Language and Cultural Barriers Galore

Let me take a step away from the wonderful land of Japan, and bring you back to the strange land of JangSung Girls High School

I have been having some problems with language barriers and cultural differences at my school. Being foreign, female, young, and not a full-time teacher places me pretty much at the bottom of the schools heirarchy re: little to no respect. The only respect I do get is because I am a blonde haired, blue eyed, s-lined woman that can speak English. Basically the kind of respect I don't want, and the kind of "respect" that women in the west have been fighting against for a hundred years now.

I keep telling myself this is a lesson in patience. A lesson in keeping ones cool in a difficult situation. I think that cultural misunderstandings are very important to talk about, but that doesn't mean that I don't get angry when they happen.
Our societies are so different it's hard to nogotiate through the tough patches. In Canada I would have handled these situations by speaking directly with the person. Is that the correct way to do things here? Or should I go through someone else who is higher up on the ladder? Should I show my emotions or pretend that I'm not ready to strangle you? What makes one way better than another? I know that this is a pretty simple thought, but really there is nothing like being taken out of everything you think is truth and being placed in another version of the truth.

Cultural missunderstandings in a work place are very difficult, as you must continue to work with the same people and never actually figure out what went wrong (and at what point?). Language barriers are even worse because you never know if things have gotten straightened out. Maybe? or Surely? Often ESL speakers here use "maybe" as a polite way of saying you should do something. As in, "Maybe there will be a dinner meeting tonight, and maybe you should come". When what they really mean is, "There is a dinner meeting tonight and you are expected to be there". Maybe? Or surely? Let me tell you, sometimes I get pretty surly and there's no maybe about that!

But nevermind that, it's water under the bridge, now onto a positive note of school. Let me share with you the glowing diamonds in the rough, that is my students. The students, for the most part, are quite eager to listen and try to speak english with me. I honestly don't know what the rest of the day is like for them, but I have many students saying how they look forward to my class. I look forward to seeing them too and the creative work that they come up with.

Last semester we did a unit on travelling and vacation. Here are some of the more amusing postcards that were made:

and here is an example of the levels of English that the students have. From very low:

to pretty much fluent:

Su Min is way above everybody else.

So, there are good days and there are bad days, but over all it has been and continues to be a great experience. I am continuously breaking the walls of the Canadian culture comfort box that I had been living in and being pushed to the limits of what I think is correct and morally just. It's painful, but no pain no gain, right?

An open mind is an open heart.
Gombai,
Kat