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| photo credit: http://www.clker.com |
For some cosmic unfathomable reason a first grade student would always say the word sex when he sees me. When he sees me in the hallway, he'd smile and say sex. When I enter their room, he'd try to catch my eye and say sex. When I finish my class, he'd grab my things then give them back to me while saying s-e-x. He'd always have that naughty look in his eyes whenever he sees me and I know that he'd say his favorite word to me. He doesn't say that to other teachers. It was only to me.
Sometimes, I wonder what he'd be his reaction if I say the same thing, and maybe more, to him. I'm greatly tempted to do that but instead of saying the S word to him, I'd just always utter "dame" (bad). What can I do? I'm just an ALT whose Japanese is barely for survival. Also, I'm not entitled to discipline the students. I'm just supposed to be a smiling machine and brush off such rude behavior. I'm so busy smiling I've no time for some spanking. I tried telling it to my JTE once. She burbled something to the student. Student nod, bowed at me while burbling something (probably I'm sorry but I can't tell), then off he went. The next day, he's back on his evil way.
I don't know what I did to him why he keeps on saying the S word to me. I always look decent, my clothes not revealing and I did not teach him to say that word. I told it to a few of my ALT friends. One said that I should be grateful he's speaking in English. The other one said maybe the student finds me hot and can't control himself. Nice friends I've got here no? To be honest, I'm not really bothered by him. I've heard worse and seen worse from my previous students. I'm just wondering why that word. He won't even be able to use it in everyday polite conversation.
Because this has been going on for months now, I've come up with some theories why that naughty student likes to say the word sex to me.
First, maybe he heard it somewhere and thought it's cool. Some students say F--- Y--! thinking it's how cool English-speakers talk. Some use B---CH, A-- and whatever curse words they know in English. I couldn't blame them if they always hear it in English movies. So maybe, this student thinks that the S word is the cool word for him. I just find it odd. Imagine someone angrily screaming "SEX" at you instead of FUCK YOU!" It doesn't make sense to me.
Another reason could be he's on puberty stage. It's the stage where raging hormones are, well, raging. It's the period of curiosity and discovery about sexuality. Puberty coupled with the stage of testing limits is the most "exciting" combination. You know how we all love coming of age movies and books, right? He's on this exciting time of his life. He wants to know and maybe saying the word makes him think he know whatever he's saying. Remember how when we're kids we'd name the things we know. I think it's like that during puberty. Then he also gets the excitement of saying a taboo word to a teacher. How exciting could that be?
The last reason I could come up with is because I'm a foreigner. Maybe it's not actually him, maybe it's me that makes him say that word. As I've said, I'm the only teacher who has to bear his verbal assault. He doesn't say it to any Japanese teachers. Some Japanese men find foreign women more liberated compared to Japanese women. (Another entry is needed to explain how I get to that conclusion.) I don't know if at his young age, he's already prejudiced.
As I've said, I'm not bothered that he says sex to me. I'm a big girl, I can handle that. As long as he only says that and not "do" that in front of me, I can manage. I think the coolness of saying sex will eventually wear off. It's like when kids get tired of singing their ABC's and they just want to move on with life. Or maybe a Japanese teacher would hear him and give him an earful. Maybe my friends are right too, he's just happy to know an English word or that he can't control himself because he finds me hot. Haha!
