(Insert some halfhearted excuse for why there's been another week between blog posts here.)
Some days I'm more tired, or busy, or lazy, than others. And before I know it, a week has passed. I know they say that time flies, but time really flies when teaching.
Looking back at most of last week, it feels like a really long time ago.
Thursday was my first time visiting Funatsu, one of my elementary schools that's at the opposite end of Himeji from Hirohata. I had to take a totally different train, the Bantan Line via JR Station. The Bantan Line is a smaller train (sometimes only two cars) that goes way out into the countryside. It took me quite awhile to reach Koro Station, which was my stop. I waited at Koro Station for a bit, until I could get picked up by car by one of the Funatsu teachers, and was then driven to the school. (My other middle school, Jinnan, was on the way. I'm not sure how I'll manage that commute in April. Fortunately, I have a long time to figure that one out!)
I taught my Introduction Lesson (I've taught it about 27 times now!) to a class of 4th graders and both classes of 6th graders. Then I got to sit with the students, and members of the PTA, in the school gym for a stringed quartet concert. The musicians taught the students about the Viola, Cello, and the Violin (my Japanese is pretty bad, but I understood that much). It was very enjoyable!
Best moment: when they started playing the theme for Pirates of the Caribbean.
Friday was my first regular day at Hirohata in what I think has been several weeks. I taught my Introduction Lesson pretty much the entire day, but on the plus side, I think I'm just about done with it at Hirohata Junior High! Any free time I had I spent lesson planning for some fun activities to do with the first-year students (7th graders by our scale) over the next couple of weeks.
On Saturday I was immersed in Australian Culture for the first time, watching the Australian Football National Cup. From my understanding, it was a lot like the Cardinals v Steelers Superbowl, with a team having its first appearance in the National Cup versus another team that has been in the cup fairly regularly over the years. We all were rooting for the underdogs, of course! But like the Cardinals, just when they managed to pull their act together, they ended up losing at the end in a spectacular fashion.
(Oh, how I love/hate the Arizona Cardinals. Maybe it's a good thing I can't get any of the games here!)
Australian Football is a lot more like rugby or soccer. It was actually pretty fun to watch, and I picked it up pretty quickly. Australian slang, on the other hand, is a definite work in progress. When the Australians get to talking fast, I can barely understand them! I wonder if they have the same problem when we Arizonans start speaking rapidly?
Sunday was my first visit to Kobe and the wonderful Ikea located there! Ikea is just as awesome in Japan as it is in Arizona--and they provide shipping services for a pretty reasonable price, too! I can't wait until my desk-and-bookshelf combo arrives on Saturday! Maybe then, my apartment will finally be respectable enough to take some photos of!
I won't lie: I really can't describe how nice it was to eat fries and meatballs. I think it was the first time I've had beef since I've been here. It was heavenly.
Now if I can just manage to satisfy my Mexican Food craving somehow... but that would involve another day trip to Osaka or Kobe, so I suppose I'll just have to keep dreaming about burritos. And try not to get excited whenever I hear the word "taco," which means "octopus" in Japanese.
Monday, or When I Learned How to Play the Japanese Drum
But before I get into the whole drumming thing, I should talk about my really-fun-and-super-awesome lessons that I did today!
Today I introduced Japanese students (and teachers) to the game I Spy to review their colors. ("I spy with my little eye something green!") Some of the students got more of a kick out of it than others. But it could lead to some real fun, especially for the ones who would pick out really strange objects in the classroom that would stump their classmates. A few of the kids didn't believe me when I said it was a popular American game, though.
We also reviewed body parts by using the song "Head and Shoulders," which most of the students already knew from elementary school, so I was quickly able to turn it into a contest for them. Speed, actually singing, and volume were important! The winning rows got stickers, which really motivated them to sing at lightning speed!
(I also learned that there are limits to how many times in one day you can sanely sing and dance to the "Head and Shoulders" song.)
Finally, the lesson ended with a fun round of Simon Says, so the kids could practice their body parts some more, and improve their ability to listen to English commands. They already knew this game, most likely from previous ALT's, and I must say that it's as much of a hit with Japanese students as it is with American ones. And they get stumped in the exact same way, too!
The last few standing got stickers, of course. I'm going through stickers like you wouldn't believe! I already know what I'll be asking for for Christmas: as many American stickers as can fit into a package!
The drumming didn't begin until after lunch. I didn't even know Japanese Drummers were going to be performing until about 5 minutes before we had to go to the gym, so it made for a very pleasant surprise. (Korean Drummers visit NAU annually, so I was curious to see how the performances compared!)
There were members from the PTA in the audience, as well as students from both Hirohata-daini and Hirohata Elementary School, so probably close to 1,000 students in attendance. The drummers (all men) were in traditional costumes, which involved flamboyant pants and these sort of half-breastplates. (I really regret not bringing my camera. I'll see if I can't acquire copies of the photos that some of the other teachers were taking!)
