Showing posts with label Elementary school. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Elementary school. Show all posts

Friday, February 24, 2012

Graduation (kind of)

'Tis the season! You would think that it is bizarre that I would be writing a graduation-like post in February, but it isn't. In Japan, the school year goes from April to March. Thus we are entering in to the last weeks of the school year. Turns out it must be the season for squid and squid-like animals as well. We have eaten squid or it's family members 2/4 days this week. Yay me. 

Our student government (I think) put on a program for the graduating 9th graders who are going to be entering high school in a few weeks. This meant that all the classes were cancelled on Monday afternoon so that we could have a 2 hour assembly with parents and whatnot. They sang songs and gave a bunch of speeches. It was really long good. 

One thing that they do right is that they had a graduating student speak about one teacher in front of everyone as they stood in a group. The student would call out the teachers name and then say lots of nice things about them. I presume they were thanking them. After we got through about 6 teachers, I wondered if they would do one for me. They did. A girl called out Mr. Jeffu. I straightened up and smiled so the people looking at me would know that I appreciated whatever they said. She started saying nice things in what I thought was Japanese. About halfway through, I realized that she was speaking English and I should really pay attention. She was speaking really fast and with an accent, so all I caught was "...stories from your country...Christmas...good example...make me want to learn..." I appreciated it anyway. 
The sweet setup on the cafeteria. They transformed it to look awesome right? 
I ran across this on Thursday at one of my elementary schools. Those are megaphones. Look how gigantic! They have their own tripod and everything. I don't think I can call anything smaller than this a megaphone in good conscience. I guess I will have to call the smaller ones miniphones or just phones. 
Ah, Japanese first graders. In the comedy that is my life, I eat with these kids once a month. Either there is a serious problem where the shortest kid in class is gone every time I eat with them, or they just like putting me in the smallest desk imaginable. That desk with nothing on it? Yep, that is the one I am supposed to sit at. Don't worry, they all found it hilarious when I sat next to it. To give you perspective, the desk top was lower than my knee.

Being the sweet kids that they are, they also decided to give me extra portions of lunch that day. The only problem was that yesterdays menu was cuttlefish and shrimp in an awful chili sauce. I watched as each of these kids took no more than 2 or 3 tiny pieces for themselves. When they dished up mine, they gave me about...25. 
We had rain yesterday and then some scary fog roll in. I took some pictures for you. 
*Spooooooky Nooooooises!*

I will probably have another graduation post for you, as the real graduation isn't for a few weeks. I have to wear a suit to the real one. 

Friday, February 10, 2012

Video Killed the Radio Star

I am posting some videos so that you can see what my classes have been up to. Unfortunately for me, this took about 45 minutes to upload the videos so I didn't get to them yesterday. The topic of the day was creating an original story about a big turnip (don't ask). The kids made up their own characters to pull at the turnip. I saw a monkey, spider, godzilla, Colonel Sanders and others. Enjoy the finest English the 6th grade has to offer!


I also started teaching the 3rd graders about the weather. Here we are playing Hot and Cold. They aren't very good at it, and at some point I get distracted trying to help them figure it out. 


Finally, I want to tell you about pencil cases. I will discuss this more, but they are a big deal here in Japan. Big deal. You put stickers on them and they say something about who you are. One of my favorites is a pencil case that looks like a carton of milk. It is pink and pretty with a zipper near the top. It says Au Lait on it. Which I believe is French for 'The Milk' or something. Right under that it has a nice line that captures Japan really well. 'Strawberry Milk - Sweet and Sour.' Yum.

