Cut me a break!

It finally happened. I snapped. Do you recall the ugliest woman in the world, my JTE? She finally got to me. She made me cry (this coming from a person who can count on one hand the number of times they have cried in the past 5 years). I was conducting my lesson (very short lesson, I only get 10 minutes a day) and I was speaking only English. The children were confused but after a while I was going to help them understand a little more. She butts in and takes over my game in the most rude way. I was really frustrated. Then later on in the day I was doing work on the computer and she interupts me to nit-pick a worksheet I made. This may not sound too bad but it happens EVERYDAY with EVERY lesson I come up with. Always criticms, no praise. The lessons I learned in Human Resources in university are true. Praise goes a long way and is a MUST in the work place.

Later on that afternoon I constructed a letter of my feelings in Japanese. It was blunt and probably impolite but it was the best I could do. I took it to my supervisor (who is the 3rd person below the kyoikucho or head of the Board of Ed). He read it and showed it to the kyoikucho and we had a little chat, most of which I didn't understand. The following day when I arrived at school the principal called me into his office. We had a talk and he basically defended her. Saying that she was very busy, do I understand my roles as ASSISTANT language teacher, do I know the difference between my eikaiwa (adult conversation class) and chugakko (JR. High)? Of course I know and understand all of this, but does the woman have to be so rude? So then Ito-sensei (JTE) came in and we had a talk. I told her my feelings and how upset I was. We are trying to resolve it by having meetings on Thursdays to make lesson plans for the next week. I hope she tries harder not to be so rude.

By the way, since I have posted my Thailand pics on my webshots page, I have gone from 30 views a week to 2500 views a week. Can you believe it?