The performance began with a play, a comedic one, involving two cultural icons: one of which being the Tengu figure, and the other... I have no idea. The masked characters were very funny, and wandered into the audience to mess with the students and teachers. I was sitting in the back, and was very surprised when the Tengu appeared from a back door. I was prompted to give him a high five, much to everyone's amusement. There was no dialogue during the play, and while I didn't understand all of the cultural subtleties, I could figure out most of what was going on based on their exaggerated body movements and gestures. The play seemed to involve a kind of squabble between these two figures, that escalated into a drumming competition, and then ended with them as friends, sort-of.
But the fun didn't end there. After the play, a few lucky students volunteered (or were forced) into going on-stage to be taught the art of Japanese Drumming. And when they were done, they were then told to go pick out teachers for the next round of instruction. One boy quickly ran off to make his favorite (or not-so-favorite?) gym teacher one of the new drummers. And, lucky me, one of the girls decided that Julia-sensei needed a turn in the limelight.
I'd like to add, I wasn't really getting any translations during any of this. If you want to imagine what it was like, think of the adults in Charlie Brown, and how you can never understand what they're saying. Much of the time in Japan, I've been feeling like that. I always feel so smart whenever I actually recognize words, and then I feel like a genius when I actually understand a sentence; nothing can describe how great it feels when I can pull off a sentence in Japanese.
Anyway, I got to make my way up to the center stage, center drum, in front of about 1,000 people. Good thing I got over any stage fright I might have had a long time ago! (Face-planting in front of a class of 9th graders will do that for you.)
I think the drummers figured out pretty quick that I couldn't understand anything they were saying, because they went pretty easy on me. The students, on the other hand, were very tough critics of their teachers. Like kids anywhere, they really enjoy any chance they can get to "pick on" their teachers. But all of us on stage were pretty comfortable being the comic relief for the kids, so it was pretty fun. I've never actually used a drum before today, but I figured it out pretty quickly! (It helped that they had us doing a very basic rhythm that sounded like a horse cantering.)
Afterwards, for the rest of the day, every kid I ran into stopped to tell me that I was a good drummer--using body language, of course. But they now all know the English for drum and drumming, so I consider this a great teaching opportunity! And it's gotten the kids to (hopefully, if today is any indication) finally open up to me, which is great!
Today was a good day, all in all. Every day in Japan has been a good day so far, actually. Some are just more "remarkable" than others, as far as blogging is concerned!
Some days I'm more tired, or busy, or lazy, than others. And before I know it, a week has passed. I know they say that time flies, but time really flies when teaching.
Looking back at most of last week, it feels like a really long time ago.
Thursday was my first time visiting Funatsu, one of my elementary schools that's at the opposite end of Himeji from Hirohata. I had to take a totally different train, the Bantan Line via JR Station. The Bantan Line is a smaller train (sometimes only two cars) that goes way out into the countryside. It took me quite awhile to reach Koro Station, which was my stop. I waited at Koro Station for a bit, until I could get picked up by car by one of the Funatsu teachers, and was then driven to the school. (My other middle school, Jinnan, was on the way. I'm not sure how I'll manage that commute in April. Fortunately, I have a long time to figure that one out!)
I taught my Introduction Lesson (I've taught it about 27 times now!) to a class of 4th graders and both classes of 6th graders. Then I got to sit with the students, and members of the PTA, in the school gym for a stringed quartet concert. The musicians taught the students about the Viola, Cello, and the Violin (my Japanese is pretty bad, but I understood that much). It was very enjoyable!
Best moment: when they started playing the theme for Pirates of the Caribbean.
Friday was my first regular day at Hirohata in what I think has been several weeks. I taught my Introduction Lesson pretty much the entire day, but on the plus side, I think I'm just about done with it at Hirohata Junior High! Any free time I had I spent lesson planning for some fun activities to do with the first-year students (7th graders by our scale) over the next couple of weeks.
On Saturday I was immersed in Australian Culture for the first time, watching the Australian Football National Cup. From my understanding, it was a lot like the Cardinals v Steelers Superbowl, with a team having its first appearance in the National Cup versus another team that has been in the cup fairly regularly over the years. We all were rooting for the underdogs, of course! But like the Cardinals, just when they managed to pull their act together, they ended up losing at the end in a spectacular fashion.
(Oh, how I love/hate the Arizona Cardinals. Maybe it's a good thing I can't get any of the games here!)
Australian Football is a lot more like rugby or soccer. It was actually pretty fun to watch, and I picked it up pretty quickly. Australian slang, on the other hand, is a definite work in progress. When the Australians get to talking fast, I can barely understand them! I wonder if they have the same problem when we Arizonans start speaking rapidly?
Sunday was my first visit to Kobe and the wonderful Ikea located there! Ikea is just as awesome in Japan as it is in Arizona--and they provide shipping services for a pretty reasonable price, too! I can't wait until my desk-and-bookshelf combo arrives on Saturday! Maybe then, my apartment will finally be respectable enough to take some photos of!