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Tuesday Bluesday

Today was not actually a bluesday, but I didn't have anything that really rhymed with Tuesday. It is Tuesday here, the Jazz had a good win, and my house was a refreshing 29 degrees this morning when I went to work. On the plus side, my soda stays nice and cold! What's new? Well, I taught some children today...just like everyday.
 For Kate, these kids know what is what when it comes to soccer. Yes. Soccer. Not football. Soccer. Why? Because that is what the kids in Japan call it. They don't call it football, they call it soccer. Have you ever wondered why we call it soccer? I googled it: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2010/06/why_do_we_call_it_soccer.html 
You can read about it there. It is an abbreviated form of Association Football. Weird right? The Brits used it, then replaced it with Football. We Americans had our own ideas about Football and decided to keep with soccer. It seems a lot like the imperial measurement system that we use in America. The Brits came up with it, it took hold in America, and they no longer use it and we look dumb (to the world with their fancy metric). I think it really just shows that we in America don't like peer pressure to change. 
 Oh yeah. Bear mace. I don't know if I mentioned this before or not. In each classroom at my elementary school, they have a relatively unsecured can of bear mace and a helmet. One is for earthquakes, and one is for bears? I am not sure if they are nervous about bears or would-be attackers. Either way, watch out.
A close up. Funny thing about the bear mace is that there are no Japanese instructions. Only instructions in English. I think that means that technically, I am the only qualified person to wield the awesome power. Maybe the teachers all have training in it that I am not privy to. I bet you they haven't and if the situation arose, they would mace themselves before they got to the bears. 

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Tuesday is a Different Kind of Day

Most days go by with relatively little to write about...today was not that day. i don't know what the stars were aligning to do, but today had about 3 or 4 blog-worthy things happen (blog-worthy being a loose term). To start, I was in my small elementary school. After my first class, I saw that all the students were unnecessarily orderly out on the playground. After investigating, I was told that they were playing dodgeball! Dodgeball is evidently one of those things that has transcended national boundaries. There were some twists to make it convenient for playing on a field, but it was dodgeball alright. 
3rd and 4th graders competing ferociously for the glory of being the All Akita Elementary School champions.
The 1st and 2nd graders played a little different variant. I didn't catch the good stuff, but here is the end. They played in a circle. Circle of Death. Maru (Japanese for circle) Muerte (Spanish for death). Tri-lingual name game here. 

I taught a Christmas lesson to the 4th graders today. Upon reviewing the list of Christmas words, I realized how difficult it is to explain Christmas-y things. Think about stockings...socks...that you hang on the fire until candy comes. I didn't do a good job of clarifying it for them, but what can you do? I ate lunch with the 4th graders, and they asked me if I knew about chapurin. They meant Charlie Chaplin, I discerned this from the mustache, hat and cane imitation. As lunch was winding down, I was folding up my milk carton when a funny thing happened. I left the straw in, and as the air exited the carton, I launched a stream of leftover milk into the air about 7 feet. I immediately laughed and looked around to see if anyone else saw. There was one little girl with wide eyes that was laughing along with me, the other 12 students had no idea. 

In my 5th grade class, we played a game of charades. I let the kids choose their own names in English. These were the best that they could come up with. Team Fairy and Team Angels. The class is 60% boys. 
 You can see that I awarded Team Angels 10,000 points. I don't really remember what it was for. 
 I went to a discount grocery store while I was waiting to meet some people. The store is called Trial...perhaps because it is like a super-packed dollar store. In other words, it's like every Asian market in Chinatown across the world. In any case, they had Natural Hardwood Smoked Bacon. Nice right? I figured it was worth a shot. It actually tasted like regular bacon if you cooked it and left it on the country until it got cold. Not too shabby for Japan! 
 Another seeming by-product of America. I don't think I have ever seen corn this giant. 
 In the beer aisle, I found this. Now I am no expert, but this seems a little small for a beer...am I right? 
This picture pretty much sums up everything you need to know about Trial Bargain Store.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Shot Through The Heart...With AWESOME!

In my heart, there is a chamber. Inside this chamber is a room. Inside this room is a bingo hall. I LOVE bingo. If you don't know that already, you haven't been paying enough attention. What started off as an adventure to try something new quickly lead to an obsession with the noble game of Bingo. Bingo is a glorious game that requires practice and mental sharpness. Pictured below is one of the fondest memories that I have of the past year. All of these people are top notch, and it was a great trip before Cody headed off to AZ. 
I know it doesn't look like delirious amounts of fun in this picture, but that is because we were focusing on the intensity of making sure that we got all of our starting numbers right. What is also sweet is that you get free soft drinks while you are playing!

