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Chapter 5 Selective mutism and my high school years
Han note, Eye contact, Majime
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[Han note]
My homeroom teacher made us write Han note. Han note is a notebook. Han is a Japanese that means group. Our classmates were divided into, as I remember, 5-7 groups. Each members of the groups wrote a diary in rotation.
Although I had selective mutism, I could express my thoughts and feelings in writing. I was a talkative man only in the Han note.
[Eye contact and nodding]
I had been in the habit of keeping eye contact with teachers when I listened in class since early times. Because of the habit, I didn't avoid eye contact although I had selective mutism. That may be a kind of behavioral therapy.
In addition, I began to nod at them. Keeping the habit, an English grammar teacher foud me and got close to me. After I became a sophomore, I still nodded at teachers in class. Similarly, an Engilsh teacher and a Japanese history teacher found me and got close to me. In this way, thanks to my habit of nodding, I could get acquainted with teachers although I hardly spoke.
[Majime]
I was viewed as a very Majime (serious, earnest) person. One former classmate said, "I've never seen such a Majime man!" I don't know whether my selective mutism caused me to be Majime or not.
Here is one story about my Majime personality.
I don't know who clean high school in the US, but in my Japanese high school, students were supposed to clean their school (I guess most Japanese high school students also were). Our classmates were divided into some cleaning groups, and I was assigned to a school entrance group.
I cleaned school entrance eagerly. But other members of the group didn't. They gradually neglected their work. One day I cleaned school entrance by myself. A senior teacher found me and said, "Why do you clean by yourself?" That caused trouble.
(To be continued)
Index of SM story
