Noah

Thursday of my last full week of being an English teacher and Aizawa sensei said, “Your replacement is coming in tomorrow so please show him around.” This was unexpected news; I had asked my company that same week if they had found someone yet and they had said no.The next day was also the day of a minor school inspection, meaning that I did not have any lessons. I am not sure why inspections coincided with no English lessons, but I chose not to be offended.

My replacement’s name was Noah and he was from San Francisco. Once the Principal had introduced us and we were out of earshot of everyone else he said, “Sorry but I need to know, why are you leaving?” Evidently he had been wondering about this for some time.

“Oh I just want to go home,” I told him, “it is nothing to do with the job, this is a really great school honestly.”

During May when I hardly had any lessons due to the mass preparation for the School Sports Day I had started putting together instructions for the next English Teacher. I could still clearly remember everything that had confused me when I‘d started and so tried to explain it in English. It was quite a thick document in the end, but it gave me something to do.Noah was extremely grateful when I presented it to him, this was his first teaching job and it gave him some reassurance.

Having studied Japanese at university and visited the country many times before he could speak the language pretty well. I could tell that for this the Principal, who seems to resent speaking English, took an instant liking to him. I liked Noah too; he was cheerful, appropriately nervous but really interested and keen too.

I took him on a tour of the school first of all and then we played some English games. When it came to break time the kids stopped and starred at him, one of them even asked, “Nick Sensei, is that your father?” which was pretty funny since we were around the same age. One of the cheekier girls from class 2-3 asked me, “Is that the new foreigner?”

“It’s the new English teacher,” I corrected her.

He was a big hit with the members of staff we met; they were all amazed at his Japanese ability and I could feel an instant rapport growing. I was slightly envious, but more relieved because I felt like I was leaving the school in good hands – which they were lucky to get given the poor salary.

He stayed for lunch, which was good of him since he wasn’t being paid. We ate with a class of Grade six kids whose jaws dropped to see two foreign people walk into the room. The teacher too clearly hadn’t been warned and it most amusing for me.

He looked tired, he must have gotten up really early and it was a lot to take in. He left about 2PM and I told him how happy I was to leave the role to him, but since he had to start teaching his first lesson two days after I had gone he had a lot on his mind.

I walked back to my desk and Shibata Sensei came over and said, “It’s strange, hearing you talking English to Noah makes me realise that you are really a foreigner.” This made me smile: my Japanese might not be up to much but I had finally impressed her with my English.