It’s not that the teachers are incompetent; they aren’t. But at the big schools – the ones with over forty students in a class – the teachers are worked to near death. They teach, coach, counsel, clean the school, attend enkais four times a month and deal with all the usual political mumbo-jumbo that comes with the job. On top of it all, the English teachers have to deal with me every day, in a language they barely understand. It isn’t an easy job. This is what I keep in mind when I’m doing my human CD player routine every day.