Josh's school routine
comprises of three junior high schools, Akita, Sanwa, and Josei, which he
visits on a two-week rotation. The schools are a little far from the
apartment and take, on average, 20 minutes to drive to.
Eden visits two junior
high schools, Takuma, and Hiyoshi, on three-week rotations. Her
schools are quite close to the apartment, so she either walks or bikes to
school.
Japanese students are
quite different from Canadian junior high students. For one, school is
their entire life. They arrive at 8am and have mandatory club
activities until 7pm and on weekends. In addition, many students go to
cram schools from after supper until around 11pm. Not surprisingly,
the students are very tired during the day. They study so hard in
order to pass entrance examinations for high school, after their third year
of junior high school. If they do not get into a good high school,
they will not go to a good university, or get the career they want. A
lot of pressure for a fourteen year old. In addition, the students are
afraid of standing out. As the saying goes, "The nail that sticks out,
gets hammered down." It is almost impossible to get them to
participate in class, once they have turned thirteen.
This can make Eden and
Josh's role quite difficult. They go to class in order to get the
students communicating and having fun. This is tough, however, when
students are afraid to play games or open their mouths for fear that they
might get noticed. Eden and Josh pretty much have to be circus clowns,
in order to get the students to raise their eyes from their desks.
|
|
|
|
Eden's school ground.
|
|
|
|
Eden's students.
|
|
|
|
Eden with students.
|
|
|
|
School lunch.
|
|
|
|
Eden's school.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Toilet.
|
|
|
|
Cleaning period. What's a mop?
|
|
|
|
Outside cleaning.
|
|
|
|
Students.
|
|
|
