First, before reading further, take a minute to watch this video. Trust me. It is Pretty cool!:
OK. Now that you’ve watched this video, let me ask you this question:
As a school owner, or teacher, what (if anything) are YOU missing in your classroom?
What do I mean by ‘missing’?
What I mean is, do you have students who are silently crying out for help, but you are not seeing the signals…
Today, I’m going to stray from my normal blog post topics to address something that may someday – like it or not – appear at the doorstep of your language school classroom. Will you (or your teachers) be prepared to spot it? Will they know what to do?
First of all, let’s face it; owning a language school is a big responsibility. It’s more than just managing or teaching.
Let me illustrate with a story:
There was once a student – let’s call her ‘Yoko’ who was a very good student. She was 10 years old and did her homework each and every lesson. She always arrived on time and loved class.
A few months later, she began coming late to class. At first, the teacher just shrugged it off as after school sports activities (Yoko had told him that she loved basketball)…
But as the weeks turned into months, Yoko didn’t get any better at arriving on time.
One day she didn’t show up at all.
Her mother called the next day and said Yoko would no longer be attending class. End of story.
Well not quite the end of this story…
About 6 months later, the teacher at this school found out from a friend that Yoko was being beaten at home!
The teacher recalled bruises on her legs, but all this time, thought it was from the after school basketball games.
While certainly this is not the teacher’s fault by any means, it made me think;
What ARE we missing when we rush students into a classroom, teach a fast-paced lesson, and rush them out, only to repeat the process 3 more times during the day?
Between classes, we barely have 10 minutes to catch our breath, say “Hi” to people in our lobby, get a drink of water and get back into the classroom!
With so much going on around us, I think we sometimes need to step back, catch our breath, and take a good look at our students’ state of being.
HOW?
It will obviously depend on the situation, but if we notice a change of behavior (a new habit of coming late for example), instead of assuming particular reasons (like after school basketball), as a 1st step, we might just ask! In Yoko’s case, perhaps ask her privately, “Are you OK? Were you playing basketball late today? Ouch, those legs must hurt. What happened?”
WHAT TO DO IF ABUSE IS DISCOVERED?
If abuse is discovered, it is NOT your job as a school owner to confront the parents. That could make the abuse worse.
Contact your local child protection service. If no service exists in your area, don’t give up – report your concern to the student’s local elementary school to see if the issue is known.
Make sure you get the name of the person you reported it to, and keep careful records of when and who you contacted. Usually the school will follow up with the proper authorities.
Follow up with the school 1 week later to see what action has been taken. Don’t be surprised if they ‘cannot discuss the case’ with you. You are NOT the child’s parents and that response may be the only answer you get from the school.
Finally, contact your local city hall for other agencies that might help out if you notice that the problem continues.
More advice can be found by doing a google search for “how to report child abuse”
According to the site CRNjapan.com, if you live in Japan, you can call these phone numbers:
03-5370-2990 (+81-3-5370-2990 outside Japan)
What are you ‘missing’ at your language school?
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
If you teach children, have a meeting with your teachers. Bring up today’s blog topic. You’ll feel better knowing you are being a proactive school owner.
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