Sports Day Practice

A view of the courtyard from the second floor of the JHS.

Lately the kids at JHS have been preoccupied with practicing for the sports day on Saturday. They have been practicing for over a week and even have full days off classes for practice. It seems a little crazy, but they actually benefit from it I think, because they have to do crazy intricate dances, group jump roping, and military-style marching, to name a few activities.

After my two classes this morning (both self-introduction classes still), I went to watch them practice for a bit. It was pretty intense! They spent about an hour just on getting positioned properly for the dance practice!

The entrance to the school, with all the shoe boxes for staff and guests.

I went back to school early, and since there were no students around, I took the opportunity to wander the school and take some photos. I popped my head into the shop classroom too, and saw that the students had made some amazing things out of wood! There are also painted banners in the front hallway from each grade for the sports day. These students are really talented!

Oh, and lunch today was actually pretty good! It was a hamburger patty with a bun and ketchup, vegetable and some kind of fish salad, 4 delicious grapes, milk, and an alphabet soup with mushrooms, a weird white sausage, and vegetables. The soup was okay, but torturous to eat. I still don't know how I was expected to eat freaking alphabet noodles with chopsticks!

Murals in the front hallway for sports day.

Some things I've noticed about school here:

The ES kids who walk to school do so in groups. There is a leader for each group, who carries a yellow flag. Near the school, teachers guard crosswalks and also carry flags. The local police also guard the crosswalks as well.

Students are responsible for bringing a teacher's materials to class. I felt really awkward today as one kid carried my laptop and the other carried my projector.

One of the classrooms I teach in.

Kinsai! Minsai! Odorinsai! 2014

A view of the festival from our apartment.

Today there was a dance matsuri (festival) held in Chizu, called Kinsai! Minsai! Odorinsai! (Come! See! Dance!). The festival started at 1pm, but we could hear and see them setting up all morning from our apartment, since we're so high up.

We went down to the festival around 2pm and wandered around the food stalls. There was a lot of good stuff! Yana got a chocolate vanilla soft cream, Justin got a deer burger, a lemon cream taiyaki, and takoyaki. I finally got my kakigori, shaved ice with flavoured syrup. It was huge! Well worth Y300.

I also ran in to a few of my students and their parents! They all really loved seeing Yana, she's quite the celebrity.

Around 2:30 there was a sort of opening ceremony dance, where a bunch of dance teams gathered on the street and danced together, with flags waving overhead. They use these wooden noisemakers (I'm sure there's a more wonderful name for them in Japanese) in their dances, so some people were wandering around encouraging the kids and onlookers to join in. A girl approached us and handed them to Yana, who was too shy to do anything.

After the opening dance, we noticed many people gathering around a parking lot, so we went there too. Shortly after the dances began, starting with a group of 6 year olds! The costumes, music, and choreography were really amazing for all the dancers. We watched for a while, but eventually Yana wanted to go home. On the way home I got her a rare cheese cream taiyaki and Justin got two grilled meat sticks. I also bought two of the wooden noisemakers as souvenirs.

Unfortunately we realized once we got home that the really cool stuff happened after dark! I guess having all the kids/unofficial teams during the day makes sense. In the evening there were lots of amazing dancers and they even started ending each dance with a blast of fireworks! Although we couldn't see the dancers too well, the view from our apartment was alright and we could hear the music quite loudly as well.

We decided that we'll just have to stay another year so we can go at night next year!

The End of My First Week Teaching

The front entrance of the newly built JHS.

Today was a bit exhausting as I taught three classes. They were all self introduction classes, so while I’m getting pretty confident in my lesson, it’s also getting a bit old.

The kids have had a range of reactions. The elementary students yesterday were most impressed and excited. But the third years today were overall unresponsive. I’m sure they have the ability, but hormones, I guess!

I was supposed to have a class first thing this morning, but my schedule was changed a bit, so I was able to relax and prepare until 3rd period. First I taught 3-1, so 9th graders. Right after that I taught 1-2, so 7th graders.

