Photo Friday: Aloe Juice

Got this at the train station in Misumi.  It's a refreshing aloe and white grape beverage.

I remember when I was very young, my grandparents had an aloe plant that they would cut open and use on minor cuts and scrapes, calling it "cowboy medicine".  It never occurred to me that it would make for a delicious drink, though.  To be honest, I remember this tasting pretty good apart from one thing...

It's chunky!  That label basically tells you that the drink contains a mess of tiny aloe cubes.  Wish I would have taken notice of that before I took a drink. They don't mix in very well either, meaning those last few sips are going to have a texture closer to a thick soup than a drink.

Elementary Sports Day

Last Sunday was sports day for all four of my elementary schools, and indeed for most elementary schools in Amakusa.  While I was not invited to join any of them in official capacity, I was asked by several to come as a guest.  I was also approached by a representative of my village to participate in one of the events at Urawa.  I chose to do the relay race, which, it turned out, was the last event of the day, thus eliminating the possibility of my visiting any other schools.  I think it worked out better I the long run, though, to see one sports day in its entirety than several in short bursts.

Sports day is exactly what it sounds like.  It’s a day when all the students come in, usually on a weekend, and compete against each other in front of their families and friends.  Sports day can be very serious and the weeks leading up to one are usually filled with a lot of practice.  Not only practice for practical things like how to march and move during the opening ceremony, but also practicing each event and even practicing the awards ceremony with both results.

I was able to see quite a bit of the practice and have to say I was most excited about what has quickly become my favorite event, the oendan competition.  More specifically, I was looking forward to red team’s oendan, as Ren’s younger sister Rena would be leading it.  I know I shouldn’t have any bias when it comes to my kids, but it’s hard not to root for the ones that actively try talking to me and get their friends to talk to me as well, regardless of how cheeky they tend to be.

I arrived at the school at 8:15, my usual start time for any work day.  After the opening ceremonies, during which there is a speech by the principal and a representative from the PTA, as well as warm up exercises and the raising of the national flag, my kids were off.  The first few events were straightforward races starting with the youngest students.  Between these races, children from a nearby nursery school performed dances and had short races of their own.  Many of the community and nursery school events are designed to give the students a break, as it is still pretty hot out and all the exercise can get quite exhausting.  Once all the races were done, it was on to the more interesting events, at least from my perspective.

The next event was a game in which the students from each team, white and red, tried to throw beanbags into a basket held about ten feet in the air.  It’s pretty crazy to watch and there doesn’t seem to be much strategy beyond chunking the beanbags toward the basket.  I saw a lot of midair collisions that probably derailed potential successes, but the sheer number of kids participating made the points totals quite high and the winner of each game usually only had one or two more than the loser.  They played best of three and I believe red ended up winning by a hair in the third match.

Next up was a community event, the centipede race.  In it, groups of four stood in a line and tied their legs to two ropes at their sides.  In order to move, all four needed to be in synch.  Any group that had a member who was a bit too slow or too fast ended up falling over and had to try and reset their rhythm.  A guy I know from the Ariake branch office was in one of the first groups and did pretty well.  It was at this point that I also noticed that Shimotsuura had its own oendan, complete with a giant prop fan, a drum, a flag, and several pom-poms.  It was quite amusing to watch them cheer for our team.  Shimotsuura took first place in this event.

The kids did tug-of-war next, which went to the third game and resulted in a win for white team I think.  I do recall that the last game was incredibly close and that the rope barely moved either direction from its starting point.  I sometimes worry about how evenly divided the teams are, as I have no idea how the teams are decided on, but this seemed to be a case of well-matched opponents.

After a few more races, the initial scores were posted.  Around midday, it stood at 231-231.  There were a few more community events, including a golf challenge for the older spectators, a family race, and a junior high race.  I suppose I’ve neglected to mention it up to this point, but all of my junior high kids who went to Urawa were at the event as well, regardless of if they had a sibling at the school or not.  The family race was quite amusing, as my elementary students raced against their mothers, fathers, sisters, and brothers.  Naturally, I think the parents were holding back, but I’m not sure about some of the siblings.  I regret not getting video of this event as I really enjoy making connections between my students and their families.  I did record the junior high race, though I’m still not sure how the various teams were decided for it.

There were some wacky races following the junior high that consisted of crawling under a net, running across a balance beam, riding tiny tricycles, and passing a ball shaped like a watermelon between three members of your team.  I really like how creative these things can be, but I sometimes feel like the various challenges are not equal and the winner is often decided by which team gets the easiest one toward the end of the race.

