After arriving here, I proposed an informal seminar for students to practice their English discussing topics from their studies and their research. It's a need. These graduate students have been studying English since the first year of junior high school (3 years Jr. Hi. + 3 years Sr. Hi. + 4 years college + grad. school = 10+ years). But they get no opportunity to practice oral English.
So, although their reading skill in English is pretty good, many of them can hardly put a sentence together in spoken English. They've simply had no opportunity to practice that skill. So I figured I could offer a chance for them to practice in a safe, encouraging environment with someone able to engage with them on theological topics they were interested in.
Student schedules are pretty packed with classes already, but a small congenial groups of students did gather for the Theological English Practice Seminar during lunch hour on Tuesday. Things were slow starting out, but with my (paradoxical) exhortation "Don't think, just talk!" they relaxed a bit during the course of the hour.
I invited each student to share with the group (in English) something from their studies or research work that they found interesting. One young man spoke about his desire to help churches to be more accepting of marginalized people like drug addicts and HIV-positive individuals. A young woman spoke about her passion for working with children to help them come to terms with death and grief. A Korean student talked with some feeling about how constraining his previous seminary experience at a different (rather conservative) school had been and how much he appreciated the freedom he had at Doshisha to freely explore a variety of theological ideas.
It was satisfying to imagine that I was able to help these students become just a little more comfortable and capable in sharing in English on topics they cared about. The hour seemed to go well and there was a consensus that most of them wanted to continue for a few more sessions (until I leave for the States).
Last week Prof. Sekiya asked me to speak to one of his practical theology classes about self care for pastors. It's an area I have some knowledge of (at least academically) so I was happy to agree. This was a larger group. There were about twenty people including a middle-aged pastor, a retired pastor, and two Buddhist students (Buddhist seminaries don't offer courses in practical theology).
I spoke in Japanese for much of the ninety minute presentation. But there were plenty of points when I needed help from the students or the professor. Japanese students are sometimes rather reticent so it was hard to read the group at first ("How am I coming across?"), but as the time went on, there were more and more questions and interactions.
The expectations of Japanese pastors regarding work load and schedule are quite high. Most pastors get one (sometimes partial) day off a week and one week of vacation a year. An occasional two or three day break would be very rare. So the picture I painted from the American perspective (two days off in a row some weeks, four weeks of vacation each year, clergy collegial support groups, regular spiritual guidance, periodic self-assessments of self-care strategies, etc.) probably seemed hopelessly idealistic. In fact one student said as much. My answer was, "I don't do all these things myself. No pastor I know does. But I know what is recommended and I keep working on it."
I hope the general principles for seeking balance in work load and paying attention to warning signs of burn out might be helpful for them. The English practice seminar continues next Tuesday. (We'll see if anyone comes back.)
[ Added Later: ] One of the students in the self care class took some pictures. You can see them by clicking here.
Doshisha has many fine modern buildings. The building for the School of Theology is one of those. You can explore their English language web pages by clicking here. Here's one of the famous historical buildings on the grounds. I often see Japanese visitors to the campus getting their pictures taken in front of this building. (Mary's favorite bench is just out of frame in the bottom right of the picture.)
