Secret English

I love talking with teachers at my schools because they are not afraid of my English/Japanese mix that I use to communicate (students often don't understand my Japanese because they are so surprised that I am speaking it!). I have been surprised that so many teachers know as much English as they do- some I can communicate with entirely in English, without using any Japanese. At one of my schools, the teachers in my office (the seventh grade teachers), don't speak much English, though. In fact, the only teacher I can speak English with is my English teacher. Last week, I was in the office with the music teacher. Out of nowhere, he starts asking me about my spring break plans, in excellent English! We have been in the same office for almost 6 months and he has barely spoken a word of English in that time! Maybe he was embarrased to speak in front of other teachers, and only felt comfortable when we were alone. As he was talking, I realized he knows far more English than I know Japanese! It was so weird! (and cool!) And then yesterday, the same thing happened. He was fiddling around with a Japanese instrument and starting telling me all about it- in English! I've come to learn that Japanese people are often very self-conscious about speaking English. In my experiences, many people only want to speak if their English is perfect. If I only spoke Japanese if I thought it was perfect, I would never speak! I know that my sentences sound like cavemen language when I speak Japanese, but I have to speak it or else I can't talk to anyone! Me like talk!