Everyone danced the Ariake dance before lunch.  I was fortunate enough to have practiced the dance twice, at both Urawa and Dainan, and feel I did quite well.  I suppose I was concentrating a bit too hard on getting it exactly right though, because one of the parents told me I needed to smile.  After all, the dance is supposed to be fun.  It is in no way a competition.  I was able to ease up a bit and really had a great time dancing.  I’m just sad we only did it once, getting two or three times in during the practice sessions.

As my house is only about a ten-minute walk from the school, I went home during the lunch break and made myself a pizza.  I arrived a little late and much to my dismay had missed the opening of the red team’s oendan, but only the first 40 seconds or so.  I recorded the rest and was quite impressed by their routine.  White team was next and while I feel they were a bit louder, I also thought their performance was a bit easier.  It would be a really tough call for me which team did better and I don’t believe it was announced during the closing ceremony like it usually is.

Next was the community tug-of-war.  I went out to record a few of the games and one of my junior high girls, Akari, offered to let me wave the flag for Shimotsuura.  It was really sweet of her to do that and I know she has a hard time talking to me.  Naturally, I accepted her offer and gave my all in waving that flag.  It was a lot of fun to help cheer my team to victory.  Shimotsuura took first place in this event as well.

There was an event where my kids did some light exercising and made a number of really impressive human towers, the largest of which was easily 12-15 feet tall.  I got some great pictures of the brave kids perched at the top, their faces frozen in concentration and fear.  Only one of the towers had any problems.  During the deconstruction of the tallest tower, Rena toppled off the back.  At the time, the tower was already pretty low, though, and one of the teachers was there to catch her.  She walked away without a scratch.

A few relay races, including mine, followed.  I feel I did okay during my race, and it was really encouraging to hear all the kids cheer for me, despite most of them not being from my area.  We ended up in fourth place (out of six) for this race, but were so far ahead at that point that I really didn’t think it would matter.

Lastly, there was the awards ceremony, where white team was declared the winner and a few students were singled out for extraordinary effort.  A flag and trophy were also given to representatives from the winning village, Shimotsuura (Yes!).  It is always difficult for me at the end of sports day because I want all the kids to be happy.  I don’t have a team and it’s quite hard to sit and watch as half the school gets a little choked up from losing.  To their credit, the elementary kids were quite good about it.  They were upset, but it passed quickly enough, like most things do for students that age.  I got one last picture of Rena and her friends (she had painted her face for the oendan and I really wanted a close-up of it) and left, not bothering to help with tear down.  I got home around 3:30, nearly a whole workday spent watching my kids play.  It was a very good day.

What's Your Name?

This year, I've been trying really hard to remember my student's names. I'd estimate at the time of this writing that I teach over 300 students at a normal enough interval that I feel learning their names is a serious priority, so I'm not including some of the 1st-4th graders at the elementary schools that I only teach occasionally in this number. Obviously the first great hurdle for me is the sheer number of students I have. This is exacerbated by the fact that many of my classes are quite erratic in terms of when I visit them. Sadly, in the grand scheme of things, English is seen as something easily dismissed. There are many weeks when I'm not given the opportunity to teach at one school or another and thus miss precious face time with the children.

Another difficulty is the names themselves. Obviously, Japanese and American names share little, if anything, in common (though I have remembered a few like Sarina by thinking of the name Selina). Japanese, being a syllabary language, has a far greater tendency to have names that are very close, or identical in spelling. For instance, I have three Sayakas and two Moes in the same grade. Identical names actually make things easy, it's the names that are close but not quite identical that really give me problems. I have Miku and Mika, Natsumi and Natsuki, Mai and Mei, and Ruri and Riru. And don't even get me started on the class that has Kana and Kanna. This doesn't really pose a problem to native speakers, because they're familiar with the subtle differences between sounds in the language and can differentiate identical sounding names based on the kanji that they're composed of, which is often completely different.

An astute reader may have noticed by now that all the names mentioned up to this point have been girls' names. While this may be indicative of my tendency to be more comfortable around girls, probably a result of being raised by my three older sisters and my mom, there seems to be some truth to the notion that boys' names are just plain harder, as Amanda would no doubt attest. Male names tend to be longer, usually comprised of three kanji as opposed to two for most girls names. They also seem to be more varied. Many girls names have the kanji 美 (mi) and 子 (ko) meaning beautiful and child respectively. Many times names are reflections of traits the parents hope the child has, and who doesn't want a beautiful child? Also the kanji 沙 (sa) is really popular in my area. I have no idea what it means because it's not part of the Joyo kanji list, the 1945 kanji taught in schools that I am trying to learn. Anyway, my point is boys tend to have a wider variety of kanji. I suppose ultimately the traits sought by parents are more varied in males, given that Japan still is predominately a male dominated culture and thus more is likely expected from them. And don't misunderstand, I do know a few of my boys names, but they tend to be the shorter ones like Daiki, Yuki, Kaito, and Akio. When last I tried to comprise a list of junior high students' names off the top of my head, however, I came up with 66 girls and 3 boys.