Next was lunch break, which was actually pretty edible today. It was fried rice, some kind of soup, some kind of seafood dumplings (shrimp I think), and vegetables with chicken cubes. And milk, of course. I was told it was a Chinese menu.

Today's kyuushoku (school lunch), minus the egg soup thing.

After lunch I had my last class, 2-2. They were possibly the best class I’ve had at JHS so far. One of the students is half British, so maybe they’re more interested because of that, I don’t know.

We’ve been having the students do self introductions as well, so their name and what they like. I got some great answers today:

One kid who introduced himself as me (‘Hello, I’m Anje’)...
One kid who said he lives in Canada...
One boy who said he liked aesthetic salons...

And one kid who said he loved me and later during Q&A time asked if I liked him too.

Something interesting that I’ve learned is that students are required to close their eyes for around 30 seconds before the start of each class. Also, they have to clean the teacher’s room. I knew about the cleaning of their own classrooms and such, but I didn’t realize that they did the teacher’s room as well. It makes me feel really awkward as I sit there and they are literally on the ground rubbing it with a cloth.

Another task I had today was to record myself doing two speeches. There are two students doing a speech competition in September, so I was making a recording for them to practice from. It was really hard! It took me three tries to have it slow enough and even then it was just barely inside the minimum allowed time. I didn't realize how difficult it is to talk that slowly. 

After work, I was walking home, and all of a sudden I heard "ANJE-SENSEI, SAYONARA!!!" from behind me. I guess one of the kids from elementary school had spotted me from inside a building!

Overall, I enjoyed my first week as a teacher. It seems like things will go well :)

My First Day Teaching at ES

My desk at ES. On the left are gifts from 1st graders.

When I arrived at school this morning, Kocho-sensei greeted me with a look of confusion and then started talking about which days I was supposed to be there, which in turn confused me and I had a minor moment of panic where I thought I had messed up. Turns out Kocho-sensei thought I came on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, instead of Tuesdays and Thursdays.

I had some free time in the teacher's room until my class at third period. I spent the time printing out and binding copies of the lesson plans in English - very useful!

My class was at 10:40 with 6-1. I started with my self introduction powerpoint presentation. The kids were really responsive and loved the short video I showed. Interestingly when I show the video the kids always point out the northern lights ("aura").

After that all the kids did self introductions for me. They were really good - I was so pleased!

Next I got my first taste of actually teaching. The JTE and I taught the kids some vocabulary for directions and buildings. Next we played a game called ohajiki. Basically, its like bingo, but the students picked 5 buildings from a diagram of 13. I called out the vocabulary words one by one and the first to get all 5 picks called wins! They loved it!

Classes are shorter at ES, so that was all we had time for. I hung out in the teacher's room for a bit until it was lunch time. Then I went back to 6-1 and ate lunch in their classroom. It was curry rice! And an omelette with tomato sauce inside, and a vegetable salad with creepy little fish in it. And milk.

The kids invited me to play with them, as after lunch they have 1 hour of free time. I went out and they tried to explain the rules of their game, but then the kids sort of wandered off and I was attacked by a bunch of cute little first graders. They came up and grabbed my hand, saying, "isshou ni asobu?" (shall we play together?) in the cutest way, so I said sure! I played a bunch of games with them; I had no clue what was going on, but man, those kids tired me out! We were running all around outside the school for the entire hour, including up and down the stairs of their mountain-side garden several times. Finally the bell rang and I was free! I collapsed into my chair in the teacher's room, sweating profusely.

A little later, K-sensei took me on a little tour of the school. She showed me the English books in the library. The kids have mandatory 10 minutes of reading every morning before school, so each day I go and read to a different class.

Around 3pm I saw a bunch of 1st graders leaving, so I wandered out to the hallway to wave them off. A bunch of them came up to me to say goodbye. They really liked the braids in my hair - one girl asked if I did it myself, hehe. The first graders are really the cutest, I wish I got to teach them too!

