The following was written by Alexandra Burke, Prefectural ALT at Gifu Agricultural and Forestry Senior High School.
This message is largely aimed at 1st year Assistant Language Teachers. It's not official in any way, just a head's up on things that happen in the next two months, based on my observations over the last few years. As the school year here is April to March, we are coming into the busiest time in the school year.
It's Entrance Exam time in Gifu, followed closely by Graduation Day.
February 12 and 13: If you are at a High School, today and tomorrow your school will be full of hopeful Junior High School students sitting entrance exams. If you are at a Junior High School, that's why there are no 3rd year classes today or tomorrow. If you are at a High School, most of the teachers will be locked up marking for hours.
February 19, those students will gather in the morning to see the exam results that will be posted ・dreams will be won and lost. Of course, they could just look on the net, but many students and their parents like to check out the hard copy in traditional style. It is a rather moving event for students, their families and the teachers who have spent so much time assessing the applicants.
March 12 and 13 - Round 2 of the testing process for Senior High School Entrance Exams. Students who did not get their first choice will be studying like crazy in the period between these two exam periods.
March 18 Round 2 testing results are posted. Same formal posting process, probably near the main entrance to the school.
Graduation Day or the So-tsu-gyou-shi-ki.
High School is 1st March (yes - a Sunday). The standard is a day off either on Friday or Monday when Graduation Day falls on a weekend. JHS is the middle of March and Elementary is probably 25th March.
If you have never seen a formal Japanese school ceremony, you may be surprised by the gravity and how much group culture underpins this. Graduation Day is the big day of their studying career. Doesn't matter if you are at Kindy or High School, the seriousness of this event is the same.. Before the event, there will be a rehearsal in the Gym or formal room to make sure everyone gets the standing and sitting routines lined up. The seating for these things is done with special measuring tapes hauled out for this day. (Are you sensing a level of drama yet?)
The big question is of course, what to wear・ Well, wear black, with a few black variations.
Women wear all black, with the odd woman ritzing it up with a little bit of white or monochrome patterning. Pearls are the go (if you have them), fake or real, doesn't matter - some wear real live flowers, but no need to go that far. Skirt suit, coat suit, trouser suit as long as it's black - preferably including the shirt.
Men wear.... black with a white shirt and the interesting inclusion of a white or very pale coloured tie - No dark ties on graduation day. If you want to get some extra points go the white handkerchief in the top pocket. I am not kidding. Everyone dresses up, even the ultra casual/ rebellious ones. Black suit = overdressed does not compute.
Oooh. This is very prescriptive isn't it.
What's the big deal. Well, not wearing black screams 'Hey - look at me!' The focus is on the students and their parents - the teachers meld into a solid black suited group. In a black suit, you may be looked at briefly, because you are the new English teacher. Very dark grey or ink navy, may cut it perhaps. If you are wearing something casual, which you feel good in, within 10 minutes or so, you probably won't feel relaxed anymore because people will look at you...
So, please, get out the black suit, or borrow one, or find one in the ubiquitous black suit section in a Department Store, or go to a recycle shop and look through their racks of ubiquitous black suits. You can change out of it as soon as everyone else starts to change clothes. Wear something formal you feel good in, because you will be photographed, stuck in an album and preserved forever (speaking metaphorically here of course). If this is the time when you lash out and invest in a suit, allow about 10 days for it to be altered for you, because a huge number of people buy black suits at this
time.
There is a possibility that your school may have a different dress code (occasionally this might be that the Home Room Teachers of the Graduating Classes wear black and other teachers wear grey), but black is almost always the safe choice. Ask someone at your school.
Enjoy it. It's a fun day. Lots of tears and photos. Even the kids who are outwardly ambivalent to it all, will crack by the end of the ceremony. They will cry because they are sad or happy.
Entrance Ceremony - Nyuu-gak-ku-shi-ki
High School Entrance Ceremony day is April 8th in Gifu. Elementary and Junior High School are around the 7th and could be morning or afternoon depending on the school.
What to wear to the Entrance Ceremony?
Well. Don't wear black. Dark, but never black. White shirts are ok. Dark ties are ok. Same level of formality. No tears, a few photos.
Other dates to be aware of.. Teacher rotation, New School Year.
Just after the March exams are marked, each Principal starts a round of interviews with Japanese staff members about who is changing schools at the end of the year. The teachers have about 2 weeks all up to meet their new colleagues and wind up their role at the current school. 4-7 years seems to be the rotation interval. Exact dates of this process vary by High School/ Junior High Elementary etc. Things in an English Department can change quite radically at this time of year.
Then there will be fare well parties, welcome parties. And it all starts again on 1st April with the Opening Meeting of Staff ・very formal all teachers meeting followed by meetings of each Department
of the School.
The new teachers will spend the next couple of days bonding with their colleagues by doing lots of new year administration together.
This process is largely the same across most schools. Hope this helps take some of the mystery out of the next few weeks.
Feel free to offer opinions if you disagree.
Alex Burke
