Also, It Was Friday

I can usually extrapolate one or two somewhat amusing work stories every day, typically involving a conversation with my students or a bit of Japanese culture I learned about. Last Friday, however, provided such an abundance of good experiences and happy news that I felt it necessitated an entire entry all its own.  It was, in short, one of the best days ever and it all started about half an hour earlier than usual.

I had seen a group of students running around the school last week with a few of the teachers.  I asked our school nurse what they were running for and if they would be doing it again next Friday.  She told me it was practice for an upcoming marathon and that the students started their run around 7:55.  My work day usually doesn’t start until 8:15, but I said I’d come in early next time to join them.  It was difficult motivating myself to wake up so early, but I managed it and got to school around 7:45.  Running with kids is tough, as I’m sure any parent with an active child would testify.  They seem to have a boundless amount of energy that I simply can’t match.  It’s that same energy that motivates me to join them though, as they always seem excited even when they are working so hard.  It seemed like my joining in had come at a fortuitous time, too, as none of the teachers who had been running the previous week were participating.  I would soon find out why.

I was aware that I wouldn’t be having any classes that day, but I still didn’t know why.  Part way through second period, I was asked by our secretary if I would be going to the gym.  She still didn’t explain what was going on, but said that it would be fun.  Only when I got to the event did I slowly begin to realize what was going on.  As it happened, it was Grandparent’s Day at my school.  The gym had been prepared with a number of long tables and the students sat waiting for their families to arrive.  I was offered a seat near the heater by our vice principal, sat, and waited for the event to start.

The day began with a number of musical performances.  The kids danced to traditional music, their parents following with a strange dance I had never seen before.  Then the first graders played melodicas while some adults joined in with koto.  I believe their first song was “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”.  Everyone also danced to the intro theme for Sazaesan, a pretty popular anime for kids.

Next, the kids all separated into groups to participate in various activities spread throughout the gym as well as outside.  I thought it best to follow one group through all the events to get some pictures of everything and get the chance to try all the events myself.  I chose to start with the first group at the origami station, as it was something I was already familiar with and thought I could do well.  The guy teaching the kids was hilarious and knew a bit of English too.  He was really excited about teaching us, jumping up to help anyone who needed it.  He showed us how to make a fish and a turtle, both of which turned out pretty well.  All my teachers were commenting on my origami skills, which gave me a good confidence boost right off the bat.  I tried to explain that I had been interested in origami for a long time and thought it was really fun.

The next activity for my group was juggling, which I have never really gotten good at.  We only got about ten or fifteen minutes per activity, so I certainly wasn’t going to make any great strides in improvement, but I felt like I was doing a bit better by the end of our time.  The teachers at that event didn’t speak any English, but I understood a bit of what they said and they were very good at showing me what I had to do.  They also asked me if I felt Amakusa-ben was difficult to understand.  I said that it was.  At one point, the sixth grade teacher took three of the beanbags we used for juggling and showed off his awesome skills to the delight of the kids.  It was pretty cool to watch.

The third and fourth stations didn’t have much in the way of help from instructors, but were pretty straightforward games.  The first was a ring-toss game.  I took a few pictures of the kids before one of my first graders ran up and gave me a few rings to play with.  Again, this is not something I feel like I’m very good at, but I managed about four successful tosses at the closer goals.  This was one of the most entertaining events to watch, as my kids tried all manner of tricks to try and get their rings to land on the pegs.  They tried throwing three at a time, looping two together, jumping, pitching, and so much more.  Every time I would throw my rings, one of the kids would run out and retrieve theirs and mine, handing them back to me.  It was really sweet.

The fourth station was kendama, a traditional Japanese toy that’s similar to the ball-in-a-cup from back home.  The goal of the game is to get the ball into both sides of the toy and return it to the top point.  I was able to do both sides of mine, but cannot figure out how anyone can get the thing back onto that spike.  For this event, my first grade teacher joined in and showed the youngest kids how to play.  She was pretty good and while she talked about getting the ball onto the point, she wasn’t able to do it herself.

