Day 5: Friday
First thing this morning we had another all staff meeting in the teachers' office. We started with a prayer and a hymn in Japanese. The sports festival is coming up tomorrow and is a very important event for the students and the parents. There were several concerns addressed at the meeting. First, one of the handicapped students' mother reported that their child was being made fun of and that they wanted the issue addressed. Second, some community members reported that there have been some Notre Dame students misbehaving on the way to school. Lastly, the teachers are concerned with the weather forecast seeing as the sports festival will be held outdoors. If the weather is not favorable, then we will have to postpone the festival until Sunday or Wednesday.
I joined Mr. Yukita's English classes again today. Today we had the third grade classes and also had the help of Karen Sensei. Class began with a prayer and the song of the month. Then we practiced the phrases, "I have (number) + (color) + (object)." The students utilized the computer systems in the classroom and the program developed by Mr. Yukita and Chuck Sensei in order to practice their idioms. The computer systems cost the school about 20,000,000 yen, or about $180,000. It is convenient for the teacher to have the students practicing English individually. Each student has a set of headphones to listen with and a microphone so that they can hear their pronunciations. Mr. Yukita can even administer verbal English tests in which each child works individually and their speech is recorded and saved for evaluation!
Today was even more fun than Wednesday because I was able to be more involved. I led the students in the prayer, the song, and through the "I have _ _ _" statements. Mr. Yukita makes the Powerpoints fun and includes characters like Cookie Monster and Elmo. I made my best Elmo voice while conversing with Karen Sensei in front of the class, "I have three brown dogs." The kids love it, and I have fun too. Mr. Yukita helps me along and gives me pointers during class. One suggestion he made was to stand still in front of the class. In my experience in the United States, moving is usually a good thing for a teacher to do. It is thought to be important to be in close proximity with the students and move around the classroom. At the same time, it probably can be a distraction from the content of the lesson and disrupt the focus of the students. I was probably just moving out of slight nervousness, and I can see Mr. Yukita's point.
Lunch today was pork stroganoff, rice, and vegetables. I ate with Junpei and then waited in the lunch room for some fifth graders to come and interview me. One of the fifth grade classes is have a party for me next week and they also must have an assignment they are working on. The questions were mostly about my impressions of Japan. For example, they asked me what suprised me the most about Japan. I told them that the small size of the cars suprised me. I am excited to see what that fifth grade class has planned.
The students were released from school early today to allow the teachers time to prepare for the sports festival. I helped some students practice in the gym and then picked up rocks from the outdoor track. I also loaded up some huge playground balls and went to a nearby gas station with Mr. Ayata so that we could blow them up with air. Mr Yukita stole me for a few minutes so that he could show me American news on the school's satellite TV. The last part of the day we had another staff meeting. The teachers were seriously discussing the weather forecast and the preparation for the sports festival. The consensus was to postpone the festival until Sunday. They presented me with my own Notre Dame T-shirt to wear for the festival, and I will be happy to wear it.
Mr. Yukita dropped me off at the Hotta Family's house and dinner was almost ready. We had lettuce, fried sweet potatoes, fried pumpkin, fried tofu, and some sort of potatoes with meat in them. Junpei requested my presence on the second floor so that we could play so computer games. Mrs. Hotta and her mother shared pictures with me and then I went to sleep.
I joined Mr. Yukita's English classes again today. Today we had the third grade classes and also had the help of Karen Sensei. Class began with a prayer and the song of the month. Then we practiced the phrases, "I have (number) + (color) + (object)." The students utilized the computer systems in the classroom and the program developed by Mr. Yukita and Chuck Sensei in order to practice their idioms. The computer systems cost the school about 20,000,000 yen, or about $180,000. It is convenient for the teacher to have the students practicing English individually. Each student has a set of headphones to listen with and a microphone so that they can hear their pronunciations. Mr. Yukita can even administer verbal English tests in which each child works individually and their speech is recorded and saved for evaluation!
Today was even more fun than Wednesday because I was able to be more involved. I led the students in the prayer, the song, and through the "I have _ _ _" statements. Mr. Yukita makes the Powerpoints fun and includes characters like Cookie Monster and Elmo. I made my best Elmo voice while conversing with Karen Sensei in front of the class, "I have three brown dogs." The kids love it, and I have fun too. Mr. Yukita helps me along and gives me pointers during class. One suggestion he made was to stand still in front of the class. In my experience in the United States, moving is usually a good thing for a teacher to do. It is thought to be important to be in close proximity with the students and move around the classroom. At the same time, it probably can be a distraction from the content of the lesson and disrupt the focus of the students. I was probably just moving out of slight nervousness, and I can see Mr. Yukita's point.Lunch today was pork stroganoff, rice, and vegetables. I ate with Junpei and then waited in the lunch room for some fifth graders to come and interview me. One of the fifth grade classes is have a party for me next week and they also must have an assignment they are working on. The questions were mostly about my impressions of Japan. For example, they asked me what suprised me the most about Japan. I told them that the small size of the cars suprised me. I am excited to see what that fifth grade class has planned.
The students were released from school early today to allow the teachers time to prepare for the sports festival. I helped some students practice in the gym and then picked up rocks from the outdoor track. I also loaded up some huge playground balls and went to a nearby gas station with Mr. Ayata so that we could blow them up with air. Mr Yukita stole me for a few minutes so that he could show me American news on the school's satellite TV. The last part of the day we had another staff meeting. The teachers were seriously discussing the weather forecast and the preparation for the sports festival. The consensus was to postpone the festival until Sunday. They presented me with my own Notre Dame T-shirt to wear for the festival, and I will be happy to wear it.
Mr. Yukita dropped me off at the Hotta Family's house and dinner was almost ready. We had lettuce, fried sweet potatoes, fried pumpkin, fried tofu, and some sort of potatoes with meat in them. Junpei requested my presence on the second floor so that we could play so computer games. Mrs. Hotta and her mother shared pictures with me and then I went to sleep.
posted by Ryan Harkins at 9:39 p.m.
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