My First Class

As I've mentioned, I go to the JHS on Mon / Wed / Fri. However, we discovered yesterday that the ES opening ceremony was on a Wednesday, so it was decided that I should go there until 10am and then return to the JHS .

I arrived a bit early at the ES, as the ceremony started at 9:00 am. I used this chance to give kocho-sensei a gift for the school, which was several books in English. There is a famous Canadian author from my city ( Robert Munsch), and I included two of his books.

I sat in my desk until the ceremony began, watching the kids walk past the teacher's room to the gym. Some of them stared, some waved, and one stopped dead in her tracks with a look of shock and awe. I also met a lady from the town office, who was there to take notes and photos for a column in the town newsletter!

After all the students had entered the gym, I came in and stood at the back. Kocho-sensei did an opening type of speech first, which also included a lecture about greetings. He even had a graph for all the kids! I have no idea how one makes a graph about greetings, but I guess this is serious business. After his speech, there was another speech introducing me. At one point he told them all to look where I was standing or something, because all of a sudden the faces of 200 kids were glued to where I was and the little first graders at the back were all leaping in the air trying to get a look at me. Then Kyoto-sensei showed me to the stage, and then it was time for my self introduction! I basically said the same thing as at the JHS. I exited the stage and stood with the other teachers.

Next up was an awards ceremony for swimming. I was standing beside the first graders, and one little boy caught my eye as he fidgeted with his shirt and nametag and kept whining about how hot it was. I feel ya, kid. There was also a huge dragonfly circulating the gym, which caused a lot of the kids to lose attention. After that was a review of the importance of greetings and several other things. The teacher who lead this did so by holding up the written hiragana which was the first letter of the word (ex. A for aisatsu, greetings). At one point he held up mi, and one little boy excitedly shouted, 'MISO!'

At the end of the ceremony, I went back to the staff room and had a very awkward interview with the lady from the newsletter. I felt bad for her, she had no idea how to translate what she wanted to ask me. We were a little late, so Kyoto-sensei called the JHS to let them know and the newsletter lady walked me over there.

I WAS Supposed to Have a Lesson first period with Handicapped students, but I missed That Being at ES. So My first Lesson WAS at half past one pm with 2 nd Graders (Grade 8). the When I got to School I did some planning with Lesson the JTE for that class, which helped me feel a little more secure.

At 11:20 am, N-san came by the staff room. She held out a folder to me with some sticky notes on it, which started 'Anje, Thank you for your BIG help!' I was confused, like, what did I to help whom? Anyway, I read a little further and I guess someone wanted me to help translate and proofread some information on Chizu! I'm actually pretty excited, to think that I can help with something like that. She also had me fill out some information and stamp my personal seal on some documents for health insurance. For some reason Justin had been named as the family provider instead of me ?! Anyway, the paperwork was to show that Justin and Yana are my dependents.

Around 12:45 I went to the kitchen to eat lunch with Kyoto-sensei. Today was rice, milk, chikuwa and bamboo salad thing, fried fish with tonkatsu sauce, and tofu and wakame soup. The fish was actually alright! I was' Thrilled with the t Shikuwa or Soup Though, so I WAS glad WHEN Kyoto-Sensei HAD to leave Quickly. But then the Office Ladies Came in to Eat with me! They're all really Understanding, Though. I feel bad! Oh, I also had to pay for my school lunch today! It is Y315 a day! I kinda dislike the lunches, but its so freaking cheap. Its almost worth it anyway, because the rice is always good and I can take the milk home for Yana or for cooking.

After lunch, at 1:30 pm was my first class! I was a bit nervous, but actually not that much because it was mostly just a self-introduction class rather than actually teaching. J-sensei came to pick me up from the teacher's room and we ran to class together (ran because we were late!). Our lesson plan was to do greetings, have me to a brief verbal self-introduction, give the students a quiz about me and have them guess the answers. I was amused to see one student use a pencil to answer the multiple choice questions - she has carved away the end and written A, B, C, D on each side and would roll the pencil to get a random answer.

