back to school

Think for a moment about the subject you most disliked in high school. Can you remember back that far? Maybe there was one subject that you never really connected with? Maybe a class in which you never quite performed in the way you wanted to? One teacher that you just didn't get on with? Maybe some subject that didn't ever capture your interest.

Arguably, my best failed subject in high school was Japanese. I didn't mind it at first. In Year 8 we had a teacher who did games, posters, drawings, objects, role plays and lots of repetition. I remember being engaged in learning during her class and not having to do much homework to keep up. Year 9 was different. A new teacher. I was bored. We had five people sitting at our cluster of desks so I figured if there were 10 words for homework why didn't we just learn 2 words each and collaborate for the regular quizzes? I faithfully learned my 2 words per lesson and expected the same diligence from my peers. This worked quite smoothly until the end-term exams when our group was separated. We were expected to complete the paper individually. I remembered a little, guessed some more and ended up with a score in the high thirties (36% I think).

Today isn't the first time I have debriefed from this experience. I was dragged out of another class not long after for a meeting with the school counsellor. She wanted to know why I was doing so well in some subjects and so poorly in others. Japanese, for example... Was I having any emotional struggles? No. Were there any problems at home? No. The questions continued with long reflective pauses followed by single word answers. Finally I said, "Maybe there is a reason for my difficult in language learning." The counsellor perked up. She leaned forward in her chair. I thought her attempted empathy was as obvious as the pattern on her K-Mart polyester blouse. I continued, "I think you should know that I've just recently found out....I'm not Japanese." Our session was quickly dropped and at the end of the year, so was Japanese.

I'm fairly sure there's no Khmer blood in me either but this time there is a reason for me learning the language. I try to follow my Year 8 teacher's example sometimes and play-learn. I try to make my Year 9 teacher happy by learning some vocab. I'm not naturally brilliant at it and sometimes it feels like I suck completely but I'm having a jolly good crack at this work of learning Khmer. If it gets to the stage where I'm summoned before the school counsellor again...I'll let you know.