Speeches and judgements and inspections, Oh My!

This morning was, as many of you know, my first day of school. I have always known that Japanese schools are fundamentally different from American schools, but for the first time I have begun to see these differences firsthand. I decided to get to school early this morning, which was a great idea because the teachers decided to start their morning meetings and activities early as well. When I got to school I received a phone call in the parking lot from one of the teachers asking me nervously when I was planning on coming to school. I heard the instant relief in his voice when I told him that I had just arrived and was in the parking lot.

Backtrack for just a moment, when I pulled into the gate at the school, there was a welcome party of about 10 students with welcome signs and banners welcoming all of the teachers and students back to school after summer vacation. I thought that was pretty interesting and they would all bow and wish you a good morning as you pulled in.

When I made my way into the school, I could see the frenzy immediately. Teachers were arriving, students were arriving and everyone was bustling about as though there were many things to accomplish before the opening bell. I was told that I would be giving a speech to the teachers at the morning meeting and to please be prepared. Luckily I wrote my speech last week, so I didn't feel too much pressure. At 8:30am sharp, I was hurried to the front of the teacher's room and ushered into a chair next to the Vice Principal's desk. Then began the meeting and I was first on the agenda to introduce myself. I made a very short speech in English and everyone clapped. After I spoke they proceeded to continue their meeting and discuss what the schedule was for the day. It was a very efficient meeting and they took care of the lunch menu and the agenda for the ceremony this morning.

After this meeting, many teachers hurried out of the room to go clean their classrooms with their students. One of the English teachers was still in the room and I asked her to help me prepare my speech for the students. I had written one in English and had begun to translate it into Japanese as best I could, but Hiromi really helped me to make a good speech. Sometimes my sentence structure in Japanese lacks, but that is something I will have to work on.

At 9:30am the ceremony began in the gym. All of the students were neatly aligned by grade, and then by homeroom, and then by gender. The teachers were flanking the students at the sides and back always checking for students who were sleeping or playing on a cell phone. Again, I was at the top of the agenda for this ceremony and the Principal introduced me. I think he wanted to impress upon the students how hard I was trying for them because he said (in Japanese), "Annelyse Sensei speaks English, she is from West Virginia, but today, she is going to speak to you all in Japanese. Do you understand, she is going to speak in Japanese!" It was kind of a nice intro, but it made me even more nervous, because I really didn't want to screw it up. But I went up and gave my little speech in Japanese. I told the students that I was very happy to be there and that I wanted them to talk to me. I told them to come find me in the teacher's room and I would be happy to talk to them anytime.

At the end of my speech I left the stage and Hiromi came up to me and told me I had done a perfect job! She was being nice, but I had spoken pretty well I guess. I watched a little more of the ceremony, and the teachers thought this was funny. They told me I could go back to the teacher's room because it might be a little boring for me to watch the ceremony in Japanese. But I stayed anyway because it was so interesting to me.

After me the Principal made a speech of his own. He welcomed the students back from summer vacation and talked about the Olympics some. He awarded some students with certificates of accomplishment in badminton and Kanji aptitude tests. Next, the guidance counselor came up and spoke to the students about finding jobs. She said that the Seniors needed to find jobs soon and that they should have used summer vacation for interviews and research. She commented that the teachers have been working hard to help their students find jobs all summer and the students should be thankful.

Next came a bit of a chiding speech about proper bicycle riding. The teacher making the speech spoke harshly to the students about not riding their bikes in the road. "The road is for cars," he said, "bikes should only be ridden on the left sidewalk." He made clear that riding in the road was dangerous and there had been reports of Sanwa students riding in the road. He also spoke to them about using umbrellas and cell phones while they ride. He said, "these activities are not only dangerous, but illegal." He said emailing and talking on the phone while riding a bike could cause you to hurt someone walking on the sidewalk. Then he launched into a speech about helmets. He said that not all of the students wear helmets when they ride bicycles and that is unacceptable. This teacher drew a little diagram on the chalkboard to illustrate his points about riding on the sidewalk, and not the road; and being aware of pedestrians.

After the bike lecture, the students all had to go through a thorough inspection of their attire and appearance. This part was the most interesting to me of the whole morning. They shifted the students around the gym and inspected each grade separately. The students would line up single file according to gender. There were no less than 6 teachers inspecting one student at a time. One teacher was recording all of the information and whether the student passed or received a punishment, another teacher was checking hemlines of pants and skirts, another was checking hair color and cut and product usage, a fourth teacher was checking length of fingernails, another was checking if skirts were being rolled up or if belts were being worn, and the last couple teachers were checking overall appearance and giving the okay. The girls cannot wear earrings, no student may dye their hair, socks must always be worn, pants may not go past the heal of the shoe, and skirts must be at least knee length. If finger nails are too long, they provide clippers and students stand in long lines waiting to cut them. This process takes a long time and inspections like this do not happen everywhere, but Sanwa is very strict.

I was just told that I do not start teaching today because it is a shortened day for students and there are no classes. I think things are starting well and I am excited about experiencing all of this.