Cultural Differences

What should you look for in a potential exchange student?

*English speaking ability?
*Personality?
*Reasons for wanting to go abroad?
*How the experience will help them in the future?

Today was one of those days when you see just how different western and eastern cultures can be. We have 5 students who want to go and only 2 spaces. I was part of a judging panel along with other English teachers, the vice principals and the curriculum planner (a very important person at Japanese schools).

First off the curriculum guy complained in Japanese at me being there as I wouldn’t be able to understand what the kids were saying. (I understand enough to know when you’re bitching at me!) Thankfully the other teachers backed me up and the interviews went on without any drama. I was surprised at how much I could understand and it was nice to get to know more about the students.

The interesting points came after the interviews when we were deciding who to send.

Student A

*Not an International Course student
*Wants to be a patissier
*Wants to travel the world eating cakes and learning how to make them
*She is so smiley you can’t help but like her
*When she talks she is animated and very expressive (unlike most Japanese people)
*Has average English ability for her age but will always try to throw a sentence together when she sees me outside of class.

Student B

*International Course student
*Wants to be a police officer in Kumamoto
*Wants to learn Chinese
*Does not smile and it not animated when speaking
*Enjoys reading books and listening to music alone
*Has a high English ability but will not speak until she is sure she knows exactly how to say something.

To me when you move to a foreign country you must have confidence and you must be willing to try things and get involved. Apparently my words didn’t count for much as most teachers were more interested in the fact that student A wasn’t an International Course student. I tried to explain that since I was the only foreigner in the school maybe they should take into account how the students interacted with me outside of class. This point didn’t seem to matter either. It made me angry and sad that a student loses out simply because of the course she chose to take.

We have one more meeting to decide who is going. As far as I know I am not involved in that meeting so I’m sure student A won’t get a look in. Boo!