Battle Wounds...
Ok so I just got back from my first and last 6th grade class today. My favorite grade to teach has always been 5th and 6th. I remember when they were easy to talk to, joke around with, and have a sense of understanding. I don't think the rule applies to 6th grade in Japan. At least not until I can understand and speak their language.
So I finally figured out what they were saying all along. For the past month or so there is a kid at my base school that kept saying "fat you". I don't necissarily call myself a thin person so I guess I can understand that its their first weapon against me using what little english they have. So my first reaction is to act like I don't understand them. 80% of the time they give up and things are back to normal. The other 20% are the real punks being persistant and really trying to get under your skin. That's when I chase them off laughing it off as if it didn't bother me to the point where I don't need to get angry. But then out of that 20% about 5 % are really out to get you. That's when I get angry and totally stare them down and try to explain to them in my worst Japanese that what they said or did is/was really really bad.
So anyway back to "fat you." I figured that it doesn't really bother me until just now. In the sixth grade class they were cutting out the alphabet and they had to put them back in order. The activity was timed so the teacher told the class to mix up the letters. As I went around I noticed that one of the students were cutting them nicely and putting them in order. I walked over and told him to mix it up. I getsured it and still he gave me a confused expression. So I went to his pieces and swished the around (not violently) and repeated "mix". He looked at with this expression that I have seen many times before. Like, "what the hell are you doing?!" I've seen this face in Hawaii and here. Then he says "Fat you". Then as I'm about to walk away I look back and I could see him staring at me with a sense of hate. Then I realized what the kids are trying to say. I finally realized that all these kids are trying to say "fuck you". "Fat You" I can deal with but "Fuck You" from a student to a teacher? A sixth grader?! I wanted to take the kid outside and show him what happens when you say "fuck you" to a person not willing to accept it. As I looked back at him a friend next to him distracted him from staring me down and I was able to walk away. So for the rest of the class I thought about all the kids who had been calling me "fat you" in all my schools. A real sense of anger came over me. I really don't want to teach these 6th graders. Well at least the ones that don't want to learn. Heavily debating whether or not to bring this "issue" up with the teachers or even the prinicpal... Do sho kan na...
Just for the record I have never heard a sixth/fifth grader tell a teacher fuck you to his/her face. I'm sure that if they said an equally insulting phrase to a Japanese teacher that Japanese teacher would give them a new asshole. But for me to do something? Nothing much I can do other than refuse to teach the class... but then new issue comes up. The students in sixth grade will know that I couldn't handle and walked away. I want to pick my students to teach.
So I finally figured out what they were saying all along. For the past month or so there is a kid at my base school that kept saying "fat you". I don't necissarily call myself a thin person so I guess I can understand that its their first weapon against me using what little english they have. So my first reaction is to act like I don't understand them. 80% of the time they give up and things are back to normal. The other 20% are the real punks being persistant and really trying to get under your skin. That's when I chase them off laughing it off as if it didn't bother me to the point where I don't need to get angry. But then out of that 20% about 5 % are really out to get you. That's when I get angry and totally stare them down and try to explain to them in my worst Japanese that what they said or did is/was really really bad.
So anyway back to "fat you." I figured that it doesn't really bother me until just now. In the sixth grade class they were cutting out the alphabet and they had to put them back in order. The activity was timed so the teacher told the class to mix up the letters. As I went around I noticed that one of the students were cutting them nicely and putting them in order. I walked over and told him to mix it up. I getsured it and still he gave me a confused expression. So I went to his pieces and swished the around (not violently) and repeated "mix". He looked at with this expression that I have seen many times before. Like, "what the hell are you doing?!" I've seen this face in Hawaii and here. Then he says "Fat you". Then as I'm about to walk away I look back and I could see him staring at me with a sense of hate. Then I realized what the kids are trying to say. I finally realized that all these kids are trying to say "fuck you". "Fat You" I can deal with but "Fuck You" from a student to a teacher? A sixth grader?! I wanted to take the kid outside and show him what happens when you say "fuck you" to a person not willing to accept it. As I looked back at him a friend next to him distracted him from staring me down and I was able to walk away. So for the rest of the class I thought about all the kids who had been calling me "fat you" in all my schools. A real sense of anger came over me. I really don't want to teach these 6th graders. Well at least the ones that don't want to learn. Heavily debating whether or not to bring this "issue" up with the teachers or even the prinicpal... Do sho kan na...
Just for the record I have never heard a sixth/fifth grader tell a teacher fuck you to his/her face. I'm sure that if they said an equally insulting phrase to a Japanese teacher that Japanese teacher would give them a new asshole. But for me to do something? Nothing much I can do other than refuse to teach the class... but then new issue comes up. The students in sixth grade will know that I couldn't handle and walked away. I want to pick my students to teach.
posted by Chris at 3:24 PM
4 Comments:
wow! is that what they're trying to say? Is that at just one school or at other schools too. that is so rude. i wouldn't take it from them. i think you should confront the kid.
we all know how petty i am so take this advice w/ a grain of salt:
so these japanese kids are trying to bring on the smack down in english. meanwhile, you actually speak english. therefore, i propose you fight back w/ your somewhat better english. may i suggest, "EAT MY ASS, FAGGOT!"
OR, you can do what i do when the pomeranians start yapping at falling tangerines ... pound on the walls and tell em to shut up. usually works. 'cept, pound on the actual students or something instead of the walls cuz i don't think that your school would appreciate you hitting their property. or you know, "eat my ass faggot."
isn't larry zane a professor in the college of education?
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