Hey guys!
To briefly translate the title it simply says :Suimi suimi suimi, which I will explain later on in this post.
So today is Friday and the end of the week and as usual we are back at the Elementary School which is yet another great place to work, then again all the places are great to work at! The elementary school has to be one of my favorites though.
Ok so; First period! We were with the 5th graders for the first time so we did our self introductions again, thankfully I had revised mine the night before or else I'd have been all over the place *phew*. We then focused on
After the lesson was over we had break time. This time we went outside for break as the weather was pretty good and actually warm which is becoming less frequent these days in Hokkaido. (Insert another 'Winter is coming' joke here). We played football with the kids and I was able to score a goal but sadly our goal keeper was less than attentive when it came to the opposing team. I'm pretty sure half way through he left our game and joined someone else so it's safe to say; we lost. Though I did still score which made me very happy and made me feel a lot less useless than I actually am when it comes to sports.
After break we were to be working with the sixth graders. This class terrifies me purely because the teacher quizzes us on their names! Of course I know learning their names is very important and I do try but it's so difficult! I struggle even with English names so throwing me into a class of Japanese students and tested on their names is probably my worst nightmare as a teacher. However I did notice a little something: their desks had their names written in Hiragana on the front. This worked for a few minutes before I was caught out and they covered the name tags :(the meanies.
Once the embarrassment of remembering only their western nicknames, we began the lesson. We focused on schedules such as what time we woke up and what time we went to bed. This was mixed in with geography and time zones. Now for an interesting difference in Japanese and English class rooms: Japan still use the blackboard (or chalkboard, whichever you prefer). England however either use the whiteboard or more frequently, the interactive white board.
Japan doesn't have the interactive whiteboard and still use chalk by the truck load, so it came as a surprise when they pulled out a flat touch screen LCD TV loaded with an interactive English listening program. It was sorter comical to see it wheeled in front of the black board as the contrast between technology was so plain to see. The children definitely enjoyed working from it though and they paid close attention to the American voice speaking all the times and places.
The teacher began drilling the class on what time they did certain activities, including getting the students to move around the classroom and ask each other (as well as us) what time we did certain things. Let's just say the time I go to sleep was brought into a questionable light. (Totally isn't around 1am) though to be fair... it came to light that the teacher goes to bed at 9pm and wakes up at 3am. Why you may ask? Well..... I have no idea.
Once the 6th graders class was over, we headed back downstairs (these stairs will make us so fit by the end of the year) Lunch was to be with the 2nd grade class. I still love the way Japanese schools do lunch here by having all the tables in a circle so everyone can see and talk to each other. I think it's so much better and even entertaining because everyone can talk and laugh together. It really does make lunch time a lot more enjoyable and it means that no one is excluded; something I believe is a huge issue in English schools.
In addition, the responsibility the children are given in regards to preparing lunch is such a huge contrast compared to back home. In England, there would be an uproar by the parents if it was even suggested the English students did the same as the Japanese do. Basically; the lunches are all made off site in one place and delivered to many schools in the area. They're dropped off at the school and the students, not the teachers... will carry the heavy metal containers to their classroom (some of which are upstairs) and then begin to arrange the room themselves, set the tables and serve all the food in bowels around the class. No one will eat or drink until everyone is seated and "Itadakimasu" is said. The strictness of this routine is very inspiring and it just shows how much a child can really do by themselves without having to be guided by the teacher at all times. These children range from the age of 6 to 12 as well.
But enough of the seriousness, after the lunch we burst into song and sadly not dance. Soon the children will have a culture festival at their school and the 2nd grade class will be performing a dramatized version of suimi. Suimi is a story about a fish who's clan is all eaten by a giant tuna. He finds refuge with a big group of red fish who live in fear of big tuna and through his uniqueness he helps save the day and helps the red fish defeat the evil tuna. I think that's the plot at least, it's kind've hard to figure out when it's all in Japanese.
Either way, they were recording the chorus to have as a backup tape and they got me and my partner to join in the singing. Singing in Japanese is extremely difficult, especially when the words are written with Japanese characters but we managed it in the end after at least a couple of attempts. It was great fun though and afterwards we got to watch the children rehearse the play which takes me back to the times of doing plays in my primary school.
After they finished rehearsing it was the end of the day and we'd finished. However my day surely wasn't over. That day I had been invited to volley ball with the teachers. I'll tell you now, watching a bunch of teachers are different genders and ages play volley ball together after school is hilarious no matter what. I found that when playing volleyball, my height means I often hit the ball way too high which is a slight issue as the other team seemed to be very good. We did win our first game however and at the end of it all, I only hit one teacher in the face! Even worse though; it was the 2nd grade teacher, the one I really get on well with... yikes. He was very cool about it though and there were a lot of laughs as language broke down and I pretty much ended up bowing and shaking his hand in apology. I was so mortified but everyone took it very well and no grudges were held.
By the end of the game, we had been smashed by the other team and lost all the final games. However, I still had so much fun and I never thought I would get a chance to play volleyball with a group of teachers in my life. I surely do recommend schools back home have a weekly teacher get together where they do a silly game and make a fool of themselves, it's so much fun!
By now I was so tired... yet I still had to hurry home and get some food because tonight was Yosakoi get again. I'm still struggling with Yosakoi but I am getting there, I have until the 23rd of November before my 'debut' so plenty of time to practice and refine my movements. I'll just have to make sure I study hard! So that's all for today, it's been a busy one but it was a blast and I'm really glad that even after 35 days I am still enjoying Japan as much as I did back on Day 1 in Tokyo.
I'll write more soon! Bye!
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