Wednesdays & Space Adventures

Well, it's essay time again... Bear with me. Gotta get these "big topics" out of the way.

Earlier I mentioned the "Special Needs" School that I go to every Wednesday (when they had their School Festival a few weeks ago.) I was there today... and I always come back in a good mood whenever I'm at that school. I just wanted to write a little more about that school because it's kind of my "lifeline" in the middle of the week. Hump Day is something I actually look forward to...

This school is the polar opposite of my "base" school in just about every way, and I can't help but wonder if that was planned. It gives me a much-needed break from the rigidness of my academic senior high school. It is "nurturing" in just about every way and I can tell you that if it weren't for my visits to this school, I would probably never have stayed in Japan this long. This school has offered me a completely different view of Japan and its humanity. I leave every week feeling carefree and happy rather than stressed out and exhausted.

I've never heard of any school quite like Kuroishibaru in the U.S. or any other country. I teach all ages at Kuroishibaru, from elementary students to adults, with varying degrees of physical and mental disabilities. It makes sense that a country like Japan, where there is such a need to belong in sameness, would create a school made for people who wouldn't fit in anywhere else. (I've actually heard of cases where they have tried to "mainstream" students in regular classrooms, but the students with special needs aren't given any special attention and offer fall far behind and obviously have a very hard time fitting in with their peers.)

The most apparent difference is the dress code. With the exception of the junior high students (who wear their previous school's uniforms) students dress casually in jeans or sports clothes and teachers wear sports clothes. This is a nice break from the suits and ties and buttoned-up shirts at Sesieiko.


I will admit that I was a bit nervous when I heard I'd be teaching at a Special Needs School, especially since I had absolutely no experience working with students in that capacity. However, as I later learned, none of the teachers there really had any special training in Special Education, either. Japan's system for placing teachers is completely different than it is in America, so it was almost as if they were randomly placed there.

Most students have a some sort of physical handicap or more "apparent" disability such as autism. However, there are some students there who appear to be completely "normal" in every way. I often later find out that they have a heart problem, or more of a "mental health" issue such as ADD/ADHD, anxiety, depression, or eating disorder... but basically anything that makes them uncapable of functioning in a "regular" Japanese school. I do find it interesting that they are all lumped together into one class but in some ways, it's a good system because students can actually learn a lot from each other's differences.

Then, the teachers... Most of them are younger, and female, compared to the majority of older men at my other school. The biggest difference with the teachers at Kuroishibaru is that they actually have time to talk to me and that are always happy to see me and practice their English every week. I definitely feel welcome there every time I visit, and even though my schedule rotates and I can only see each class about once a month, I know most of the students' names.

There are only 2 to 6 students in a class (and usually as many teachers... not a bad teacher-student ratio!) It's quite a nice change compared to 42 students in a class at my other school.



The teachers there are always doing something special for the students. Today one of the classes had made a "Space Adventure Land" and I got to visit on my own "Guest Passporto." I can't even guess how much time they had spent on making all of the decorated pictures of things from outer space, the space ride (a slide!) and the black light room ("The Space Tunnel"). It was a blast!