Last were the outdoor activities.  There were wooden propellers, stilts, and a paddleball game.  I tried my hand at all three, finding the best success with the propellers.  I took some video of my kids trying their hand at paddle ball, which I felt was probably the most difficult of the three.  My kids were all really good at the stilts, which are a common sight on school playgrounds.  I had tried to learn how to use them last year, but was out of practice and had to struggle just to stay upright, let alone walk.  There was a dog outside too.  He was really friendly and we all took turns petting him with the exception of Moka, who said it was too big and scary.

Following the activities, everyone reconvened in the gym.  The grandparents got massages from the kids, some of which were amusing to watch, such as Kanako pretty much hanging on to one person’s neck while kneeing him in the back.  All the guests were served lunch and ate with the kids.  I sat with a few of the parents in the back, who talked to me a bit in Japanese, wanting to know some pretty standard information like where I came from and how old I was.  While I’m usually nervous around parents, they were really good about using simple Japanese and trying other ways of saying the same thing when I didn’t understand.  I helped clean up after lunch and then it was off to the junior high.

There was another bit of good news waiting for me on Facebook.  My alma mater A&M had beaten their rivals TU at their annual Thanksgiving showdown.  Now I don’t usually get excited about sports, but Aggie football is my one exception.  I was ecstatic to discover that this win not only gave us a 9-3 record for the year, but placed us in the running to tie for first place in our conference (which we did by the way).

The final bit of awesomeness in my day wouldn’t come until much later, when I went to get Amanda at the port in Kuratake.  I noticed walking up that the new waiting area, which had been under construction for a few months, was finally open.  This, however, was not the good news.  As I peered inside to see if there were any free seats opened, I spotted Miyako, who shouted and waved at me.  It would seem she and her family had taken advantage of the school’s replacement holiday for bunkasai and had gone shopping in Hondo.  As I came in to greet her, I think I heard her mother say something about us being good friends.  It was the first time I had been called that and it made me really happy.  I talked to Miyako for a little while, trying to speak with her older sister as well.
 
One of my regrets from the Goshoura Kita bunkasai was not having any battery left in my camera once I stated playing with the kids, so I excused myself to quickly retrieve my phone from the car and asked Miyako if it would be alright to take a picture.  She smiled and posed and now I’ve got something more than my shoddy memory to remember her by.  She also took quick interest in the purikura album on my phone, so I showed her a few pictures of me, Amanda, and our friends.  She really seemed to enjoy it and, although brief, it was another really heartwarming experience.

Looking back, an awful lot of completely unrelated things had to line up on this day to make it as great as it was.  My school would have to have picked Friday for their Grandparents Day as it’s the only day I go there.  Meanwhile, 7000 miles away, it would have to be Thanksgiving, the day the A&M/TU game is always played.  The results of that game reached me Friday afternoon only because I live so far away.  It also had to be Goshoura Kita’s replacement holiday for bunkasai or I wouldn’t have seen Miyako, whose family was the only one at the port by the way.  It’s certainly a day I won’t soon forget.

I Went to Yokoura and All I Got Were Great Memories and New Friends

Sunday I attended the Goshoura Kita Junior High bunkasai (文化祭, culture day) with Amanda.  For as far out in the inaka (田舎, countryside) as I live, Amanda’s islands are even worse.

And by worse, I mean gorgeous.

That’s because they are incredibly isolated (the only means to get to either is to take a ferry) and very, very small.

This car ferry has pictures of dinosaurs on the side.

Goshoura Kita only has about 40 students total, which is only a little bigger than any one of my six junior high classes.  To stretch out their time a little, both the junior high and elementary school participated in the event.  Even so, the whole thing only lasted until noon.

I won’t go into too much detail about the culture festival, as I still have to write up a report on mine and by and large all the bunkasais contain the same sorts of things.  There were a number of plays, the most entertaining of which revolved around friendship and an insane dodge ball game.  The English recitation contestants presented again and three students read speeches they had written.  There was singing and music, from both the elementary and junior high kids.  There was also some artwork, newspapers, and calligraphy displayed along the wall.

