Ok.....so here's another post as promised....umm so yeah teaching, just to let you all know I'm not allowed to take pictures of my students or school events and such w/out going through a lot of hoops and getting permission and all that, so you prob won't really ever see too many...if any...pics of school life.
That aside I can talk about it^^. Ok...so I think I posted this before...maybe not...either way, the principal at the Junior High is super awesome, he's like a real-life version of Monk Gyatso from Avatar the Last Airbender!!! He's just so chill, yet has that devious smile, and probably says some quirky/funny things b/c everyone always laughs a lot when he gives morning announcements...but alas I cannot understand him...but yeah^^ he is super awesome! He ate lunch with us today and we chatted a bit and he wished me luck when I left to go to the kindergarten....and it turns out that in the mornings he watches the road in front of the school and makes sure that kids cross safely...I wonder if kids in Japan know how lucky there are to have a principal that makes sure they cross the street and get to school safely.
Ok, So I got to introduce myself to the JR high kids via a short speech and a quick Bingo game that was based off of my speech....two of the Bingo games went really well....a few didn't go as well, it seems that they partly didn't understand, and were partly unsure of what to do b/c the main teacher wasn't teaching, b/c they obviously understood what I was saying and responded, but if I asked for them to raise their hands to answer a question like "who likes to play soccer" they looked at their teacher w/ this look of "is it ok for me to raise my hand?, why aren't you asking us questions too?" ....but they were all pretty sweet. The 2nd years in one of the classes really had fun asking me questions (partly b/c they got to form groups and think of 3 questions) so in other words they had time to scheme and people to scheme with....The only personal question that I got was if I had a boyfriend....but I found out after class (when we collected the sheets that had their questions on them) that I dodged the question "what was your first love like"....though sadly I also missed "if the world ended what would you do".....but yeah^^ they had a lot of fun and got really excited about asking me stuff. In one of the other classes there was a group of kids, all sitting next to each other, and they kept telling me that there name was something else completely...like a famous rock star, or a piece of fruit, etc etc....they did this b/c they knew I couldn't really speak or read Japanese and b/c I didn't know their names since that's why they had to introduce themselves.....But yeah, over all it was fun and the kids seem rather nice, and a lot of them happily greet me when they see me in the hall^^. I can't wait to get a better handle on Japanese though b/c I feel that a lot of the teachers and students are reluctant to say anything to me b/c they know that I can't really understand and they can't speak English. .....Oh and I got to explain DQ ice cream cakes to a class yesterday, they all seemed very impressed to hear that there are cakes made solely of ice cream lol^^....though with all do respect ice cream cakes are rather amazing.
Ok, so I went to the Kindergarten today....all of the little kids stared at me wide-eyed like they were at the zoo or something...or like their favorite cartoon character or celebrity just walked into their school. So that in and of itself was amusing^^.....then a lot of the kids kept jumping up trying to jump higher than I was tall....sadly none of the the teachers really speak any English so I played the guessing game of I will do my best to correctly guess at what you are saying...I'm seem to be rather decent at that game and I am very grateful for it!! But the kids had a small relay race outside where they ran while jump roping around the track....everyone cheered very loudly....oh and the kindergarten has a pool that the kids get to swim in.....and the kindergartens are set up differently class wise, they don't have the kids sit down as much as a lot of American Kindergartens do....they have the kids sit for a short story, then go to the gym and do a structured dance routine thing, then go back to the classroom to sing, potty break, then go outside to play a game, then back inside to do a sitting activity for a bit and then back to the gym to stretch and dance a bit before taking another potty break and then out to go swim.......it was very structured, like American kindergarten classes, but they had the kids do a lot more active learning, which the kids really seemed to enjoy.....let's see what else.....oh one of the kids high-fived my boob...he was running down the hall and jumped near me (I thought he was trying to jump higher than I was tall, since that's what everyone was doing) but nope, he quickly darted out his hand hit my boob and ran into the classroom -.- *face palm*....but aside from that none of the other kids were handsy, which I was kind of surprised about b/c sometimes you hear stories (especially about the really little kids) about how they'll come up and grab your butt or boob or whatever....http://www.lifeaftertheboe.com/2010/10/16/touching/ and http://www.lifeaftertheboe.com/2009/10/04/bum-touching/ .....Anyhoo^^, the teachers were all super nice and friendly and the kids were fun too.
Later on in the day I went to one of the Elementary schools to meet people and they all took turns (I sat in the principals office) coming in one at a time to talk to me and ask me questions and see if I had any questions and such. They were all super nice and it was great to meet everyone! I found out that I'll be giving yet another "infront of the whole school" intro speech, and then have to have a short introduction and games prepared for all of the grade levels :p....so it'll be interesting once I have to go through all of that next week. Wish me luck lol^^. .....meh that's gonna be it for the day, I have to get up early to take the trash out to the collection place and then go to the school Sports Day events.........so more later.....maybe on Monday if I'm up to it^^.... Oh and if there's anything specific you want me to talk about or have questions please feel free to post stuff in the comment boxes :).
