can't do is directly interact, and that is where it pulls the rug from under you and you realize that you're still not actually "there."
So, rather than wonder how everyone is doing, wondering how much they've changed, if their hair is still the same shade of gold, et cetera, people of this generation are likely to miss the being there, but being so close and yet so far is still quite hard. For example, I saw the picutres of my friends painting the tressel, and I know I won't be able to do that with them. But I'm fine, and I'm makng sure to keep myself, mind and body, in Japan. Now then, that's enough of that, it's time now to talk about my day at school.
Despite the excessive studying, longer school hours, and emphasis on doing well to get a permanent job (pretty much all students are hired immediately after graduating from college and will work the same job until retirement) the students here are still students. My homeroom class is especially good at avoiding work and causing disruption. So today, since I am still unable to understand the spoken language, I looked at who the teachers keep their class in line.
One of thebest tactics is to have an ominous aura. Teachers whose appearance is intimidating (usually fit and bulky) seem to keep the class in a state not to far from fear. However, teachers that try this by putting effort into it usually look tired or worn after a while, which the students pick up on. Teachers who yell scare the class too much and once the scary is but a memory, so is the control it gave. Then, there are the teachers who go around picking out students individually while the students who aren't being focused on give off an aura of "everything's okay," which speads and makes this tactic often useless.
Other teachers have better luck steering the class without their noticing. They can keep the classes attention by getting them to participate consistently and by keeping track of the conversation. It's best to keep them on topic, and if they get off topic, steer them back slowly, otherwise they'll realize what's going on and they'll do their best to stay off topic (more general or more interesting topic will fare better). Just make sure to keep the sly ones in on the conversation because if given a chance, they'll toss out somthing random to throw everyone off.
In general, teachers who control the atmosphere of the class do better than those who control the students.
And before school this morning there was yesterday. Yesterday my host parents brought me to a beach along the Sea of Japan. I'd type some stuff about it, but it wasn't as fun with only them (not that I have anything against them, I just find my parents here to be regular parents (conversely, I would say that my actual father is very clever with much cunning (no I didn't mean to use that many "c"s))). So, here are the pictures, I might add text later.
These are rice pattie fields. Rice plays a major part in the Japanese diet. Rice fields even have their very own kanji.
And this is on the way back though the city. I made this picture larger to show you th gloden arches, if you can spot them that is.
And other than that, I've been doing very little. I'm in a house where I limit computer access, my brothers spend all their time studying and studying, I'm not sure if my diet has enough energy in it for me to go on my long runs, and I'm too broke (I'm waiting to cash in the TCs) to go out and buy video games et cetera (note: I want a video game so I can translate it as I play it, not just to waste time), I've seen too many anime and I have no homework in the classes I understand. To put it another way:
Anyways, I should go back to watching the seconds tick by. (note: I hate the ticking of clocks, I can't concentrate with something forcing my pace like that.)
I hope your teachers aren't fluent enough in English to read that post - once they find you've discovered their secrets, you must join them or die. Not pretty!
ReplyDeleteGood analysis of the classroom dynamic, though. Do you think maybe it's easier to see those tactics when you're less distracted by the language and depend more on vocal tone & observation? Betcha. I've heard a lot about how social communication in Japan is much more about context, body language, expression & nuance than in Canada - if so, you're onto it.
I've been looping back through your old posts and can see photos that weren't there before - are you going back & adding to them? I see a few of my comments have disappeared as well - I've cleaned up my blogger ID & hope that'll help.
I'd bookmark this blog even if I didn't know you, just for the writing, viewpoint & photos (well, and the Nihon insider knowledge). Nice work -