The bunkasai was fun, but what I really get excited about is one-on-one interaction with students.  After lunch, Amanda and I roamed the halls looking at pictures of her students, both past and present.  I tried my best to learn a few kid’s names, even though this would probably be the only time I would ever see them, and managed to remember four or five.  We saw that the kids were playing outside and Amanda and I headed out to join them.  A few of the elementary kids were playing basketball, so I grabbed a ball and took a few shots.  I managed to make my first one to the delight of the children and then proceeded to miss all my subsequent attempts.  One of the girls was really impressive and funny, making shots backwards and from a considerable distance.  We only played for about ten minutes before all the elementary kids scurried off to start cleaning the gym.

We helped the junior high kids clean the gym by taking down the art and calligraphy displays.  I once again got the opportunity to impress Amanda’s kids by removing the nails the framed pictures had hung from.  The artwork had been mounted on fairly large wooden displays that we then had to get out of the gym’s rather awkward doors.  I helped one student, Hatsuki, get hers out the door before a teacher came along and told me to switch out.  To Hatsuki’s credit, she was trying her best to use English where she could and did a fairly good job giving directions, though she didn’t know how to tell be to hold the display diagonally.

The best part of the day, however, was after school.  The students only had a half-day, while many teachers had to stay after for the rest of their workday.  Sadly, Amanda was no exception to this rule and thus I would be stuck on Yokoura for another three hours with nothing to do.

My first impulse was to take pictures.

Thankfully, Amanda’s kids were a bit more outgoing outside of school than they had been during the bunkasai, and it wasn’t long before I had a small crowd walking down the road with me, asking me questions and practicing their English.

Pictured: the one road on Yokoura.

Among them were Hatsuki, who it turns out is one of Amanda’s best ninth graders, and two elementary school girls Miyako and Momoko.  They asked me when my birthday was, told me that the weather was sunny (though Momoko insisted it was partly cloudy), and gave me a small rock while saying “here you are”.

Which I totally kept!

They wanted to know about my favorite Japanese food, my age, and my full name.  Hatsuki did a good job helping the younger kids and correcting a few of their mistakes, such as telling them that I was Mr. Eric, not Ms. Eric.  They also told me about themselves, though not always in English.

The group gradually whittled down until I got to the port and sat alone for about half an hour.  I then decided to head back toward the school to see if there were any kids out playing, as Amanda had pointed out a few places they tended to congregate during their free time.  As I passed by the community center, one of the kids called out to me.  It was Miyako.  She asked where I was going, and I tried to explain that I didn’t have anything to do until five.  She was with a few of the other kids, playing soccer in a small field.  I decided to sit and watch for a little while, which turned into an hour and a half of playing with them.  They practiced a bit more English, too, most notably introducing themselves before we started a soccer game so I would know who was on my team.  I also showed them my DS.  Many of the kids had seen me using it that morning before school and wanted to know what game I had.  They were incredibly excited to see it was the English version of Pokemon and tried their hand at playing it for a while.  One of the boys had brought his DSi, and he and Miyako had a lot of fun taking pictures of me and adding a bunch of silly effects.

Amanda showed up around five, having left slightly early from work, and we played with the kids for another ten minutes or so.  They took one last picture of the two of us and put a frame of hearts around it.  It was really sweet and Amanda told me she wished she could get a copy of it.  We caught the ferry back to Kuritake and I told Amanda everything that had happened.  She was surprised Miyako had been so outgoing in talking with me because she is apparently more reserved in class.  I really hope this means she found talking with me easy and fun, as I like to think of myself as an approachable person.  I also hope the kids took something out of the experience, no matter how small.  I certainly did.

Tamana Tetris or That Other Halloween Entry

On the night of October 30th, there was a Halloween party in “nearby” Tamana (玉名), a mere two and a half hour drive away.  My friend Emily was once again the source of most of the awesome that is contained in this entry, as it was her idea to do a group tetris costume.

