Demonstration Class

Last Friday, there was a big to-do at our school. We were having demonstration classes. So, junior high and elementary schools from all over the area closed early so that the teachers could come to our school – and watch us teach. Apparently, this is a big deal for the teachers. Kae had been planning our lesson for the demonstration class for months. She was really really nervous. I was fine, but for some reason, during that week, my vice principal was trying to make me nervous. He kept asking me (he speaks some English), “are you nervous? – you should be nervous.” It was weird – and it made me a little nervous.

On the big day, the kids all got into their formal uniforms (they all wear uniforms, but usually its just green sweatsuits – they only wear the nice uniforms – blazers and slacks for boys, sailor outfits for girls – when they walk to and from school). When everyone arrived, they first went to the gym where all the kids sang a choral song for them. Guess what the song was. You never will… It was Hallelujah. Hallelujah! A full chorus version of Hallelujah. You know – “The kingdom of his Christ will reign for ever and ever” – that song. Why on earth they would sing that song, I have no idea. Certainly not for religious reasons – not only are Japanese people not Christian (they’re usually Buddhist or nothing), no one at the school even knows what the song means. Aren’t there Japanese songs they could sing? It was super weird. Truly…

After that bit of weirdness, the kids filed out of the room to prepare for class, and the teachers stayed for an opening ceremony. No event in Japan, regardless of how small it is, can begin without a lengthy and pointless opening ceremony. So I hightailed it out of there before it began.

After an hour of opening ceremonies, it was finally time for class. There were about 20 – 30 people hanging out in the back of and on the sides of the room – several with cameras and/or videocameras. Kae had talked with me about each movement we would make during the lesson, so it went pretty smoothly, but everyone was so nervous. Kae was barely maintaining and it looked like the kids were silently flipping out. Either their nice uniforms were so tight that they restricted movement, or the kids were holding still as not to draw undue attention to themselves. Several looked like they were gonna explode, implode, or bolt when Kae had me call on them individually. On a good day, many of them are nervous about speaking English, but on this day, in front of all those people, they all were.

When it was finally over, Kae had to sit through a two hour meeting with all the observers about her performance. The meeting was all in Japanese, so I was able to weasel my way out of it. Instead, I hung out with the ALTs who came to watch the class. Sometimes its better for foreigners in Japan to not be able to speak Japanese.