Day 18: Large Class Lesson

I woke up early again this morning to put the final touches on the lesson I taught today, which I will explain more in depth. Breakfast with the Hotta family was very nice, and we are all very happy to be together again. Before I left the Hotta’s house last time, they gave me a picture album of my stay with them. Now, sitting in their kitchen, I can see the pictures they made for themselves as well: the wall above the television has a framed picture of Junpei and I as well as a larger frame with multiple pictures of our time together. Next to the photos is the USA plaque I gave to them. They are great.

First thing in the morning at school I had an English conversation class again. Today we practiced meeting new people and telling about ourselves. I had the students come up one by one, introduce themselves, and shake my hand. It is challenging getting the students confidence to a point where they will try new phrases and ask new questions. With some prompting, the students told me about their family and the activities they enjoy doing. I am sure the students’ host families in the United States will very much enjoy having these good kids as guests. After introductions I emphasized a difference in the way that Americans greet people and the way the Japanese do. The Japanese are accustomed to dropping their head and bowing when greeting people. I think that bowing is very polite and very respectful, but it is a bit different in the United States. I told the students that it is important to shake the hand of the person they are meeting and look them in the eyes. It is difficult for the Japanese to do such a thing, but I think it is best to look someone in the eye when meeting them in America; it shows people that they are confident, strong, and interested in meeting them.

Before helping with the English lesson in room eight I had a short discussion with Chuck Sensei and Mr. Yukita. Mr. Yukita will be gone for ten days on a trip to the United States, so Chuck and I will be taking over his classes. I am excited to work with Chuck and have a somewhat consistent schedule for a while.

I ate lunch today with room seventeen, and then went to the theater classroom to set up for my fifth period lesson. Today was the day that we arranged for me to teach all of the second grade classes at once! It was amazing teaching 160 students in one class. I started the class with a simple English and Japanese greeting. Notre Dame students always seem to know when to respond collectively to, or repeat after, the teacher. I made a PowerPoint presentation for my lesson entitled “Life in Wisconsin.” I had some volunteers come to the front of the class and find the country I am from on the globe, as well as the state I am from in America. Then I used the program called Google Earth to show a satellite photo of Notre Dame Elementary! The kids mumbled, “Sugoi ne,” which means “amazing isn’t it.” I had prepared a simulated trip from the school where we were to Wisconsin. With the push of one button the projection on the wall went from Notre Dame Elementary, high into the sky, over the Pacific Ocean, past the Western United States, and stopped with my home town in view! I showed the trip a couple times so the kids could really see how far away Wisconsin is.

After several slides introducing Wisconsin culture (crops, cheese, bratwursts, cows, beautiful lakes, state animals, etc), I taught the students a popular Wisconsin song: On, Wisconsin! They really enjoyed singing the song, and one of the teachers joined in, listened to the song, and played it on the piano for us! To give the students an idea of what life is like in Wisconsin I made slides showing what I do in a day. I started with a typical Friday in Wisconsin: what I eat, what I do for work, what I do for fun, etc. Then, I did a similar sequence with a typical Saturday: breakfast, fishing, grill bratwursts and burgers, watch the Wisconsin Badger’s play American football, etc. For some added fun I talked about Wisconsin’s German heritage and demonstrated the Polka with a volunteer. Some of the kids tried to Polka as well, since it is a very simple dance. Lastly, I had eight quiz questions to follow-up the lesson. The students who got the most correct received a laminated bookmark that I made. We had a couple minutes left for the students to ask me questions. They asked me about my family, and then it was time to go. As the students left the class they looked at all of the pictures I had laid upon a table near the door. I think the lesson went well, but it is hard to keep 120 students from talking. There were other teachers in the room, but they left most of the management to me. I am glad that I had a microphone and great theater classroom to use for my lesson.

Many of the teachers wanted to know more about the Google Earth program was using during the lesson, so I gave them a short introduction to the program. It really is fascinating to use. For the last period of the day all of the teachers reported to one classroom to observe a science lesson by Mr. Fujishima. One focus of the lesson was on students thinking independently. The lesson involved observing the leaves of some trees common to Kyoto, namely the Sakura (Cherry Blossom) and the Icho (Ginkgo) trees. It was funny how silent the students were during the lesson, since there were about forty teachers and outside observers. I was happy to see a desk arrangement that was a bit more group-oriented rather than the usual straight rows. The students identified different characteristics of each leaf. For example, they observed the texture of the edge of the leaf. The teacher asked the students to write what the characteristics of the leaves tell us about the trees. For the final words, the teacher shared a poem about icho leaves falling like birds in the autumn sunlight. The different characteristics themselves, explained the teacher, have inherent meaning.

After school today I joined a new host family, the Pieczulewski’s. You might be saying, “Oh, that is not Japanese.” Mr. Pieczulewski is an American from Michigan, and his wife is Japanese, but attended college in Boston. Naomi, their second grade daughter, is a very happy little girl. She is always smiling and giggling. The three Pieczulewski’s all speak Japanese and English, so it is easy for us to communicate. I had some time to work before dinner, and got quite a bit done actually. For dinner we had asparagus wrapped with pork, pasta, and salad. After dinner I worked a bit more, and then the four of us played a game of UNO before bed. The Pieczulewski’s are a fun family and I like it here already. It is a breath of fresh air living a little more like I am used to in Wisconsin.