I am making considerable progress though. When I first wrote this entry in my journal, I could name about forty students. The list I made a few weeks ago consisted of 69 junior high students and about 100 students overall. Now, I imagine those numbers are hovering around 85 and 130. As I mentioned in a previous post, the downside to all of this is the knowledge that some, if not all, of the connections I'm making by learning about my students will be ending next year. I intend on giving my students my email as a graduating/parting gift from me and I hope they'll keep in touch, but I also realize many of them won't. Reflecting on this has also made me realize howlittle I've tried to keep in touch with those teachers who touched my life, and inspired me to try and rectify that.

Pop Culture Passion: Crane Games

I’m addicting to a lot of Japanese pop culture.  Anime, tokusatsu, j-pop, and now crane games.  It makes sense, after all crane games combine the skill and precision of a video game with the instant payoff of a toy or stuffed animal.  I’ve become pretty good at them actually, and now I want to impart a few things I have learned the hard way, so maybe next time you visit Japan you won’t blow all your money trying to win that oversized matsuri circle cat.

Tip #1: Location, Location, Location

Where you play crane games can be every bit as important as how you play them.  Look for smaller arcades that are staffed by just a few people.  The reasons for this are many.  Smaller stores are more likely to offer you help with the machines, literally opening them up and resetting the toys in a better position.

They are also more likely to switch out prizes for you, not only moving the prizes around inside one machine, but trading out a prize from one machine for a similarly sized/priced toy from another.  The reason for all this help is simple: these stores want your business.  The ones located under a Tsutaya or Taiyo already get enough traffic by virtue of being near big name stores.  Furthermore, I believe the small number of pachinko machines they all seem to have toward the back sustain these smaller stores.

Tip #2: Only One Prize is Winnable

Hint: It's the Blue One

With precious few exceptions, there will only be one prize in the stuffed animal machines that you have even the slightest chance of winning.  Look for one near to or hanging over the goal.  Unlike American machines, you won’t be able to actually lift any of the prizes.  Instead, you should try to push them toward the goal.  Notice in the picture above how the right arm of the crane hangs down lower than the left.  It won't be able to pinch or lift anything.  Try to get the closer arm just to the other side of the prize rather than squaring up the claw in the hopes of grabbing it.

Tip #3: Know the Rules

There are a wide variety of crane games in Japan.  I’ve played ones where you have to get a pair of glasses to fall off a bar, get bouncing balls to fall into various containers, release marbles into a plinko-like board, and drop dice into a ceramic bowl.

The point here is that the goal of any given game may not be readily apparent, and the rules, while often written on the machine, are obviously in Japanese.  The one above explains that you have to get exactly two dice into the bowl and will get a prize based off the total number.  Any more than two and you should call over one of the workers to reset it.  Not knowing the rules can sometimes lead to wasted games, so it pays to watch a few people play before you try so you can see what they do.

Tip #4: Play For What You Can Win, Not What You Like

It may be tempting to throw a lot of money at the machines where you can win a PSP, DS, or MP3 player, but by and large those prizes are more expensive because the machines are much, much harder to win.  If you see something you like, you should give the machine a shot, but if you can tell the game is rigged or simply too difficult, stop and go somewhere else.  I’m not saying to play games with prizes you don’t want, just that it’s better to think in terms of if you can win, not whether or not you like the prize.

Presents!

Tip #5: Know When To Quit

As I’ve said, these games can get incredibly addictive.  Part of knowing how to play is knowing when to quit.  Set a cap for yourself or find some other way to limit the amount of money you spend.  I usually spend only 1000 yen per visit to any given shop, or about ten US dollars.  Still, I rarely walk out without having won something.  Hopefully, if you’re ever in Japan and can actually use this advice, you will find luck playing these games too.  And now, a cavalcade of prizes:

Cute Chopper

Nightmare Chopper

Probably My Favorite Prize Thus Far

FMA Tumbler

The Care-Bear Stitch Army

Quality Control? What's that?

Class Report: Japanese Culture

Third graders from Ms. Tsuruta’s class wrote up short reports in English about Japanese culture.

 
That’s about half of all my third graders, here are a few of my favorites:

Tsukasa wrote about Osaka Castle.  Naturally, even armed with an Japanese to English dictionary, there are a few grammar mistakes.  I didn’t correct these, and honestly I’m pleasantly surprised with how well they came out considering how far outside most of my kid’s comfort zones this type of writing falls.  Case in point, notice how Tsukasa, for the most part, succeeds in using the right tense when talking about the castle now and talking about Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s life.

