My students have surprised me once again. Today in class I lead a `Dear Santa-san` lesson. Each student had to answer the question posed by me (Mr. Santa) `What do you want for Christmas and why?` Here are two of the more interesting answers I got from students:
For Christmas, I want a girlfriend. Because I am alone. And it is lonely.
For Christmas, I want love. Because I want to know the feeling of being loved.
!!??!!
First of all, these are 16 year old boys. Second of all, they are answering in front of 40 other students of mixed gender. And most importantly, nobody laughed at these guys. People nodded understandingly, in fact. Their little faces were serious and thoughtful.
Yes, of course. Their nods seemed to say. Alone, we are all lonely. For Christmas, we all want love.
Is this normal? I mean, it IS a good point. Dont we all just want to be loved? But, then again, do we all just say it outloud like that? Not in America you dont. You would be massacred in high school if you did something like this! Its social suicide, in fact. Your reputation could never recover from such a blow. But not here in Japan. It must have something to do with the mentality of the communal culture. Being alone is not something that anyone wants here. Its just not cool to be alone.
Sniff. Now I sit at my desk and in my mind I keep seeing their cute little heads bobbing up and down, and I keep thinking of their lonely little hearts saying,
Alone, we are all lonely. For Christmas, we all want love.
I wish I had a big bag of girlfriends and another one of love that I could bring for them all on Christmas, bless their souls.
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Yeah - the Japanese students are very different from western students. I think they show a certain innocence and naivety that isn't apparent in students in England. You also regularly see boys with an arm around their buddy and nobody blinks an eyelid.
Although they are often shy to answer questions, they don't really shy away from any topics. I had a girl 2 years ago tell the entire class how she was almost dragged into a field by some guy while walking home one night. Very disturbing, but she recalled it very matter-of-factly. And students have talked to me about their friends cutting themselves etc, in front of the class, while others offer support and advice.
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