The Melting World

Today Ota-sensei, an Ainu language teacher, came to my cross-cultural class to deliver his version of Hokkaido/Ainu history, Part II.

Although I think what he said had a lot of importance for the students, I was dismayed to see most of them doing other schoolwork, sending text messages on their cell phones, or whispering with their friends. They seemed bored, much like they do in any lecture setting, which is why I rarely lecture…I hate teaching to sleeping brains.

This lack of interest in Ainu history may be just a sign of an overall disinterest in history (It’s true I have been told often that Japanese students hate history because of the dry lecture-format and due to all the ‘facts’ they had to memorize when studying for the university entrance exams), but my heart was heavy and I could do little during his talk to wake them up, but I did touch some of the whisperers on the back and give them a resigned look…but that didn’t work well, as soon they were back to talking about the upcoming weekend, the dentist visit, or their part-time jobs.

But still, at least a small part of their hearing may have taken in some of the information, and that is better than nothing at all, I hope. Now, my dear readers, I have to turn to work on my paper, which has a structure up finally, but no plaster on its timbers yet. I am not motivated to write though because I am exhausted–my son has the penchant for resisting sleep lately, which makes me sleep-deprived. I don’t have the luxury that he has to sleep two hours at nursery school, the lucky boy!