Well, it's been over a month since my arrival, and my classes have been the most pointless worthless pieces of crap ever devised. Imagine if you will: students with 3 months of experiance and students up to 3 years of Japanese study being placed into the SAME class. Oddly, the Oral Interview yielded the same results for everyone... "beginner elementary level". The teacher knew it was bullshit but could do nothing about it. First time I mentioned this was on Thursday, I did so nicely, asking kindly for a better class more my level and pace, as well as for the other student who is rather good. They smiled and nodded and did nothing. Yesterday, I was slightly more stern... still polite though. They did nothing again. Today was different.
Today started with the pointless class as usual, where i have to focus more on staying awake than the "lesson". Followed shortly thereafter by a nice chat with the teacher where it is discovered that he is pissed too for the same reason I am and they told him no. A quick break for lunch and then I am off to the office. I told them that I need a new class NOW and I don't care who it is taught by, only that it is taught at a real level, has tests, has homework, has a textbook, and moves faster than the class I would be in if i was in the states. I know exactly what I need to improve my Japanese and I laid it out. They said they would get back to me. I said that if I did not have these requirements met I would receive no credit at my home university for these classes. This followed by a deadline of the end of the week and something along the lines of "I would like to stay here for the full year as planned and be able to say good things about this school and program, but as it stands neither of these will be possible without the classes I require".
BAM
The shit eating smiles on their faces die and fall off like leaves in autumn. They are serious, they know I am serious. I have delivered an ultimatum that can come back to bite them in the asses personally if they don't get me my class... best of all, is that they know it. I dropped off all relevant information for the book I would be using in the states, my cell number, and left them in shock. I then proceeded to contact the program directors for IES and inform them of the situation and the contact info for the people I had just spoken to. I now have the added pressure of two people who get paid on commission and want to keep me here on my side, focused on the same targets as my own. Oddly, I have seen both staff members of the office running around all day today and talking to teachers, hearing my name and the name of the other student as I pass by. They got hit with something they never expected out of me, a direct threat to their credibility as a school. And thanks to being in school for far too long and having contacts, I could have the school most likely blacklisted at most US unis as "bad" in not so short a time. Name dropping also seems to work quite well in the form of "Do you know this textbook? I know the authors personally"
I feel good for the first time here.