You speak English and that's Bad.

[akujunkan]

I had a couple of demonstration classes, which I thought were going to be for the benefit of other JTEs/ALTs. Instead, I find out on the day I'm teaching said classes that they are for the benefit of the freakin' BOE.

I hadn't taught any classes with either of those particular JTEs in a month. And I show up on the day of to find that one of the two JTEs in question had completely rewritten the lesson five minutes before we were to teach it.

Regardless, the classes went pretty well, but here's what pisses me off:

My town, being 田舎, has a huge age gap. Thanks to the Japanese schooling/employment system, no one between the ages of 17-35 lives here unless they've flunked out of life.

There is one JTE at my school who within seven years of my age. (This is due to the fact that she attended college in America, and not because she sucks at life. Studying abroad takes you out of the normative Japanese education/employment paradigm.) At any rate, her English is phenomenal. No accent and only occasional misuse of indefinite/definite articles and verb tenses.

The BOE spent about fifteen minutes bitching at her because a) her English was too 'informal' (read: natural), b) she's too friendly with the students, and c)





Get ready for this...








Cause it's a big one...








Really, right up there with the Seven Deadly Sins...






She used the "Gets" dude as an illustration of the word 'cheesy.' The BOE tools spent about five of their fifteen minutes of bitching at her on this, calling it a violation of the Gets man's rights (人間権利).

WTF?

It was clearly obvious that she was being picked on because her English is faaaaaaar superior to anything that the BOE tools can manage, and it shows. Oh, does it show.

So hearing this English teacher's phenomenal English was a true dick-shrinking experience for the BOE tools. It was quite transparent.

And thanks to the way they treated this teacher (even I was shocked by its blatent rudeness), she's quitting.

Great. They made a great person feel shitty about herself and her work. And I'm losing the one friend I have who's even remotely close to my age. Better look forward to drinking with a bunch of 40-something OLs and loser middle school dropouts.

Thanks guys. The JET program rocks sucks hairy monkey balls.

I better find another career pretty damn fast. I've about had it with this place at the moment.



That will be all.

Comments

[bloody-american.livejournal.com]

What is with the rudeness up there? While I didn't completely understand who the Gets man is I think that is some messed up stuff.

[akujunkan.livejournal.com]

Yeah, you and me both.

The "Gets" man is a comedian who built up a schtick around pointing and saying "Getssssss!"

To sum it up in a word, cheesy.

And because that's what he's aiming to be, I fail to see how labelling him as such is a violation of his fucking human rights. But that's just me.

[bloody-american.livejournal.com]

Ahhh. I see.

And because that's what he's aiming to be, I fail to see how labelling him as such is a violation of his fucking human rights. But that's just me.
I'd have to agree with you there.

[shoebucket.livejournal.com]

ok... help. :-)

JET = ?
JTE = ?
ALT = ?
BOE = ?
"Gets man" = ?

... the only other thing; are you over there indefinitely, now? I thought you were going for another semester/year or something. :-P

[akujunkan.livejournal.com]

JET = What I am
JTE = Japanese teachers
ALT = Also what I am
BOE = Board of Education Tools
"Gets man" = See above.

And I'm officially here for 1-3 years, although I think I could happily live in Japan indefinitely. That is, of course, dependant upon whether or not I feel like slaying my employers or not...