Guys!!! Okay, this is kind of rather late, but I’m still super excited about it: the local Japanese high school has (get this) an ENGLISH CLUB!! Now, I don’t really know what that means, but I DO know that after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays, anyone who is interested in learning more about English and English-speaking countries meets up to talk about all things English. No, really, that’s what they do.
I found out about this club through an organization called Chi-Q-Jin (a play off of the Japanese words for Earthling/person: chikyuujin). This organization partners foreign exchange students with local elementary and middle schools to play games, talk about what other countries are like, and get young kids excited about the world. They also support this English Club, but were having a hard time recruiting ICU students and most of the other Chi-Q-Jin members are Chinese, Korean, or Hispanic.
I was more than willing to help out the high schoolers, especially because most of their class time is dedicated to route translation or situation role play, not very flexible for developing real conversation skills. So I decided to drop in on the next club meeting. But we kept it a secret from the students so that it wouldn’t negatively affect attendance. Before meeting with the students, the teachers explained that they had only started learning English last April, so they would be a little shy and hesitant. Also, I was asked to pretend to know NO Japanese whatsoever. The teachers would also only speak to me in English to keep up the charade.
Well, right now (or two weeks ago) all the upperclassmen were busy studying for their college entrance exams, so only the first-years were left in the club. Make that 4 first-year boys, one who was pretty good with English so he dominated much of the Q&A time, one who was fidgety and giggly and silly, one who was exhausted from watching too much television the night before, and one who was from the Western part of Japan and who obviously was not being invited to be “in the in group” by the other three, but was trying his best to say what he was thinking in English. They talked more to each other and the teachers than they did to me, but that was because they were trying to figure out what to say or how to say something. It was rather funny, because each question directed my way involved about 5 minutes of preparation and practicing before one of the boys felt confident enough to try it out and see if I could understand them. Since I knew what they were talking about in Japanese, it helped me know what they were trying to say, but I only answered based on what they actually said in Enlgish. It will be better for them that way.
The topics were pretty basic. Since it was our first time meeting, they asked for my name, where I was from, where I go to school, if I like sports, etc. My name (Alexandra) was a bit too difficult for them and sent one of the little guys into a stammering fit just trying to pronounce it; in Japanese, to say “Alexandra” you need to add a whole bunch of vowels, making it extra long – Arekusandora. I made them guess my age and that took about 15 minutes! As hard it is for Westerners to guess an Asian person’s age, they have the same difficulty for us. The only thing is, they always guess too old, instead of too young. I did tell them that I was in college and that I was older than them but younger than their teacher. But they were so flustered (not wanting to be wrong, embarrass themselves, embarrass the teacher, insult me) the just said, “ehh…ehhh…EHHHH? 27 years?” Hahahahahaha, no.
That’s when I decided to take over and just let them listen, which they enjoyed. I told them about the magical and mysterious world of America, where special trucks drive around town selling ice cream in the summer, sushi is expensive, kids can make tunnels and houses in the snow, squirrels run on top of telephone wires, deer are bigger than people, and you can see rabbits every day. I shared with them these wonders and each time they stared back in disbelief. They would even ask their teacher if what I said was true. “Why do trucks take ice cream around if people can just buy ice cream at the convenience store?” “Because most people don’t buy daily groceries from the convenience store in America and these trucks can attract all the kids in the neighborhoods who don’t go shopping with their parents.” “Isn’t it dangerous to have all those wild animals around?” “Americans are very used to seeing birds, raccoons, and other animals around.” And on and on it went.
At the very end I gave the boys and the teachers some Dove’s Chocolate melts-things because on the inside of the wrapper are English phrases that they could read. The main teacher thought this was a fantastic idea, but the boys just liked the candy and tried to trick the teacher into giving them more. I’m going to try to go back there most Thursdays, but we’ll see how well I do in the coming weeks.
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