Then I did a powerpoint presentation about myself and also included the answers to the quiz. In one slide I had a collage of me with Canadian things ... one boy thought the beaver was a capybara! After the presentation, J-sensei went over the answers again. Lastly, we had each student do a short self introduction. They had to say their name, what they liked, and what they play. One student said, 'I like keshigomi (eraser).' I could not stop laughing ! The class (2-1) is really energetic and silly, but they're a bit shy when it comes to English. They all speak very loudly in Japanese and so quietly in English that I had to stand at each person's desk to hear them speak. They seemed happy enough with the class though, so I feel okay about that!

My First Day At Chizu ES

Chizu Elementary School entrance.

I only visit my elementary school on Tuesdays and Thursdays and for some reason I couldn't visit last week, so today was my first day! Because of that, I wasn't sure if today was the opening ceremony (first day of classes) or not. Just in case, I tried to go prepared with my suit, a powerpoint self introduction, props, and omiyage.

For some reason, N-san told me we would walk to school together today, I'm not sure why, but it was nice to have the company. She also informed me that the opening ceremony is tomorrow, so I guess I brought all that stuff for no reason. Ah well.

N-san brought me into the teacher's room and dropped me off. I was shown to my desk and I had just started going through all the stuff in there when K-sensei approached me. She isn't one of my JTEs (she's a first grade home room teacher), but she speaks English probably the best. She helped explain the school schedule and my class schedule. She also introduced me to the 4 JTEs I will work with, who sit behind me: R-sensei, N-sensei, H-sensei, and K-sensei (a different K of course).

At 9:00am we had a teacher's meeting. I didn't really understand most of it, but I could tell that the teachers were talking about situations in some student's lives. I thought that was really interesting. When announcements were done all the teachers introduced themselves to me and then I did a short introduction myself.

After the meeting K-sensei took me and all the JTEs upstairs to the classroom to discuss lesson plans for Thursday and next Tuesday. I only teach 5th and 6th grade, two classes each, so although I teach 4 classes total, there are only two plans.

Once the English meeting was over, it was time for desk warming, a.k.a. shuffling papers and randomly making notes to look busy. Actually it wasn't toooooo bad, since I still had a ton of stuff in my desk that I wanted to look over.

Lunch time came around, and I hadn't brought my lunch because I wasn't sure if it would be provided today or not. It was okay, though, because K-sensei took me and the other K-sensei and three other teachers to lunch at a restaurant down the road called Foret de Claige. I ended up ordering some kind of pizza with possibly deer sausage? Also some kind of soup which just tasted like warm cream, a dish of spaghetti, sausage, and mushrooms, and a pretty delicious salad/coleslaw thing. It was really fun and the teachers were all so nice and talkative. They kept asking all about me and Yana and Justin. They also recommended a preschool for Yana.

Accidentally, we were 5 minutes late getting back to school, because at 1:00pm there was some kind of computer training. I have no idea what it was about, and I don't have a laptop on my desk, so I had to sort of entertain myself quietly for 2 hours. I was so bored that I started translating the all-Japanese lesson plans for the English textbook. My supervisor from the BOE, O-san, was actually sitting beside me (he was visiting for the computer training) and noticed me and went and exclaimed to K-sensei and the JTEs about this crazy and sad thing I was doing. So then what started as me mostly wasting time ended up as a big kerfluffle as O-san translated the page for me instead of doing his computer training!

Computer training finally ended and K-sensei told me I could go home. I slowly got my things together and ended up in the hallway looking and photos on a bulletin board. She found me out there and told me again to go home. I left for home and it was actually sunny for once, so I really enjoyed the scenery on the way.

A view of the school grounds, taken from the entrance. Further down the road to the left is the JHS.

