I just found out the other day that in the 10 years my school has been open, I'm the first female teacher it's ever had. Several years ago the company I work for used to sent both men and women teachers to small cities in Japan but soon some of the female teachers started to complain it was too hard to live there. They said they didn't have any friends and that there wasn't much to do outside of work. Subsequently they quit so the company decided to stop placing women in small towns. Only recently have they changed this policy but still most women are mainly placed in big cities.
I got pissed of when I heard this story, not at the company but at these particular women. Living in a small town is not easy for anyone (unless you like small towns and prefer them over big cities) and it doesn't matter if you're a man or a woman the struggles are still the same. But the actions taken by these particular women gave the impression that it's harder for women to survive than men and that women need special treatment which is bullsh*t. When things get hard you just gotta suck it up and deal; find some positive outlets for your frustration but you can't just whine and whine and hope it goes away. Now I don't know these women's complete stories but I'm almost certain they're full of excuses because if the majority of male teachers can find a way to handle living in a small city then female teachers can too.
On a positive note my teaching has been going well so far. I've already taught 3 classes and I've got another 3 to teach today. The departing teacher observes my lessons and says I'm quite good for a first time teacher. I just need to work on reducing my native speak (meaning I need to talk in simple sentences structures, i.e. subject-verb-object.) and I need to work on my timing (my lessons have been either a couple minutes short or a few minutes long) but both speech and timing will come naturally over time. :-)
Well that's all I've got for now. Take care and thank you for reading!
4 件のコメント:
If I didn't know Blogger, I would have no idea how to comment! If this goes thru I'll leave a real comment for ya soon. I love hearing about your first impressions - keep them coming. Oh, and your papa had to come pick your car up tonight because the put the signs up on the street to cut down the tree.
maybe the company that you work for thinks that "foreign women", esp those from cities, would be more susceptible to certain aspects of rural Japanese life? but given the language barrier and this drastic change of culture, i can imagine the challenge one's facing...(that's why i'm so proud of you, first lady!)
but regardless of whether you're men or women, there is the inescapable comfort zone that one tends to seek in an unfamiliar environment (i'm guilty in this regard!)...but what a pity for those who have come this far but chosen to quit...plus Maizuru is so close to the sea, must be a beautiful town! (at least from the google maps it looks so)
tina
haha I still can't believe your journal is in Japanese.
I am glad things are going well and you're teaching and enjoying yourself. NEXT WEEK we need to get together. Sound good?
Wow, this happened in my case too. The JET teachers are often female, but the past three NET teachers have all been Englishmen. I didn't ask why, but I wonder it's the same reasoning?
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