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Rant: Japanese Class

I hate my Japanese class. I feel like I should clarify that statement. I hate my Japanese class but I love learning Japanese. Learning a foreign language is like a jigsaw puzzle that only gets easier the longer you do it. Sooner or later, all the pieces come together and you finally understand the big picture. That's the main reason why I love learning Japanese and foreign languages in general. It's like a fun little mystery figuring out what a native is saying, piecing together what you do understand and what you can infer from context. The road to putting those pieces together is not always so fun. Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying this winding road, just not the one that goes through the classroom. It's not that I don't like doing homework, taking tests, or even the fact that I already know almost everything we are doing in class because of my self-study. There are two reasons why I have come to hate my Japanese class: my grad TA and the students.

I suppose it isn't entirely my TA's fault since I'm sure the language barrier accounts for 50% of the problem. It's just the other 50% is his incompetence. Ask him a simple question and he'll spend forever trying to explain it. He was once asked which word for mother you would use when speaking to your own mom. Now instead of simply saying "okaasan" instead of "haha" he goes on a 15 minute explanation of in-group vs. out-group in Japanese culture complete with stick figures and broken English. I can understand teaching culture, but spending 15 minutes to tell the student which word to use is just plain frustrating. I would say in the 15 minutes it took him to explain it he spent 1 minute of actual explanation and the other 14 drawing random lines, stick figures and muttering "maa~." It slogs down the entire course and makes it very tedious and frustrating.

But like I said, it's not entirely his fault and I would say a big part of it is the students. I understand everyone learns at a different pace and in different ways but I'd be lying if I said it doesn't annoy the hell out of me when a student can't even figure out how to say something very simple. I usually end up sitting there repeating the answer in my head over and over hoping that somehow the student will hear my thoughts. What's even worse is that no one seems to have any self-confidence in the class. This is how a typical scenario plays out in my class. The teacher asks the student a question. The student, not entirely sure of his answer, mumbles back an answer. Because the student mumbled the answer, the teacher did not hear him and asks the student to repeat what they said. Now, here is where I tend to get frustrated. Please pardon my language I'm about to use. Even if the student said the right answer, they somehow interpret "もう一度 " as "You are ******* dumb, get the **** out of this class because you are stupid and will never learn Japanese," and just sit there with a blank stare on their face and say nothing. So the teacher and student end up staring at each other for a minute or two while the teacher tries to explain in broken English or in Japanese what he wants, which doesn't really matter because they are apparently both indecipherable to the student, and an awkward silence ensues. You had the goddamn right answer, just ******* repeat yourself so we can all move on. I can't tell you how many times this happens and each time it frustrates me. I'm not a perfect student, I make mistakes, and I don't always answer the teacher's questions to the class even if I know the answer. But if the teacher asks me directly to repeat what I said I at least have the common courtesy to answer back instead of sitting in silence, regardless of whether or not I think the answer is right or wrong.

When I come back from my study abroad term I doubt I will enrol in another Japanese course. I've found I can learn better on my own and I can avoid all the frustration I just wrote about. Obviously, this issue bothers me and I felt like I had to relieve it somehow. I promise I won't cuss as much in my next blog 😊

Comments

It sounds a lot like an English class in a Japanese school. :D

Well, it happens a lot, and a lot of it is the result of the teacher's teaching ability, in my personal opinion. There are people who are born teachers and people who aren't. I've come to that conclusion after seeing enough.


 

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Half-n-Half
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