So, one of the reasons I haven't been posting much lately is because I landed a job at Gaba teaching English. I'm sure you remember my prior escapade trying to get my work permit. After finally obtaining the permit, I had to go through a three day training period, where a friendly guy named Gareth walked me through the processes of being a Gaba teacher, along with a ragtag group of other would-be teachers. It's interesting how diverse the prospective teachers were; Americans, British, and a smattering of other nationalities including Malaysian, Nepalese, and even a French man with a very thick accent. We spent our time going over the policies and methods of teaching "the Gaba way." The training helped me realize that I already had the knowledge necessary to become a teacher, but what I was really lacking was the confidence to sit in front of a stranger and assume the role. No amount of training could take the place of real-world experience, so all I had left was to jump into the thick of things and just teach.
But I was still apprehensive. I'd been assigned to the Shinjuku learning studio, which is the largest and busiest school in the company, with the most diverse group of students. Daunting is probably the word I'm searching for. I went my first day to meet the managers and get some "fourth day training." When I was done I sat in an empty booth, straining to listen to the lessons next door, but ultimately, the buzz of dozens of conversations drowned out any useful tips i might have picked up. I resigned myself to deciding my schedule, and turned for home. Tomorrow, the real work would begin.
Although I was anxious about teaching, I found myself excited about starting my work. My first client was late, but once he showed up, it was game on. The moments preceding the lessons were laced with doubt and apprehension, but as soon as the student walked into my booth, I forgot all that and I went into a sort of educational autopilot. I apparently absorbed the material from training quite effectively. As I gained experience, I was able to prepare for the lessons in less and less time. Before I know it, the evening is over, and I've finished my first day. Teaching isn't as difficult or boring as I thought. My students are interesting people with a variety of opinions, and I enjoy helping them.
That day was now a month past. Many lessons taught, many faces forgotten. Through the sea of students, I have learnt a number of lessons to help me improve my teaching methods. I've observed myself in lessons and identified my weak points; talking more than the student and time management stand out as the most difficult things to work on. Whereas a traditional teaching method might call fro a teacher to lecture the student, conversation schools put the emphasis on speaking practice. My socratic methods might be useful for teaching actual topics and subjects, but they aren't quite so effective in language acquisition. I'm taking the title too seriously; I might be able to teach them something new, but these are smart people. They already have opinions, they just need my help learning how to express them. I need to remember that.
When I first arrived in Japan, my host family consisted of just my sister and parents. My brother had his own wife and kid in Kawasaki, and soon after I met them, I found out that they were expcting their second child. After some time, I came to find out about the custom of 産前産後, where pregnant women go to their parents home for the last month of their pregnancy, and for another month after birth in order to support her with as little stress as possible. Yumi's parents live all the way in Ibaraki prefecture, and Yusuke wouldn't be able to commute that far. We live a 15 minute train ride from his office in Shinjuku, and we have plenty of room, so it seemed like a no-brainer. And just like that, my family doubled in size.
For over two months, I got to experience raising children by proxy. Their two-year old, Haruto, is a delight and a terror. The times I spent with him were always enlightening and entertaining. When I first met him he barely spoke at all, but he's made so much progress, he's speaking full sentences and really it's a challenge to get him to shut up! On more than one occasion I got to spend some quality time watching him for Yumi. He just entered the terrible twos, but I think he's better behaved than most children I see running pell-mell over their parents back home. I feel a little confused though, because now that I've seen children raised in Japanese, I have no idea how I would do it in English! Regardless, it's been a priceless experience, just long enough to enjoy, but just short enough to not become a hassle. Being here for the whole process is a pretty rare experience for an exchange student, so I feel that I really lucked out.
So why am I writing all this? Because today was the end of their stay with us. Ayano is now big enough to leave the house, and Yumi has also recovered from giving birth for the most part. I had work this afternoon, so I wasn't able to see them off, but I got up early enough to have breakfast with everyone (usually I don't get up too early, but today was special), and play a bit with Haruto before I had to get into my monkey suit and get to stepping. Before I left, I held Ayano for the first time (to be honest, I'm scared of babies), and posed with Haruto for a photo. Afterwards, I had to go off to work, and it was at that point that Haruto realized that he wasn't going to see me again for a while. He started to wail, and he apparently cried all the way back to Kawasaki. I reassured him that I'd see him again, but he could not be consoled. It was kind of sweet that we had built such a bond in such little time. When we first met, he totally shied away from me, but now, he was shedding tears when I left. Maybe it was just that he realized that he wasn't going to see Yukiko or Okaasan either for a while, but it was touching that I was the catalyst for his little outpour. I look forward to the next time they come over to play.