That aside I can talk about it^^. Ok...so I think I posted this before...maybe not...either way, the principal at the Junior High is super awesome, he's like a real-life version of Monk Gyatso from Avatar the Last Airbender!!! He's just so chill, yet has that devious smile, and probably says some quirky/funny things b/c everyone always laughs a lot when he gives morning announcements...but alas I cannot understand him...but yeah^^ he is super awesome! He ate lunch with us today and we chatted a bit and he wished me luck when I left to go to the kindergarten....and it turns out that in the mornings he watches the road in front of the school and makes sure that kids cross safely...I wonder if kids in Japan know how lucky there are to have a principal that makes sure they cross the street and get to school safely.
Ok, So I got to introduce myself to the JR high kids via a short speech and a quick Bingo game that was based off of my speech....two of the Bingo games went really well....a few didn't go as well, it seems that they partly didn't understand, and were partly unsure of what to do b/c the main teacher wasn't teaching, b/c they obviously understood what I was saying and responded, but if I asked for them to raise their hands to answer a question like "who likes to play soccer" they looked at their teacher w/ this look of "is it ok for me to raise my hand?, why aren't you asking us questions too?" ....but they were all pretty sweet. The 2nd years in one of the classes really had fun asking me questions (partly b/c they got to form groups and think of 3 questions) so in other words they had time to scheme and people to scheme with....The only personal question that I got was if I had a boyfriend....but I found out after class (when we collected the sheets that had their questions on them) that I dodged the question "what was your first love like"....though sadly I also missed "if the world ended what would you do".....but yeah^^ they had a lot of fun and got really excited about asking me stuff. In one of the other classes there was a group of kids, all sitting next to each other, and they kept telling me that there name was something else completely...like a famous rock star, or a piece of fruit, etc etc....they did this b/c they knew I couldn't really speak or read Japanese and b/c I didn't know their names since that's why they had to introduce themselves.....But yeah, over all it was fun and the kids seem rather nice, and a lot of them happily greet me when they see me in the hall^^. I can't wait to get a better handle on Japanese though b/c I feel that a lot of the teachers and students are reluctant to say anything to me b/c they know that I can't really understand and they can't speak English. .....Oh and I got to explain DQ ice cream cakes to a class yesterday, they all seemed very impressed to hear that there are cakes made solely of ice cream lol^^....though with all do respect ice cream cakes are rather amazing.
Ok, so I went to the Kindergarten today....all of the little kids stared at me wide-eyed like they were at the zoo or something...or like their favorite cartoon character or celebrity just walked into their school. So that in and of itself was amusing^^.....then a lot of the kids kept jumping up trying to jump higher than I was tall....sadly none of the the teachers really speak any English so I played the guessing game of I will do my best to correctly guess at what you are saying...I'm seem to be rather decent at that game and I am very grateful for it!! But the kids had a small relay race outside where they ran while jump roping around the track....everyone cheered very loudly....oh and the kindergarten has a pool that the kids get to swim in.....and the kindergartens are set up differently class wise, they don't have the kids sit down as much as a lot of American Kindergartens do....they have the kids sit for a short story, then go to the gym and do a structured dance routine thing, then go back to the classroom to sing, potty break, then go outside to play a game, then back inside to do a sitting activity for a bit and then back to the gym to stretch and dance a bit before taking another potty break and then out to go swim.......it was very structured, like American kindergarten classes, but they had the kids do a lot more active learning, which the kids really seemed to enjoy.....let's see what else.....oh one of the kids high-fived my boob...he was running down the hall and jumped near me (I thought he was trying to jump higher than I was tall, since that's what everyone was doing) but nope, he quickly darted out his hand hit my boob and ran into the classroom -.- *face palm*....but aside from that none of the other kids were handsy, which I was kind of surprised about b/c sometimes you hear stories (especially about the really little kids) about how they'll come up and grab your butt or boob or whatever....http://www.lifeaftertheboe.com/2010/10/16/touching/ and http://www.lifeaftertheboe.com/2009/10/04/bum-touching/ .....Anyhoo^^, the teachers were all super nice and friendly and the kids were fun too.
Later on in the day I went to one of the Elementary schools to meet people and they all took turns (I sat in the principals office) coming in one at a time to talk to me and ask me questions and see if I had any questions and such. They were all super nice and it was great to meet everyone! I found out that I'll be giving yet another "infront of the whole school" intro speech, and then have to have a short introduction and games prepared for all of the grade levels :p....so it'll be interesting once I have to go through all of that next week. Wish me luck lol^^. .....meh that's gonna be it for the day, I have to get up early to take the trash out to the collection place and then go to the school Sports Day events.........so more later.....maybe on Monday if I'm up to it^^.... Oh and if there's anything specific you want me to talk about or have questions please feel free to post stuff in the comment boxes :).
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