random things 1-7

As I mentioned the other day, classes are officially over for the 3rd year students--their days are filled with 'studying,' entrance exams and sitting through a million meetings about high school--which leaves only three 1st and 2nd year homerooms... and amounts to almost no class for me this week. So I've decided to use that time constructively (?) and blog about random things. (don't forget that you can double click to enlarge any of the pictures)

random thing #1: school lunch
Have I blogged about the wonders of Japanese school lunch yet? I can't remember...

Anyway... despite bringing my camera with me this afternoon, I still forgot to take a picture of today's course, so the focus of this particular 'random thing' section is the how and where of school lunch.
How: school lunch is not prepared in a school kitchen (like mine always was in America)... instead, all of the city's school lunch is prepared at a central facility and delivered to each school. 4th period is over at 12:45 and the students who are in charge of carrying lunch back to their classrooms flood the delivery room to collect the various plates, breads and food containers that were delivered by the city. Although there is an extremely high potential for chaos, the carrying of food up and down 2 flights of stairs (by clumsy junior high or elementary schoolers) is actually an extremely orderly process.
Where: once the school lunch makes it to the classrooms, it is dished out into perfectly even portions (I don't know how they do this, but they always do) and everyone sits at their desk to eat. 15-20 minutes later, the students clean everything up, carry the dirty plates and empty containers back down to the delivery room and set to work cleaning the school. Seriously.


random thing #2: the "dream aquarium"
The landing between the 2nd and 3rd floors of my elementary school is decorated with an "aquarium" of marine life, mostly fish, that has been exactly the same since I arrived 18+ months ago. Upon further examination, I think that the fish are actually glued to the wall... indicating that it's a much more permanent fixture than I'd originally assumed. It's an incredibly cute idea, but some of the fish are starting to look a bit... decrepit... and I can't help but wonder how long this little installation has been in place. 2? 5 years??


random thing #3: student calligraphy
These pieces were entered in a city-wide contest sometime last fall and have been hanging in the hallway ever since. Since it's one of my favorite things at school, I thought I'd share. (^-^)


random thing #4: walking down the hall in elementary school

Everyone's seen those documentaries on the nature channel where they drop some food in the water and suddenly there are a bazillion piranhas coming out of no where, from every direction to try and get a taste... well, that's what it's like to walk into the kindergarten or down the hallway in elementary school... except, instead of piranhas there's a swarm of adorable, smiling children who just want to shout "hallo!!" and get a high-five.
(*note* these kids are actually pretty subdued because they think I'm taking a picture and know that jumping up and down like maniacs is not conducive to good picture taking)


random thing #5: my personal battle against boring English names
The five English speakers featured in our textbook series are named "Mike Davis," "Judy Brown," "Ann Green," "Lisa" and "Bill." I think this is boring, so when I make worksheets I give my characters names like "Austin" and "Madeline," with hobbies like surfing and looking for a girlfriend or talking on the phone. Luckily I work with Japanese teachers who think this is a great idea and I get to giggle when my boys answer the final exam question about their interests with "I'm most interested in girls."
(*note* I realize this isn't an earth shatteringly clever idea, but try to tell that to my students.)


random thing #6: unicycles
Things that are taught in Japanese elementary school/Cirque du Soleil training camp: team jump rope, walking on stilts, walking on parallel beams of varying heights, riding a unicycle forwards and backwards. Seriously.


random thing #7: all the singing
There is considerably more singing in Japan than I ever experienced in public school on Long Island. All school events begin with the school song and there are several events during the year where the main focus is singing (and don't forget that the students also play the piano and conduct the chorus). Last week's farewell party for the 3rd year students was no exception, so for your viewing pleasure, I've uploaded 2 videos.

Above is the rehearsal for the 1st and 2nd year students... my favorite thing about this is the ridiculously dramatic drop in height where the 2nd year boys are standing next to the 1st year boys.

This is the final performance from the 3rd year students... they're considerably better than the younger kids, not only because their voice changing has calmed down a bit, but also because they're one of the best student choruses in the city. I think this is amazing because it's not a voluntary performance, but almost all of the kids actually sing.

As far as I can tell, there are 2 major outcomes to all this singing: 1- Japan has 10 million pop stars and 2- any Japanese person, at any time, will be better at singing karaoke than every foreigner in the room.

other random February news...

...I've been a bad blogger again, but since things are pretty quiet during the end of the school year, I have some time to catch up.

Other than the HoriMara, I don't think there are any major events to report. The third semester of the Japanese school year (January to mid-March) is incredibly short, but very busy. Compulsory education ends with junior high school in Japan, so continuing with high school is considered more of a privilege than a right... which means that students need to apply to high schools and pass an entrance examination (sometimes an interview test as well). In big cities, the more competitive and prestigious schools are private, usually with ties to large universities, but in the more rural areas (where parents can't always afford to pay for private high school) the best schools are public. This can amount to a lot of pressure being put on 14-15 year old kids, to not only get into the best possible school for the sake of their own future, but also for their family's economic situation. Needless to say, the 3rd year students start to become walking zombies, with many of them sleeping less than 5 or 6 hours a night and doing nothing but study in their time outside of school. It's both exciting and heartbreaking to be around when the test results come out, as they are dealing not only with the individual pressure to get into a good high school, but also with the fact that they probably won't be going to high school with most of their friends...
To break up the monotony of test prep, we had our second ALT Day a few weeks ago and the 2nd year students prepared a 2-hour "farewell celebration" that was held last Friday afternoon.
The 1st and 2nd year students sang some songs, made some nostalgic/funny slide shows of the 3rd year students, a "which teacher's baby picture is this?" quiz and performed a funny parody of Cinderella... then the 3rd year students sang a few songs (and some students cried). It was a great afternoon, but reminded me how soon the 3rd year students will be leaving (graduation is the 13th).
Their regular classes are already over and they're starting to plan their spring vacations... sad! I'm definitely closest to the 3rd year students as a group and am so sad to see them go, even though I know I'm supposed to be excited for them and blah blah blah. I could never be a real teacher and say goodbye to a new group of students every year... it's too hard!
Finally, I went skiing again in Naeba this past weekend. It was beautiful and sunny, but far too warm for good ski conditions... the road sign reported an air temperature of 68ºF when we drove home on Sunday (up in the mountains!!). I think we're already seeing the end of the mildest winter I've ever experienced... I haven't seen it snow once all year.