teaching spaces

I taught in Australian high schools for over 15 years and, naturally that was a big help when first starting work in Japan. It's funny how I felt most comfortable when doing guest teaching stints in Japanese Elementary and Junior High Schools. I suppose it must have been the ubiquitous architecture of schools - long corridors with classrooms either side.

I was thinking about the kinds of places that I taught in whilst in Japan just the other day. Nadia and I taught in a wide variety of environments - not only our converted tatami room at home in Mukogaoka. We worked in private homes, churches and community centres. I worked in a juku (see previous post), the boardroom of an engineering company and a variety of school situations. One of my last assignments was at a high school for intellectually-impaired students in Sanda. What lovely kids they were!

Going away from home to work always entailed the careful packing of bags. Books and teaching records were stowed, games and activities chosen. There was always a double check for cassette tapes or CD's that complimented certain texts, without which lessons had to be quickly re-jigged in situ. More than once I provided 'the soundtrack' to a text, using different voices when needed. On many occasions I popped in to a Seven Eleven or Lawson Station to photocopy class sets. Not all students had books and some classes had specialized or idiosyncratic programs of study. It was often just rush, rush, rush.

Right now, my mind is wandering the thin bitumen strip that is the 176. I am watching the speedometer (the limit is usually 50kms) and checking the clock. The first class is at 9.30am and I am going no-where, fast.