My First (Real) Day at Chizu JHS

Today was my first day of real school! Its also actually just my third day at school. I have yet to visit the elementary school either, so it feels strange, like I only have one school. I kinda wish I only had one school. I don’t know how people with like 9+ schools do it.

Anyway, I walked to school, in the rain again, and I guess I must have been a bit early because I didn’t pass any students. I got there at about 8:05 or 8:10am.

The bell rang at 8:15am, and in the teacher’s room we had morning announcements. I didn’t understand most of it, but I knew that today was testing day. I also knew that I had to give a speech in front of the whole school (all 157 students and about 21 teachers). After morning announcements the teacher’s room emptied quickly. I had no idea where people went, but a lot of them are homeroom teachers, so my guess is they went to homeroom. I sat anxiously at my desk until finally at 8:40 Kyoto-sensei (vice principal) showed me into the hall where the opening ceremony was. All the students and other teachers were already in place. Kyoto-sensei showed me where to stand, up at the front between her and Kocho-sensei (principal). I was told to wear a suit for the ceremony, but truthfully only me, the principal, and the vice principal were wearing jackets! Everyone else was in black and white (or neutral), but not necessarily collared button up shirts.

First, Kocho-sensei introduced me and sort of discussed how I was taking my predecessor’s place. Then it was my turn. I gave a pretty short speech, in Japanese:

Good morning! Nice to meet you.
My name is Anje Merkies. I am 24 years old. I come from Ontario, Canada.
Six years ago I was an exchange student in Osaka.
My hobbies are baking and photography.
From now on, let’s have fun together!
Please take care of me.

After that there was a lot of bowing and another speech from Kocho-sensei, which included a lecture on saying greetings loudly. And then more bowing.

Once the ceremony was over, the students went back to their classes for tests, and I was left mostly alone in the teacher’s room for the morning. At 12:30 it was lunch time. As the teacher across from me, N, put it, kyuushoku (school lunch) is scary! I was pretty confused about what to do; all the teachers had disappeared again and I didn’t even know where to get lunch, let alone eat it. So I waited it out, took a bathroom break, and when I came back Kyoto-sensei was sitting eating and told me I could eat with her and to get a lunch tray from the kitchen. We were also joined by one of the office ladies, which was nice because Kyoto-sensei ate her lunch in record speed and left the two of us alone before the OL had even sat down properly. Lunch today was bread, mikan (tangerine), milk, some sort of vinegary seaweed/cabbage salad, pumpkin with spaghetti sauce and cheese, and some sort of spaghetti seaweed thing. I managed to drink most of the milk, eat the mikan, half the bread, half the salad, and all of the pumpkin. I didn’t even try the spaghetti, mostly because I ran out of time, but to be honest I was terrified of the thing the whole time and was rather relieved. I wrapped my bread up for later though, because it was yummy.

After lunch, the OL showed me how to clean my tray and put away the dirty dishes. After lunch was a short break period, so all the teachers came back to the room. At this time a saleslady also came around, selling yakult and other yogurt drinks.

Lunch ended at 1:30, after which were more tests for the poor students. I ran out of things to do and started typing this blog. I spent the rest of the afternoon researching games and activities. At 3:40pm I had just started stuffing my face with a cookie when J-sensei came and asked if I was coming to the assembly! I didn't even know there was another one. This one seemed to be about sports awards, the upcoming sports day, and some kind of lecture about the school entrance area. Afterwards, I returned to my desk, but all the other teachers were elsewhere, much to the surprise of about 6 students who came in looking for someone and were met with only myself.

A little later, J-sensei brought a student to me, I guess she is a first year doing the speech contest in September. I had to pick a speech for her, and I had no idea what I was doing. I was instructed to pick something easy, so I chose some story about a red demon who wanted to be friends with children. 

I was hoping the rain would let up, but it didn't stop, so I decided to go home a little while after. As I left, three girls waved and shouted goodbye from an upstairs classroom.