Not going to lie, making these things was a pain.  We couldn’t find square boxes, so had to fold out a single flap on each box to get it closer.  This led to a lot of headaches with cutting, tapping, and manipulating the boxes into the shapes they needed to be.  After that came the painting, which was honestly not so terrible except that we totally ruined Emily’s tatami in the process.  Speaking from experience, that stuff is really hard to get out.

We were working right up to the deadline, applying the black tape along all the edges to make the shapes really pop.  But was it all worth it in the end?

This first place trophy says "yes" and the bowl of Halloween candy concurs.

In my honest opinion, this is probably one of the best costume concepts ever, for at least 5 reasons:

1. Instant Recognition

Everyone at the party, be they American, Japanese, British, or Greek God slayer, knew what tetris is.  It’s a classic game pretty much everywhere and has had enough revamps over the years to keep it from becoming totally stale.

2. Great Presence

These things were huge, which while an annoyance to transport…

Did not think that through...

meant that once we actually got to the party, we stood out pretty well.

3. Part of a Set

I like the idea of a group costume, especially if that group represents something more than just four random people or friends.  It was great to be representing Amakusa together, though our mere four participants certainly don’t represent ALL the Amakusa ALTs (although, how cool would that have been?).

4. Sharable

Sharing is caring, and as much love as the costumes got on their own, people had an even better time being a part of the tetris experience.  We had a lot of people come up to us and ask if they could wear it for a while, which we gladly agreed to.  Not every costume is as versatile.  Even better, thanks to group mentality, the costumes tended to congregate in one place, so we never lost track of them.

5. Just Nerdy Enough

With its wide appeal, the tetris costume says “Yeah, I play video games” without saying “I own two Wiis to satiate my addiction”.  It’s nerdy, but not overly so, saving you from the embarrassment of having to explain that you’re the Doppler effect.

It was a great Halloween following up a great week.  Shame it was in the middle of some of the busiest times I’ve had here or I could have really let all that sink in.  Again, I hope your Halloween was great and will try and still get a “Photo Friday” entry up for today.

Class Report: Halloween

Been a while since I posted one of these and it’s high time to see what my kids have been busy with as of late.  For Halloween, I showed my students some pictures of costumes, explained how trick or treating worked, and dressed up as the Pokemon Furret (known here as Ootachi). 

It was a pretty awesome week to say the least.

I also showed them some less traditional jack-o-lanterns including a cat, Mario, and a dragon, and invited them to create their own using a worksheet I made of a blank pumpkin.

Like all my most brilliant ideas, this one was taken wholesale from another ALT, though I did prepare my own Powerpoint.  Once again, this is a lesson that relied more heavily on cultural exchange than it did on English, though my most genki (energetic) class did ask a lot of questions after the presentation that I was happy to answer.  They wanted to know how to write the word “Halloween”, if adults wore costumes, and what you carved a pumpkin with.  I was pleasantly surprised to see most of them write Halloween on their pictures.

I did the same lesson at three different schools, one of which I presented to the entire school, not just 5th and 6th grade.  The jack-o-lanterns all turned out great.  Many of the students stuck with drawing some sort of face, but made it unique in how it was expressed.  Many also took their inspiration from things around them, like their pencil cases.  It was a lot of fun and a welcome break from structured lessons, which I feel can become stale after a while.  The best part is that, with a little bit of editing, I can share some of their creations with you.

Jack-o-lantern in love.

No idea, but it looks menacing.

Dawwwww....

Once again, I'm clueless as to what this is supposed to be, but I absolutely love how she spelled out "Halloween". The magician hat "A" is particularly awesome.

Some really awesome artwork.  This student absolutely loves dogs.

Gah! At least I can recognize what this one is: a nightmare inducing monster.

Extreme eyebrows!

Spiderman is probably the most popular American superhero over here.

This looks like a terrifying Japanese flag to me.

Classic and adorable despite the sharp teeth.

Compared to some of the others, this comes off as just mischievous as opposed to pure evil.

It's a face made out of flowers. Did not see that one coming.

This is Gachapin, the dinosaur, and his red yeti friend Mukku.

This is in the style of Kyupi dolls. It even says "Kyupi Pumpkin" along the side.