 
Bushi and anime: two aspects of Japanese culture I imagine many living back in the states are familiar with.  I like the “very cool!” written up by the picture of Kenshin.  Plus, this student has taught me how to say professional killer, not that it’s a very useful phrase, but interesting nonetheless.

This is probably only amusing to me because this particular student talks about Haruhi Suzumiya all the time.  He knows I’ve seen and enjoyed the anime and even used his knowledge to “cheat” during a game in which the students asked me if I had ever done something.  All that aside, however, this is a pretty good synopsis of the series and even mentions the different media it’s been adapted to.  Good use of punctuation too.  Most students place names of books, movies, etc. into quotes like this「」and capitalize the entire thing.

 
Kana not only wrote a lot, but I can tell she was trying to use some of the grammar they had recently learned, such as saying her mother’s tempura is “more delicious” than hers.  I also really like the line “Like a fried potato for Americans.”  It may be a fragment, but the fact that she used a simile is really impressive.  What’s more, it seems to be aimed at her audience (i.e. people who can read English) by using an example from America.

I hope you enjoyed some of the writings of my kids.  These are some of my strongest seniors and these papers in particular are some of the most creative and varied that I have seen.  Almost all of them have continued to come in for lessons over the break as well and I look forward to seeing what they are truly capable of once school starts up again.

Class Report: Body Parts

Just before summer vacation, I had one last class with my fifth graders.  This one was a bit different though.  My JTE didn't want to start the next chapter of the book right before vacation and risk the kids forgetting everything, so we did a mini lesson about body parts instead.  This is a fairly common topic for English lessons and can really go either way depending on how much the kids know and if they can understand somewhat difficult directions.

First, we taught the kids the song "Head, shoulders, knees, and toes" which most of them already knew.  We sang the song a few times, first with the CD, and then on their own so we could go a little faster.  We had the kids pair up and play rock paper scissors, with the winners forming one circle and the losers forming a larger one around it, just like we did for the introductions lesson.  This time, I would play the song and stop it at random, shouting out a body part.  The kids had to find their partner in the opposite circle and touch the body part I had called out.  The kids really enjoyed this game so we played quite a few times.

The last game, and definitely the hardest to explain, was Simon Says.  It is truly frustrating how difficult it can be to explain this game to kids and teachers who have never heard of it.  Fortunately, my homeroom teacher knew how to play and was able to translate so that the kids understood.  I think a few kids were still unsure about how to play, but once we started it didn't take long for them to catch on.  This is the other difficult thing about this game; kids get good at it really fast.  Playing the normal way with touching the body part you call out works well for about two or three games, then you have to get creative.

About the third game in, I told the kids that they had to listen to what I said and not what I did.  So if I touched my head and said "Simon says touch your knees" those who just mimicked me were going to be out.  Some ofthe kids were quite surprised by this new challenge, but everyone seemed willing to try.  Changing the rules this way also helps reinforce the English, I feel, because kids have to actually thing about what you say, rather than just listening for the "Simon says" and mirroring you.  I could actually see some of the kids thinking really hard at first about what part to touch, but after a few games they seemed to have an easier time with it.

Lastly, I invited my homeroom teacher to lead the class in a few games.  This was mostly so I could get a few pictures of the kids, but all in all I think it was good practice for her too.  She seemed really nervous to try and it was really nice of her to put herself out there like that.  She had to start slow at first, but soon she was calling out body parts just as quickly as I did.  We played one final game where we both alternated calling out body parts. I think it was the longest I have ever played the game, probably eight or nine rounds total, but it was great fun.  I think the kids really enjoyed it too.

With the start of school only a week away, I'm getting really excited about going back to teaching the elementary kids.  I worry about how much they've retained over summer break, but I imagine that is something all the teachers think about.  We've only covered a few chapters, so I will be happy if they remember how to start class in English.  The rest can be easily enforced by doing things like asking how many people they talked to or how many papers they need for a row of students.

Class Report: May I Ask?

For a change of pace, I thought I'd show what my middle school students have been up to. These pictures were taken back in June.  As you can see, the prompts at the beginning are typed up, but the rest was left to my kids' imaginations.

This one is the closest to the example out of the book, in which a student gets a letter from America but can't read it. I just like that the person in the prompt is going to hand over a car for free and thanks the other person for taking it off their hands.

This one is a bit more complex, with a bit of extra dialogue. I appreciate the effort and it was really well written. 

 

 How can you not love the randomness of this entry? What's even better is, because the way it's written, I'm not sure if Toko loves the other person or herself.

This really represents the best of both effort and humor.  I have no idea where these kids learned "street cat" or if they just cobbled the two words together. There are naturally a few mistakes, but it's only because they are trying something so different. Probably my favorite out of this bunch.

Hope you enjoyed my students' writing.  I've got some from the middle school third graders as well about Japanese culture that I'll put up later this week.