The End

Yesterday I rode my bike past gleaming green rice fields on my way to Yamazaki Junior High School for the last time. I tried to review my goodbye speech in my head on the way there but it was too long to remember most of it. It didn't really matter: speeches in Japan are usually read. And my five-minute speech was all in Japanese.

I cried a lot during and after my goodbye ceremony. Even if I weren't a person who cried easily, it would be hard to withstand the emotional pressure that is embedded in the very structure of a Japanese goodbye ceremony: the principal gave a speech commending me on all my hard work and commenting on how well-loved I was by all the students and teachers. Then, four of my favorite students gave short speeches and presented me with gifts from the school. It was boiling hot in the gym, so the moisture on my face could have been mistaken for sweat were it not for the accompanying red eyes and sniffling nose. After I gave my own goodbye speech, the oendan--cheer squad--sent me off with a farewell cheer in traditional Japanese style, followed by the Japanese tradition of tossing me in the air. And then it was really time to say goodbye. The students and teachers of Yamazaki Chu Gakkko formed two lines and I walked between them, shaking hands with everyone. Several of the students even gave me hugs.

It's nice to be sent off feeling like I was personally appreciated. But I can't help wondering if I was really an effective teacher: several times during my goodbye ceremony, it was stated that I spoke Japanese well; but never was it mentioned that I taught English well. The school gave me a book of thank you letters from all the students--almost every single one written entirely in Japanese. Suddenly I start to worry that I was so concerned with having good relationships with the students that I never really did much to encourage them to improve their English language skills.

But that basically aligns with something I realized a long time ago about this job: these kids will learn or not learn English regardless of whether they have an AET there to help them. The Japanese teachers of English have more than sufficient knowledge to help junior high school students acquire the foreign language skills they need to enter high school. My job was not only to assist the Japanese teachers with actual English instruction, but to serve as a cultural model and make the mission of learning English more relevant to Japanese students.

I did that. Or at least I think I did.

So, in the end, I guess I'm satisfied; which is all that I could ever ask for.