Suberidome

What is Suberidome?

Suberidome means taking the entrance examination to a high school or university as a safety measure in case one fails at other high schools or universities. When the time comes that one has to choose a new school or university to continue one’s studies thing get very exiting. However, here in Japan there is a system that says one can only apply to a limited number of schools. This means, a student can take an entrance exam for a high-level high school or university which he or she will probably fail, but if luck is on the student’s side the is a slight possibility, “The Challenge”. Next, after deciding a “challenge exam” one has to find the most appropriate level high school or university according to the student’s current academically proven level, “Desired School”. Taking the general entrance exam for “The desired School” is most likely to be passed but there is of course the possibility that due to unforeseen circumstances this test is failed. Then what do they do? They need a fail-safe to prevent tumbling down to a very low level school, this preventive measure or test is called a Suberidome or fail-safe from sliding down. Taking an entrance examination at a high school or university which is just slightly under one’s academic level with an 80 to 90 percent passing chance is a Suberidome.

Here in Japan one can take only two entrance examinations for public high schools or universities and unlimited tests at private high schools or universities. The point is however, that public schools are very cheap because they are government supported and private high schools and universities have high matriculation fees and even taking one entrance exam can cost from 20,000 up to 80,000 (or even more) Japanese Yen. This can get quite expensive if the student keeps failing tests. So the “Fail-safe Suberidome” test is taken to make sure that the student can enroll at a reasonable school with an almost appropriate academic level.

Ippan Shiken, General Entrance Examination

Here in Japan most high schools have two or three entrance examinations, of which one is an Ippan Shiken. Junior high school students take this test if they wish to enroll at a high school, or as in case of my high school, as “Suberidome.” Suberidome means, something which prevents someone from sliding down. Any given high school in Japan makes their own Ippan Shiken, and this test represents the level of education or level of knowledge required for that school. It is common for more students to take the test than can actually enroll into the school in April. After the test is taken, The average score is calculated and according to that a minimum for enrolling is decided. Soon after the results are calculated, the students are notified by mail and from there they have until about the 20th of March to decide whether they actually wish to enroll or not. For the Japanese private high schools this is one of the most exiting months of the year because they need a certain amount of students to enter in order to be able to pay the bills.

Ippan Shiken was held at my school last Saturday. About 500 junior high school students came to take the test. Tests were also held at other (host) schools in surrounding cities so the total number of students taking the Ippan Shiken for my school was about 1500. However, we are looking to accept about 240 students to enroll as first years from April.

Chugakko Houmon visiting junior high schools

Here in Japan there are quite a few private high schools which have to recruit new students every year. My high school is located in area where there are only a few private high schools. In Japan the public high schools’ level is usually higher than that of private high schools. In the third grade of junior high school students take entrance exams to enter a high school. If students flunk the test the only option they have is to go to a private high school. Private high schools however, are much more expensive so students study hard to pass the examination. During the last ten years or so, the Japanese population has been significantly decreasing so it is becoming more difficult to recruit new students every year. Our high school has scholarships for students with high academic scores and for students who are excellent at sports. Having a strong sport club will attract more students which is good for the school.

Last Friday all the teachers of my high school went to visit junior high schools. This is called Chugakko Houmon. Usually two teachers pair up and visit about six to eight junior high school to talk to the teachers there. We inform them of our best academic achievements, top universities where our students were able to pass the exam, and best performance of our clubs. Last year the table tennis club was number one of the prefecture and the tennis club played on national level. We prepared brochures for each graduating student at the junior high schools and some posters to be hung on the school wall.

Together with another teacher I visited six junior high schools in Mito city, Ibaraki prefecture. In Mito city the competition is quite fierce because that city has more than ten private high schools. My high school is located about forty kilometers from Mito city in the middle of nowhere surrounded by rice paddies. Students or parents of students who are looking for decent education and raising well behaved children often choose for my school. Since there is nothing interesting around this school, students are able to focus on their studies or sport club and won’t be distracted by the temptations of department stores, shopping malls, or amusement arcades. These are some of the strong sales points of my high school. In the past, only a few students from Mito city have chosen to attend my school but hopefully this will change in the near future.

Japanese high school students' behavior

Students’ behavior

Another day at a Japanese high school…

During one of my lessons today, some students seemed to think that they were not a part of the whole class and that rules didn’t apply to them. I usually have the students come to me to take a “speaking test”. This means, that they have to memorize a short dialog from the textbook, and then role-play it in front of me. I give them sufficient time to practice during the first lesson and tell them that they have to do the rest at home or after school in preparation of the second lesson. These two boys today were at the end of the line and were chatting about other stuff and fooling around. When they finally came to me to take the speaking test they couldn’t remember much and were trying to cheat by holding notes in their hands. They failed the test… and will come after school today to re-try.

On top of this, I caught one student using his cell phone during my lesson. In Japanese high schools (as well as junior and elementary schools) students are never allowed to use their cell phone on school ground. In this case I was obligated to take the cell phone away from him and keep it for one week. When I went over to confront him with this news, he wasn’t too happy about handing it to me and actually refused to give it. He put the cell phone in his pocket and started to make up excuses. I’ve been there before and just let him be for the moment. After the class I asked him to follow me to the staffroom where I got his homeroom teacher to talk to him. He soon admitted to using his cell but gave a brilliant excuse. Unfortunately his homeroom teacher wasn’t falling for his excuse and took his phone, then scolded him for a few minutes before returning him to the classroom.

Was I satisfied?

No!

This student’s behavior has been insufficient from the beginning when he entered this school as a first grader and it hasn’t improved much. Now, he’ll be pissed-off with me for taking away his cell phone. Therefore, during the next lesson he’ll probably be even less enthusiastic to participate in learning English. But I had to set an example for the rest of the class otherwise all students will be using their cell phone the next lesson. I’ll probably go to him at the end of this week to have a friendly chat to try and patch things up a bit…

School festival called Bunkasai

This weekend my school had it's annual culture festival. Actually the Japanese culture festival is held somewhere in November (probably on the third) but because around that time the high school students have to study hard for their university entrance exams, the culture festival is usually moved to June.

It took teachers around one month to prepare for the festival, planning and meetings with the students etc. On Saturday we surprisingly had good weather and performances were held outside in front of the school. Usually the high-school culture festival is held for two days. The first day is for students at the school only and on the second day students from other high-schools come as well as parent and people from the neighborhood. The third-graders usually prepare food and snacks while the first and second graders put up small events such as a haunted house, quiz shows, games, and other entertaining events.

Classes also had short dance performances on a stage in front of the school. They practiced for about a month everyday after school to remember all the steps and turns. Somehow this year we experienced many problems with the speakers, microphones, and audio players. Some performances were postponed while equipment was being fixed. I've heard this often happens at the schools since the teachers are not professional disc jockeys nor electricians, so things just don't go as smooth as we want them to.

This year I was in charge of photography and videotaping the whole event. I found myself running around from early morning to late afternoon to be wherever events and performances took place. I thought it would be a piece of cake, just snapping a few pics around the school, but it was hard!! Running up and down the stairs from the front to the back of the school. Over two days I took about 1100 pictures!

This year our high-school culture-festival was very successful due to the hard work of the Seitokai, which is the student council, they worked till late at night for weeks. The Seitokai arranged everything in detail and made schedules for classes and teachers with time-tables, location, and descriptions.

Looking back, I must admit that all the little Japanese teenagers at my school did very well to make this year's school festival a very successful one.

High school culture festival called Bunkasai

High-school culture festival or Bunkasai

The school-culture festival will be held tomorrow. At a high-school culture-festival, students usually cook Japanese traditional food or internationally well known dishes. This is a time where all students of a class have to work together in preparing food and drinks. Tasks have to be divided: a group which practices cooking, a group which buys food supplies, a group which makes fliers and posters to promote their food stall, a group which sets up the tents outside. The Japanese-high-school culture-festival is not only about making food, some classes choose to do other activities. One activity might be to make a performance like a dance or a short play. Students will practice for weeks to remember and perfect their dance steps. Another class activity might be to turn their classroom into a haunted house or an amusement hall, some might think up some games to play. whatever they choose, they always take several weeks to prepare.

The school-festival is usually called a "Bunkasai" but this means a Culture-festival. However, culture does not have much to do with the whole festival. Japanese schools used to have a real culture festival, but these days anything goes.

Japanese high school rules

Japanese high school rules

In Japan, and especially at private schools, the rules regarding clothes (uniform) and hair-style are very strict. Japanese have naturally black hair, so the rule is that everyone should have their hair black. Lately it has been a fad for Japanese to dye their hair in different colors, usually brown or dark red. When teachers notice this, students will be scolded and send to a beautician to fix their hair and dye it black again.

At my high-school the students must wear their uniform in the morning when they come to school and also when going home. When school ends around three thirty, students leave in groups and walk toward the nearest station. On the way there, teachers will sometimes stand guard to make sure all students are wearing their uniform and that their buttons are closed. However, many students are a member of a club here in Japan. So after school they will practice and go home around eight. At this late hour, there are no teachers along the road so some might go home wearing their sports wear.

The image of a private school here in Japan is extremely important. Of course test scores and successful admission to high-level universities play a significant role. But the general impressions of the students, who are seen on the street and in shopping malls, weigh heavily too. It are the junior high schools who send and recommend high-schools to their students and naturally the opinion of the school and attitude of the high-school students will be take into consideration. Parents pay lots of money to private schools to have their children put through high-school education.

Japanese high-school soccer-club

Japanese high school soccer club

When I started working at my Japanese-high-school, it was all new for me and had to get used to the older students with their peculiar hormone driven attitudes. Being a manager of the high school soccer-club, I enthusiastically went down to the soccer pitch and kicked the ball around with the boys of the soccer-club a couple of times a week. However, after a month or so, the soccer-club member whom I had in my English classes as well, became very lazy during my classes. I didn’t know what to do with them since I wished to maintain a good relation with them. They were talking, sleeping, and walking during my classes and I often kindly asked them to pay more attention to the lesson. I was very concerned with maintaining a friendly relation with them. But I came to realize that I was not treating the rest of the class fairly compared my soccer-club kids. I decided to act more strictly during my classes to maintain control.

Here in Japan it seems that the members of a high-school-soccer-club always have to take on a kind of wild, rebellious look. This creates trouble for them because when playing matches with other schools the image of a school depends on the ones representing it. So when their hair, clothes and attitude is not in order, they will be (have to be) scolded. When I started reminding my students of their hair and attitude issues they became increasingly unhappy and absolutely boycotted my classes. It was a hard year… Most members of the then second grade had many issues with their attitude. Some were temporarily suspended from school for various reasons, and others had to stay in detention class. Gradually this also affected the soccer-club and most quit during the year.

We as managers should have been stricter from the beginning and should have given more guidance. When the third graders left the soccer-club to prepare for their university entrance exams, we were left with about eight members only.

This year, new first graders signed up and we currently have sixteen members…

Working at a Japanese high school

Working at a Japanese high school

I have been working at my current Japanese-high-school for over one year now. Before starting at this high school, I used to work at junior high schools and before that I had worked one year at elementary schools. The elementary schools and junior high schools I used to work at were located in the countryside and the average IQ-level wasn’t very high. Both elementary and junior high schools were lots of fun but the focus of the English classes was more on entertainment and having fun with English than on actually learning practical English. It was a tough decision to quit working at the junior high schools where I had been for about three years but I really wanted to teach English in a more serious and effective environment.

My current high school is located in Ibaraki prefecture in the Kanto region of Japan. Again I have ended up in a quite rural location and the average student is more interested in sports or other club activities than in studying. But now, with a year of experience I have found ways to have (most) students pay attention during class and cooperate while doing other activities than studying from the textbook. In Japan the general idea of teaching a class is that it has to be an entertaining and fun class. Whatever the subject, even math, should be a fun class. How the teachers are supposed to do that has never been clearly explained… Of course it is a fact that when teachers and their classes are interesting the students will pay closer attention to what is being said, and will probably learn more than when teachers are boring and the classes are dull.

Somehow I guess that I am a cheerful person and that I like to crack a joke once in a while, so this helps during my classes to keep the students smiling and paying attention to whatever I say. Compared to junior-high-schools and elementary-schools I am doing less dancing and jumping in front of the class these days and can make simple jokes with words only.

Surprisingly I have been made manager of the soccer club instead of the English club. Actually I’m not sure if I want to complain about this since the most students interested in the English club are a bit nerdish and weird. The students of my soccer club are much more fun, alive-and-kicking…