I won't lie: I really can't describe how nice it was to eat fries and meatballs. I think it was the first time I've had beef since I've been here. It was heavenly.
Now if I can just manage to satisfy my Mexican Food craving somehow... but that would involve another day trip to Osaka or Kobe, so I suppose I'll just have to keep dreaming about burritos. And try not to get excited whenever I hear the word "taco," which means "octopus" in Japanese.
Monday, or When I Learned How to Play the Japanese Drum
But before I get into the whole drumming thing, I should talk about my really-fun-and-super-awesome lessons that I did today!
Today I introduced Japanese students (and teachers) to the game I Spy to review their colors. ("I spy with my little eye something green!") Some of the students got more of a kick out of it than others. But it could lead to some real fun, especially for the ones who would pick out really strange objects in the classroom that would stump their classmates. A few of the kids didn't believe me when I said it was a popular American game, though.
We also reviewed body parts by using the song "Head and Shoulders," which most of the students already knew from elementary school, so I was quickly able to turn it into a contest for them. Speed, actually singing, and volume were important! The winning rows got stickers, which really motivated them to sing at lightning speed!
(I also learned that there are limits to how many times in one day you can sanely sing and dance to the "Head and Shoulders" song.)
Finally, the lesson ended with a fun round of Simon Says, so the kids could practice their body parts some more, and improve their ability to listen to English commands. They already knew this game, most likely from previous ALT's, and I must say that it's as much of a hit with Japanese students as it is with American ones. And they get stumped in the exact same way, too!
The last few standing got stickers, of course. I'm going through stickers like you wouldn't believe! I already know what I'll be asking for for Christmas: as many American stickers as can fit into a package!
The drumming didn't begin until after lunch. I didn't even know Japanese Drummers were going to be performing until about 5 minutes before we had to go to the gym, so it made for a very pleasant surprise. (Korean Drummers visit NAU annually, so I was curious to see how the performances compared!)
There were members from the PTA in the audience, as well as students from both Hirohata-daini and Hirohata Elementary School, so probably close to 1,000 students in attendance. The drummers (all men) were in traditional costumes, which involved flamboyant pants and these sort of half-breastplates. (I really regret not bringing my camera. I'll see if I can't acquire copies of the photos that some of the other teachers were taking!)
The performance began with a play, a comedic one, involving two cultural icons: one of which being the Tengu figure, and the other... I have no idea. The masked characters were very funny, and wandered into the audience to mess with the students and teachers. I was sitting in the back, and was very surprised when the Tengu appeared from a back door. I was prompted to give him a high five, much to everyone's amusement. There was no dialogue during the play, and while I didn't understand all of the cultural subtleties, I could figure out most of what was going on based on their exaggerated body movements and gestures. The play seemed to involve a kind of squabble between these two figures, that escalated into a drumming competition, and then ended with them as friends, sort-of.
But the fun didn't end there. After the play, a few lucky students volunteered (or were forced) into going on-stage to be taught the art of Japanese Drumming. And when they were done, they were then told to go pick out teachers for the next round of instruction. One boy quickly ran off to make his favorite (or not-so-favorite?) gym teacher one of the new drummers. And, lucky me, one of the girls decided that Julia-sensei needed a turn in the limelight.
I'd like to add, I wasn't really getting any translations during any of this. If you want to imagine what it was like, think of the adults in Charlie Brown, and how you can never understand what they're saying. Much of the time in Japan, I've been feeling like that. I always feel so smart whenever I actually recognize words, and then I feel like a genius when I actually understand a sentence; nothing can describe how great it feels when I can pull off a sentence in Japanese.
Anyway, I got to make my way up to the center stage, center drum, in front of about 1,000 people. Good thing I got over any stage fright I might have had a long time ago! (Face-planting in front of a class of 9th graders will do that for you.)
I think the drummers figured out pretty quick that I couldn't understand anything they were saying, because they went pretty easy on me. The students, on the other hand, were very tough critics of their teachers. Like kids anywhere, they really enjoy any chance they can get to "pick on" their teachers. But all of us on stage were pretty comfortable being the comic relief for the kids, so it was pretty fun. I've never actually used a drum before today, but I figured it out pretty quickly! (It helped that they had us doing a very basic rhythm that sounded like a horse cantering.)
Afterwards, for the rest of the day, every kid I ran into stopped to tell me that I was a good drummer--using body language, of course. But they now all know the English for drum and drumming, so I consider this a great teaching opportunity! And it's gotten the kids to (hopefully, if today is any indication) finally open up to me, which is great!
Today was a good day, all in all. Every day in Japan has been a good day so far, actually. Some are just more "remarkable" than others, as far as blogging is concerned!
I will start getting those stickers ready, julia-sensei!
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