You may be wondering why I bring this up, since I am in Japan and roughly 5,000 miles from Mesquite, NV. In the elementary schools I teach at, we play a game that is called Ohajiki. It is essentially bingo. You put your little markers on a card or pictures and take them off when they are called. Naturally, I am really good at this. The kids love anything that is a game, but today they got really into it. I took this video while we were playing. You can hear me call out words and they respond accordingly. 


Weirdos

After work, I went to pick up some things from J-Mart and I saw that they had put out the Christmas decorations! They are decidedly less epilepsy friendly in Japan. Over the loudspeakers they were "From A Distance." I wandered the store while hearing the sweet refrains of "God is watching us, God is watching us, God is watching us...from a distance." It was interesting. I want you to take a look as it pans at the life size replica of a reindeer. Creepy right? Who buys that?! Where would they store it?


I must also point out that that monstrosity costs about 1,100 dollars. 

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Unbearable Cuteness

I know you are expecting more pictures of children because let's face it, that is why you are here...So, the elementary students are practicing for their sports day, and they are at least 5.5 times cuter than the junior high kids when they practice...just a fact of life. So I snapped some pictures for you to enjoy.
 The kids made a band that marches around...furthermore, they were good!
 Check that out...not bad right? For kids age 6 to 12...
 I don't remember having these fancy piano thingy's in any marching band I ever saw.
 They are having a cheer off/sing off.
 You can see the colorful hats that denote teams.
It's more about loudness instead of quality.
 The yellow team's flag has Chip 'N Dale on it!
 Green had Mike Wizowski
...and red has Mickey. 
 An overhead view of them practicing some of their relay games. 

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

I Have Returned...with Miracles!

Well. I am back. The internet got sorted out a day or two early. So I should be reliably posting again, even though my life is less interesting now. To catch you up since the last time I wrote, I have started actually working and teaching. I just finished my first day in the elementary school and it was actually quite good. I am what some would call a "worrier." Others might call it a sometimes-hyper-anxious-and-prone-to-panic person. I am both of these. Like most people, I worry about things that have not yet come to pass and they cause me (sometimes severe) distress.

I cant put it any other way than to say that I was literally terrified of teaching here in Japan. I have been plagued with thoughts of "What will I do when the teacher doesn't speak English?" "How do I go about teaching Japanese kids?" "How do I team teach with someone when we can't speak to each other?" "How do I go about getting along with my coworkers?" Play these through 1000 bad scenarios and you get an idea of how I was feeling at the start of yesterday and especially today.

Obviously I survived because you are reading the words that I am writing. I don't know if this is the last of this or not. I am sure that the anxiety will creep back and trip me up again, but today I saw miracles in my life. I haven't been sleeping well because of my anxiety over starting this and have been continuing forward on willpower alone. I saw miracles today and yesterday with the concern for my family and their ability to say what I need to hear and keep me going. I saw miracles with the children at the school and the teachers I work with. I cannot explain it other than a miracle. Meanings were conveyed between the teachers and I despite the fact that we couldn't speak. People were kind and generous. Even though you could argue that this would have happened to anyone at any time, to me they were literal miracles that cut through the stress that I was feeling. They were exactly what I needed.

On to the kids. Children are miracles themselves. Period. The kids are quickly becoming my favorite part of Japan. They are so eager to talk to me and look at me and chatter away saying who knows what. Granted, I am a sight for most of them to see, big, bald and white. Kids are so raw with how they do things. At recess we played basketball (which I am awesome at because I can dunk) and freeze tag. 17 2nd graders and I running around after lunch playing freeze tag. When I got tired and sat in the "Free Zone," a little girl came up and sat next to me. After a few minutes, she grabbed my hand and took me back out to play. I am very grateful for these kids and their kindness to someone that they just met today, especially since I needed something like that.

Sappy post for a few stressful days. I will try to stick to pictures and stuff for a while now. :)