boy am i in trouble. last week… in one of my classes… this boy raises his hand to answer a question. i pick him. he stands up… and… looks at me. i smile and ask him to try. he thinks for a few seconds… then… turns to his friends and starts asking for help. ok… up to now its fine… hes japanese. i wait patiently.i wait for 5 minutes. soon… everyone in the class is chit-chatting… and then he is just talking about something else to his friends… he is laughing and ignoring the question. at this point i switch to someone else…. he gets shocked… why did i skip him??? cause it took you 5 minutes to do nothing! so i said… “you cant do it now”… he takes it as i mean he is incompitent. no … just lazy. so he starts crying. in class. in front of everyone… a 14 year old boy! he gets upset and slams the book down on the desk. the JTE (other teacher) talks tohim. after class i wanna talk to him… see if he is ok… he sees me coming so he runs away. i go after him again… runs away again. i decide then i wont talk to him. oh well.
monday rolls around… and here is an update… he went home… cried to his mommy… and she called the school complaining. he must have been depressed all weekend about this. so… monday 2 of my coworkers come ask me to apologise to the boy. i say… “sure… i can apologise for what i said… maybe i was too aggressive..> HOWEVER i had reason… and if you want me to apologise… i will also give an explanation… not just apologise. I dont think he will like what i have to say….”
they said… ok. just come talk to him. sure thing guys. i go… and watta ya know… he is sitting there like a little royal prince, like i am about to kiss his shoes. i sit down and say…
“i am sorry for the words i said on friday. I did not realize japanese students are soo weak, and i should have known you are like a little baby. i will treat you like a little newborn from now on. is that ok?” then i go off into this shpiel about how rude he was, and if he expects me to not talk like that to him, i expect him not to act that way. everyone was shocked. including him. he got more upset and started crying. i said “grow up”. and my fellow coworkers were freaking out. they said his mom is gonna go nuts. let her. I told them i wouldnt say anything nice. I dont feel my actions were wrong.
i also reminded my teachers in a later conference… I am a foreigner. they are the locals. its their job to protect the students well being… not mine. I told them what i would say… i warned them. they should have listened. they said… they knew i was saying something… but didnt really listen. well…. i know i dont speak japanese perfectly… but a situation like this should not be left to chance. next time we agreed to use an english translator for this kind of stuff… before i talk to the student or parent. good idea.