Going to someone's house

I went to have dinner at a friend's house who lives with her parents. I was instructed in etiquette well, by being pulled back [and made aware of my manners] until I said the required phrases. We had all contributed to dinner - I made lasagne, the host provided consomme soup, and the everyone else made sesame radish salad, earl grey almond pound cake, and doriyaki 銅鑼焼き (= sweet Japanese pancake with filling). It was fun, and great to get away from school. My week wasn't the best... I had three 2nd Year students middle-finger me?... Not surprisingly, that and how crappy the behaviour policy is, is not making my enthusiasm towards work any more than it was before.

The things I witness and experience this week, and almost every week... my work load is lighter than what it was when I was teaching in England, but the stress of what I have to deal with makes up for it... what is up with these teachers, students and parents???

A teacher gets kicked by a student and says that it's not an issue?

A 15-year old boy who shows signs of dyslexia, doesn't even know katakana (=one of the basic writing components of Japanese, equivalent of the English alphabet), and is told by the English teacher that he can do whatever he wants in the English lesson as long as he keeps quiet? The teacher then ignores him. There is no one-to-one support in the school. There is currently no Special Needs support in this city.

A 1st year in this Junior High, 13-years old, loses his textbook. His parent phones the homeroom teacher and asks about the textbook. The parent asks for a meeting to discuss this issue on Sunday at school... in other words, he/she are holding the teacher responsible, and is hoping to get another book free-of-charge. Talk about being unreasonable, can't a teacher relax, even on a Sunday?

Then, there's behaviour issues, everyday I'm racking my brain about why there is no behaviour policy visibly being followed, where the heck is the classroom management and why aren't behaviour strategies being used?!

I've never talked about the same topic in this many posts before, so for the time-being I will shut up about it, try and stop thinking about it, unless its a serious case or until it is somehow miraculously solved.

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When entering someone's house,

1) Say "Ojama shimasu おじゃまします" - which means sort like a mix  of 'Excuse me' and 'Sorry for disturbing you'.

2) Wait until the owner/resident gives their consent e.g. "douzo" (=please) before entering the house.

3) At the genkan (=doorway) take off your shoes and step up into the hallway to put on the slippers.

4) Before entering a room with tatami flooring, leave your slippers at the entrance. When first entering someone's room, say "Shitsurei shimasu" which means something similar to ojama shimasu and literally means 'Sorry for interrupting 失礼します.'

5) Sitting in the tatami room, at the low table, there are cushions where it is polite to sit in the seiza 正座 position i.e. sitting with your lower legs folded under your thighs and bottom.

6) When leaving, say "Shitsurei shimasu", where in this situation means a mixture of 'Excuse my leaving/Goodbye' and thank the host "Arigatou gozaimashita ありがとうございました".