 

This one was actually drawn by the girl who did the last one for her friend and was based off of...

Mariko Shinoda of AKB48, the second girl's favorite member.

Okay, I saved my favorite for last. I can't even say why I like this one so much, but it caught my attention and is just really cool looking to me.

So, that was my Halloween lesson. I've got a few more pictures I might upload if people are interested, but I think 16 is enough for now.  Hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween stateside.  Still have a bit of Halloween related news, but it will have to wait for another entry.

Teacher's Notes: English Inside and Out (of the Classroom)

One of my best students confided in me the other day that she feels she is very good at English during class, but that speaking with me was difficult.  I assured her she spoke very well and that one of the main reasons I was here was to help her get more comfortable with English conversation.  I told her that talking to me should be relaxing and that she could use Japanese, gestures, or pictures when she didn’t know the English.  This got me thinking about my role as an ALT and the ways in which I feel English should applied and quantified inside and outside the classroom.

The decision of when to use English and when to use Japanese is a topic often discussed at ALT meetings.  In fact, it was brought up at the Kumamoto Mid-year Conference just last week.  I have always been an advocate of using as much English during class as possible.  Sometimes it isn’t, like trying to explain why a particular sentence is wrong when checking the student’s work, but I’ve found that most of the time students can handle instructions and simple explanations in English.  I also feel that avoiding English is a disservice to the kids.  Again, technical explanations like grammar should be covered by the JTE in Japanese, but a ten-minute discussion about tangentially related material, such as famous historical figures referenced in the text, can and should be done in English.  The reason is simple: it is not as crucial for students to retain this information as it is to expose them to English.

Though I feel my students are competent enough to handle almost exclusively English instruction, everyday conversation presents a number of challenges that class simply cannot prepare them for.  Almost everything about classroom English is fixed: classes last a certain period of time, the school year follows a set schedule, there’s often only one right answer to any given question, and the use of Japanese is discouraged (even by me).  In contrast, real communication is fluid: conversations can last a few seconds or several hours, topics vary, there’s a multitude of ways to convey the same idea (think of how many ways you can say “Yes”), and, in my case at least, the use of Japanese is actually encouraged.

These stark differences arise from the perceived goal of each situation.  English class is designed around the idea of passing the high school entrance exam of your choice.  The notion that it gives you the tools to read and speak a foreign language can be looked upon as simply an added bonus.  Here, students strive for perfection because the better they are, the better school they can get into.  Day-to-day conversation, however, is all about conveying ideas.  Here, the aim is simply to understand one another in any way possible.  This is why discouraging Japanese outside of class is a negative thing in my mind, because it cuts out the valuable overlap you share with your students in exchange for an artificial challenge.

No Japanese means wedging students into that middle section while you refuse to do the same.

Taking a step back and looking at these two distinct spaces, it becomes clear why even the most gifted of students may have trouble with English conversation.  While exacting, classroom English is also very narrow.  It may be true that only one answer is going to get you a point on the test, but that answer will come from a limited set of information.  Again, the material here is fixed and definite.  Natural communication, while having a fairly simple goal on the outset, is far more daunting in practice because it can go anywhere and has the potential to run the range of an entire languages lexicon.  When I talk to my students, I do try and gauge what level of dialogue I think they can handle, but I don’t sit and ask myself what sentence structures or vocabulary words they know.  I’m not quizzing them, but trying to get to know them, so naturally some things are going to come up that they’ve never heard before.  At that point, they need to know that it’s okay to use Japanese, to gesture, to draw pictures, and to make mistakes because the only way that communication fails for sure is when one of us gives up.

When my student said that she didn’t feel she was good at talking with me, I suspect she was gauging her speaking ability using the same scale implemented in class.  Why wouldn’t she?  It’s the only thing she’s familiar with.  Every class has grades, tests, and a standard that’s expected to be lived up to.  Talking with me is completely different, and I’m sure that’s as terrifying as it is exciting.  I only hope this experience serves to encourage her and that she stays passionate about learning and speaking English.