Junior High School Hijinks

Today I had a fun experience I wanted to share with you. A bit before class started, one of the 2nd grade junior high students decided to share a phrase the math teacher, S-sensei, had apparently taught him: "English is useless of time". I didn't understand it when he said it out loud, so he started writing it on the chalkboard for me. When he got as far as "English is useless", I covered my face with my hands and pretended to sob. Yuki (the student in question) laughed and laughed. I'm pretty sure the phrase "is useless of time" was supposed to be "is a waste of time", but you get the picture.

I was rather surprised at the idea that S-sensei had put Yuki up to this. S-sensei looks to be about my age or a few years older, and although he sits directly across from me in the staff room, I don't think we've ever talked. It seemed like a rather nervy joke to play on someone you don't know very well. Telling a student that another teacher's class is a waste of time? That's a pretty big slight. On the other hand, I wondered if it might be an odd way of flirting with me. I really had no clue what to make of it. I knew that Yuki didn't have any bad intentions; he's a really sweet kid, and was just having a good time teasing me. But I wondered what the heck S-sensei was thinking.

Anyhow, despite the possibility that the math teacher had genuinely meant to insult me, I still thought it was all pretty funny. Yuki played it up for all it was worth; he even made a show of trying to sneak it onto the poster his class was making for the Culture Festival. I was still trying not to laugh when I went back to the staff room for lunch. Since I was really curious how it had actually started, I asked S-sensei in Japanese if he had taught Yuki to say "English is useless". I told him, "That's terrible!" and did the fake weeping thing again. He was laughing as he explained that he had taught Yuki the phrase, "It is useless". It was Yuki who changed it to "English is useless". Suddenly it all made sense. That kid is rather lazy in English class, but he's clever enough to warp a sentence like that.

After lunch, Yuki came by to apologize. He even went so far as to throw in some compliments like, "English is interesting". In English, no less. He knew I'd never actually been mad at him, so I kind of wonder if S-sensei had suggested the apology. Or it might've just been a means of getting some more attention; Yuki likes the teachers to pay attention to him. In any case, this whole episode was the highlight of my day. It gave me something to laugh about, allowed me to play around with the students a bit, and gave me an opportunity to talk to another staff member for once.