A Typical Day at a Japanese Middle School

Let's talk about a regular day at a Japanese school!

These are public schools we're talking about here, and there are 8 middle schools in Choshi.  I only visit 2, and I go between them every day.  Three days a week I'm at 4chuu and twice a week I'm at 3chuu.

You may have noticed the odd spelling of the schools.  A school named 4chuu can't be a very interesting school.  But actually, all the middle schools in Choshi are numbered, not named.  And "chuu" is just the way to say "middle."  So, the name of the school is really its number in the city along with "middle."  1chuu is closest to the ocean, while 8chuu is further inland and approaches Asahi, the big big city nearby.

A typical day begins early.  When I pull into school at 7:45 AM, students are already outside, running around the school in laps, and I can only surmise it's the track team, or maybe that's just part of the daily school ritual.  Students are invariably at school when I get there, but class doesn't begin until a bit later, around 8:40.  There's homeroom until then, and then at 8:40, classes begin.  Most days contain 6 class periods, a lunch period, and some "extra stuff," like cleaning, homeroom, post-lunch break, or a combination of all of those things.  As for my daily schedule, please refer to the below figures:

In other words, I never teach all 6 periods.  I frequently team teach between 2 and 4, and 5 is considered a very busy day.  Note that this is "team teaching," meaning I assist with the lesson, and don't create any.  In my off periods, I frequently can be seen studying kanji in the teachers' room or wandering the halls aimlessly. With all the wandering I do in between classes, I frequently am brought to the attention of passing students.  It's normal for teachers to be greeted every time they walk by a student, or a mass of students.  No matter how many times during the day I walk by a group of kids, they will always stop and say hello to me.  Students definitely have a different concept of teacher respect here.  

Please refer below to how the between-classes greeting process works.

 As you can see, greetings and giggles/stares chuckles both invariably occur 100% of the time.  Many times, walking between classes, my mouth is constantly moving, shouting "Hello," "Hey," "How are you?" and, "Sup?" among other common English greetings.

Please refer to the below figure to see how most students respond to a greeting/greet me.

Another important distinction is that students don't move from classroom to classroom.  Instead, the smarter choice:  teachers only will move around the school, creating a lot less (theoretically) clutter in the hallways, but most students hang out in the halls between classes anyway.

Anyhow, after 4th period is lunchtime.  During lunchtime, the students will carry all the food to each classroom themselves, and also the office lady in the teachers' room serves all the teachers lunch.  Students and teachers both eat the same high calorie lunch, so it must a) be nutritious, b) be filling, and c) appeal to the masses.  Most of the time, it's rice (sometimes delicious sweet bread), soup, and some sort of meat, either fish or chicken or ham or a combo of all 3. I'm actually a huge fan of lunch (don't tell anyone) especially because it comes with a carton of milk and usually some sort of treat -- a cookie or jelly or something.

(Note that the meal pictured isn't the school lunch we get: the milk is a different brand, and there's usually a dessert included.  I just found this picture on google, but it works well enough to demonstrate.)

After lunch, it's back to classes for one or two more periods, depending on the day.  I'm not yet sure why some days only have 5 periods.  What do they do during 6th period's time?  Anyway, as I have no duties during that time I resume my studying/wandering process.

Once classes are officially over, cleaning begins.  Students clean the schools in japan; there is no janitor or cleaning crew that comes in.  Therefore, the incentive to keep the place clean is great, and the students get to socialize with other students and teachers alike, and just relax and be physically active for a little.  This is a lot of fun, especially walking around speaking in English (with occasional Japanese, shh) with students.  They laugh at me a lot.  See the above figures for more information.

After all that, school is over!  That still leaves club activities, which can go until 6 PM, and then after that, some students even go to cram school to learn MORE and, if they're 3rd years (eighth graders), they're preparing for the upcoming tests that determine which high school they can get into.  The high school entrance process is a lot like the college entrance process in America.  In fact, once you've gotten into a good high school in Japan, the hard work is over.  Many Japanese tell me college is just a nice easy ride, and high school kicks butt, contrary to the American system.

And that's pretty much it!  Note that the above information only reflects middle school, which I teach 3 out of 4 weeks a month.  At elementary schools, everything is much, much more simplified: