school, natural light and heat

today i’d like to write about 3 things that I don’t understand.

 

1. senior high school

i’m sure i’ve blogged before that students here have only half a day of school for the first and last week of each semester. what I don’t think i’ve mentioned is that at the end of the school year, senior high school students have no classes after their exams for that term. in other words, they have about 2.5 weeks off school before school officially closes for spring.

for senior high ALTs, this in turn means that after they’re done with marking of papers, if any*, they’ll have 2 entire weeks of no classes. depending on the policy of the contracting organisation, this could mean going to school as usual everyday with nothing to do except sit around from 8.30am to 4.15pm, while for some others it could mean going into the board of education and helping out – for a while – with administrative matters.

i have no idea what the reason behind this weird system of having the students off school for 2.5 weeks is.. after those weeks off, they have to come back to school for one morning to attend the closing ceremony. why not just close the school immediately after exams, since there’s no purpose in keeping it open anyway?

anyway – whinge whinge – that my school is a junior and senior high combined means that unlike other ALTs who teach senior high, i’m now working for junior high full time. this means going to school for perhaps 2 classes a day (where i’m not really necessary), and lovely, lovely English club after school.

*: i’ve never ever been asked to grade test papers, even though teachers are sometimes swamped with marking. usually it’s just ticking off the alphabetical choices, but i’m not sure why we’re never called upon to help. it would sure put us to better use than sitting around the office reading books or watching videos.

 

2. different sense of heat, or lack thereof

so, now that most other ALTs are more or less off school, and that we have to stay back for English club, we have taken to going into school later than usual, since we’re not needed anyway.

two other JTEs were in the ALT room – which is the english language room – when i came into school today, and the first thing that struck me was how WARM the room was. we usually have the heating on at 21 degrees, but it the teachers had set it to 23 degrees and our small room was like a sauna.

what occurred to me then was this: why are my teachers as comfortable in a 23 degree room as they are along the 10 degree (or less) corridors and classrooms, when i get chilled to my bones unless i throw on a jacket before exiting the ALT room? i’m ALWAYS shivering and hopping about when i make the short dash from the room to the toilet, and even the Brit does feel cold along the corridors and in class sometimes, but our teachers are fine!

what is their secret?

 

3. the dislike of  natural light

the second thing that struck me upon entering the ALT room was that the curtains, that are usually open, were drawn, and in place of the nice natural light that comes flooding in was the harsh glare of the fluorescent lights that we don’t switch on when it’s sunny like it was today.

the Brit first pointed this out to me long ago, but we’ve noticed that the lights in classrooms and along the corridors are always on, regardless of how bright and sunny it might be outside and thus rendering the lights unnecessary. what puzzles us too is how, upon entering a sufficiently lit classroom, teachers will sometimes immediately draw the curtains to block the natural light and THEN turn on the fluorescent lights.

why??

i personally like natural light very much. it’s more comfortable and that i can see the view outside makes me happy. on one particularly depressing afternoon – it was sunny and warm outside but we were stuck in the cold, drafty school – we walked into the classroom with its curtains drawn and all, and promptly went to open them. usually we dont interfere with that the teacher has done to the room, but we really couldnt take the harsh lighting that somehow made the classroom seem dull and lifeless that day.

sunlight is free, and should be utilised as much as possible. エコ, people, eco.